Day 339: Getting Caught Up

Phew! Last week and weekend was so busy that for the first time in years (or ever), I had two baskets of clean laundry needing to be put away that had been sitting for 4-5 days.  I finally got it done!  Jared put up more Christmas lights that we hadn't had time to do yet.  And we were back at co op with just 1 more co op before Christmas break.  But December is very, very full with every get together needing a treat to be made, and cookie exchanges, and ornament exchanges, and even a sock exchange! Yes, the kids are going to exchange new, fun or plain socks with their co op friends next Monday.  That's a new exchange for me!  I've done lots of cookie exchanges, white elephant exchanges, secret sister exchanges, ornament exchanges, book exchanges, but not a sock exchange.  Interesting!  But there's also a couple of particular treats I need to make as well.  I really don't bake or cook much anymore, so it does take up a good part of my day and energy.  I'll need to schedule it out over the next few weeks.  Thankfully, I have plenty of grain free and sugar free ingredients to use up!  We never bought any real flour or sugar after we moved.  I just don't make muffins or cupcakes or cookies much and if I do, it's usually something I can eat.  Anyway, fun stuff.

The kids got their fill of candy today because our history teacher gave them a king sized candy bar EACH for working hard on a quiz.  She's also the art teacher and had a fun project to do with pointillism today, and they got to use REAL watercolor paints!  I can't wait to see everything everyone has done next week at the "See What I've Done" Night, which is a kind of show and tell of all the kids' projects and papers.  Family and friends are invited, too.  But that's after our big weekend of Keturah's musical performance.  And other parties. And and and.

The inside of the house is "beginning to look a lot like Christmas," but the outside is still too warm.  I still haven't worn my winter coat yet, nor a hat.  Strange.  And no snow, but some icky rain.  It is finally down in the 30's some days though.  I guess I really did get used to the cold north.

Meanwhile, Abishai and I, and maybe some of the others, still have a wicked cough and nasal drainage.  Possibly sinus infection? Who knows, but it's annoying.  And I feel bad being out and coughing constantly in front of people.  I even said today, "It's been two weeks already and I know it's going to take weeks or months to get rid of it, and I can't just hibernate that long."  But no amount of water or food or talking was keeping it at bay towards the end of the school day.  I came home and snuggled into bed for a short nap.  I need to run some more essential oils, as well as drink my lemon water with some honey and all those other good home remedies to try and get rid of this.  I really don't want antibiotics.  So, we'll see.  At least I feel like this week has some breathing room so I can get caught up and get to bed on time.  I've given up my TV show watching several nights in a row and STILL have gone to bed after 1.  That's how ridiculous it's been.  Not good.  I'm very glad my kids sleep well, because one of our moms today had kids that got up at 2am and basically didn't go back to bed.  Yuck.  Her kids did fine today though, despite being tired.  This is the family with 4 kids under the age of 7.

Ok, moving on.  Some pictures of lights.

The things I do at 1 am!  Prepping for co op is usually not one of them, but last night it was!  Learning about the phases of the moon using oreos!

The annual "watch Jared put up Christmas lights" pic.  Thanks, husband!

The white lights went out on the tree, plus, Jared likes the colored ones, too, so he restrung the tree for me.  Thanks!

Abishai can climb up onto Keturah's bed unassisted now and decided all her blankets and pillows and stuffed animals needed to come off and out of her room.

High strung last child needs some special wrangling.

Mischief and loud.

Only Daddy can contain him, for now.

The boys' room got some lights!

Abishai huffs and puffs at nearly everything he does because he works so hard at all that he does.  He tries (and succeeds!) at things his siblings didn't really try until they were older.  Case in point, he can drag this stool to wherever he wants it.

Daddy opened up the stool, but Abishai put it in place.

He wanted to proclaim everybody's name at the top of his lungs for 5 minutes!  Mama, sissy, baba, dada, dada, mama, baba, sissy!

His family.

Keturah did her own decorating and she also figured out, on her own, how to wrap the tinsel around the light string!  That's my creative girl!

A gift arrived from my secret santa gift exchange with some Lilla Rose folks.  The bar on the left is for washing clothes and it has cornmeal in it for scrubbing and it looks lots of remnants from other soaps mixed into a base of soy oil.  And then there's the apple crisp bar that has real apples in it.  It smells wonerful! I'm just not sure of the soy oil thing. I'll try to remember to let you know how it goes.