Flu in the Groftzoo

It hit us this week. Two kids down with the flu. It appears to be the real thing, not just a 24 hour bug like I was hoping. James and Tessa went down with it on Thursday, right after I had spent all day Wednesday getting out all the toys for reorganization. So instead of organizing, I spent Thursday hold and nursing Tessa and fetching James more tylenol. Poor kids, they are so miserable. Friday seemed better and on Saturday, I had declared it over and just a 24 hour bug, but alas, it bit again. By Saturday afternoon, James was down again with a fever and a terrible sounding cough and Tessa had resumed her marathon nursing sessions.

Tessa still hasn’t come down with the rest of the symptoms, like the cough or stuffiness, which I attribute to her CONSTANT breastfeeding. Although she did say that her head hurt when she woke up this morning. So I will be watching her closely as the day goes on. I am praying that no one else in our family comes down with this, and that anyone reading this can stay well and warm and have a Merry Christmas!

Dye it?

While at Mike & Annie’s house the other day, Ben noticed his favorite drink, A&W Rootbeer in their fridge. So he asked if he could have some. Annie told him that it was, unfurtunately, Diet, so no, he couldn’t have some.

His response was, “Diet? Should I dump it on my head then?”

Well all just thought that was a very strange remark until we realized that he meant… to Dye his hair. Har har… Get it? Diet = Dye it?

Smart kid, that Ben. His humor is way above my head.

Homeschooling and the Holidays

We are headed right on past the middle of November here, and our homeschooling is starting to feel the pull of better weather outside combined with lots of holiday things to do. So how will we ever catch up after our trip and stay that way while the holidays move through? How can we make the holidays a Spirit filled, holy time without losing track of the progress we are trying to make with academics?

I think I need to set up some serious priorities right now:
1. I need to stop skipping my morning devotions. Sure it is hard to get up and I would sometimes rather read my email first, but putting it off just means that it doesn’t get done.
2. I need to meet with each child, each day. EVERY DAY.
3. I need to keep a running journal of these school “meetings” So that I can give them their assignments properly. I don’t think this is the time for long range lesson plans, which will just leave us feeling behind.
4. Weekly library trips need to be reinstated. ASAP.

So there we are, Holiday CPR for our school year.

A Trap?

Tessa picked up one of those little pony tail holders the other day… the kind with a little marble on each end and said, “Look, a trap!”

Thinking I might have heard wrong I asked her, “A Trap?”

“Yes!” She replied and toddled off on her merry way.

Poor kid, it’s a good thing she doesn’t have hair, she’d be thinking I spent all my time trying to TRAP her!

A Few Days Left in August

Putting this in another category just to see what that does, if anything.

August is almost over, and if it weren’t already over 100 degrees outside, I would say I could feel fall in the air. Maybe I can just feeli it in the stores. I went shopping the other day and the fabric sotres have all their cordouroys and browns out, the department stores have long sleeves everywhere you look. Oh those clothes look so cozy, but it is just too hot to even think about buying such things!

Today is Monday, and as usual, I have a pretty good start on things, homeschooling, laundry, I can usually get up on time. This year I am trying to stretch my endurance and make it to Thursday before I peter out and start shlumping from one procrastinated task to the next.

Enough time here for now, I just updated the website, so now I need to go attend to the munchkins, I know that lunch is cleaned up, and I think our trip to the library will have to wait until after dinner now. Shoot, my fault!