Weekly Wind Down {Locker Restoration, 1st Co-op, Go Carts, Family Pictures} Sept. 11-17

Whew!  The week flew by in a whirlwind.

Sunday we went to worship, the shoe store, and then spent the afternoon outside.  We sanded down a set of lockers that we want to paint for the house and our friends stopped by on their walk and visited while we were outside.

I tried to get everyone cleaned up and lunches packed early enough for us to get a good night's rest before our first day of co-op!

Monday morning went very smoothly and the drive to co-op was pretty peaceful.

I taught K-3 music using Sharon Burch's Freddie the Frog curriculum and we had a successful first session.  The last 20 minutes of our class were used for an art game.

After my K-3 class, I swooped out to set up for my time with the preschoolers.

While I was getting ready, Miss Josey took them for 30 minutes.  Evie loved her big girl time with Josey.

I had prepared an apple sensory bin using lentils as a base, cinnamon sticks, poms for apples, and tp roll trees with different colored apples on them.  I put in scoops, pots, and tweezers so they could pick up the apples and sort them by color into the correct tree trunk.

First we did an apple finger play.  Then two of the girls played in the sensory bin, while I painted with the other.  I prepared paint in 3 "apple" colors, and we stamped apples onto our trees using real apple halves.

Evie struggled to be happy during my preschool time.  She eventually came around but not without some stern love.

After painting and sensory play, it was inside to clean up and have apples (of course).  We tried green and red and talked about sweet, tart, and voted who liked what best.

I didn't get pictures of my other kids' classes.  I borrowed this one from Mia and Zayden's PE teacher that she posted in our Facebook group.

Everyone was glowing after their classes and it was a great morning.  We headed to the park for lunch and then we chose to stay for a couple of hours and play since the weather was absolutely perfect.  Monday was Natalee's first night back to swim, so I didn't text Aunt Annette to get together, but the kids sure asked!  Next co-op day I promised them I'd see what her day looked like.

We had supper in the crockpot when we got home and Mike took Xavier, Ameliya, and Zayden to open gym while Natalee was at swim.  Evie had an early bed time after a no nap day and that left me one hour of....solitude.  Not really because Evie didn't fall right to sleep, but good in theory.

Tuesday was early morning therapy for Natalee.  Mike took the day off because Zayden had an ENT appointment.

I set the apple sensory bin back up for Evalynn this week and she got to it first thing Tuesday morning.

sniffing those cinnamon sticks...

Zayden and I headed out midmorning.  We had a nice little 40 minute drive through the country to a neighboring town to meet with the ENT.  We had a very good appointment.  I really liked the doctor and he took his time talking me through our options and giving me his opinion.

In the end, Zayden is scheduled for a double tympanoplasty and adenoidectomy (ear tubes and adenoid removal).  If you know me you know that our children having any medical intervention is a really hard decision for me.  Mike is a good balance for that.  Overall, our goal is for improved quality of life for Zayden.  He doesn't pass hearing tests, speech is a concern, he's had fluid on his ears for months now, he's constantly tugging his ears, sniffing, clearing his throat.  Allergy medicine doesn't help.  We keep his bedroom like a bubble - air purifier, door closed, dust free, etc.  We've played outside more.  We've played outside less.  We are toxic free, cleaning product mindful.  This mama is exhausted.  Nothing we've done helps so we're hoping this gives him some relief.  And trust me....we've tried it all.  Diets, supplements, chiro.  If you've known us a long time you'll remember Zayden has always been this way.  We've had periods of relief but the last year has been just so hard for him.  Please pray for him if you think to.  We'd be so grateful.

He chose McDonald's for a mom and Zayden lunch date and needed two chicken sandwiches to fill his growing boy legs.  

We headed home and I helped the kids work through school.

We ended Tuesday with a game of family charades - book title edition.

Wednesday was pretty average.  Mia had an OT appointment.  We worked through our school lessons and the kids spent several hours outside before we cleaned up to go to Awana and youth group.

Evalynn and I spent some time in the afternoon mixing up a big batch of protein balls.  

So happy to put on her Cubbie vest!  And Mia shared a scrunchie for her hair!

Ev got to hold the flag for pledge time!

Thursday we had a breakfast of the muffins I'd made late Wednesday night (when I realized we were out of oats and needed breakfast!).  I love these two cuties helping each other with their Awana verses bright and early over breakfast.

We scooted up morning time but found time for a quick game instead of omitting it.

We played last man standing Blink and Natalee beat everyone one of us and took the grand champion title.

We headed out for the 10 a.m. hippotherapy session.  Natalee got to ride a new mount this week!

The rest of the kids worked outside while Natalee was in her session. 

Supper outside - soaking in as much outdoors as we can before winter.

Xavier got an early Christmas present from Nannie and Vance - new slides.  Nannie saw his were too small (again) when she was up a couple weeks ago and treated him to a new pair.  He loves them.

Evalynn asked Mia to braid her hair after showers.

Evalynn also got mail from Nannie and Vance.  A new bed for Honey.  She tried to keep her eyes closed while I put it together.  LOL.  

Soooo happy.  It has a trundle!  Now her other babies of choice sleep in the cradle and Honey has her very own bed.....and on nights she's generous she lets another baby sleep on the trundle. 

We often have Fridays off from school, but since we had co-op Monday we had some subjects to work on Friday.  Evalynn needed to paint a picture for Awana, and then decided water color painting was a lot of fun and she painted lots and lots of pictures. 

I added this James Herriot book to our morning basket and we are loving it.  Evalynn sits on my lap during this story and looks at the pictures - they are beautiful.  

We completed the last book in the Little House series, The First Four Years, this week and started The Birchbark House.  We have also read a chapter everyday of Rodzina and are always eager for our next one.  I've said it already but morning basket time is easily my favorite time of the day.  

Saturday morning the oldest four kids and Mike got to go race go-carts.  This was a treat for Xavier's summer baseball team, but the coach invited the families. 

It was rainy and they all came home soaked and muddy but they had a blast and said it was totally worth it.

Evie and I stayed home and snuggled, watched a couple shows, and did our nails while it rained.

The weather was wet all day.  Normally I love a rainy day, but Saturday we had Beeler family pictures scheduled.  Eesh.  We watched radar, prayed, talked to the photography, and in the end bit the bullet and just hoped for the best.  We retreated to the cars 2-3 times during the session.  We dried clothes on the vents to try to not look so water spotted, and kept our umbrellas handy but overall we are so happy with the sneak peeks we've seen and we're glad we got to do them!

We went for Mexican after pictures.

My beautiful girl.

We drove home in some crummy weather and waited twice for bad weather to pass around.  When we got home it was still lightening and Evie asked to sleep with Natalee and big sister said okay.  

The appointments in our weeks are sometimes so wearying - this week alone we had five - but we try to find our joy and be thankful for the services our kids are privileged to get.  This was another FULL week, but such a beautiful one and we have lots of memories to store up!