An apology... and an announcement!

Unfortunately, I will not get my post on evening routines up today. I had one of the days where my to-do list was a mile and a half long.

But fortunately (I hope!) one of the things I am working on is completing the new Advent Seasons of Joy book! It's a four-week journey through Advent, with stories, songs, traditions, rhythms and routines, crafts and handwork, nature tables, recipes, and more. It doesn't include the Advent saints, but does have plenty to keep you and your family focused on traveling the spiral Advent path. Crossing my fingers and saying a prayer, it will be finished next week. I hope to have a bit of a sampler up early next week as well.

Workbox Wednesday: Nicholas

Once again, it's Workbox Wednesday, and we're back to Nicholas!

Because Nicholas is my first one-on-one "date" I've the school day, I've been experimenting with making his first 4 boxes things he needs a little supervision with. We started out with a large map of a Pilgrim village from Let's Find Out. Nicholas enjoyed tracing a path from one spot to another. He even insisted we hang the map up so he could look at it again later!

Next was Speechersize. I had tried making this an independent activity, but he's been struggling with it lately, so today we did it together. Here is Nicholas, making "Silly Faces".

We worked some more on our Harvest Counting Book.


Next we made some autumn spice dough from the Autumn Seasons of Joy. It smelled so yummy, and everyone enjoyed it. Even Big Sister joined in!


Next, Nicholas took a ten minute break. I'm not exactly sure what he thinks he needs a break from, but he has decided that every four boxes, he needs a ten minute break.

The next box had this little tape-and-color kit that I picked up at the Dollar Tree. Nicholas had fun, and it was a good small motor skill activity.

And then he moved on to a cut and paste activity.


Next was a box with seashells.

After listening for the ocean, he sorted them into large and small.

By now it was snack time. Nick followed me into the kitchen and made a little walnut shell turtle.


Which later found its way to the top of the gnome cave on the nature table.

We were going to have the rest of the crown cake for snack, but Daniel got to it while we were working on boxes 5 through 7. Le sigh.
I suppose I should be happy he didn't get to the knife.

After snack, bristle blocks!

I had these little linky-doos I picked up at a yard sale. I believe they're meant to be a math manipulative. I put them in a workbox mostly to see what he would do with them. He used them to stage an over-the-sofa escape.


And then he helped his brother over the wall.

Another yard sale find, wipe off "finish the picture" boards.

And a repeat of "Clip the Feathers on the Turkey".

And that was Nick's morning!

More than one type of noise...

Today I caught myself being short with my children.

Now, don't get me wrong. This is by no means an isolated event. But today, the realization of what it all meant hit me hard.

I have a lot of irons in the fire right now. I'm frantically trying to finish up an Advent edition of Seasons of Joy. I'm homeschooling a kindergartener, a third grader, and a fifth grader. I have a toddler underfoot. I have a short story I'm working on. I'm trying to work out at home or get to the gym anyway. And it's the Week of the Kitchen, so I'm trying to scrub out the fridge and scour the sink and clean the woodwork and degrunge the floor.

So when I went down in the basement to switch the laundry and put in a new load, I actually took a deep breath and lingered for a moment, enjoying the quiet and peace of being in the only level of the house with no children.

"Mooooo--oooooooooommmmmmm!!!!!"

And I have to admit, my response was a not very nice, "WHAT?!?"

And right away, I felt ashamed.

You see, the other things are important. The new Advent guide will (hopefully!) help pay for Christmas. A clean kitchen will help us all feel more peaceful. And the pesky state likes to be assured that I am properly educating my children.

But the most important thing of all is that I love them.

If I speak in the languages of humans and angels but have no love, I have become a reverberating gong or a clashing cymbal.

In that moment, it hit me. Those other things are important, but they're only a means to an end. In the end, I'm not commanded to write or clean or even to educate, but to love. Sometimes, all this business and busyness is nothing more than another type of noise.

So I went upstairs, and tried to breathe the busyness out. I snuggled the baby, read to my kindergartener, kissed my daughter, and took the time to listen to my oldest. And somewhere deep inside, my soul breathed a sigh of relief, recognizing that this was what I was supposed to be doing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

A Day in the Life

Good morning, and happy Tuesday! While the kids were waking up, I went downstairs and started the oatmeal.

Nicholas was the first one down. He likes to sit on the grate in the kitchen to warm himself.

Finally, almost everyone was down at the table and ready for breakfast.

Daniel was still in the living room, getting changed and dressed with Daddy.

Bowls were washed and stacked, and it was off to morning chores!

Katie Grace sorted some laundry, Michael took out the trash, and Nicholas worked on his room.

Next was devotions

Followed by circle time for the little ones.

Daniel enjoyed playing with the story basket after we'd moved on.

Michael and Katie Grace got started on their daily work.


And Nicholas and I did a little painting and some other work together.

As the older two continued, the littles and I made some flat bread rolls for snack, recipe from The Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book.

While they were baking, Michael did an experiment with Newton's Law of Motion.

And by the time that was done, it was snack time!

Everyone got back to business. Things were going so well, I even had time to put in a load of laundry
and organize two drawers,

Meanwhile, Daniel was hanging with his gnomies.

And Katie Grace was chilling with a puzzle after her main lesson was finished,

And Michael beat it outside as soon as he possibly could.
Meanwhile, Nicholas did a little painting

And a little dino wrestling.

And after a three-boy pile-up

it was time for a lunch of homemade chicken soup!

Here's where it gets kind of dicey-- lunch was cleaned up, a ten-minute tidy was complete, and Charlotte's Web was read. We all piled in the car to take Katie Grace to the elementary school for orchestra, and the two middle boys stopped at Wendy's to get their free Frosty's from Halloween. After Katie Grace came home, we read Story of the World and they designed their own cities, just like Peter the Great. I also popped in a cake.


Then I took a nap, because let's face it, today was exhausting.

When I woke up, there was an Uno game afoot and Michael had gone to the corner store for some Doritos.

While they were playing, I iced the crown cake for St. Elizabeth of Hungary's feast day.
Chip took Katie Grace to ballet, and Daniel climbed Michael's desk and did a little shadow boxing. For real. I heard him saying "Left! Block!"

Michael decided he would try to pass the final bridge in his Life of Fred book-- and he did!

I fit in a workout while dinner finished up, but it's hard to do crunches with a toddler on my tummy!

The boys were hungry, so I went ahead and fed them. Katie Grace and Daddy wandered in a few minutes later.

Then it was crown cake for desert and some quiet play and listening to books on tape, bath, story, prayers, and bed.

Good night!