This Week at Our House # 31

1. We had our first week of school. We started on Tuesday and I think everyone got into the groove fairly easily. John will be teaching Spanish and Portuguese and helping Johnny with calculus and physics and computer programming along side his job.
2. I had to carry my schedule around with me to make sure I was getting everything done for each kid, but I was easily able to get back into the swing of things. I have two kids that need a lot of help this year. My main concern is getting Josh and Arwen reading. Sometime Monday, I think my gall stones finally passed. Tuesday morning, I woke up pain free and have had no more pain since then. I have tried to stay on the diet anyway, but officially today decided to tweak it some. I have read many people claiming that their energy levels increased significantly and I don't doubt that, but mine have tanked. I tire out much more quickly and have been pretty dizzy. I took the kids to the park on Monday and kept needing to sit down. Tha's not normal for me. So I am going to stick to the fruit and vegetables for lunch and breakfast, but eat animal products for dinner. I will also continue to avoid sugar and most refined flours. I am very grateful to be pain free and that I was able to do it with diet. On Saturday, I took Ruth and Kate, Sam and Susan on the four hour drive to visit my parents and sister. It was a very good trip. I want to have better relationships with my sisters. I have always wanted that, so I really enjoyed getting to talk to my sister.
3. Ruth continues to prepare for her mission by studying and going out with the missionaries. She has several journals that she is writing down quotes and long passages into for reference on her mission. When Ruth and Kate went out with the sister missionaries and all of their appointments canceled, they decided to walk down the street each carrying a Book of Mormon until they could give away all three. They were able to do so and even had a couple of good conversations.
4. My mom bought Kate a very beautiful wardrobe for college. Kate was careful to choose shirts that would be good for her mission in a year. Kate is very excited for taking classes, but not too excited for moving away from home. She will be gone in a month.
5. Johnny still cannot walk on his foot for very long and we want it to heal well, so we are trying to make him stay off of it. He spent the week in doors doing school and lying around playing games with the kids. We are now borrowing crutches for him.
6. Adam had his favorite friends over on Thursday and that is when we discovered the black widow spider. I think that was exciting for all. For school this year, I am having Adam read and read and read. He has math and reading. He will be required to just read for 4 to 5 hours a day. For math, he is now in algebra. That is a subject that I love to teach and I love our book, so I am happy to be there again.
7. Rachel got into her school work without a fuss. She is in 6th grade now and it seems like just yesterday that she was a little first grader. I am very grateful that she is not in middle school, though. Homeschool is wonderful.
8. Anya likes to wake up early to get her independent work done so she has more free time during the day. She is reading Ella Enchanted and enjoying it so much that she rushes out at the end of the day to read more.
9. Joseph was horrible in his primary class today. He will be making cookies for his primary teacher and apologizing. I hope in the future, he will behave a lot better.
10. Joshua took about two days to catch back up to where he was at at the end of the school year. I am hoping he will become an independent reader this year.
11. Arwen is a little shocked at having to work and pay attention to what I am teaching her. 
12. My parents took us out to lunch on Saturday and Suzy was very well behaved. I had Sam on my lap and Susan next to me and it didn't seem like I had a small child with me at all.
13. Sam has been crawling up to Suzy and playing with her toys with her. Sam has 3 moms: Ruth, Kate, and I. Whenever one of us leaves the room, he crawls after that one crying.

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