Wednesday April 30

We started the day of SLOW with a capital S. Too many late nights around here!
The older two children did their reading in bed (Hannah is nearing the end of Many Waters (she likes to have one book at at time on the go, unlike the rest of us) and Ariel was reading the Brendan Voyage and he has finished up Call of the Wild. He also listened to SOTW 4 on his Ipod today), we all ate pancakes together at the table while having a section of Acts read to all by me. Then ...

Eomar and Arwen:
Practiced their instruments, did some laundry, sweeping etc. then moved onto their Math

Merry:
He hung the laundry (in quite interesting ways) , practiced his violin right after breakfast, then did some pages in the Singapore math book.

Pippin:
Got himself ready and played outside, did a reading lesson, read Peg and Ted, I read Sinbad the Sailor (comic version) to him.

At this point we came together for prayers and Merry and I picked a new Diego Rivera print to look at. Then we looked over the characteristics of the Mustard Family and I asked the kids (with mixed results) to put something in their Nature books about it. Eomar photocopied the page and colored it, Merry did also (after crumpling many first and becoming distracted and finishing it much later in the day!), and Arwen did a stellar creative, insightful drawing and booklet (yes, she loves hands on projects!).

Lunch was a wee bit late as we had mid morning choco-chip cookie overload (probably partly responsible for my sluggish feeling today.) We ate a beautiful lunch out on the deck, watching the birds collecting nest materials (and taking it into our attic), and listened to some of the Vikings.

During lunch prep I sliced open my finger cutting a frozen bagel so by about 3 I figured it was time to go get some steri strips from the drugstore and some new bandaids. Pippin and I went and then decided to get him a haircut at the same time (to fix up the years worth of 'mommy' haircuts). The time out was good for all of us and when I got home the kids were happily engaged in their own pursuits; Arwen and Merry with creating a set for a video they were making involving mummies coming back to life, and Eomar downloading books onto his Ipod.

On the way to ballet I asked Matt is he could see that Merry read some of his book. I am trying to do this more as I see that he is really butting heads with me when I ask him to do things lately.

Dinner: potluck (I made ceaser salad, fried rice with garlic and cilantro, and leftover minestrone soup)

Lunch:bagels, smoothies, and oranges

It's nice at the end of the day to write this out and look over it. It was a tough day in some respects, but looking back on it I see joy and light woven through and it makes my heart glad as I prepare for bed.