This Week at Our House #8 The Yearly Snow

We woke up to snow this Friday am. The air is cold and the wind is blowing. The kids built several snowmen and are now relaxing him some homemade hot chocolate.

This Week at Our House #7

We returned to school and regular life. It was a busy week with errands and dental appointments, and trying to get work done. I got my poetry book up for sale. The formatting was difficult, but now I know what I need to do, so the next times it will be easier.

1. Ruth has written and illustrated a children's book. Her illustrations are gorgeous! I think she is going to color it. She is also working on coloring the illustrations she has completed for my next book.
2. Kate is working on her next book. I am waiting for her to complete illustrations for two more of my books. These girls work hard. Kate made the most delicious raspberry truffles for Valentine's Day. We are possibly going to try and sell them at the Farmer's Market. Kate bought herself a parakeet and everyone is in love with it.
3. Johnny is working on computer programming and illustration. He says it is hard. I am always glad when he gets something done.
4. Adam helps me a lot around the house and with the little kids. His favorite thing to do these days is to draw. He draws for hours everyday.
5. Rachel got most of her school work done in a reasonable time period. She is not my studious child. She had her dental appointment and has no cavities, but was told to clean her teeth better. 
6. Anya is now as tall as or possibly taller than Rachel. I suspect she will get taller than Rachel soon enough. 
7. Joseph is doing so well with school. Except for math, he is on the same level as Adam. 
8. Joshua does his work happily enough. He has been more sweet and affectionate recently.
9. Arwen's a great reader now, and very mature and helpful and fun to be around.
10. Suzy pretends she is a horse everyday. 
11. Sam has been drawing everyday. He mostly scribbles, though it is becoming more geometric, but he is very serious about it.
12. Gideon loves chasing Susan and Sam and screaming and growling. I'm happy that he is playing with his siblings now.

This Week at Our House #6

I have not been good at keeping up on this blog this year. This week, we took the week of school off because many of us were sick. It really wasn't until Friday that everyone was better. Each one of us was sick between 3 and 6 days. It's nice to be better now.

This Week at Our House #5 Dentist and Sickness

We had dentist appointments on Monday and again on Tuesday, and then Thursday Johnny had a fever and by Saturday everyone else was sick. School was a little odd for all of that, and I got little laundry done. While some people are feeling better now, this is clearly not a 24 or 48 hour illness.

1. Ruth actually only felt very tired and not very sick until Monday, so she was the last man down and did a lot to help Saturday when I felt feverish. She's still working on her illustrations for her first book. She is also writing a really interesting story. I'm not sure if that will turn into something big or not.
2. Kate was the second to fall ill. She laid in bed all day on Friday unable to even eat a few grains of rice or watch tv. 
3. Johnny was very sick Thursday and it wasn't until the evening that we noticed anything was wrong. I think he tried to do his ordinary work before we realized that he needed to be laying down. 
4. Adam was very matter of fact about being sick. I came home from grocery shopping on Friday and he had a fever, but had just said, "I think I am sick, but I am not sure," and then he carried in all the groceries with Ruth.
5. Rachel stayed well longer, but when it hit her, it really hit her. She was very sick for about 48
   
   hours.
6. Anya was one of the people who went to the dentist and I got to learn that she is not brushing well enough, so she had tartar and cavities and Anya agreed that she does not try to clean her teeth well.
7. Joseph went to the dentist too. He had one cavity, but I think it is a small one in a baby molar, so they are not going to fix it, as it should come out before it becomes a problem. Otherwise, his teeth were clean. Joseph takes good care of his teeth.
8. Joshua played all week until he got sick Friday night, and then he laid around miserable and coughing over the weekend. I was away half the school week for dental appointments, so he had to work independently, and he did that well. He still likes a lot of help with reading and school.
9. Arwen and Susan woke up sick together Friday morning. She did not eat a thing before Sunday night, even though she got over the stomach part early on.
10. Susan has a lot of dental work that needs to be done. It's going to be hard and I haven't yet gotten her to a dentist who can do the work.
11. Samuel had his very first ever dentist appointment and he has a clean mouth with no cavities. He sat as cute as can be too. He did everything he was told and sat perfectly still, but looked frightened and would not say a word until he got to the treasure chest. 
12. Poor Gideon. Once he got sick, he was miserable and would not be put down for anything. He is still like that, though his fever is gone.

This Week at Our House #4

I am late this week. I have been so busy trying to find ways to earn money. There'll be more of that next post. The kids are well. Gideon is the cutest little thing walking around and getting into everything. We had to move the trash can so that it's now behind a closed door.

1. Ruth has finished illustrations for my next kids book. She has now written her own, and is in the process of illustrating it.
2. Kate is working on a new kids book too. She is also doing one illustration for pay for her aunt.
3. Johnny now has some actual visual moving content on a computer game. 
4. Adam's doing well, as the oldest of the school kids. He picks things up and remembers them quickly. 
5. Rachel's still going slow when it comes to school. She has no excuse and offers none.
6. I'm still surprised that Anya is 12, but when she does something immature, I am like, "You are 12!"
7. Joseph worried about Anya and walked around distressed and nearly in tears when I said that he could not help Anya with her math.
8. Joshua is doing fine. He seems happy enough. He has several little books made from copy paper that he kept taking out and writing from.
9. Arwen usually finishes all of her school first unless she gets stuck on her math. Then she'll take hours doing nothing. I have to catch her at it and direct her right.
10. Suzy's doing great in with learning the things she needs to. I have her working slowly. She most plays games with me, does a small amount of handwriting and I read to her.
11. Samuel likes school. He does a lot of what Suzy does with his own volition. I have heard other homeschool mothers say that about younger children, but I have not had younger children interested in school ever before Sam. I will probably get him a couple of his own pre-school workbooks for the next year. 
12. Gideon walks around getting into things about the same as Sam did two years ago. He even gets into the dishes and silverware the same as Sam did.