This Week at Our House #11 and #12 Spring Returns, Apocalypse Begins

I began work with a lot of training. The family hated it, but I got organized and they did a lot as much independent school as they could without me. When I got home, I gave them all the lessons that they needed.

I bought ducklings for them on the way home from work one day this week. They're still alive and still healthy. We're still praying for their health.

I had the weekend off. On Monday, I went into work and all trainees were told that the job was on hold. Later that night the governor shut down all restaurants, so we again we are all unemployed. Ugh, bad timing for the apocalypse to begin, but then those things are never timed well.

Thursday, I took 8 of the kids to the beach. We did not want to be out with more than 10 people. I'm glad that I did because on Friday, they closed most of the beaches.

We've finished two more weeks of school and we only have 6 weeks to go. That feels good. We are past the 8 week half point and I think we are starting to feel the pull toward break time.

1. Ruth is still working on her book. She has some complete pictures now. I think I will be helping

her get it formatted and ready to sell this next week. I expect within a week and a half, it will be ready to go. Her illustrations are beautiful. I can't wait to share her amazing hard work with the world.

2. After a few weeks of uncertainty Kate has begun her next writing and art project. She's got a fairy tale and that she is writing up and illustrating. It will take a few months for her, but she has learned a lot about coloring through helping Ruth.

3. Johnny made me whoopie pies today when I was feeling depressed from reading the apocalypse news. Johnny's still working on a computer game. He's animating it. I have no idea if he will ever have it available for sale. But at least he will have learned a lot about animation and computer programming.

4. Adam, my right hand man has been digging out my garden plot for me. That's a lot of hard work. He's Sam's go to man for sippy cups of hot chocolate. He's Gideon's toss in the air man. Adam's schooling is going very well. He gets his work done and he does not complain.

5. Rachel's been slow about her school work. But she is more helpful with house work and cooking than she used to be. Rachel's birthday is coming up. She's excited to turn 14. I had a funny conversation with her in which she said that it has always been her plan to get married at  16. Now that's two years away, she'll be revising.

6. Anya's drawing the pictures for my next book. She'll color them with the help of Adam. Anya has one character that she draws over and over again. Her art is in the amazing, I cannot believe a 12 year old drew this category.

7. Joseph has been catching his rooster and spending time with him to see if his rooster will stop attacking the other members of the family. I grounded Rachel on down from computer and Joseph has been trying to find projects that he can get permission to use the computer for now. We'll see. Maybe I'll give in.

8. Josh has been drawing monsters and dragons when he'snot doing school, outside, or playing computer games. His dinosaurs are as good as I drew at 25. I'll have to photograph some. One day when I came home from work, Josh told me that he did his work and he knew how to read for the first time. His reading has been greatly improved since then. I think I make him nervous.

9. Arwen's hilarious. she says the funniest things in the most serious voice.

10. Susan's become a pegasus unicorn and goes around neighing, crawling on all fours, and licking everyone.

11. Sam has been drawing. He got a clip board for Christmas and he takes his drawings very seriously.

12. Gideon is getting Giddy. He climbs on everything. Gets into dishes, computers, toilets and more. We have to keep an eye on him. He is big and strong and cute.

More Pictures

This Week at Our House #10

Well this week was eventful. I aplied for jobs and got 4 interviews. I declined one interview, one job, and took a waitressing job at Cracker Barrel. I have an orientation Tuesday at 9am, so we will see how it goes once it gets going. The general manager told me that they are very busy. It sounds like I will be able to bring in $100 to $250 a shift if I turn tables quickly enough. We will see.

We finished our 8th week of semester 2, so there are only 8 weeks left of school. I will need to write up our curriculum for next year like I did this year. It's been nice to have it so organized, and to know what we need to do week to week.

Ruth continues to plug away on her illustrations. I can't wait to help her get that book for sale. Ruth has now been home for one year.

Kate reads to Ruth a lot and works on her own stuff. She also does a lot of the cooking. Kate and I are thinking that at some future point, we'd like to open up a bakery and pizza shop from home with home delivery.

Johnny is still working on our stuff and every week he does more home repairs for us.

Adam's doing great with school. He pretty much gets everything right all of the time now. He'll need to take physics or chemistry next year, so I will have to figure that out for him.

Rachel's growing into such a pretty girl. She is long and slender with a pretty face. She's still short and tiny, as I think she'll always be. She'll be 14 in a month.

Anya has been drawing and writing a manga, a japanese comic book. Her art is excellent.

Joseph still cries when he checks on the chickens and one is missing. Ruth was trying to get him to say why he cares about those chickens as much as he does. He doesn't know.

Joshua did school well all week without complaint. He's coming along. His reading is still behind and his math ahead, but he is continually improving. Josh has been spending a lot of time building legos the past few weeks. He comes up with very creative things.

Arwen told me that she can't see where I baby could come out of a mom, except for the mouth. Arwen now wants to read on her own, and she is ready. She can read a chapter of the Book of Mormon in an average amount of time now.

Susan is afraid of our rooster, so she does not play outside and gather the eggs like she used too. I think that is sad. Susan now says she is a pegasus unicorn who can fly.

I forgot to write that a few weeks ago, I moved the potty chair to the garage and Samuel uses the toilet without complaint. So he potty trained last May, but didn't give up the potty chair until I hid it away.

We call Gideon, Getting Giddy or Giddy Getting because he's so good at getting into things. We have to keep the bathroom door closed because he likes the tooth brushes and the toilet. The kids day that he is terrble two at one for how good he is at getting things. Right now he is sitting on Kate's lap and singing with her. He's darling. I am worried about how he will deal with me working.