UGH!

June 15:  
It was a crappy day beginning to end.

My four hour sleep on Monday night caught up with me today, as did my monthly hormones.

It did not bode well for me.

I got the tire from Monday's fiasco fixed at Costco and when the cashier mentioned that the ambulance right outside the door was there for a customer who'd just had a seizure, I lost it.   It was an innocent comment on her part, but  I went to the car and cried and cried and cried some more.   My baby has not outgrown her epilepsy and maybe never will.

I'm sure there were more than a few teardrops on my groceries.

I finally pulled myself together and drove home.  Still I ended up having at least a half dozen more meltdowns by the end of the day for a sundry of reasons, some of them stupid, but most of them not.

I spent much of the day feeling very fatigued and very stressed, but did manage to drag my sorry, tired self to the park with Ellie for a bit.

Fresh air, sunshine, exercise, and Ellie smiles are always a good salve to my soul.   

Unfortunately  it wasn't quite enough to shake it yet.  



June 16:
 It was another bad day where I barely functioned and got caught in bad traffic to boot.

  

June 17:  I woke up today feeling MUCH better.    My mental state has improved immensely, my energy level was almost normal, and I actually got things done.

Cami's schedule for today
7:40-8:30am babysitting job
9-12 work for Marilyn
1-3 babysit
8-11  hang out with "friend"

WE had friends come over, I made homemade pizza, and Cami brought her "friend" to our house to play Telestrations.  

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Homeschool Fun

Here's a glimpse of some of the fun we've been having in our homeschool this year...

Afternoon rounds of board games  

With all of their schoolwork done by 1:00pm most days, the kids still have 3+ hours to occupy themselves before the evening activities kick into gear.  We don't allow any tv or computer games on weekdays, so they read, write stories, tweak their Lego robot, play outside, play board games, cook, and in general find creative ways to occupy their time! 

A magic show

The other day Ellie and Adam put together a very fun magic show…complete with costumes, "stage" and curtains, card tricks, and disappearing objects!  I love how the kids have a strong bond of friendship with one another and genuinely enjoy spending time together.  

Fun Fridays 

This year we are trying to work really hard during the week, so that we can have more free time on Fridays.   Sometimes we still have to play a little catch-up on our work, but usually we try to go somewhere and do something fun!  A couple of Fridays ago, we met friends at the park!

Who says recess can't be fun when you're in middle school?   

Field trips 

Another one of our "Fun Friday" ideas for this school year was to go on more field trips.  Last week we met friends and learned all about honeybees!   It was actually pretty fascinating.  

Theater "class"  

A couple of my kids have been interested in participating in theater, but were intimidated by trying out without having any previous experience.   Luckily a couple of our homeschooled friends this year also enjoy acting in plays, so we've been doing little mini-productions.  

The kids are having a great time with it and really gaining confidence. 

It's especially something that Ellie and Emma enjoy.  

Out-of-town trips

In addition to Friday field trips, being homeschooled makes it much easier to go on out-of-town trips too!   We went to Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown last month.  I figure that the three days we spent there counted for at least a month of learning history from books!   

Tools made from bone

An old-fashioned needle (made from bone)

Throw the corn through the hoop

Making bread from scratch, which wasn't actually that novel an experience for my kids, since we make homemade bread at least once a week.

A Native American dugout canoe 

Adam tanning a hide and  a replica of one of the ships.

I'm actually a lot more organized with homeschooling this year than last year, which has proven to be both a blessing and a curse for us.  On the one hand, it's a relief to know that we're covering all of our bases by sticking with the plan each week.  On the other hand, one of my children isn't too fond of "sticking with the plan" day-after-day and week-after-week and lets me know that fact loud and clear.   Thankfully, each week has gotten a little better than the last, so hopefully we'll all be in a good place soon enough!  

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Plan B

It's getting to be THAT time of summer. 

It's the time of summer when all semblance of productivity or creativity seems to have flown right out the window with the final vestiges of my patience.   

It's the time of summer when the kids ask for computer time or a treat or a movie and I say yes without hesitation, just because it's easier than keeping an eye on them while they play outside or making the effort to find them a healthier snack. 

  It's the time of summer when any shred of a routine would be a welcome reprieve from the sleep havoc we've been wreaking on our bodies lately with the über late nights and random wake-up times we've been keeping... if only I could roll out of bed before 8:00am to make it happen.      

 As mentioned in this recent post, I truly do enjoy having the kids home with me during the summer and I treasure the family memories we make together each summer, but there comes a day when I just have to say....

it's time for school to start.  

We've still got another week before it begins, so to assuage my guilt for being so lazy lately, I thought it would be fun to take the kids on a fun outing today.  I did the research, made the plans, bribed the kids to clean their room, packed lunches, and took them to Butler's Orchard so we could do our traditional  Labor Day weekend raspberry picking (a little early). 

Too bad I didn't read the fine print...

We'd traipsed over 30 miles to get there and it seemed too sad to just turn around and go home, so we opted for Plan B and decided to stop at a playground that happens to be not too far from the pick-your-own farm. 

The Adventure Playground at South Germantown Park is a humongous, unique playground that is fun no matter how old you are.  We've been there a few times over the years and it never fails to impress the kids.  

The younger kids ran, slid, jumped, swung, and in general had loads of fun burning off energy and exploring the humongous playland. 

It was a little toasty out there, but that did little to slow them down. 

On busier days, there's a line of kids for these super fun saucer swings, but we practically had the playground to ourselves today...

What's not to love about a swing built for a crowd?! 

Cami and her friends made the best of the unexpected detour by allowing me to snap some fun photos of them...

They only agreed though, if I promised to put them on the blog....

Which when you're as lovely--inside and out--as Cami and her friends, Katy and Ashley, it wasn't too hard to convince me to blog about them.   The three of them are great friends and it's always a delight when they hang out with our family.    In particular, I'm always impressed with how sweet and accepting they are of the younger kids.  That's an unusual trait in teens and truly my younger kids consider them to be their friends too. 

The cute guy in this picture thought the girls were pretty fun and cute as well, since he followed them around and "flirted" with them the entire time we were there.  It's a good thing he wasn't any older or Glen might have had to start shooing him away.  :)

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Now I either need to get unlazy enough try raspberry picking again later this week or I need to stop daydreaming about homemade raspberry jam on my toast!