Update

So...Ted and I put the kids in bed and were ready to tuck in early, but we are now waging war with the 3-year-old, who is screaming and raging in her crib tent. Charis is in the library (our home library, that is) reading so she doesn't have to lie in the same room with her sister, and the rest of us are biding our time until Kenna gives up and keels over from sheer exhaustion. So here's an update while I'm waiting...

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Ted's birthday was Monday. He had to go into work early to file his travel voucher from his 10-day TDY to Mississippi, but other than that, he was free for the day. I felt bad that I hadn't gotten to plan anything particularly special for him (spending 10 days alone with 5 kids puts severe limits on one's brain cells and energy level), but I'm pretty fortunate in that his only request was to spend a quiet day at home with his family! After the afore-blogged-about errands and Mouse Hunt, he got to enjoy relaxing in the afternoon and playing games with the boys while Charis and I cleaned the stamp room. We fixed one of his favorite meals, lemon chicken and Cajun potatoes, and for his cake I baked his requested zucchini bars with cream cheese frosting. Yummy! We enjoyed a family dinner with cake and presents afterward, and like a good wife I focused on enjoying the moment and didn't ruin it by taking any pictures. (Which just means I forgot to use the camera until it was all over, LOL.)

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Tuesday Charis, Tobin, and Arden spent a chilly, muddy morning at their first homeschool science day! I just recently learned from my friend Stefanie (mother of the boys' friend Justin) about these awesome events the county park system puts on once a month. From nine to noon they hiked around, listened, saw, touched, and heard lots of new stuff! They were full of things to tell me when we picked them up afterward. I can't believe we didn't get into this sooner--this may be our last one for the year, as the next one is during testing days, and I don't know if they meet in May or not. But you can bet we'll be participating next fall!

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Because Ted was home Monday and the kids were gone all Tuesday morning, I decided this week would be a light school week. I didn't want to declare it spring break because, well, it doesn't feel very springy around here. In fact, we woke up to snow yesterday morning. We skipped a good part of our language arts lessons, doing only the phonics and activity pages. No math. No handwriting. Two days' worth of science. And we're way behind in A Little Princess. But we did manage to get through all the Core Sonlight reading. It was nice to have a lighter schedule, and I enjoyed doing some fun things with the kids instead of trying to squeeze in all the "scheduled" school.

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Friday was one of our lightest days of the whole week, though I did plan to "catch up" on the Core reading and try to finish it all. That night we were scheduled to host 4 students from Cedarville University for the "Home for Dinner" program--this is where local alumni host students in their homes for a home-cooked meal and fellowship. So, even though we didn't "do" a lot of school on Friday, here are the "schoolish" activities that I observed my kids doing throughout the day:

* Tobin reading further in Return of the King. (He finally finished The Two Towers!)

* Arden playing a game of Trouble with Kenna and me--he shared his "Mom" time with his little sister and was remarkably patient with her.

* Charis working hard on the latch hook project she purchased on Monday with her own money.

* Charis and Kenna helping me bake cookies for our guests to take home with them.

* Tobin writing two chapters in his "book" that he is making up, an interesting detective-type story that involves lots of bad guys, guns, and breathtaking action.

* All the kids running around and pretending various scenarios, some of which included being "Indians," "Aztecs," "Gladiators," and I can't remember what else.

* Charis and Tobin coming up with interview questions to ask the college students when they came to the house--with Tobin writing them in his notebook. (This was their own idea!)

* Lots of home economics: preparing dinner for guests, cleaning the house, etc.

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We ended up having all girls for our "Home for Dinner" night. They were amazing, beautiful young women. My daughters fell in love with them immediately--at one point, all the kids were playing hide-and-seek with them upstairs, and one of the college gals even crawled underneath the crib to hide! We had a yummy dinner of chicken spaghetti, pistachio salad, and homemade sourdough bread, and then we enjoyed Lucan's birthday cake and hot tea while Charis interviewed the students using the list of questions Tobin and she had come up with during the day. We had a wonderful time visiting, and then we sent the girls off with platefuls of homemade cookies--we went on a baking blitz and had peanut butter, molasses, and snickerdoodle cookies and told them each to load up a plate with whatever they wanted to take back to the dorms.

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Woohoo! Kenna is now quiet, and all the kids are in bed. Not asleep, but in bed, anyway. And that's where I'm headed, too!