This Week at Our House # 32

1. John just had an ordinary week. He worked. He exercised, and he played games and watched movies with the kids. John and I have begun going on dates again and that has been really nice.
2.  This past week I have been noticing the little things in my life that have turned into blessings, even if they seemed hard or something that would just not work out at the time. I have also been seeing how personal revelation has played an important role in our lives in recent years. It's hard to imagine how terribly things could have gone if we did not listen to the directions of the Spirit. One such thing was when we knew that we needed to turn the job search outside the state of Utah. It didn't mean that we moved right away, but it was the first source of contract work that kept up going for another year and a half. Selling the house when we did was important too because the contract company didn't pay us for many months. In fact, we were worried we wouldn't be paid at all. We didn't want to leave Utah. We especially did not want to sell our house, move our kids, change their schools and all of that. But it was our obedience to those thing that went against our will and our better judgment that made it so we could get through this difficult time for another year and a half. On a different note, I have already read the Pearl of Price, Old Testament, and I am two thirds of the way through the Book of Mormon. I realized that if I am steady in my scripture reading for the rest of the year, I can read the New Testament, and Doctrine and Covenants before the end of the year. I have read through the whole standard works a few times and the Book of Mormon countless times, but if I can manage this, it will be the first time I have completed the standard works in one year.
3. Ruth babysat all week. She has two more days and then the little girls start school and she will be done. She went to the mall with two of her friends on Saturday and took Kate along. They both had a fun time. Ruth really enjoys the singles ward here, and is really anxious to get out of the house and go to college. It is less than a month now.
4. Kate is fully into home school and very interested in her work. She has a huge list of books she wants to read and learn from. She is basically doing a full college schedule. All of her text books are college books, including the writing and grammar book I am teaching her from. She works about an hour and half to two hours each day with Johnny.
5. Johnny has been warned that if he does not take home school seriously, particularly writing, he will have to work out in the yard in the hot sun to earn the money to pay for online classes. He has never taken homeschool as seriously as he does public school. So far the warning is working because he is much more serious especially with his writing. 
6. Adam typically takes home school seriously. He really focuses and tries to get it done. He has been moving ahead quite quickly in his math. He still does not love to reading. You will never see Adam sitting down with a book unless it has been assigned. Hopefully one day he will love it, but I think he will be successful even if he does not.
7. Rachel is at an interesting in between stage. Sometimes she still acts like a toddler, like when she bit Josh for taking her toy and then lied about it even though there was an obvious bite mark on Josh. Other times she acts fairly grown up, She will do a chore just because it needed to be done and not because she had been forced to do it. She loves to play the games that the teens play and hang out with Ruth and Kate talking to them. She also loves to roll down the stairs with the little kids while wrapped in a blanket and play with the toys and the little kids.
8. Anya was told to clean her room one night. She came down and said it was done. I asked her if Kate would think so, and she went back upstairs. She came down an hour later and said it was done. The next morning Kate was complaining about Anya's stuff all over the floor and not being able to walk to her bed. I asked Anya if she cleaned her room the night before and she said she had and even fussed and said it was not fair because she did and should  not be accused of lying. It turned out that she was indeed lying. Now she is just in trouble for not cleaning and lying. I put her things in the attic and she gets them back when she learns to clean well and is not lying about things.
9. Joseph was hyper and difficult to teach most of the week. He was getting into trouble pretty much all week. He would not sit for family scripture study or do anything that John or I told him to do. He was constantly jumping around and being crazy and running into and bugging other people. For years, I have been trying to figure out what will motivate Joseph. I can make him work or ground him or send him in time out and nothing has ever worked. Finally I decided to take away dessert. I bought a chocolate pie and sent him to bed and did not let him have it and told him no dessert until he could calm down and sit and obey especially during family scripture study. He was really good the last two nights and we could tell that he was actually trying. So we gave him dessert. I think we will continue to withhold sugar unless he is good for family scriptures. He has also been better generally too. Hopefully this will help him to make long term changes. Sometimes award works and sometimes it fails as soon as the award is taken away. 
10. Joshua is learning well. He does not want to come and learn, but once he gets started on his work, he seems to enjoy it. He is also progressing well and quickly. I wasn't sure what he knew and what he didn't, but I am starting to figure that out and adjusting his lessons accordingly.
11. Arwen was gung ho about school the first week and less so this one. I went to the dollar store and got her a variety of coloring books and I let her color when she gets tired of learning the alphabet and sounds. She is pretty good considering she just turned 4.
12. I had to change just two poopy diapers this last week!! Susan went in the toilet all of the other times. A couple of times I suggested she try, but all of the rest she came and told me that she had to go. She is not at all potty trained for pee, but it seems she has gotten the harder, messier one down even though she still wears diapers. 

This Week's Pictures

I moved the Fridge in the dining room to the opposite corner and then put the table near the wall to give us more space. I wasn't sure if it would work. But it has made the whole dining/living room combination more open and comfortable. It's nice when just a little furniture move can make such a big difference.