Weekly Wind Down {Poetry Recitations, Haddyn Visit, Off to See Aunt Annette, Awana Awards, WPU Trick or Treat} Oct 23-29

We started this week at church with this beauty.  She's too much with purse and the dolly.

I am loving having our children in church with us and very much appreciate the fellowship we are worshiping with.

Sunday afternoon was for napping!  The four youngest and Daddy who had tent camped were needing a rest and so was our sleepover girl when she got home from her friend's house.  We were invited to a small group that doesn't meet every week, which works really well with our schedules, and I was so excited to go Sunday evening.  On our end it was a wonderful evening and felt like a perfect fit for us.  The children had a wonderful time and all of our kids had one or more kiddos from the other families that were around their age.  This group really felt like a "God smile" to me and we are excited to meet again.

Monday was a co-op day.  Aunt Annette was still in the hospital working on getting better, so we sent her a Monday morning hello picture to let her know we were thinking of her.

My music class went very well and the kids loved playing instruments to practice rhythm and beat along with different tempos.  Next class they will build their own rhythms and we'll practice them.

My preschool class was centered around owls.  

Owl snack...

Owl art...

Owl color memory....

and an owl fingerplay.

It was raining so we had lunch in the church.  I let me older kids finish their game of Apples to Apples before we headed out for the day.

While I was at co-op, Mike FaceTimed me.  He'd had a call while he was at work and the Paynes were in town.  I was so sad I missed them!  But Mike wasn't sad he got some Haddyn snuggles!!

It was raining when we got home, but the three younger kids asked to play outside.  I'm trying not to say no without a valid reason, so I said yes, and they had a fun hour or so in the rain.  They all came in and had warm showers and were no worse for the wear.  I remind myself if we lived on a farm or had livestock to care for, going out no matter the weather would be part of our routine!

I made a huge batch of breakfast burrito mix for supper and then Natalee and I headed to swim.  There was a mock meet during practice and I volunteered as a lane timer.

I was plenty tired after a busy day!  If only my mind could sleep as hard as my body wants to.

Tuesday we were off and running with our school routine.

Zayden's build during read aloud time.

Mia and Zayden's science lesson was about the moon.

I battled a headache Tuesday afternoon and evening so Mike took over when he got home and he and Evie made spaghetti for supper.

Last week during game school week, I told each of the children to choose 2 small or one lengthier poem to memorize and present.  We didn't get the recitations done until this week, but they all did wonderfully when they presented Tuesday night.

Never to be outdone, Evie presented her ABCDs.

Happy birthday to Grandma Cindy on Wednesday!

We did our read alouds outside and the kids insisted they weren't cold!

The rest of the school day was pretty routine and then we got cleaned up for Awana and youth group.  It was hat night!

Zayden earned lots of awards Wednesday night.  His records got a little back logged and so he got several at one time.  We're very thankful for the Awana program and what it offers our children.

His happy face with his badges and wings/jewels.  

Thursday was a busy day!  Mike packed us some road sandwiches and we headed out for several hours.  First stop was hippotherapy.

After hippotherapy we had a beautiful drive over Red Rock Lake, including a mile long bridge, and went to visit Aunt Annette at the care facility that she has moved to for a little while.  The children could be held off no longer, so once she was sprung from the hospital I told them we'd make a visit happen.  She had treats for them and I'd brought some games along for them to play so that we didn't disturb others while we were there.  Little Evie got tired and had several snuggles.

We're so grateful she's feeling better and was up for our crew!

After a couple hours we headed out.  Zayden and Evalynn both napped on the drive home.

There was energy to be unleashed after sitting for so long, so the kids alternated using the math computer and playing outside, and then all went outside after school was completed for the day.

They have been working on quite a chalk resort!

I was so impressed with the thoughtfulness of this card that Ameliya made for a little friend who broke her arm.  Owls to dress and then their names to decode.  Jokes.  Just so sweet.

I hit the ground running Friday with the laundry and house chores that had been a bit neglected this week.  Evie read me a book while I folded.

And then she eventually said, "can you stop working and snuggle me?"  

I try to be the "fun mom" I was with the first children, so I set up a mummy lacing project for Evalynn and she loved it.

I worked and worked and worked Friday.  Load after load of laundry.  It was a hard parenting day and I kind of hit survival mode at some point.  

There was a trick or treat event at Mike's work Friday evening so we headed out shortly after Mike got home.

It was crowded but still very fun and appreciated.

Back home and then the older two kids left with Mike for a youth group event, and I let the younger three veg and watch Charlotte's Web while I iced my back that I had somehow wretched.  

Saturday the kids slept in a bit, did cartoons and house cleaning, and then played outside.  In the afternoon we headed to Missouri to spend time and have supper with Mike's folks.  It was nice to catch up.

At bedtime we drove out to Grandma and Papa Tallman's house for showers and sleep and that ended our last week in October!