October 13, 2015

A full day of homeschool. Lots of math. So much spelling. History times three. Grammar aplenty!

Also: 

9 am: electricity goes out in the entire neighborhood. No big deal. It will be back on in a little while! Everyone had breakfast. Let's try not to open the refrigerator or freezer. 

11am: electricity still off. Has time stopped with the clocks? It seems like it. 

11:20: Sasha throws up on the carpet.

11:30 am: Electricity still off. Need to check online lesson plan. Alas, no internet either. Kids getting hungry. I tell them to have pretzels and bananas because NO DO NOT OPEN THE REFRIGERATOR.

11:45 am: I walk outside to get something out of the car and there is a gigantic roach on the driveway. We have seen only 2 others during the entire 3 years we've lived here. FROM WHENCE HAST THOU COME, MOST DESPISED OF ALL CREATURES??? 

12 noon: Still no electricity. Children very grumpy, also hungry. Can't listen to Story of the World CDs as we normally do while we eat lunch obtained from the refrigerator, which we dare not open. Husband calls and suggests I go buy batteries for the CD player. That feels HARD. Instead, I read two different chapters of Story of the World aloud. Now I am grumpy, also hungry.

2:30 pm: Still no power. Two Saxon Math lessons done. One more seems IMPOSSIBLE. It is 90 degrees outside, 80 inside. Dog skulks around guiltily. Is she throwing up in secret places all over the house?

4 pm: Schoolwork still unfinished, electricity still not on. We leave to go meet husband, who has a evening event to attend, for an early dinner. To celebrate.

Because today I turn 45. It is my birthday. Wee! Which of course explains why Sasha threw up. She gave all that she could give.

The kids and I picked up an ice cream cake at Marble Slab on the way home. The electricity came back on at 5:45 pm.  We ate the ice cream cake and were glad. 

Learning to ride.

Helena warms to the inevitable. The reading is coming along nicely, and though the shoes remain untied (by her), LO, if she didn't decide to ride her bike a few weeks ago! I had sent the kids out front while I got dinner started and a few minutes later, Harper came bursting in, announcing that SHE had just taught Helena to ride her bike. Sure enough, I went outside and there she was. Perhaps if you have been paying attention, you will realize the real miracle here is that Harper had a role in this. The husband has since aired up the tires on my bike, and we are now partaking in Family Bike Rides, something that hasn't happened since Helena outgrew the little ride-on bike seat 3 years ago. It is wonderful.

 

She got this butterfly habitat for Christmas and I finally remembered to order the caterpillars. They promptly and magically wove their chrysalises, then a few days later, we all loved the brief delight of having fluttering Painted Ladies as pets. We decided to release them at our neighborhood park, and though the girls had real expectations that the butterflies would land on them and perhaps respond to some verbal commands, it only took about 5 seconds for all 8 of them to fly away.