Weekly Wrap-Up.....{two weeks worth}

Weeks go by so quick so these weekly wrap-ups are turning into more of a two or three week wrap-up.  I have a variety of miscellaneous pictures from March, which I'll use to recap the month so far.

At first glance it appears to be Joseph's birthday, but of course, his is in August.  March brings us Warren's birthday.  The little kids really wanted Dad's birthday to be a party.  The best place I know of to get party supplies is Dollar Tree (where everything's a dollar, except some candy bars, which are only 69 cents).  $4.00 later we had all the makings of a party - 1 balloon, 1 centerpiece, 18 birthday plates, and a 60 pack of candles.  We didn't use all the candles, but it was nice to actually have enough.

Once the balloon was tied to Dad's chair, Joe sat down and literally didn't move all day.  He kept saying, "It's mine, it's mine."  I see lots of helium balloons in my future - because let me tell you, knowing exactly where to look for him was pure joy and I need more of that in my life.  Keeping track of his wanderings is a full time job.  Often I need a few LTE's to help out, too.

That's a lot of fire.

Sadly, Nick had to work so he missed out on the fun, but we saved him some fish and cake.

 --------------------------------------------------------------

 Sam, Joseph, Peter, and Maria have been following along with Holy Heroes' Lenten Adventure.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Peter's been sneaking off with my camera lately.  He fills the card with pictures like these. ↙

------------------------------------------------------------

Counting down, remembering to pray for the daily intention, placing coins in the Rice Bowl - Lent is well under way.  You can find directions and a free printable for making your own calendar here.

------------------------------------------------------------

Always playing communion.  This little activity keeps her busy for a long time, and she has no problem distributing them to the entire family.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

One day the ground is clear, the next it's covered in snow again.  I just want the sun - cold March temps are bearable if it's sunny.  Amber's already working with Rhythm getting ready for fair.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Now that Sam has turned intermediate, he's advanced to clip shoes.  He just bought them in size 13.  And he's still growing!

----------------------------------------------------------

Amber is dog sitting; there's 3 of them.  Family? recognize these dogs?  Bella, Daisy, and Teddy(not shown)

Amber and Bella

Joe and Bella

These little dogs live a pretty posh life.  They wear sweaters and ski jackets.  They eat salmon and bible bread.  They have their own stroller and rolling luggage.  We get to keep them for another 10 days.

That sums up our March so far.  

On the homeschooling front, we're in week 25, which means we should wrap up the year on May 27, just in time to get the garden in.

I hope to be back soon with a number of recipe reviews and a recap of what we're using for math this year and how it's working.

Linking up with

Weekly Wrap-Up {the one with a Grove shipment and a birch log with eyelashes}

Time to edit photos and compose a coherent sentence worthy of typing has been limited lately.  I wake up and review my tidy daily plan and within minutes I find myself off course.  Something or someone (not on my list) needs my attention.  NOW!  And so begins the day.  A day of constant moving, constant doing, but never checking anything off that tidy little daily plan.  Blogging?  Making connections with readers?  It has to take a back seat to my family.

This morning, though, I woke up and knew I just had to edit and type and think and form thoughts.  It's good to look back at the week - the pictures tell a story.  A story of our family working and learning and playing together, and apparently getting things done.  Yeah for pictures.😊

Where are all the people who constantly take me off course?  Birthday parties, snowmobiling, ice fishing, listening to an audiobook - everywhere, but right here.  So I blog away happily.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Last weekend we enjoyed a few days up North ice fishing.  There was indeed ice, but there was also slush and 6 inches of water and rain.  Luckily our favorite rental cabin is just feet from the lake so we put out our tip-ups and then hang out in the cabin watching for flags.

Trying anything to keep the little one's feet dry(ish), I lined their boots with garbage bags reminiscent of the bread bag days of my youth.  There was so much water even this age old trick couldn't keep their feet dry.

We did bring home 4 northern pike, which made a great lunch last Tuesday.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Grove Collaborative is new company to me.  They specialize in delivering affordable natural cleaning and beauty supplies right to your door.  They had a Mrs. Meyer's special last week, and I do love Mrs. Meyer's products.  I picked up 2 kitchen sprays, 1 dish soap, 2 hand soaps, 1 hand lotion, 3 walnut shell kitchen scrubbies, 1 coconut bar soap, and 1 coconut lip balm for a grand total of $20.75.  Not bad and I didn't even have to leave the house.  Here's my haul.

I chose honeysuckle scented Mrs. Meyer's products, except for the 1 lemon verbena dish soap.  The honeysuckle scent reminds me of a warm spring day, something every Wisconsinite needs a reminder of in January.  Excuse me while I take a minute to moisturize.  Mmmm!

I love ALL things coconut, and this Yes to lip balm delivers in a big way.  It's creamy and smells oh so good.  Peter and Maria have been sneaking it every chance they get.

Why am I telling you about Grove Collaborative?  Because if you click over through this link you will receive $10 off your first order. (referral link)

------------------------------------------------------------------

In homeschooling news, Joseph's been making progress with his writing.  I mostly use Handwriting Without Tears, but just ran across this homemade workbook from his last year's Virtual Learning Friday teacher.  It got buried under this year's curriculum until Monday when I was doing a little organizing.  When I set it on the table, Joe said, "Ms. Teresa coming?"  I had to remind him that Ms. Teresa's in heaven, but we could still work on writing skills.  So, anyway, he was learning the letter "i".  

Last year I had to use special pencil grips, but this year his hand is bigger and stronger so he typically doesn't use them anymore.  Progress - it's a good thing!

On the top line, I hand over hand a couple of times, then guide him by saying the description:  down, dot; down, dot; down, dot.  He uses a pencil on the top line.

Poses for a quick silly picture.  Keeping this boy on task can be exhausting.  Keeping him in a shirt - impossible!

On the 2nd line of i's I let him choose a marker for writing.  Markers really glide and put down a lot of color without much pressure.  Joe doesn't like to press when he writes so as a reward for pressing with the pencil, I let him do the 2nd line of writing with a marker.  He's so much happier the second time around.

----------------------------------------------------------------

We're having some beautiful January weather including a true January thaw a couple weeks ago.  This day was so perfect we just had to get outside.  After baking cookies we bagged up a few to take out to dad, who was cutting firewood.  But first, we filled the bird feeders.

And then we decided to join in on making firewood.  It was late in the day, but we did what we could.

Joseph, of course, found a stump, sat down and shot all the deer he could.

Hide and seek is a good way to pass the time while dad dumps the load of wood.

In case you're dying to duplicate the above fashion statement, it's easy.  Pull neck gator over head and then stop long before it reaches your neck.  Sometimes we call it a chimney.  Sometimes we call it ridiculous.  But, this fashion statement has been going on since I first sewed that rectangle of fleece into a tube.  And if I'm not mistaken, a certain oldest son does the same thing.

---------------------------------------------------

And here you have it, the birch log with eyelashes.  Nature never disappoints.

Linking up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers for the Weekly Wrap-Up.

In case you haven't done so yet, please Like Camp Homeschool over at FB to keep updated on new posts and other Camp Homeschool news.  Thanks.

Log Cutting in the Winter....(and a birthday)

It's not often I get to publicly express my love and honor for this man.  I suppose if I looked back, I might find something in the March archives of years past.  Birthdays are a good time to really let someone know how much you care.

I don't think there's ever been a year without a baby or toddler helping blow out the candles.  Soon enough though, the littlest one grows up.  Warren always says, "Someone has to be the baby."  I just love these two pictures......the lopsided cake, only 12 birthday candles, frosting that doesn't quite cover.  It sums up our life - we might not look like we have it all together, but somehow it all works.

The little kids like to pick out some kind of candy for a gift.  Maria picked out gum and tic tacs.

And Peter picked out a chewy mix from Fleet Farm.

The older kids know how much Dad loves the story behind the Edmund Fitzgerald, so this book should be a good read for him.

 And now on to the log cutting.  I don't know who said winter is a slow time for cranberry growers.  I do know they don't know my husband.  Yes, the cranberry vines are locked in ice, but that doesn't mean hibernation for the farmers.  Along with flooding, sanding, building kitchen cabinet doors, nutrient management plan writing, yearly budget hashing, taxes, equipment upgrades/repairs......the list could go on, Warren did some selective log cutting on the property.  The pile is really impressive if you're into that sort of thing - log gazing.  Of course, I had to pull the camera out for a little documentation.

Of course he uses a STIHL, but not this one.

This monster is 3 feet in diameter.

A pile of mostly red oak.

And that's a wrap on Warren's whereabouts.

You might like

Police Reports (when Warren's shirt was eaten by a bear)

He Makes Me Laugh (when he was funny in the AM)

So Perfectly Me, So Perfectly You (when our horoscopes told the truth)