Reno, Paint, and Learning Too

To be honest with you as we started this week I had no plans on doing any renovation work what so ever this week. (I post our weekly plans Sunday afternoons on our Facebook page.) I'd planned on three review days of school, Thursday off to do our monthly errand running, and Friday beginning a long weekend (Daddy has a specialist appointment for his knee on Monday and the campers are going to hang out at Grandma's house). My husband told me Tuesday (I think) night that we were going to finish both Cracker Jack's rooms this weekend. I hadn't expected to do both in one weekend but I was pretty happy about it. It makes the company coming in one month (for the Cracker Jack's First Communion) less intimidating if at least the children's rooms are all finished. (I did post a quick couple of pictures on Thursday as a head's up here. )

There's buds on the trees!!!!

But, I'm jumping ahead. Because so much happened this week! For a week that was supposed to be sooo laid back (and it was) there has been a TON of things happen around here!

This is what's left of our snow "mountain"

Monday we had a regular school day. The children did their lessons without too much complaint (well, other than YCJ who really doesn't like Monday's and complains every Monday and drags her feet on lessons). We did end lessons just a bit early because the weather was simply too darned nice to not be outside. Since we have a muddy yard (rain and snow melt) and the patio is still a mess from before the snow there wasn't going to be any lessons outside. We went for a long walk, the kids drew with sidewalk chalk, and then (after I thought we were finished outside) the children had to "help" (read play more outside) Daddy BBQ supper.



Tuesday we had another short review day for our lessons. Took early afternoon baths/showers and readied ourselves for the very last catechism class of the year. As the weather was so wonderful we decided to walk up to the church, the Cracker Jack's and I did this before in the fall but this was the farthest that Peanut has ever walked! She made it without one complaint although she did trip and got a little scrape near her eye about halfway there. Peanut's group were able to play in the gym on two separate bouncy houses, play with soccer and basket balls, and eat a nice snack of fresh popped popcorn and juice boxes. The Cracker Jack's both got their medals for working so hard towards their First Communion and YCJ got a second (smaller) medal from her third grade teacher. (All of the pictures from Tuesday are still on my phone ... sorry.) When we got home from catechism Daddy surprised me with a completely clean and organized closet in our bedroom!!!

Wednesday I'd had planned to do our last day of review, however we decided the time would be best spent by cleaning out ECJ's room. OH the horrors of a pre-teen boy's room left unchecked! This boy used to keep his room meticulous and suddenly, over the last year or so, it has begun to look like an A bomb goes off in it at regular intervals. I don't even want to mention how much trash, laundry, and other junk we got out of there (though I finally did go through his dresser and organize it again). The campers also spent about an hour or so outside just goofing around and playing.

Daddy surprised us with a bunch
of carpeting that was gifted to us!

ECJ shocked me by reading
from his health book about RICE
to his sisters

Thursday was the 3rd, our monthly errand running day, so of course we had to go pay some bills and buy some essentials. A few supplies we were lacking for paint jobs were bought and then we came back home. ECJ's new room was started that evening and somehow during the day the children managed some more time outside between the light rain drops. And Daddy was able to get the couple of pieces of dry wall in the house that we'd purchased to finish the walls in YCJ's new room. I also managed to catch a wonderful picture of half of a rainbow from our side deck, right after I'd found out I was nominated for a Liebster Award and that I was going to be featured this week in Friendship Friday's (hosted by Faithful Mom of 9 ). It was a day I felt truly blessed by!

Yesterday was Friday and I won't go into a whole bunch of tedious details by typing out each and every step of what we did. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves on this one. (The colors didn't show up exactly right in the pictures, but he's super excited about how it looks!)

Final product!!!

That brings us to today, Saturday, where we've begun to paint YCJ's room. I'll post pictures of it next week during that wrap up as it's not finished yet. We've run into a snag having to cover up some writing that the previous owner's teenage son had put on the walls.

Tomorrow we're going to see the eldest boy make Confirmation and we couldn't be prouder!


Peanut (preK/K) did some awesome things this week. She made her very own Play Dough grapes by studying the pictures on the box. She was able to drill some drywall screws with Daddy's help. AND she did a great job helping to paint! Oh, and she did wonderful with her lessons this week too.

In third grade news, YCJ did some work on her knitting loom, did well with her lessons, and also drilled and painted in her own room with Daddy and Mommy. She also cornered her brother for some hugs on the couch Friday morning.

As for ECJ (sixth grade) he did quite a lot of life skill work this week. He cooked lunch (one spaghetti o's and once chicken noodle soup) twice this week for the campers, he learned how to mend stuffed animals and ripped clothing, how to paint, lay carpet, and work with drywall. 




Random pictures:

Sniffing out supper from the front porch while supervising the kids (and Daddy) on Monday.

Our donation load to Salvation Army this week as part of our 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge I/we are doing for Lent.

Posts you may have missed this week:   
Judge Not...
Serious Supper Supositions
11+ Places We're Going
How I Pick Math Curriculum
Getting Our Groove Back
I've Been Nominated!

Where I'm linking up with this week:    
Faithful Mom of 9 (she also featured me this week, YAY!! and Thank you!!)
Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Homegrown Learners
Great Peace Academy
and
Squishable Baby

Find us on Facebook here or subscribe to the blog for tips on homeschooling, book reviews, how to get your children helping out in the kitchen, and to see many pictures of the cute kiddos, plus much more!

Getting Our Groove Back

Honestly I'd planned another post on manipulatives today. However, it dawned on me as I sat to type this out that there is something much bigger going on that is once again working for us.

We've gotten back into our home renovation groove!

Partly this has happened because of the 40 Bags in 40 Days 2014 Challenge that I took on this Lent (and that my family has been of immense help during). Partly this has happened because in exactly one month the Cracker Jack's will have their First Communion and we'll be having people to the house who've never been here before. And the last little smidgion of why this is happening is because the weather has gotten warmer and we've got ants in our pants to do something.

A few of you will remember that a few weeks ago I mentioned that YCJ was going to be bunking with Peanut for a few weeks while we switched the Cracker Jack's rooms. We'd fully intended to simply switch their things out once we'd done the clean up and prep work and then move things into the center of the room to paint later on. Instead we've decided that we'll have their rooms painted (if not new floor covering down as well) before they go into their "new" rooms.

So, here was what YCJ's room looked like before:

And here's ECJ's room before we paint (this weekend) but after the floor was fixed and the walls prepped:

Walls Prepped

Floor Fixed

This is what ECJ's room looked like before:

Just a corner of his mess mind you...

And here's YCJ's room before we paint and before prep work which will be finished this weekend (paint to come within the next ten days):

Same corner the mess was in

We're picking up the rest of the supplies we need either today (our monthly errand day) or Friday. I simply can't wait to show you the after pictures of each room! I'm excited to see how they each turn out and how much of the children's personalities shine through! I know that it's not a normal thing to feel so much excitement for renovation projects, but I simply can't help it. These rooms needed redone anyway and with ECJ requesting to be put into the smallest of the rooms in the house we're more than happy to do them!!



Find us on Facebook here or subscribe to the blog for tips on homeschooling, book reviews, how to get your children helping out in the kitchen, and to see many pictures of the cute kiddos, plus much more!

Our Break Week

OK, so this week was a true break for us. Meaning, I didn't print out any math or Language Arts worksheets and we didn't do any text book work at all. The only print outs I did do were for Ash Wednesday and they were coloring sheets. The only two things that were mandatory all week long were the Bible and reading.

So, how did our week pan out?

Monday we did 90% of our errand running for the month. It was the third after all and this is when we always do it. 

Tuesday we were pleasantly surprised when the girls took it upon themselves to write and illustrate to very short stories! The that night I fell asleep snuggling YCJ with Moragon on the couch for the first time in what felt like forever!

On Wednesday we had Ash Wednesday. So we had coloring sheets, a more in depth lesson for religion, mass, and a lot of discussion about what we should "give up" for Lent. I also started my 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge with a very quick and simple clean up of my coffee table and part of my kitchen counter. The girls also took it upon themselves to completely redecorate my refrigerator. The campers watched some videos and prayed along with some audios on Holy Heroes for the Lenten Adventures. Then we tore up the "evil twins" we made earlier this winter and pledged to try to never do those "bad" things again.

I still haven't found a home for my jeans or long sleeved
shirts yet, however.

Thursday was full of some good things. Peanut (prek/K) read an entire book about opposites!!! YCJ (third grade) got more than halfway through her first "real" chapter book!!! I actually managed to clean off my dresser and fill two BIG bags of clothing to go to charity! ECJ's doctor appointment went well and our fears were eased about his lack of growth, we're not to worry about it unless he hits 14 (two years from now) and still hasn't hit a good growth spurt and then we'll see a specialist. But, for now he's still just a late bloomer in that department.

We had a lovely Friday at Grandma's house. We helped her clean out their "storage" room (really just a no longer used bedroom) and organize it. We were able to visit for several hours while we were there as well. ECJ (sixth grade) had spent a lot of time reading this week and finished one chapter book only to begin another one! There's one more month of Book IT! and we're right on target! Each camper has managed to get a sticker for their passports to reading every month! We even did a quick stop in the morning to walk on the frozen lake, but I was too busy keeping my balance to snap any pictures.

As for this weekend we're finally going to take down the "porch tree/ valentines tree". Continue with our 40 bags in 40 days. Perhaps even do some items on our Winter Bucket List . We've decided that it is very likely not all of the items will be checked off this time, and that's just fine! Other than that we're simply going to relax and read some more. We might even be able to get in some outside time tomorrow afternoon! We're well rested now and ready to get back to the more serious side of learning.

Posts you may have missed this week:   
Is This Really A Menu Plan?
Today is Ash Wednesday
Learning with K5

Linking up this week with:    
Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Faithful Mom of 9
Homegrown Learners

Find us on Facebook here or subscribe to the blog for tips on homeschooling, book reviews, how to get your children helping out in the kitchen, and to see many pictures of the cute kiddos, plus much more!