:-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 ;-)
