Weekly Wrap-Up

THIS WEEK:

We spent a beautiful hour and a half at the zoo.

And the boys got their hair trimmed while we were in Little Rock.

Tornado finished another big puzzle. Can you spot the missing piece? It NEVER fails; we always end up with one piece missing. I'm sure it was enjoyed by one of our dogs.

We took another ice skating lesson!

Dash was so shy and skiddish during the lesson with our instructor. Then, as we (the family) were skating by ourselves, he noticed she was giving another kid a lesson. This kid looked like an Olympian-to-be, and I think it was just the motivation he needed. It was surreal. Out of nowhere, he starts zooming down the ice (holding my hand). I could barely keep up! I could also barely skate because I was laughing so hard. He sort of looked like Pheobe (from Friends) when she runs. (But he was doing great!) I think our plan is to have the kids start taking individual lessons from now on. I think they will get even more out of it when it is one-on-one.

Sissy finished up her soccer season. (Her age division doesn't play games; they just have parent-involved practices once a week in preparation for next year.)

Our friends, the Davidsons, spent 24 hours with us this week (the kid members of the Davidson Den, that is). A benefit to homeschooling is the ability to have sleepovers in the middle of the week! This is darling little Atticus and Gabriel. They bunked in the room with...

giggly little Sissy and Saylor. I occasionally peeked my head into the room, then suddenly one child (usually 2 year old Atticus) would quickly scurry back to his place under the covers. I tried to look serious, but it was adorable. There was whispering for an hour or two after I tucked them in.

Especially from the three big boys. Tornado was in the top bunk, and Dash and Noah were in the bottom bunk. Those two...well, it probably sums it up best just to say "those two."

I am thankful, though, for the power of positive peer pressure. The Davidsons are healthy eaters, and so they eat most fruits and vegetables (and anything else I set in front of them). When I brought out sliced kiwi fruit as a part of our breakfast, Noah exclaimed that he loved kiwi, then Dash also declares he loves kiwi, too. Dash is a pretty good eater and likes most fruit, but I'll tell you something he normally refuses to eat: kiwi fruit. I tried to hide my smile as he downed piece after piece, trying to be like his older friend.

Speaking of positive peer pressure, look at my 3 year old princess wearing...jeans! Saylor was wearing jeans (and apparently my high heeled boots!), therefore, Sissy wanted to wear jeans (gasp!), too.

They joined in on a little bit of our Asian studies while they were at our house. Here they are decorating hats like we saw in our China books.

We ended our visit with a big Chinese celebration (more on that another day).

The next day I spent cleaning up the debris created by 7 children. Chinese food (eating with chopsticks), with all of it's little rice and noodle-y parts, is a bit messy - so this is pretty much what the entire floor around the table looked like.

Other than that, our week consisted of the usual: Dash's soccer practice, Sissy's arts academy, Dash's music class, and homeschool academy 2 days a week, etc. Regarding schoolwork, it has been fun watching Dash learn to read.

On a side note...things have been a little difficult with Tornado this week, regarding (public) school. Without going into the whole story - it just wasn't his best week, I would appreciate your prayers for him, any of you who would feel so inclined.

ALSO: Annette from Live, Learn, Love is having SEVERAL giveaways going on right now (to celebrate her children's birthdays). Several great books and a CSN gift certificate, too. Hop on over there.

Linking up to Weekly Wrap-Up, which is being hosted this week by Jamie, while Kris is away.