Literacy Showcase

President’s Day was honestly a bit boring. We had intentions to do something fun but our top picks were closed for the holiday or too expensive. We finally decided to just play some games as a family. I hemmed a new pair of pants, ended up rehemming the pants twice more because they were way too short. The fabric kept shrinking the more I extended the hem, it was strange. We introduced Justin to the game Carcassonne. It was very difficult for Everett, Evelyn, and Phillip to let me be the game instructor. The best way to learn is to just play and explain as situations come up. Justin ended up whopping us all, he even beat me after I won the monster-sized city. It was a rainy dreary day so staying home felt like the way to go. 

Sara took Evelyn to get her stitches removed at day 8, which was 2 days early. Her wound reopened a smidge but is now looking much better. Everett ended up on the wrong side of Fergus’ teeth this week as well. Fergus was attacking Eve and as Everett was separating them Fergus sunk his teeth into Everett’s thumb through his nail. Yeouch. It was not deep enough for intervention except for some oinkment and steri-strips. The 26th cannot come quick enough, both boy dogs are slated for neutering that day. If Fergus does not quit his rampage he might have to go. I feel like we have moody toddlers again, Fergus scares Wally (wiggle) so badly he loses control of his bladder. 

Josie got a new violin! She now has a 3/4 size instrument to learn on. I hope that with a larger instrument her hand, finger, and bow issues will resolve. She started curling up her fingers which makes it difficult to play quickly. We bought her violin from an older lady who took lessons then did not have time to keep it up. As of right now, her new instrument does not stay in tune like her little one does. It might need a new set of strings. She immediately named her instrument, Edelweiss. Evelyn is improving with her picking every day that she practices. 

Friday was our Reagan Literacy Showcase from 2:30-3:30 pm. Students prepared some sort of research report to present. I had the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders prepare a coded story/scene that correlated with their project. I felt like banging my head against the wall because half the students had no idea what to do, AFTER 6 weeks of working on coding. I’m telling you, it was not difficult. It drives me crazy when a student says they do not know what to do when the directions AND an example are plainly displayed on my main TV screen AND I’ve showed them what to do 4-5 times. I got so frustrated I had quite a few students switch to typing for 50 minutes. The whining fed my soul. 

My dang feet are killing me. I don’t know what else to try. I stretch, do strengthening exercises, ice my feet, use topical creams, switched my shoes, got insoles, and even tried wearing foot splints at night. The splints made my entire legs ache and tremble so badly I could barely stand. I’ve been on trizepitides now for 5 weeks, lost 2 pounds. Whoop! Whoop! Justin lost 50 pounds. I swear my body hates me. I’m grateful for feet, working on being grateful for feet that hurt. I was so tired by Friday evening, just wanted to crawl into bed and read a book. Nope, we had school and work. After that I went grocery shopping because the next day was booked with a newborn session, a sitter session, the kids temple trip, laundry, and cleaning. 

The newborn session was a very long one. Poor baby was so unsettled. He would not let me touch or move his hands at all. I did the session at his home because Mom had a c-section and post-partum preeclampsia. Kristin is an amazing lady  with so many fun things to talk about. We had a lovely visit! Plus she married an accountant! Andrea Cortes is Gabe’s sister. Andrea brought over Dariana while Kristin was nursing the baby so I could take some 9 month photos. Sebastian finally went to sleep after 3 hours of fussing. I treated myself to chic-fil-a and browsing Hobby Lobby after that marathon session. I switched out Valentine’s decor for St Patrick’s stuff, updated the birthday frame, and worked on laundry. I got the birthday frame updated just in time to start updating it again. Granted, I’ve not taken birthday photos for Josie yet. It’s been a stressful time.