September 2023 in Review . . . trying to catch up on posting for my blog-only followers!

Keeping track just because this is our life . . . Thomas had four medical appointments in September.

Organization (Book Shelves)

Finding another shelf space in the house to display the encyclopedia set meant I was able to decompress the homeschooling science shelf AND fulfill my dream of organizing the books into categories. It is a red letter day.

The Nativity of Our Lady

Happy nativity of the Blessed Mother Mary! (And grateful I could pick up cupcakes at the grocery, helping out this busy mother!)

Reading Aloud

I have long ago stopped minding when I select a new read-aloud book to my kids and receive loud protests and rejection in advance. Like water off this duck’s back! Once again, tonight I got the three younger boys from protesting vociferously to hanging on my every word within 15 minutes. So I guess we’ll be sticking with this bedtime read-aloud!

First classes back at First Tee!

Family Chores

Friday afternoons (and Saturday mornings) are our reserved Family Chore Time. Over the years, I have learned that this mama is mentally depleted when I get home from homeschooling co-op on Friday after lunch. So I don’t even try to do any school, but have made this a cleaning time: something I can do physically while my brain is mushy. Little David is six and loves helping. Today he has vacuumed and mopped our entire downstairs when that isn’t even his assigned job!

Joseph and a neighborhood boy picking up nuts for me

David doing a task

David vacuuming under our bed

Phonics

David is learning to read much more slowly than my first five kids, and I'm not yet sure if it's because of him or me. We have been working hard on it for all of Kindergarten and now starting First Grade.

Anatomy

Thomas loves learning anatomy and requested this paper doll skeleton kit.

Typical homeschooling trajectory

When I had only three kids, I took John and Mary to professional chess lessons every Friday for two years. They were probably seven and five years old, and I had more time and discretionary budget back then.

No one has had the privilege of professional lessons since (cue Mama guilt). However, John has taught chess to Joseph (kid #4) and now Joseph is teaching kids #5 and #6.

We are supposed to be starting our math, but I’m going to sip my coffee and let them finish this round of chess.

Some Weeks Are a Wreck

This homeschooling week has been a WRECK, what with five doctors’ appointments and my being gone all Wednesday fulfilling hall monitor duty. But I comfort myself that today, in this gorgeous weather, my kids have been throwing the ball with the dogs and they made a kite by hand using newspaper, sticks, and yarn. The kids have read numerous novels this week. Things could be worse.

Community Day at the Quarry

Our three boys with Daddy had the best afternoon ever at Community Day at our local quarry! I highly recommend folks with kiddos go next year.

Heading to the Fall Caeli!

The Merry Beggars

Since last week, we have been very much enjoying The Merry Beggars, which produce radio plays about saints. One saint is covered for an entire week of five 15-minute episodes, so much more is told about the saint than in some of the shorter audio options out there. The voice actors are fantastic. I really appreciate that each day's episode is sent to my email in box, which makes it very easy to remember to play the episode and to find it when I've got the children gathered at breakfast. The Merry Beggars is a part of Relevant Radio, which is Catholic. So far, I highly recommend this!

Wholesome Cul-de-Sac Races

Family Dance at Church

Three of the kids were busy at other events, so I took Margaret, Thomas, and David for a great family evening.

Miscellaneous Moments

#1: “But Mama, I have so many questions to ask!” —Thomas, age 8, upon hearing the announcement that it was now lights off and “No-More-Talking Time”!

#2: Homeschooling for 11 years now and I am in a phase I long dreamed about! My 11th grader just drove himself to his dual enrollment class and took his 9th grader sister with him. After his class, he will drive her to her organ lesson. Before departing, they printed out today’s math and physics assignments, so Mary will do her work during John’s class and John will do his work during Mary’s lesson. Homeschool moms in the wee early years: this is such a great phase to look forward to!

#3: Today I got my email In Box down to only 15 emails! My goal is to keep my In Box at 50 emails that need my attention, but I often have more than that. Today was one of the four days this academic year I will be the hall monitor for high-school homeschool classes, so I had from 8:00 to 5:00 to do nothing but tend to all the business needs in my In Box! I started at 57 emails and got to 15: I don't think I've had that few in my in box in the 16-1/2 years I've had children!

Great new art room at the oncology clinic

Mom-Dad belated birthday date

Reading the latest news

Food Photos

Meal Planning

Meal planning is done for the week and grocery order placed! It's a weekly task that took a few years to implement when I first married, but really does set the whole week right from the get-go.

Saturday:

Brisket

Broccoli

Homemade chunky applesauce

Sunday:

Ribs (from the deli)

Baked potatoes

Sauteed corn

Israeli salad

Homemade "Laura's gingerbread" with homemade whipped cream

Monday (going to be out all afternoon):

Slow cooker pineapple pulled pork on bakery brioche buns

Baked sweet potatoes

Tuesday (needs to be an easy dinner served early):

Spaghetti and meat sauce (I'm loving the new brand Good Wheat, which is pasta made of regular wheat, so it doesn't taste off-putting, but each serving contains 0 g sugar, 8 g fiber, and 9 g protein)

Sauteed green beans

Take-and-bake French baguette

Wednesday (very easy dinner served in 45-minute turnaround between activities):

Sandwich night! Make your own sandwich (cold or hot panini press)

Kettle potato chips

Fruit

Thursday:

Homemade bacon quiche (or fried eggs for the pickier folks)

Waffles (I'm loving the Pearl Milling Protein pancake mix . . . 15 grams of protein in two pancakes!)

Friday:

For some of us: Frozen pizza

For others: Chickpea curry over rice

New Beef Jerky

Doing a little Monday morning work in my laundry room dividing up food into single servings for our kids' snack boxes. I recently found Tillamook sugar-free beef jerky, which is so much healthier than common "beef jerky" available for sale (which is almost entirely fat and with significant added sugar).

I divided up the bag into twelve 1/2-ounce servings (which is quite petite!), which means each serving costs $1.16, which is pretty pricy but is such a healthful add to a kid's meal!

only 35 cals . . . for . . .

7 g protein!!!

0.75 g fat

0 g carbs

If a kid eats this little beef jerky with a junkier carb, it makes for a good balanced meal.

Michaelmas

Happy Michaelmas! I learned that blackberries are a traditional dessert for the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, so I made homemade Angel food cake (so good, I never want to buy from the store again!) and served it with homemade whipped cream and blackberries.

Homemade Bread

We are on a kick of trying to make our own bread to have something that is fresher (no weird preservatives), contains more fiber and protein, and is more delicious. Margaret (age 12) is my main baker and we are so grateful for her efforts. She bakes on the weekends, we slice the loaves, and we freeze all but the current loaf (which we keep in the refrigerator because of the lack of preservatives).

Biscuits for breakfast

Who needs McDonalds when you've got biscuits, sausage, and eggs?

Not beautiful, but incredibly delicious gingerbread

Homemade Italian dressing

Breakfast for dinner (homemade protein waffles, homemade applesauce, bacon)

Dog Photos

Nicky thinks that napping in my arms while I teach math is not too much to ask.

I’m not sure where I am supposed to put my feet while I sit at my desk. Both dogs are now camping under there, using my briefcase as a doggie bed. (What am I doing? Of course, I am awkwardly sitting sideways on my stool so as not to disturb them.)

This student is disrupting our recitation of memory work with his loud snoring.

Sweet Nicky is never, ever done chasing his ball.

Tilly's Near Miss

Our quiet, 12-pound Tilly almost met her Maker tonight when our heavy stone bird bath toppled over and hit her. (I think that garden art will be going bye-bye.) I had her at an after-hours vet hospital within 30 minutes. The vet thinks she avoided a broken bone, although with us declining the $400 X ray we won’t know for certain. Baby girl is on meds and is prescribed crate rest—for two whole weeks! We shall see how that goes.

Carrying Tilly on our walk

WE ARE SOFTIES. Sweet Tilly doesn’t hate her prescribes crate rest as much as some dogs would, but we are holding her on our laps as often as possible and this morning, John came with me on the dog walk so Tilly could accompany Nicky while being carried the whole time. 💗 John and I have such tender hearts that we are trying to find a sling-style baby carrier so that we can carry Tilly around while her injured leg is held still.