Weekly Wind Down {No Break from School, Arctic Blast, Games!} Dec. 18-24

We really could not afford to take the week before Christmas off of school after doing the bare minimum during our round of influenza a, so we got back to routine and conquered week 18 of our calendar year.  It felt good to fall back into our routines with just a bit more resting added in.

But first....

On Sunday we still were not 24 hours fever free, so we tuned into our church's live stream and had worship at home.  Then the kids went out to get some fresh air and I served snacks in the dome.

It wasn't warm but the sun warmed the plastic and made the dome nice to be inside for an hour or so.

While the kids played in the dome, and then later in the basement, I first vacuumed and mopped all the floors and then shampooed the germs out of all the living room furniture and the area rug.  Man was that a chore, but mercy did it feel good!  I also aired out every room of the house while I worked (also because I got hot while I was working). 

Monday came and we hit the school routine as best we could.  It was hard - we were tired - but we rested as we needed and pushed through.

Monday night we made gingerbread houses and that was a nice thing to do together and a good reason to laugh and have fun.

Some of us got dressed Tuesday - some didn't (also, Xavier has a new robe under the tree as this one is obviously too small!).

We caught up with all our missed Jesse Tree 

and Advent readings.

Tuesday night we went to see Christmas lights.  

Wednesday I struggled.  I stayed in bed too long snuggling.  Eventually I joined the day.

The countdown box said "Evie's choice of Christmas movie" and we watched Curious George Christmas Wednesday evening.

Thursday Mike was home.  He joined our school routine and did a few other things around the house.  It was also Jolabokaflod, which was a lot of fun.

We got his with arctic temps and honestly it just wasn't any fun to be outside.  We were stir crazy having been home all month with sickness, but we just had to to our best.

I didn't have enough thimbles, so I gave the kids wooden spoons to draw pictures in our frosted over storm door windows.

I challenged the oldest 2 to do five miles on the exercise bike.  It was harder than they thought it would be after we'd been so very still with our bodies for weeks.  They worked for it.

Games to pass the evening.

Friday was Daddy's turn to choose a Christmas movie.  He picked Miracle on 34th Street.  We tied up the loose ends of our week of school and then found ways to pass the day.

The younger three spent a significant amount of time painting.

More games.  So thankful we invested in teaching them to play games!

Evie loved the Christmas appeal of having snacks out more often than our regular routine.  She became a big fan of Chex mix.

Saturday was our Christmas at home and Christmas Eve service.