Monday, November 4th

Our week started off with a Monday full of school, play and a surprise Boo gift from us to the kids.

The kids did their usual schoolwork and then played several games with their color-counting bears and a few other manipulatives.  I love watching what games they invent - modern education does not give enough credit to how important play is.  It's a child-led way for them to practice all of the skills they are learning.  There is also an incredibly valuable knowledge trickle-down effect when the older and younger ages play together.

Waverly was in a very happy, content mood and I needed to clean my bathroom so I laid her on my bed and got to work.  The bathroom is line of sight to the bed and she was in the middle surrounded by pillows so she couldn't make any fancy maneuvers and roll off.  I could hear her babbling happily so I tackled a few things before checking on her and I found this - the new little cat sitting on top of a pillow...on top of the baby!  Waverly was pulling and tugging at her fur and the cat was purring and sitting there totally pleased.  I realized it had been the cat that elicited the burst of "talking" from the baby :-)  When she caught me watching out of the corner of her eye she looked at me and just had the most conspiratorial look, like, "This is so amazing what is happening right here, right now." haha

In her high chair at lunchtime, with a little mesh bag full of crisp apples - she really can't get anything out of them but she loves gnawing around.  I think she is starting to teeth in earnest now, and it seems to feel pretty good on those gums!

Jim had ordered a special holiday boo online for Scarlett (one they had looked at together previously and she had loved), so when it arrived in the mail that afternoon, I made a quick run to pick up one for Victoria and Lincoln while the kiddos napped and Gram stayed home. They were really excited to receive their festive boos!

Jim and I haven't been getting much Starbucks lately, trying to avoid the sugary drinks.  However, as a special treat I stopped and picked up iced coffees for the both of us - I asked them to be topped with whipped cream so that they felt more decadent than they tasted :-)

Salty has been feeling much better since taking his prescription medicines - he's all smiles now and even managed to sneak a little forbidden sofa time with Jim when the kids were in bed!

Wednesday, October 30th

Lincoln had been feeling a bit puny all week, but seemed to be on the mend Wednesday.  We kept things low-key (as much as they ever are here!) to make sure he could get some extra rest and feel up to trick-or-treating the following day.  The girls did school and spent quite a long time on a sewing project of their own creation.

Jim had a great surprise for me Wednesday morning - the previous day he had been in-town and stopped by Ikea for two things I'd really been wanting to pick up.  One thing was for the office space in our room, and the other was a new Ikea highchair for Waverly!  He put it together and we plunked her down in there.  In my mind, I had imagined her being much tinier in the seat, but nope - she fit great.  At first she was all, "Whoa! What is this?"

A big ol' smile soon followed... 

And pretty much stayed plastered on for quite a while - I think she enjoys the better view and having the tray to whack around on :-)  She definitely says, "Thanks, daddy!"

 The girls need a dedicated sewing teacher - they're so eager to learn but I have already taught them the two things I know how to do!  I think I am going to look into kids' classes at a JoAnn Fabrics or similar, or nag one of my crafty friends to teach a little co-op class.  The girls really enjoy messing around and creating their own little sewing projects.

Just in the nick of time, Jim's Halloween costume came - Lincoln had asked and asked his daddy to dress up like Captain America so that he (Linc) could be James Rogers, Captain America's son (from the movie Next Avengers).  He was just BEAMING when Jim strolled out of his office wearing the full gear :-)

Scarlett's finished dress that she made herself (the sleeves are a red shirt she's wearing underneath the red dress).  She is very proud of it and it is currently hanging in her closet!

Tuesday, October 29th

We really had an enjoyable time with school on Tuesday, in no small part due to a fun baking project and a set of gently used MagnaTiles that I had purchased over the weekend :-)

I had been eyeing a set of MagnaTiles for quite some time - over a year - but they are so expensive!  At more than $1/piece, it's hard to commit to buying a 100-piece set; and while they do come in smaller sets I also had to think realistically about two or three kids playing with them simultaneously and how they wouldn't be able to build much with only a few pieces each.

So imagine my delight when I found a gently used set at the new 2nd & Charles store in Kennesaw for less than 50% the price of a new set!  I was thrilled, and snatched it up quickly; I had been scouring Craigslist, Ebay and everywhere I could think for a deal this good and I couldn't let it pass.  I was so sure I was going to save it for Christmas, but I am just the worst about things like that and so I saved it aside for a whole two days before busting them out ;-)  Oh well, Linc loved them and it was a great independent activity for him to do while the girls were busy baking.

After their schoolwork, the girls were busy playing boos downstairs until it was time to start baking - I love all of the elaborate games they play and that they have names for certain games, i.e. there's the "Danger Game" and "Animal Shelter" and so forth and so on.

The girls had really loved a book I'd picked up from the library called "Cranberry Thanksgiving," which has the recipe for traditional cranberry bread in the back.  For as many things as I've baked in my life, I've never done much with cranberries but knew the girls would enjoy giving it a try!  First they had to chop a couple cups worth of cranberries in half.

Next it was time to mix the dry ingredients and then chop in the cold butter.

Soon it was time to go into the bread pan! What you can't see is the dining room chair in front of the oven, keeping it closed because the oven door is on the fritz and won't heat properly unless something is leaning against it (we're so fancy, lol).

Now that the bread had to bake for 30+ minutes, the girls were eager to try their hand at the MagnaTiles, too.

We had half a bag of cranberries left and I didn't want to just let them languish in the fridge until we threw them out, so I put them on to make cranberry sauce - yum!

The finished product with the inspiration book :-)  The girls gobbled it up, and Lincoln sort of picked at it and then ate his once I buttered it quite a bit.  Later they told me it just wasn't as sweet as they were anticipating, but I reminded them that the recipe in the book is an old New England staple and they wouldn't have made it in quite the dessert fashion we are used to.  After dinner I gave them each a slice warmed up with vanilla ice cream and cranberry sauce on top and they were huge fans! 

Random snapshot - Waverly was on the floor in the living room just watching Scarlett build with the tiles.  I stepped out of the room and came back in to Scarlett giggling away as she tiled the baby, haha 

:-)  Of course, Waverly loves almost anything the big kids do so long as they are paying her attention, and she was all smiles!  

When the kids were done with their cranberry bread a la mode dessert, I wiped off one of the spoons until there was only a faint residue and then gave it to Waverly.  She is so, so expressive and makes me laugh as you can see every thought/opinion clearly on her face!  When she first licked the spoon she was shocked, then a repeat taste test seemed to produce a sour result, but she stuck with it like a good little scientist and was soon like "YES!" 

Monday, October 28th

We had a very relaxed Monday - school went easily and then the girls were anxious to play an elaborate Boo game with their beanie boos.  Lincoln played with them some and hung out with me and Waverly quite a bit as well.  It's been so fun to watch him become much more interactive with the baby now that she's so very responsive... the fact that she thinks anything he does - even walking past - is totally hilarious definitely encourages him to get more giggles out of her :-)

He likes to snatch her little bear-head blanket from her and shake it in his teeth like a dog - sometimes she'll grab hold and they'll play "tug".

Other times he'll make it dance and sing for her which is always a winner as evidenced by that big ol' smile! :-) (kitten photobomb in the back~)

Upside down face!

 But if he gets too close, she grabs hold of his hair with all her might and chuckles gleefully ;-)  Gram, Nana and I have all agreed that Waverly's hair has the exact same texture and feel to it as Lincoln's does.  I don't know if that means it will be curly like Linc's was (and probably still would be if I let it grow out)?  

So Waverly really loves everyone - her siblings, her daddy (she gets so excited to see him always!), grammie and nana and so forth and so on... but I have to confess that I kind of enjoy how much of a Mama's Girlie she is :-)  We love each other so!

Heading out to the gym later that night, I had to snap a quick picture of the girls' boo hotel they had going on, using doll house furniture.  We have SO many wash cloths in this house - I'd bet close to 40; a lot are needed in a household with 8 people!  But sometimes neither Gram nor I can find more than a couple because the kids have them all squirreled away for various Boo-related purposes, lol.  When you have 15+ boos and each one needs a (washcloth) pillow and (washcloth) blanket, it really starts to add up!

Friday, October 25th

Friday was a very low key day - Waverly still wasn't feeling entirely back to normal and I think we were all feeling a bit run down.  After a light morning of school, the kids played and then Jim and I caught an early-evening movie for date night!

I was putting away diapers and Waverly was crabbing a bit, so I plunked her in the empty box with a pillow and asked Victoria (who had been keeping me company) if she'd like to drag the baby around a bit.  She was happy to oblige, but Waverly's face at first was priceless... "Uh, so you really weren't kidding about this riding in a box thing, were you?" lol

She did give several big smiles but I could never quite capture them quickly enough.  Overall she had this mildly pleased look, but at least it put an end to her fussing :-)

"Mommy, she's REALLY HEAVY." haha

Awaiting the start of our movie, "Gravity," in 3D at the IMAX - such a great movie.  Jim was giving an amazing Zoolander face here!  Love my guy~

Tuesday, October 22nd

The day started off so promising and careened sharply downhill and burrowed underground sometime around dinner.  I guess it was just one of those days! 
:-p

We started off really nicely after breakfast - the kids wanted to write letters (the girls to Aunt Kari and Lincoln to our cousin Meredith) and decorate envelopes, so we spent an hour doing just that.  I even let them bundle up in rain gear and go put the mail in the box by themselves.

After our one-on-one school time, I had Scarlett and Victoria work on their presentations for the upcoming Passport Club meeting (which we would be hosting).  Scarlett always likes to put hers together and then read through it all a few times by herself first.

Next, she did a read aloud to me (and Waverly, who was in her wrap on me and BEAMING at Scarlett, who she assumed was speaking exclusively to her; Scarlett found this immensely hilarious and distracting) and then practiced while trying not to glance at the board - but sometimes she would need to.

During tea & story time, we read "Very Last First Time" (I can't recall if this was the first reading or second or third - the kids really enjoyed this book) and "Lighthouse Family: The Storm."

Victoria's board - she is presenting on the Karakurt Spiders of Russia; also known as the Asian Black Widow.  Basically, they're everything my nightmares are made of, and I had to have Jim find pictures to print off because I couldn't even look at the images.

Scarlett's board - she is going to discuss ballet in Russia, specifically "The Nutcracker."  She has several difficult Russian names (Diaghilev, Tchaikovsky, etc.) but is doing really well.

The big kids were having rest time, and I needed to make a cup of tea.  Waverly has been so grabby that I'm always worried she is going to make a break for my cup of boiling water so I try to set her down some place safe while I quickly make up my cup of wonderfulness. Well... seems like I won't be able to leave her unattended on the floor for much longer!  I left her on the floor near the white burp cloth in the foreground of the picture and came back in after a couple of minutes and found her waaayyy on the other side of the room, smiling at her accomplishment!

Victoria decided when they got up from rest time that she wanted to Be In Charge of Waverly.  She drug her into the fort that she stole from Scarlett and sang sweet songs to her, read her books, and otherwise entertained the baby for almost 45 minutes!  Every time Waverly rolled away, Victoria would gently roll her back onto the "safe" zone of the blue blanket ;-)

Forts, forts everywhere!  They each had their own forts going with blankets everywhere!!  A fun way to spend a rainy afternoon.

It was at this point that they began arguing about everything and nothing.  Of course my kids squabble, but when you are together day in and day out, all day every day, you learn to work it out pretty quickly - so they get hot about something but its resolved within five minutes and you move on.  However, this was the tit-for-tat, non-stop, make-mama-want-to-hide-in-the-bathroom kind of contrariness.  They got several warnings, did better for a spell and their friend from next door came to play and have fun in the forts... but when she left they picked it right back up.  I'm generally not a yeller - I want for my kids to know it's life or death if I'm yelling (or that I've temporarily lost sanity and they really better pay attention! lol), so instead of getting on them or giving any more warnings, they had to go to bed right after dinner.  You would have thought I told them to go and pick a switch off the tree or something - they were incredulous! haha  And amazingly, it worked - the next day their attitudes had greatly improved and we were back on track ;-)

Monday, October 21st

Monday was a relaxed-paced day, with school and karate but otherwise lots of time for the important stuff (for kids) - playing!

Scarlett woke up and right away went to get her notebook and sketched out a design for a fort and how everything would be set up on the interior.  I helped her move chairs out from the dining room to behind the sofa and she worked on making her drawing a reality!

Meanwhile, Lincoln and Victoria were playing some sort of store game in the playroom - Victoria had swindled a couple of handfuls of change from Grammie and had a sack she carried it around in all day.

When it was finally time to get around to school, the kids did Bible, practiced reciting their memory verses, had individual math and reading, and of course we had tea & story time!  One of their favorite school-related activities for the day was in our History time - we had already discussed the development of written language, and now they were going to try their hand at writing in both hieroglyphics and cuneiform.

First I had them roll out modeling clay - they thought it was way tougher to do than play dough and I had to help a bit.  They were already seeing that this was not as easy as they'd assumed!  Then they used a worksheet from the Story of the World book and tried to write their translated name in hieroglyphs.

It's hard to see!  Scarlett did pretty well not tearing her clay and making the symbols as clearly as she could - Victoria did well, too and Lincoln ended up just carving his up into many pieces ;-)

We rolled his pieces back up and tried again and he was pretty pleased with himself once he'd copied the a few of the symbols.

Next I had my home made scrolls (three pieces of computer paper taped together with a wooden dowel at each end - fancy!) and they worked together to copy a message down in cuneiform.

Our two stories for the day - "Cranberry Thanksgiving" which was a huge, huge hit and we read it twice, and "Always Room for One More."  This book is done with Scottish vocabulary thrown in and Scarlett really enjoyed it, although it didn't hold Lincoln's attention at all.  Victoria listened politely but I could tell she wasn't feeling it either!  I'm sure my amazing take on a Scottish accent (always end up sounding Indian + low-class British) didn't help the story along! lol