Week in the Life {A Week of Great Loss and Remembering What's Important}

 Sunday, October 18th

Sunday morning we worshiped with our friends at the Church of Christ.  This was Evalynn's first Sunday back in several weeks and she was decently behaved.  

After church we just tidied house and the children played.  Grandma Num came to visit us and her bestest friend, Penny, and our Brummer cousins came over to play.

Evalynn didn't want Grandma to leave.

Our cousin friends stayed for spaghetti.  

After they left us for the evening they went home with their dad and grandma Penny and had to be told the heartbreaking news that their precious mother, Brea, had past to her heavenly reward.  We also had to tell our children this news.  2020 has been such a year of great loss.  Our children grieved for themselves and grieved for their precious cousin friends, as did Mike and I.  

Monday, October 19th

Mike was on nights this week, but neither of us were eager to part ways.  He took some PTO in the morning on Monday to just be with us.  We hugged, sometimes we cried, and we loved our children.

Mia and Zayden had a terrarium to make for their travel to Scotland "around the world" social studies unit and everyone wanted to help so we made it a family project.

Evalynn is getting taller all the time.  She discovered she can reach the candy bowl.

No, sweetie, no candy for baby.

I did a lot of baking this week to both have something to do and because baking soothes my soul when it hurts.

A cookie instead of a candy for Evie.

Mia asked to have water beads and I thought it would be calming so we filled up a bucket of them.

All week I struggled with what to say or post or how to express my feelings.  Finally I posted this picture.  No words.  Just a photo of Grandma Betty's wingback chair with the afghan Breanna knitted for me a few years back.  Great loss.

I did finally blog about our loss, but it is as jumbled as my brain.

Tuesday, October 20th

In some ways our week continued as usual, but, as much as possible, we paused so we could to just cling together or love on our friends and family.

The children started a homeschool swim and gym class at the Y.  Swimming is on Tuesdays and gym is on Fridays.  Tuesday the kids had back to back swimming lessons - one with their homeschool class and then one session of the private lessons we'd purchased.  They were hungry and tired when we got home.

Evie has to be such an adaptable little girl to handle her schedule being wiggled around homeschool classes, therapy sessions, and park play dates.  She's such a precious baby.  Tuesday she didn't nap well and Daddy was working nights.  

Cousins came to play.  The boys worked hard on a Lego creation all week.

The girls were doing some imaginative play.

Rogan came upstairs and asked to peel carrots with me so we could talk while I was working on our supper.  

Always climbing...

We did evening school on Tuesday.  This little dude is a whiz!

Wednesday, October 21st

Mia and Zayden and I started Wednesday morning with some science.  We took yarn and measured out how long some of the dinosaurs were that we've been learning about.

Natalee had hippotherapy and had a really great session.  The amount of strength and confidence she is gaining is so exciting.

Evalynn is increasingly busy these days.

She has started getting time out for playing in the potted plant dirt.

Daddy came home from work.  Praise hallelujah.

Thursday, October 22nd

Silly.

Evie spent a great deal of time trying to balance on this funnel.  Good thing she wears a thick diaper.  LOL

We did work our lessons this week, but they were not the priority of the week.  Time, loving others, loving each other became our focus.

Scooters in the basement.  Sounds good to me.

The children had their last private swim lesson session on Thursday.

The big kids worked hard on their swim strokes and treading water during their sessions.

Evie wanted a schnack!  Ha!

The younger duo worked on glides, floats, bobs, and all the introductory swim stuff.

Keeping this one entertained during lessons...full time job.

Sharks and minnows!

Friday, October 23rd

Mike was off on Friday and helped me clean house and prep food.  We were preparing to host his family for supper after Brea's visitation on Saturday and to take lunch to my folks' for mom's birthday on Sunday.  15 pounds of beef and a grocery pick up order later and we were ready. 

Saturday, October 24th

We started Saturday slowly, with no expectations of the day.  Mike's family arrived before lunch and we visited for a bit before the service.  My mom came to pay her respects and to keep Evie and Zayden during the visitation.

I didn't take many pictures on Saturday.  Just these two precious memories.  Grandma and Ev and below, Zayden reading to Isa after we had taco bar for supper.

Our family left around bedtime and Saturday ended somberly, a hard week behind us.