Sunday Night Blog

I think I should rename my blog the "Sunday night blog" because that's pretty much my weekly family journal time. This week we were all still recovering from a little sickness. Kenny, of course, was the only one who didn't get it. As usual. But we still had some fun. A lot of people have crazy busy summers. And mostly just crazy busy lives. A lot of times I stop and wonder if there's something I'm missing out on?? Like why is everyone so heavily scheduled and what are they doing and is it worth it? Our days aren't too different from the rest of the year, except that we're outside a lot more than we're inside (when it's not raining all day). We still have our normal morning chores after waking up, we still do a little bit of formal "school" or learning time in the morning, and other than that we just do what we want. Lots of reading, lots of playing, cleaning, cooking. We just have ideas and pursue them. It allows the kids to be creative and they do lots of stuff, it's just whatever they come up with. If they start to get bored I'll suggest several different things they can do (either working, or crafts, etc.) and they pick something and go do it. I like our low-key lives, and I know it won't always be like this. But we'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Here's some pictures from the week...

Playing in the rain. We got a lot of it this week. In fact almost every day (up until like Friday or Saturday) was cloudy and rainy.

This was a fun project they did on geography day (Thursday). They just needed to do some kind of project for physical geography and this is what they came up with. I was in the house feeding Briggs and reading to Kels and the other 3 went outside and did this all together. It was pretty cute. Just found a box in the garage, filled it with dirt and picked some plants and grass and stuff and got some animals from the game room and made a little outdoor scene. Complete with a bowl of water for a lake. They had fun.

We've been reading the book Farmer Boy as a family and they come up with the funniest things to be "farmers". Here they were picking grass (before it got mowed...) and then get one piece of grass to use as a tie and make "grass bundles". They feel like they're bringing in bundles of wheat. It was so funny to see them out there tying bundles in the rain and just genuinely enjoying it.

I can't get this picture to turn. But if there were a job in the world where we needed things emptied out, babies would be excellent at it! Unfortunately, it's pretty much never helpful, and yet they isntinctively do it ALL THE TIME. This is how he stays busy while I fold laundry. He pulls all the socks out of my mismatched socks bin. I put them all back in and he happily starts over like it's his job. 

The other morning Bryn wanted me to put make up on her, then of course they all wanted make up on. It just so happened they were all already wearing dress ups. Such pretty little girls I have.

This rock hill below is like our go-to spot. Any time we go on a walk, we have to stop and play at the rock hill. They just go up and down a lot and find cool rocks and act like they're defending a castle and heaven knows what else. They're so happy here. Briggs and I just hang out and wait for them to finish :).

 Tyler had his first piano recital on Saturday. He did a great job. On one song he was even closing his eyes and swaying his head all dramatic-like as though he were just so into the music. It was hilarious and I had a hard time keeping in my laugh. He's a no-shame-homeschooler! :)

Our grass is coming in, but not in some spots... And you can kind of see Kenny back there through the trees. He has been working hard this weekend on removing massive tree stumps (like the one in the wheelbarrow) and trying to level out the area back there so we can put a fence in. I'm pretty sure nothing makes him happier than working outside on our land.

Tyler's getting pretty good at mowing the lawn. He feels so proud of the work he's done.