This Week at Our House #12

1. I was back into my normal schedule this week and happy to ease the burden that John had carried for the last week and a half. John is looking for a new job again. Blah, we knew it would happen as the place he works at is not stable.
2. Feeling well is such a blessing!! I will take chores and wiping bums any day over spending time feeling sick in bed. Thanks to the internet, I have some really great friends that bless my life a lot. It is great to be a part of some really amazing women doing some really amazing things.
3. Ruth turned 16!!!!! I can't believe my baby can date and get a drivers licence and a whole bunch of things. Ruth is good and kind and conscientious. She treats everyone so kindly. Ruth has the potential to do great things in this life.
4. Kate, of course, has been swamped with homework! She has 2 big research papers plus all of her math and it keeps her very, very busy. We are in the process of registering her for high school next year and she wanted to take 3 AP courses. We said no. Kate is going to take AP calculus next year as a 10th grader. I think that and honors chemistry is enough for a girl who will just be turning 15! She is definitely ambitious and hard working but needs to be reined in some too so that she can have fun and enjoy life.
5. Johnny purposely did not turn in parts of his English assignment. I got an email from his teacher. Johnny had to eat beans. He hates that so much, that he begged me to let him clean all 3 bathrooms and wash all the floors instead. Too bad for him, I had already done those chores earlier in the week to make Saturday fun for Ruth's birthday. Lots of people told me not to follow through with such a harsh punishment. I knew I'd be a bad mom if my threats were worthless, so yes, I followed through and Johnny gagged down beans.
6. Adam has had stomach aches all winter. I started giving him zantac and that seems to have cured his problem for now. I am hoping to find a less medicated long term solution for him. I am interested in essential oils, but just have not had the money to really get started on it.
7. Rachel is just so cute and sweet most of the time. She is adoring Ruth right now, which I love. I got to do the final Meet the Masters lesson in her class. I like seeing Rachel among all of her friends.
8. Anya is only in kindergarten but really doesn't like school because of homework. I miss the good old days when homework didn't start until kids were in like the 2nd or 3rd grade. It is just too much for the littlest ones. And frankly, I hate it too. 
9. Joseph is loving the spring weather and getting all of his energy out. He has been an easy sweet little boy this last week. He was such an easy baby and sweet 2 year old. I am hoping that is coming back.
10. Josh is being the troubled toddler now. He won't potty train, though I am forcing it as he is over 3 years old now. He keeps clawing the faces of his siblings when they bother him, and he keeps playing in the sinks and getting water on everything. 
11. Arwen has been getting into things a bunch too. She keeps playing the silverware drawer. This bugs me as I do not want baby hands all over our eating utensils, but she is determined!
12. I am 27 weeks along and just entering my 3rd trimester! I usually find the last 6 weeks of pregnancy the hardest, so I intend to enjoy the easier part while I'll still there.

This Week's Pictures