Another Fun Week

The 2nd week home brought more fun and more "Firsts" for the children:

Monday:

We are settling in to our homeschooling routine. Josh is on Spring Break from the community college this week, so he was a big help with the school work (reading directions, etc...).

Tonight was the children's first night of Bible Study Fellowship. (BSF is an International Bible Study that our family has been involved in for 15 years.) The teachers and students were so excited to FINALLY meet Jacob, Sarah, and Rachel, as they have been on the attendance sheets all year.

Tuesday:

Today, the kids had their first week of "Tuesday Classes" at school, so they met all of their "Tuesday Friends". Rachel was glad to finally meet LuLu, but Sarah was sad that Sophie was home sick today. Jacob was excited to be in classes with big brother Ben and his friends.


Wednesday:

More schoolwork ... more bike riding ... more game playing with their brothers and sisters ...

The kids attended their first high school track meet (brother Josh runs for the high school team, while attending classes at the community college ... one of the amazing benefits of homeschooling in Washington). It was COLD, but fun. During the last event of the day (the 4 X 400 relay, which Josh was in), it actually snowed for a couple of minutes, to the utter delight of Jacob, Sarah, and Rachel. (This was, officially, their "First Snow") After the meet, we stopped at the restaurant supply store, so that I could purchase a LARGE thermal pot to take Hot Chocolate in to the track meet on Friday. I also picked up large quantities of styrofoam cups and lids.

Thursday:

Cassie came home from Oregon for the weekend, so the kids got to meet their biggest sister. Yea! Much joy!

Papa and Mama went to small group tonight, so the kids got to stay home and play with Cassie and Jeremiah.


Friday:

Today's track meet went from 3:30 - 9:30. Luckily, Josh ran in 2 of the earlier events, so Papa was able to take all of the younger kids home at 6:00, to get warmed up and to eat dinner, while Mama stayed for the entire meet, as she had volunteered to work in the coaches room (preparing meals for the coaches of all 12 teams). Ben stayed with Mama, and helped out when needed.

Papa and Mama had been invited to a wedding tonight, but realized a couple of days ago that we couldn't attend due to childcare issues. We are feeling a little "trapped" at home, as we are used to coming and going without children whenever we need to. But, while we have always left Ben (14) home with 3 younger siblings, we haven't yet left him with 6 younger siblings. He's an awesome big brother, but we don't want to overwhelm him. So, we have to be a lot more careful in the planning of events. Tonight ... Cassie went to the wedding, Jeremiah had to work at the restaurant, Carissa was at a good-bye party (for her), Lindsey is a volunteer assistant track coach, and Josh was running at the track meet ... which didn't leave any more "bigger kids" at home.

Saturday:

We all woke up to LOTS, LOTS, LOTS, of SNOW, SNOW, SNOW ... (which is VERY unusual for this time of year in Western Washington). Crazy unusual. One of our friends actually phoned and said, "Please have your children stop praying for snow, the rest of us in town are ready for spring to come." So, the kids got to learn about snow pants, layered shirts/sweatshirts/jackets, boots, etc... They also learned about snowball fights (the fun and not-so-fun parts). They learned that accidents do happen (when the snow ball hits a face it was not intended to hit), and that you are not to retaliate when they happen. They learned that it is more fun to play nicely in the snow together, than to have to sit on the couch watching your siblings having fun outside in the snow.

Church ... Dedication Ceremony ... Party ... (see blog, above ...)