Friday, January 30, 2015

Seven Quick Takes Vol 10: Invest in Kleenex


-- 1 --

The picture above is of the sock monkeys my sister bought for all the grandkids at Christmas. These were made by a woman who went to high school with my sister who now has an Etsy shop. I've forgotten the name, but I'm sure I can find it for you if you're interested. The kids adore these monkeys. The three four-year-old boys were a little rough on them and you may notice a few sock monkey injuries in the picture, but they had fun! Second Son's is now one of his steady bedtime companions.


-- 2 --

This is what happens when I give my niece permission to photo bomb the sock monkey picture.

-- 3 --

We have been juggling sickness since coming home from our holiday trip to Illinois, but the most recent round began two Mondays ago with First Daughter. Everyone took turns, the next getting sick as the previous one started on the upswing. Second Son fell particularly ill with a fever that lasted over five days. He still has a cough, but seems to finally be recovering. (I was pretty worried about him; he's so skinny and he ate so little! Thankfully, he doesn't seem to have lost too much weight.)

-- 4 --

The kids are feeling better, but I am still suffering. I had a terrific ear infection a week ago Tuesday. I can't remember my ear hurting so much. Kansas Dad sent me to the doctor, though not in time to prevent the ear drum from rupturing (if there was any hope of that). I'm hoping it will heal on its own, but I'm at day ten and still have muffled hearing on that side along with constant ringing. I'll have to call the doctor on Monday, I think, if it's not noticeably better.

-- 5 --

A week after the ear drum rupture, I woke up without a voice. I told Kansas Dad it was only right I be dumb while deaf. Not much reading aloud happened this week. The older kids have been keeping up with their independent lessons, but kindergarten and our all-together lessons have been patchy. I told them not to worry; we'll just have school through the summer so we don't miss anything. Ha!

-- 6 --

In good news, I used some of the missing read-aloud time to complete my thought process for our Lenten cross so I could actually make it. Post to come!

-- 7 --

Somehow I managed to convince eight ladies to meet once a month to talk about Charlotte Mason's 20 Principles using Brandy Vencel's Start Here. Luckily, our first meeting was the night before I lost my voice. As the person who proposed the study, I am the de facto leader (though not a confident one, even when I have a voice).  The first meeting was really fun. We mostly just introduced ourselves and talked. We'll tackle the first principle next month. (Yes, I think the meeting had something to do with losing my voice. I always talk too much at those things which is a good reason not to trust me as a leader. I think I was going to lose my voice anyway; it just hastened it.)

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