365Project.2016 | Week 38

Welcome back! I would just like to observe that I have blogged 4 weeks in a row. Four. Weeks. In. A. Row. This is exciting, folks! And SO much more fun! ♥ 

Day 263. Matthew lost his second tooth this week ... with significantly more drama than the first. Think tickle fight, bumped mouth, lots of blood. You get the idea. ;) It took us quite a little while to calm down enough to capture footage of the event ...

The kids received their Kiwi Crates this week ... Matthew's was a Spy Kit. I cannot even tell you how perfect it was for him. It's been secret codes and invisible ink for the entire rest of the week. :)

Day 264. Tuesday. Tuesday shall live in infamy. That was the day I ignored common sense and did everything I (thought I) *needed* to do regardless of the fact that it was really a good bit more than any one person should undertake in a day. So on top of homeschooling and mothering, I added in Freezer Meal Prep. Now, this is a good thing. It really, truly is. It keeps me sane and saves me boatloads of time throughout the month.

 However. Tuesday also happens to be our homeschool group day.

 So, we squeezed in a few meals before lunch and a few meals later on ...

 And by the time the day was done, I'd prepped 18 meals (6 recipes x 3 meals each).

But, the real adventure lay in the fact that our dishwasher is non-functional. And Chris was working night-shift. SO ... after I got the kids to bed, I got to tackle my kitchen which had been piling up all day ...

And thus the day ended ... as the next day was beginning ... 

 Day 265. And Wednesday happened to be a very fun day in which we went on a field trip with our homeschooling friends! :)

 We visited Fort Stanwix and Oriskany Battelfield.

 We learned a lot and had a great time! :)

We learned how they prepared a cannon to fire ... 

 

 And the kids participated in a bucket brigade. :)

 

 

We learned that Oriskany was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolution. It was a sobering, but good day.

 

Day 266. Matthew's been working on this school bus for about 2 years! Wheels were the new addition this week. :)

 Day 267. Daddy and Peter spent most of the weekend in the utility room installing our new water filtration system and water softener.

 So while they were working, Mommy hung out with our littler people. ♥

 Day 268. It was so sweet watching Abby feed her bunny! ♥

 

 Day 269. And then this morning she was having so much fun playing in her kitchen! She's been preparing plates of food and bringing them to the table for us on a very regular basis. :)

 

 

 One-by-one she sprinkled her bowl with salad dressing, milk, yogurt, cheese, OJ ...

And then very, very special for today ... Hannah-bug played her flute for the first time at church. ♥ So thankful for the gift she's developing! ♥

And that was our week! A bit of this, a bit of that. Thanks so much for joining us!

365Project.2016 | Week 37

Hee-hee! I can work around technology quirks! :) I used to be able to pick whichever photo from my blogpost that I wanted to highlight when I shared it to Facebook. No longer. Only the first one shows. So, I've decided that I'm just going to pick my favorite from the week and stick it at the top of my post. So there. :)

We were fighting end of summer colds with all guns blazing this week, but I'm thankful to report that we were overwhelmingly successful. All things considered. :) In the midst of some sniffles and coughs, we had quite a lot of fun ... so here it be. :)

Day 255. I'm so thankful for the emphasis our church puts on children. ♥  Our crew enjoyed participating in the summer reading program which was geared to be accessible to strong readers, new readers, and non-readers. ♥

Day 256. The weather this week was absolutely beautiful. Seriously. Can it not be 70* and sunny all. year. long!?!?!

While the boys romped around the yard on their bicycles, this little lady and I played in the sunshine.

 She brought mama presents ...

 

 And we played peek-a-boo. ♥

It's so exciting to see Matthew getting stronger on his bike! He's plucky and pretty much determined to follow in his big brother's wheel tracks. ♥

 

 

Day 257. We enjoyed our 2nd week of homeschool group for the year ... thankful for a great group of like-minded families to meet with.

And would you believe we have a pair of Albino deer in the area???? This is the second time we've seen them wandering past the cornfield!

 Day 258. Super excited for this young man! He's my dyslexic learner, and things which come easily to his sister require significantly more effort for him. But, he's been making great strides, and it's exciting to see things clicking! (And when he grows discouraged, I remind him that the same mind which makes it harder for him to read and spell has given him an extraordinary ability to build and create ... complex stuff that Mommy can barely understand, much less build!)

Those sniffles turned into a cough for this lady Wednesday afternoon. She just wasn't feeling good! :( Thankfully I was able to find a combination of essential oils which we called "Gunk Buster" to knock it out quickly. ♥

Day 259. Matthew lost his first tooth!!! (And another is very soon to follow!) At 6-1/2, he held on to his baby teeth longer than either of his older siblings.

 Day 260. Tents have grown significantly more sophisticated over the years. :)

 Day 261. Daddy made progress on our new water filter system ...

 And Peter did this about 50 times over ...

 To build a really long rope ladder!!!

Such a cool project!

And it's going to enable the kids to get into a large tree farther back on our property that doesn't have climbing branches low enough to the ground.

 Daddy did a weight check. :)

 And while Hannah went to the fair with a friend, the boys decided to bike up the hill.

 Simply for the fun of coming down. :)

 

 

 

 Day 262. And today, our faithful van crossed 150k. She's still going strong, and we're thankful!

Thanks for popping in! :)