A week full of odds and ends, Spring nature hikes, and visits from friends and family!
Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life posts!
MONDAY
This weekend, I spent some time going through old posts. I ran across one from years ago that mentioned how I often did not get dressed until noon. Now, I rarely leave my bedroom in the morning without being dressed! Such a difference between the baby years and now!
This morning, I brewed myself some coffee and did some planning for the day. We started school with Stories of the Resurrection and Astronomy, then did our lessons from An Expectant Easter. We read God Gave Us Easter, which turned out to be a really great book!
Later this afternoon, we’ll take the Spring Nature Walk we were supposed to take last week. It needs to warm up a bit, so I’ll set an alarm to remind me to take them out across the creek later.
I made an Asian Bowl for lunch (rice, chicken wontons, orange sauce, broccoli, and wonton strips) and sorted out the rest of my day while I was up in my bedroom.
I also took some time to release a new podcast and get a newsletter out to my email readers. There is always so much to do! I take it a little at a time when I am able. That’s why there’s really no rhyme or reason to when I release podcasts or when an email goes out, but that’s just the way it is, and everyone is always so gracious about it.
After I got finished with those things, it was warm enough to take the 14 and under crowd on a nature walk along the creek. We looked for items from the Spring Scavenger Hunt found in An Expectant Easter.
The kids climbed on rocks and a couple of them shimmied across the creek on a log. We had so much fun!
For dinner, I rolled out a quadruple batch of pita dough and cooked them on cast iron over the gas stove while baking up some falafel to go with it. It took quite a bit of time, but everyone really enjoyed the meal. However, I’m not sure I’ll be able to make the meal again – just too time-consuming! I don’t like to do recipes that require me to make one item at a time (like the pita). It takes forever to get finished!
After dinner, Ty and I went out to pick up Special Night food for our 12 year old. He wanted a fish sandwich and Vanilla Pepsi Nitro. We also grabbed supplies to make our Resurrection Garden. We are changing things up with our Garden this year, but I doubt I’ll get all the details out before Easter, so you’ll have to come back next Easter!
Toward the end of his Special Night, Garin asked for an essential oil back rub. Most of the kids like to have one of these on their Special Night. Lately, the kids have been liking Happy Place from Plant Therapy.
Plant Therapy labels which of their oils are KidSafe, so you never have to worry about using one that isn’t safe with your children. I usually add a couple of drops of Happy Place to some almond oil or fractionated coconut oil when I do their back rubs.
TUESDAY
Waking up this morning, I realized just how many pita dough circles I rolled out yesterday! Boy, were my forearms achy!
For Morning Time, we read in Stories of the Resurrection and Astronomy before our son headed out for family photos with his wife’s family. (Yes, it still sounds weird to say “wife” when talking to or about him.)
For Easter School, we did our egg hunt, read Scripture, did a picture study, read a poem, and listened to a hymn. All of this courtesy of An Expectant Easter.
I also got a new video released on YouTube:
The 17 and 18 year olds went with me to pick Ty up from work, then we all went onto post to drop our son off and stop at the PX to buy an Easter dress for our daughter. We snagged gas for $2.73 – everywhere else is closer to $2.90!
When I got home, I started dinner – roast chicken and M&M Dream Bars. I got the roast chicken recipe from Forgotten Ways Farm on YouTube. The Dream Bars are from Lynette Yoder on YouTube.
After I got everything prepped, I took a walk. It is 52° today and it has been a long time since I walked the neighborhood. I really need to start walking again. I always feel better when I do.
When I got home, the 8 year old read Green Eggs and Ham to me. Her reading has improved so much over the past few months!
Ty’s aunt arrived just in time for dinner. I threw together a salad, and quickly realized we are NOT a one chicken family! What was I thinking only thawing and roasting one chicken?!
After dinner, I mended a hole in one of Ty’s military shirts and tried not to puke as the kids watched Dr. Pimple Popper with Ty’s aunt! She loves that show!
WEDNESDAY
Ty and I got up at 4am to take his aunt to the airport. Then, I went back to bed, and Ty went to PT (physical training for the Army).
I had a dentist appointment this morning to look at a tooth that is bugging me. Another dentist has been “watching” it for several years, but lately, it’s been hurting. I told the dentist back in December, but they wouldn’t do x-rays or check it. So, I decided to go somewhere else. We’ve been quite dissatisfied with this dentist for a while, particularly because his dental hygienists are alarmist and come across mean while he does very little and always seems a little “meh.” Not a great combination.
Turns out, the tooth is in bad shape and should have been caught…oh, about 6 months ago. *sigh*. I’ll go back April 17 to see how much of the tooth can be saved (if at all). That seals the deal – I am switching all of us who were with that dentist to this new one!
After all of that, I came home, ate lunch, and took a break – a much needed break. No Morning Time or Easter School today.
The big kids headed to work. When Ty got home, we went out to their work to pick up our 17 year old and take him to visit a tech school in a neighboring city. He is interested in the welding program there and was able to meet with the instructor. He really liked the guy and got a lot of great information. They also have some great programs for homeschoolers!
We had very little turnaround time after the trip to get ready for church tonight. It is a 5th Wednesday, so rather than all the individual groups meetings, we met all together for singing, prayer, and communion. The official meeting time was from 6-7, but we all ended up chatting outside until 8pm! We’ve made so many friends at this church. We have missed that kind of fellowship so much!
When we got home, the kids made popcorn and watched a show with Ty. I worked on canning the chicken broth I made from the roast chicken bones. After I roast a chicken, I throw whatever is left into the crock pot with onion and celery. I cover it with water and then cook it overnight. The next day, I run it through a strainer and put it in quart jars and pressure can it. I would have preferred to have more things to can, but I’m just glad I’ve been using my pressure canner and am not afraid of it anymore!
THURSDAY
For Morning Time, we did a simplified Easter School. We have friends coming over in the afternoon, and I needed a bit of time to get the house in order.
As I was cleaning up, I decided to add a latch to our food storage door. I tried to get the door to align first (with the help of YouTube), but it is WAY off, so I did the best I could and added a latch toward the top of the door. Our cat has been able to open the door because it does not latch properly, so we’ve been putting a big bag of stuffed animals in front of it every time we go in and out. I was tired of moving those animals every single time, so the latch seemed like a better plan.
When my friend and her daughter got here, the kids went wild! They ran all over the yard while she and I sat on the deck and talked. We always have a nice time, and are planning another playdate next month.
When they left, I decided to prep the quinoa for dinner tonight. Anything I can do ahead of time makes dinner that much smoother for me.
For dinner, we had air fried pollock and quinoa with dill sauce, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Everyone enjoyed it! Our 18 year old daughter had made a fresh batch of granola earlier, and almost the entire batch got eaten for dessert.
During the evening hours, I worked on a meal plan for next week and a grocery list to go with it. I’ll shop tomorrow after Home Blessing.
I also waded through thousands of images and posts on my blog. With 17 years of blogging comes a lot of images and posts, and a lot of storage space needed to house all this stuff! It was fun to go through the memories from the last 17 years.
FRIDAY
It is a humid day here. We opened up the house, but yuck! The kids complained, and no one felt like working. However, by tonight, it will be freezing! Crazy Spring weather!
We did our usual Tidy and Reset, and then the Friday Chores. Once the chores were finished, the 18 year old, 6 year old, and I went to Aldi to do the weekly shopping. We also swept the car out at the free vacuums.
I ended up spending $358 at Aldi! EEK! But, I did buy a lot of fresh fruits and veggies and some great healthy snacks and meals
The rest of the day was pretty chill. I recorded a podcast, took a walk, and hung out with the family!
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