{SQT} Under Contract Sign Is Up!

1. We Are Under Contract!

Praise Jesus, our home went under contract for sale after five days on market!

2. Story Without Words,

or, We Unpacked the Scissors

Yes, he chooses his own outfits and dresses himself.

Bonus picture of Master Thomas reading his news poolside.

3. David Hurt!

David (24 months) stepped out onto the back patio while I was cooking dinner and immediately screamed in such a way that I ran to him. He was hysterical and screaming at length, but I could not find a mark on him. He would not walk on his left foot and, for the next two hours, simply crumpled to the ground each time I tried to set him down, declaring to me, "HURT!"

I took him to Urgent Care for an X ray, but no fracture was found, leaving the doctor and I stumped and wondering if he twisted a ligament or received a painful bug bite/sting too small for us to see.

He hobbled around the following day and preferred being carried . . . most especially " 'side down!" as he commands his sister Mary.

4. National Weather Service

On Wednesday, we joined a half dozen homeschooling families for a field trip to the National Weather Service station in Columbia, South Carolina, a couple of hours away. It was a fascinating, informative tour followed by a brown bag lunch at a local park.

5. Miscellaneous

Ice skating . . . two birthday parties . . . music lessons . . . Liturgy and Fraternity (Mass followed by men's dinner) . . . a scheduled doctor's appointment in addition to an unscheduled Urgent Care . . . various online orientations in anticipation of some homeschooling classes starting next week . . . hosting our first play date in the new home . . . .

Creative use of a crayon-holder for one's Nerf-gun supplies . . .

This week is Caterpillar Week around here and there are hundreds in our cul-de-sac. Each day, the children go out to rescue them off the streets and put them on shrubs and trees, which I hope the critters to not devour to death.

Boys' basketball game after Mass, then lunch with dear friends . . .

Submarine tactics . . .

Learning how to play Axis and Allies: D-Day . . . numerous games of it played this week . . . Also, family Pictionary . . .

Reading to brothers while Mama cooks

Playing soldiers continues this week

Most mornings, I've been taking the crew outside in the mornings so the little ones will run off energy and the big ones will work off energy by hauling my branches and trimmings from a lot of pruning I am doing.

6. Baking Muffins

The home is functional with every day of unpacking making a big difference. It was two weeks before I found my forks. We had knives and spoons, but not forks.

One morning, I tried to make myself some healthy, low-calorie muffins. The night before, I cleaned the kitchen and set out all my ingredients (I thought). In the morning began a 90-minute misadventure trying to make these muffins as I mixed all the ingredients only to come to the cinnamon for the CINNAMON Muffins and discover that I had none. I had unpacked one box containing spices, but not the apparently missing box containing the rest of the spices. Chris valiantly drove to the store for me to buy cinnamon, I finished mixing, and then I discovered that I had not yet unpacked my muffin tins, so I had to cut open boxes until I found those.

A lot of actions these days are like baking those muffins: slow and full of discoveries in our new environment.

7. Exhausted

Having a four-year-old dropping his nap is pretty rocky, as those days means he is awake from 6:00 to around 8:00 p.m., so his behavior is dreadful from afternoon onward. Yet, any nap at all, even one hour, means he is wide awake and singing like a lark till between 9:00 and 10:00! I've been through this four times before and I know it's just a difficult six months or so. I am teaching him how to be in Quiet Time even if he does not sleep. I even tried this week creating a cave for him by draping a blanket over his bunk so that he has less visual stimulus and will stay in one spot being still. He is in the same room as his napping toddler brother, so I'm teaching him how to be quiet.

We are exhausted, but getting better all the time.

For more 7 Quick Takes Friday, check out This Ain't the Lyceum.