Sunday just felt like a heavy day.
We went to worship in town and Mike gave the message as our preacher, Zach, is finishing his last week of sabbatical. Mike did a nice job, and it was good to be among friends. The loss of Scarlette and my sorrow for my cousin losing her daughter hit me during the first hymn chorus and I struggled to regain my composure pretty much the rest of the day.
We drove to my folks' after church basically for hugs and pizza. That's exactly what I needed.
Evalynn is getting better at taking car naps when I simply tell her she must.
Sweet, sleepy Artie waking up from his nap.
We came home late afternoon Sunday and finished getting ready for co-op. My little art class finished their Picasso projects and we'll share those at share night next week.
Xavier's class made lunch for everyone as a culmination of their cultures study, and this mom for sure appreciated it (and it was delicious).
Little friends...
We were supposed to play at the park after lunch but the weather was crummy (again) so we just didn't. We stopped by for an early visit at Aunt Annette's and then headed back home to get an early supper before Xavier's first baseball game.
It was cold. And so windy. Honestly pretty miserable.
We ended up lucking out and being able to back the bus against the field we were playing at and all of the children ended up sitting in it. I should have kept them home but we really like to do things as a pack.
Puffmallow....snow pants on the outside because #potty training.
Xavier played catcher and first. He struck out at bat which is always a bummer, but he still had a good first game.
Tuesday is gymnastics days for Evalynn. Natalee also had early morning OT/PT.
It was a smaller class and Evalynn was very charismatic. Her facial expressions on the soft beam were very entertaining.
Evalynn usually needs a refuel after gymnastics. A banana with peanut butter and a few mini chocolate chips did the trick this week. She ate the whole thing.
We bought a new area rug last week and the kids are loving having a softer landing spot for sprawling on the floor. In a perfect world I would have gotten one a couple feet larger each way, but I didn't want to pay for it (ha) so this will do.
I really stunk at lesson planning this week, but my good sweet kids carried on with our routine bookwork even though it wasn't written out. Zayden completed his level 2 math book and is so excited to give "computer math" (Teaching Textbooks) a go next year.
Congratulations, Zayden. We're proud of you!
Post nap Evie is a vibe. That hair! Ha.
The weather was much better than Monday's and Ameliya was able to have her first soccer game. I love sitting in the sunshine with my family watching our kids enjoy an activity.
For some reason Mia's team seems to have almost twice the amount of kids as the other teams in that age in the league, which means almost half of the game is spent sitting. Lessons in patience for us all.
Wednesday morning snuggles.
Mia had her last gymnastics class for the season.
After gymnastics all five kids and I had chiropractic adjustments. Always good to get lined up.
Ameliya had OT and Mike went along to that with her at his lunch break.
Natalee has been working on braiding and has shown an interest in making friendship bracelets. With her hand weakness it's really important to make activities achievable and accessible, so I hunted online for an aide to help make bracelets. The clip at the top holds the string firmly, but more importantly she can put the strings in the pegs at the bottom and they will hold tightly. This allows her to stop and rest her hands and not have a mess of knotted string.
post nap Evie....yawn.
Evalynn was a bit cantankerous and the best way to get her out of that mood is to give her a job.
She tore up all the lettuce for our early taco bar.
I fed all the children early and cleaned up supper and we were ready for Xavier's baseball game when Mike got home. I packed him up some tacos so that he could eat when we got there. Early supper seems to work fine as long as I cut afternoon snack and they take the snack to eat later at the ballgame.
I took along the scented slime and a couple of containers to use as lap trays and that was entertaining to everyone while they waited for the game to start.
It was beautiful baseball weather and after a day of outdoor play we were happy to continue being in the sunshine.
Xavier had a good game. He played catcher and pitcher. He's still in an at bat slump and I know that is discouraging to him.
She's just here for the snacks... (and yes, she did change clothes 3 times on Wednesday).
Actually she really loves #2!
The wind picked up and temps dropped about 15 minutes before the game ended, but overall it was a great night for baseball.
Thursday morning we were up and out of the house by 8 to be in Newton by 9 so that Natalee could glaze her pottery that she made a couple of weeks ago. The other kids and I just chilled in the bus while she went in to do that. We left Newton by 10:20 to head to hippotherapy, and the other 4 and I visited with Mrs. Vermeer and Allison while Natalee had her session. Then it was back home for a quick lunch and Ameliya and I went to speech therapy. She made a May day basket during her session and got to fill it with popcorn and M&Ms.
Everyone needed a rest but these 2, so they played some games together.
It was kind of an out of sorts day - perhaps from the schedule change - maybe from so much sitting and waiting.
I thought Evalynn was going potty after nap and was waiting for her to call me to help her finish up when she came down the hallway. I said "whatcha doing?" and she answered quickly "not eating chocolate!"...I happened to be checking a message on my phone and quickly turned on the video recording while I finished the conversation with her.
It ended up being Ameliya's chocolate she had snitched and she did get disciplined, however I am pretty sure that she still felt like the chocolate was worth the punishment received.
Thursday evening Mike took Mia to soccer practice and Natalee and Zayden went along. Xavier took Evalynn to play in the backyard while I made a new breakfast casserole for supper that was quite easy and well received by everyone. It was simply a box of stuffing mix (I usually never have but had a random one in my pantry that needed used, which is how I found the recipe), made as instructed and then put in the bottom of a 9x13. On top of that I put a pound of browned ground sausage (could use ham or bacon), and then over that poured 12 eggs scrambled with 1/2 cup milk. A layer of shredded cheese on the top and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until the eggs are set. We had it with leftover sourdough waffles and fresh veggies and everyone had full tummies.
Friday was our only day at home and it was welcome. We should have practiced piano so I could schedule lessons with Miss Kathy, but that was just not how the week seemed to go for us and by Friday I was beat. It's hard to just keep going while also grieving so heavily. I did laundry. The kids worked through school and played games and the weather was gray and rainy.
We were supposed to have both soccer and baseball games, and both got canceled. Honestly the rain stopped by mid afternoon and we should have just had the games and gotten muddy, in my opinion. It seems to be the way the spring is going to look so we just as well embrace it. They did get a couple hours of play in outside and I'm thankful for their persistence in asking me to play outdoors, because sometimes I don't think to go out if I know a lot of mud will come back in.
Clean and showered, Evalynn helped dad wash the 5 pounds of carrots off and put them in the bucket as he cut them into sticks.
Saturday morning Ameliya and Evalynn had their gymnastics spring fling. Mia's was bright and early at 9.
She's worked really hard this spring and gotten a lot stronger and more confident.
We went home for about 40 minutes and then were back to the gym for Evalynn's showcase. She has soaked up her month of classes and loves 'nastics so much.
The boys went to Eric's with Aunt Penny and played for a couple hours in the afternoon and the rest of Saturday was spent cleaning and prepping for our Royals/Yankees game on Sunday.
