A week in the life :: TGIF

On Friday, I woke up to find Rhys in one of his two usual spots. He always spends his mornings either on the couch with a book or here:

...on the floor in the living room "playing catch with the wall." I can't express just how many hours a week he spends doing just this.

Griffin was just waking up when I did, but he decided he'd like to spend a little time on the PBS Kids website before breakfast.

After breakfast, Avery stumbled in and the kids got going on their schoolwork.


This was a big day for Rhys, because he finished his 2nd grade math curriculum! Hooray!!

Next up, Math 3!


Meanwhile, Griffin, in his sweet yet exceptionally persistent manner, requested that his sister play a game of Sleeping Queens with him.


"Grif-fin, I said I'd play when I'm finished with my science!"

Finally, she gave in to his demands, and all three kids played.

The first game was a success (read: Griffin won), but the second resulted in Griffin accusing everyone of cheating, throwing the cards, and refusing to play. After a prolonged tantrum, he finally returned from his room and his sweet sister tried to help him calm down.


Needless to say, no more card games were played for the time being. The older kids returned to their work, and I kept Griffin busy by having him help me clean the house.

After the house was clean(ish), schoolwork was done, and lunch was eaten, we went to meet our Campfire group for a nature hike at Bright Leaf Preserve.



It was a very hot and humid day, and we were worn out by the time we got back to our car. We headed home and decided that tonight was the perfect night for a movie night.


After the movie, Griffin attempted to hypnotize me.


"You will let me play Wii right noooooooooow."

Sadly for Griffin, his technique wasn't effective. He had to settle for a game of Mille Borne with Bill. (Meanwhile, Bill and Rhys were also multitasking by watching the NFL draft on tv and on the computer.)

And, after the game, there was time for a little Kung Fu before bed.


Well, this day is going to draw my Week in the Life project to a close. I originally planned to do a full week, but since this week has been so busy and this weekend will be even busier, I'm throwing in the towel. I'm not sure this has truly given a good glimpse into our lives, since this week has had extra appointments, music lessons, and practices. I feel like our weeks usually have a better rhythm of down time and outings. We have certainly missed that this week! We're definitely exhausted, but it's been a pretty fun week!

A week in the life :: Theater Thursday

Thursday is always our day off from school work, but we had big plans today and needed to get going in the morning.

First things first: Shouldn't every day start with a couple of games of Sleeping Queens while Mom makes breakfast?


Next up: Time to wake sister!


(They tried a little nicer approach today, and it was much better received!)

Then: Scurrying around, getting dressed, shoes on, and taking care of chores before leaving the house.




Our first stop: Running into Randall's to get a dessert to take to a potluck Family Connections event that would be held at lunchtime. Rhys called it a "funeral for Family Connections," which, sadly, was pretty accurate.

Next: For the second year in a row, we found ourselves celebrating Earth Day at the movie theater with lots of friends. We went to see Disney's Oceans, and we had 58 homeschoolers in our group!


Unfortunately, we were sharing the theater with a school group. I say "unfortunately" because there was a serious lack of planning on the part of the theater, and we ended up waiting 40 minutes after the show time for all the students to buy popcorn and get drinks, then come in the theater to take their seats. We were pretty irritated, but the blow was definitely softened by the free passes the theater gave us!

After the movie was over, I realized that because of the delay, I'd missed the Family Connections party. My solution? To join friends and drown my woes in Mexican food.


We had a delicious lunch...and a brainstorm! Why wait to use the movie passes when we had a free afternoon today? We quickly looked up movie times and realized we could go see How to Train a Dragon in 3D right after lunch! The kids were beside themselves when they heard our plan. TWO movies in one day?! What decadence!


And, lest their brains atrophy on such a media-filled day, Avery whipped out her trusty book stash and handed out books to pass the time before the movie started.


And this picture? Well, I'm just not sure what to say about it.


After our second movie of the day, we went home and took some friends with us.



After a little downtime and a quick snack, back in the car we went. This time we were going to the Long Center, to see a friend perform in Austin Lyric Opera's Hansel and Gretel. It was great, and wow, was Raina fabulous in it!


Happy Earth Day!

A night in the life :: Wednesday, cont.

So, I thought Wednesday was over about an hour ago when Avery was heading to bed and made a deal with us that in exchange for reading for an extra 30 minutes, she wouldn't come out of her room again until morning. Sure that she could never make it (she tends to come out every 2.5 seconds for various things), we readily agreed to the deal.

Bill and I were just doing last minute things around the house: starting the dishwasher, straightening the living room, letting the dogs out. Suddenly, the phone rang. Assuming it was my mom (she's the only one that calls late at night), I was surprised and very confused to see the number on the caller i.d. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hello?
Avery: Hi.
Me, confused: Avery?
Avery: Yeah.
Me, still confused: What? Where...what...how are you calling me?
Avery: I have the cell phone in here.
(I had forgotten that my mom had given her an extra cell phone for emergencies just a couple of days ago.)
Me: Oh. So...why are you calling?
(Keep in mind I can hear her talking through the wall since she's in the next room.)
Avery: Because I can't come out. And you didn't notice when I stuck the note under my door.
Me: Note?

I walked over and discovered the note she'd slid under the door.

It reads:

I think you should bring some tylenol for me because my tooth hurts and my stomach too because I'm scared it's going to fall out of my scared little face.

I'm sure you'll all be relieved to know that we did, in fact, provide her with some Tylenol for her loose tooth. And while I'm sure that's not the last I'll hear from her tonight, we can all rest assured that she can find a loophole in any and every situation she finds herself in.

And, now, I will say good night.

A week in the life :: Wonderful Wednesday

...or "Have Violin, Will Travel"

Wednesday is the day of Avery's weekly violin lesson. We typically get up and try to get some school work done early, so that we don't have a lot to pack up when we leave mid-morning for Avery's lesson. So, while the kids worked, I made lunches, which just so happens to be one of my least favorite chores. It's second only to cleaning out all the lunch containers at the end of the day.


Avery has a recital this weekend and is playing a difficult Vivaldi piece, so she has had several extra violin lessons in the past two weeks. Today was her final solo lesson with her teacher, Elizabeth. It's really sounding good now, and the extra rehearsal time has been really good for her.


Meanwhile, the boys and I hung out in the waiting room. Rhys finished his schoolwork by rehearsing his lines for their future performance of Shakespeare's As You Like It.


After a rousing game of Multiplication War, it was time to go.


Next, we went to Meuller Park (our new favorite park). We ate lunch and played, played, played.





Eventually it was time to go. We piled in the car again and headed out to violin rehearsal #2 for the day. This time, we went to the home of the pianist who will do the accompaniment at the recital. We'd never met the pianist before last weekend, but she's fabulous. So nice and patient, and visiting her house is a real treat! From the mannequins in the front room and the chickens in the backyard, there's no shortage of entertainment! The boys and I wandered a bit, watching the chickens, admiring the 1960s ads plastered on the walls of the bathroom, examined all the little trinkets hidden everywhere, and eventually settled down to play Battleship.


After the lesson, it was time to head home. As always, the kids spent the remaining hours of the afternoon outside, until it was time for dinner and time for Rhys and Bill to go to a quick baseball practice.



Once Rhys and Bill left for practice, Avery and Griffin spent some quality time together composing.

Then Avery spent some time yakking on the phone...


... while Griffin decided to build a pyramid. I had no idea what he was doing until I walked in to see his masterpiece!


After practice, the guys sat down to watch a little bit of the Rangers game, while Avery checked her email, and I began uploading and editing the gazillion photos I took today. Bedtime came quickly for the kids, and I'm pretty sure Bill and I are soon to follow!

A week in the life :: Terrific Tuesday

Tuesday started a little more typically. I woke up to discover Rhys curled up with a book on the couch, Griffin playing quietly in his room, and Avery still asleep.



Since the only thing we had planned was an OT appointment for Rhys at noon, we weren't in a big hurry to get things going. After relaxing for a while, we eventually we did begin school work for the day. Avery and Rhys work from a list, but for Griffin we use a workbox system. All that means is that he has color-coded bins that hold his "school work." He has two blue ones that are work he does with me, two green ones that he does with Rhys, and two purple ones that he works through with Avery. Avery calls it "Preschooler Helper Squad." Griffin's work consists of things like books, art projects, games, puzzles, reading lessons, etc, and he really loves doing it.



Avery is less enthusiastic about her school work -- especially when it comes to math. She is really very good at math when she takes her time, but she doesn't really like it and is easily frustrated.


But she worked through it and ended up scoring 96% on her assignment for the day.

As I was getting into the shower, Griffin -- yes, Griffin -- received a phone call. It was from his best friend, Marten. I figured they'd talk for a couple of minutes (if that), and I was surprised to discover him still on the phone after I'd showered, dressed, and dried my hair!


We went to Rhys's OT appointment, and Avery finished her schoolwork in the waiting room and Griffin and I played a game. Since we had the afternoon free, and we were already so close, we decided it was a good day to pay Mamar a visit. On her street, I noticed lots of gorgeous patches of bluebonnets. The kids weren't dressed for "official" bluebonnet pictures, but we did do a dry run.


At Mamar's, Rhys was nice enough to take out her trash. He's always so proud of himself when he can help out.

We spent a lovely afternoon visiting, and headed home after several hours. Unfortunately, the first snag in the day came when I left my camera at her house. But, I couldn't turn around to retrieve it because of our second snag of the day: Bill was locked out of the house. We hurried home as quickly as we could to rescue Bill, who was patiently waiting on our front porch. (We had accidently left the top latch locked and his garage door opener wouldn't work.)


(Now we've come to the part of the day when I used Avery's camera. You can tell by the ever-so-attractive date that appears in the bottom right of the photos.)

Avery made dinner for us tonight. She's been taking a cooking class with some friends from an excellent cook that we know. She learned to make enchiladas, and she was very excited to make them for us. They were fabulous!

After dinner, we went outside to enjoy the lovely weather. We stayed out for a couple of hours until the waning sun drove us in.



After coming for baths and showers, we piled into my bed to read a few chapters of our latest book "The Guardians of Ga'Hoole". All in all, a pretty nice day.