This Week at Our House #1 2018

It was a great week! We had our family New Year's Party last Sunday, and really enjoyed that. I didn't get all the junk food I usually do, and that turned out very well and more delicious. We had giant homemade hamburgers, root beer floats, and just a few chips, and that was all, but it was all we needed or wanted as there were plenty of left overs. We ended of long holiday break and started homeschool up once again. I switched some things up and it came together very well. Then, we got a big storm and nearly a foot of snow, which is practically unheard of where we live. I went grocery shopping the afternoon just before the storm hit, and we have not had to leave the house since. Because it froze after the storm, Church was cancelled so we have today as a quiet day at home. If our home can be called quiet. Kate said it is a good thing we are an interesting family or we would be really bored staying home so much.

1. Unfortunately, John is still looking for some employment. He has had plenty of rejections. Hopefully, he will hear from places soon. The jobs economy is a little better than it was 2 years ago. John spends an hour or more a day reading scriptures with the older kids. The older kids really do gather around him with excitement to have him open up the scriptures to their understanding.
2. I was very pleased with how school went. It can be difficult coming off from a long vacation. This time I think we were all rested up enough and ready to jump back into learning. I decided to put Arwen and Josh together for reading and that is going very well. Josh is well ahead of Arwen, but having her there is helping him move along. I am hoping that having Josh there does not make it so Arwen does not learn as well. Arwen is more precocious than Josh, so hopefully they will go as well together as Joseph and Anya do. I started the story club as part of school. We all have to write a story between Monday and Thursday and then we gather and read them together Friday morning. Our first week of story club went well. I need to gather some of their stories and post them here.
3. This week I was thinking just how much I miss Ruth. She always served in the home. I never had to ask her to do things. If there were dishes in the sink, she would go and wash them. If there was laundry to be done, she would just do it. I am sure her willingness to serve and help in the home is blessing her as she serves in the mission field.
4. Kate ate two huge hamburgers New Years eve! I was impressed, so I insisted we get a picture. Kate really enjoyed the snow and spent a lot more time outside this week. She cleaned the snow and ice off from our front porch and steps and seemed to enjoy having an outside chore rather than an inside chore. Kate is teaching a Shakespeare course to Adam, Rachel, Anya, and Joseph. She is really enjoying it, and so are her students!
5. Johnny does not like the cold. He enjoys playing in the snow and throwing snowballs, but he rarely stays out very long. As soon as I can, I need to buy him a couple of sweat shirts. The poor boy is always cold and always walking around with a jacket or a blanket on. In the summer, when the rest of us are hot, he wears long pants.
6. Adam LOVED the snow and has been out there more than anyone except maybe Joseph. He made a snow fort and had a snowball fight with Johnny and Kate.
7. When Rachel woke up Thursday morning and saw the snow, she went and put on a a beautiful skirt, winter weight tights, and very pretty sparkly sweater. That is very Rachel. I made her change into a pair of jeans, which still looked quite cute. Rachel wrote a really good story. I was quite impressed with both her creativity and ability to write clearly and well. 
8. Anya too had a really cute story. She was excited for the story club and got her story written earlier in the week. I don't think Anya likes the cold any better than Johnny as she is always walking around with a blanket on her shoulders.
9. Joseph could not spend as much time outside and so he was jumping around and climbing up the walls again. On Friday, I found him on the very top of the kitchen cupboards. He climbs the doorways too. 
10. Joshua is not doing as well as we would like. He will be turning 7 in a week and a half and he is still biting, pinching, and hitting. He will scream and yell and cry like he is a baby, and now on top of that he is telling lies. It's interesting as a parent of many how you have to focus on one kid or another as needed. Our focus needs to turn to Josh. He needs to learn now to keep the commandments of God, so that when he faces the stronger temptations he will be prepared. 
11. Arwen likes the snow quite well. She has gone out playing in it everyday since it fell. But she is funny because she does not like to wear pants, even under her skirts and keeps trying to go out in bare legs. Once, I just let her go with the caution to come in as soon as she was cold. She came back in less than 10 minutes. 
12. Susan liked the snow this year. The last two years, it just made her cry and scream. This year, Susan was out playing in the snow just as long as the most hardy of our kids. She did not like getting cold hands and feet or snow stuck into her gloves, but she enjoyed being out eating and sculpting the snow.
13. Sam seemed to like the snow quite well. I didn't dress him up and take him out, but we let him wander out onto the front porch. He picked up the snow and ate it and played with it. He is more hardy than most of our babies when it comes to the cold. I wonder if he will then have a harder time when the weather is hot in the summer.

Pictures

Kate and I decided to attempt making Chicago style deep dish pizza. This one was made in the spring-form pan, so it was very deep. They turned out fairly well, though there is certainly more we can learn on how to make them good.

John's brother put together two kits with John's lego sets from his childhood, so he gathered some kids and built them on New Year's Eve.

We started a 1000 piece puzzle. This is a good house to do so because we have big bar that we use for eating, so the table can be used for projects and puzzles.