Wednesday 12/5

This is a recap. I forgot to journal.

A.M. It snowed yesterday.

B - played in the snow a lot and came in for hot cocoa a lot. She also did lots of gymnastics off the couch in basement and watched TV. She was happy all day. I gave her a hot bath in the evening after she came in freezing. She helped H bake chocolate chip cookies in the evening.

S - was in a bad mood most of the day. He went out and played in the snow in the afternoon. He played piano, did gymnastics, watched TV, read Calvin and Hobbes. He played some Spider solitaire on the computer. He's getting quite good at it. I read him the next chapter of The White Horse which he is really loving.

J - stayed in his pjs all day. In the a.m. he finished up the last book in the Hitchhikers "Trilogy" He was in a fog from his marathon reading of that this week. He spent much time on the xbox upstairs or playing addicting games on the web or listening to music from itunes. In the evening I made him work on his history workbook. He did it and liked the fact that he had to draw a scimitar.

W - I can't remember what W did in the a.m. I think he just wandered around. He's doing very well with his Advent ban on games. He's reading a lot at websites like Catholic Answers. He practiced guitar a lot and then had a very long lesson with the guitar teacher. Mostly he played guitar! In the evening, he did 45 minutes of Latin. We said a rosary together around 9 pm. He was so bummed because he couldn't go to CLC due to the snow.

H - was trying to finish up with preparations for our St. Nick show which we wound up cancelling due to the snow. She intrepidly went out in the snow and ran all kinds of errands but then got stuck on the hill by her friends house where she was picking up table clothes. R had to go get her. She had to abandon her car. She made choc chip cookies in the evening but accidently put too much baking soda in them so they were okay but had a sort of metallic, salty aftertaste to them. She was heartily bummed!

R worked from home yesterday. We did our Advent calendar at lunch. And our Jesse Tree and Menorah at about 8:00 p.m. I made tacos for dinner which everybody loved (except R who hates Mexican food!).

Tuesday 12/4 Happy Hanukkah (at sundown!)

R got up early to take his car in to be tuned. Woke up and read article on Paradise Lost. Very interesting and really made me think about Philip Pullman and Calvinism, etc.



H and W got up early and went to Mass and then took Chem exam. W got 87 and H got 99.



I basically let B and S play all day. They are getting pretty bored with no structure for them for most of the day.



J practiced piano, read next chapter in history and went over questions in his catechism. Then he played lots of computer games.



I finished reading essay. Never said rosary. Got lunch going and then had Brit Lit and Hist. class which we haven't had for two weeks. Had a really interesting discussion about Milton. Watched next in dvd on Brit Hist on Charles I. Then we made scones, discussed Milton more and then listened to the first 15 minutes of book I.



Now I need to run to store to get latkes! I can hear W picking out the carol of the bells on the guitar. He's good!

Monday 12/3/07

R got up very early to drive to Baltimore to see his mom and brothers while dad is undergoing operation.


Things to do today:


Lots of prayer

Follow morning routine

Grades tests

Plan for RE

Curves - must go to Curves!

Laundry - boys especially

Math tutor this a.m.

Advent stuff

Chanukah stuff

Buy little candy canes for St. Nick

Have B and S go over play roles

Have H go over whose already signed up - how to make program

Need to plan for Chanukah dinner, early

Need to plan what to make for St. Nick potluck





10:55 a.m.


Said rosary for Grandad, all except W who had lots of math homework to finish up.





J didn't finish math homework before tutor arrived because he was too busy reading Douglas Adams book. W is in study alternately doing math and playing guitar. H took a shower this a.m. No idea what else she's been doing.





B and S - we sang Chanukah songs and recounted the story of Chanukah which S had mixed up with Passover. I read Zlateh the Goat which is a lovely story. Did mental math. B acted out number sentence of 6 - 1 equals 5 using pebbles then I wrote the sentence both ways. S did lots of fancy counting by 100s, 25s, tens and 5s with big numbers for example count by 5's from 135 to 250. Then we did 5 new spelling words, follow, pillow, shadow, etc and a little bit of cursive practice. B set up her playhouse as a grocery store and we played store for a bit.





Need to remember to do : Advent calendar and Jesse tree which we didn't do at breakfast. Also, do paradigm sheets for Latin with J. I think we'll focus on that for Advent. Also want B to read to me and S as well.



J and I went over all the conjugations, declensions and pronouns we've learned so far. We are just going to fill out the template pages during Advent to get this stuff drilled into our heads. B brought the little tv up stairs and wanted to watch movies in her room. I told she could now but tonight instead of watching a movie while mom and H are at RE she and S would have to listen to their story cds then.



Did Advent calendar and Jesse Tree at lunch time. I am very grouchy and sleepy. I think I am going to lay down for 20 minutes then get up and plan my RE class for tonight.

Weekend 12/1-12/2

Pretty good weekend! Sat. was very low keyed. But I managed to do some laundry, put up Advent calendar, Jesse Tree and get out Advent Wreath.

H took the SAT in the a.m. and then spent most of the afternoon and evening hanging out with friends and Christmas shopping.

J and S had their piano lessons. We are trying to hook up the keyboard to the computer downstairs so S can compose.

W played lots of video games. It was his last hurrah because he's giving them up for Advent.

B hung out and was her usually busy self. She entered a contest on tv to make the wackiest sandwhich. She had fun compiling it and enlisted me to take pictures of it for her.

R slept in, fooled around on the computers. Ran errands. At night, he took the kids to dinner at the diner. I stayed home, for some reason my stomach was uneasy. I watched The Jewelers Shop. It was okay. I bet the play is better.

Sunday - I cleaned out the fridge. We went to breakfast. R watched news shows. We are starting to be interested in Mike Huckabee. Watched Redskins lose.

I went grocery shopping. H went to 8:15 mass, breakfast with friends. Came home for a little bit. Went to see friend in ballet, went to youth mass music practice. Hardly saw her all weekend.

J and W reluctantly did math homework.

Gerbils had babies. Oh my!

R sent in B's photo to the contest. Had dinner then rushed to mass. Afterwards J, W and H stayed to pack stuff for Iraqi children.

W had to do more math until 11:00 p.m. because he'd procrastinated so.

R went to bed early because he's going to see Dad at hospital Monday.

Friday 11/30

Well, I've been up since 4 a.m. Had very nice time with R though!




H and W got up early and went to teen mass at 6:15 a.m. Came home for a bit. H is really working on Bach's Minuet in G Major. Then they were off for a special Chem lab this a.m. They are doing Chemistry ALL morning.




Let the others wake up when they wanted. S woke up, showered and is now playing video games downstairs.




J was supposed to have his St. George club today, but for some reason it was cancelled. He was very bummed. He slept in and then started reading The Restaurant at teh End of the Universe. Then he decided to haul the little tv and an old game system upstairs to his room to play. He's been doing that.




B woke up and told me all about Little House of the Prairie that she was listening to before she fell asleep. I gave her some English muffins for breakfast. She is upstairs watching J play.




I am hoping we'll do the next installment of the T3 Bible study today. I know I'll need to take a nap and I should be doing something more constructive than putzing around the internet. I did manage to take a shower. I think I need another cup of tea!




B got out a big marble run machine like thing that she is assembling in the dining room. She wants me to help but I'm too sleepy. J is at the piano again.



4:26p.m. Well, we had a very sleepy, low keyed day. We did watch the next installment in T3 which was excellent. I read a bit of Royal Escape and enjoyed it. I almost took a nap but S kept waking me up just as I'd drift off. Late a.m. we watched Mr Roger's Neighborhood and the Reading Rainbow. RR was about family history which sent me on a google search about Grandfather and S. Gompers which was fun. H and W came home and I talked to them about it. Then we watched the Bible thing. H went to hand deliver the ski trip registration and check because I completely forgot about it and then realized today was the deadline. W is playing Assassins Creed. J is playing some robot game on the gamecube. B went to the neighbor's to play. S is bored and hungry and watching Arthur.

Thursday 11/29

5:22 p.m.
Busy day! Slow wake up. Didn't say rosary. Spent morning making arrangements and gathering props for play practice, getting kids up, dressed and breakfasted.


Math tutor came so W and J stayed home and worked this her this a.m.



H went to mass and library to study for SAT she's taking on Sat.



I took play stuff and B and S to play practice. We picked up L and Jack and saw their new baby sister. Went to play practice. It went pretty well. Two of the moms are different from me. They are only homeschooling two young daughters. They are very perfectionistic. Whereas I am more just focused on fun and kids learning. Poor Rena wasnt' feeling well.


After practice, took Lulu and Jack and B and S to McD's. for lunch which made them very happy. Then we went back to their house and visited for an hour or so. Then off to Pascal Lamb to buy St. Nick cards for St. Nick day and also pick up some stocking stuffers.


Came home. B and S watched a new Veggie tales we also picked up. J has been playing on the computer ALL day since math that is. He did practice piano today before I left. W has been at games all day as well. I know he has Chem homework to do.


S begged to play with Joseph so I picked up him a couple minutes ago. He's playing here. H and went over to friend's mother's house. The mother said she was going to teach H to bake. Wah! What kind of a mother am I that another mother I barely know volunteers to teach my dd how to bake!!!!!!!


Speaking of which, I need to go pick up pizza at Jerry's now. H came home. She baked a cherry pie and made chocolate chip cookies. She said she realized now what moms whose kids go to school all day do at a home. They do lots of stuff at church and bake!


Came home, we ate. Kids played downstairs. I worked with J doing Latin and F&L. He did workbook pages for FMMA. S didn't feel well and got into his pjs.

While the kids were playing downstairs they found the Incredible Writing kit which has hieroglyphic templates and they wrote out their names. Last week I read to them about the Egyptians from A Little History of the World so it was a nice, organic tie in.


H is quite proud of herself she taught herself to sight read Bach's Minuet in G Major. She's playing now.


I was inspired to write up template worksheets for declensions and conjugations for J. Took a long time.

Wednesday 11/28

Things to do:


Dentist - arghh, keep forgetting
Chimney sweep - haven't called back yet
NOVA - register H for Spanish next semester-H said she'd do this p.m.
Karate - register S and J for classes starting in Jan. - done!


10:40 a.m. Very slow morning! Did say a rosary though. And finished reading chapter on Plato with W and H and had some really interesting discussions about it.


J and B are outside raking leaves for Christmas money. S refuses to get out of his pjs though.


1:46. S decided he was going to go on strike but then got bored after 10 minutes in his room. he finally got dressed. He and B played Parcheesi downstairs and listened to Chanukah songs, practiced gymnastics and composed music, talked and played. Right after lunch they went up to their rooms for quiet time. S and J are listening to Tuck Everlasting. B is listening to Little House on the Prairie.


This a.m. J - read two chapters in If all the Swords of England, read chapter on Charlemagne in FMMA and read next chapter on Moses in F&L. We also did about 15 minutes of Latin.


The kids also played some solitaire on my laptop. B played some kind of Mah jong, but not really; she kept hitting the hint button.


H went to confession and Mass at noon. Came home and was looking through her SAT prep book.


W played his guitar and read some more of his Scott Hahn book on Opus Dei.


I realized I had forgotten to defrost the chicken that I was going to cook with bbq sauce in the slow cooker today. Quick got out some cube steak and defrosted it a bit and then stuck it in with the bbq sauce. Hopefully it will taste good. At some point I took a shower.


Next up: Vision Therapy, guitar lessons and gymnastics. Chess club for J. CLC for W.


7:49 Read a little of my new book Royal Escape and fell asleep for a few minutes. Woke up and realized we were late for VT. Took S to VT. Took B with me and we played with some phonics flashcards I had in my purse. She enjoyed playing with them.


H and W had guitar lessons. W worked on math homework as did J. Don't know what H did.


Took B and S to gymnastics. They had a blast. While they waited for each other's class we drew pictures and did mazes and puzzles from a little book called Brain Games. I have to remember to carry stuff like that around with me always!


J went to Chess club. He said he won his first game but the club was over before the second was finished but his opponent had the upperhand.


H made rice for me in the cooker. Had bbq beef and rice, chilled peaches and celery sticks. Though H and W didn't eat because H took W to CLC and J and S made themselves pb&J. Boo hoo. No wonder I hate cooking for this family! All that effort grocery shopping, planning, cooking and it is so unappreciated.


Now they are watching Arthur.

Tuesday 11/27

Woke 7:30 ish. Moved laundry. Dishwasher never ran last night. Ran it this a.m. Putzed around on computer for too long. Both H and W slept thru their alarms. Woke them up. Made J take a shower. S is practicing tying bows with his bathroble belt. H and W are finishing up chem homework frantically. Having frozen waffles and french toast for breakfast.



H and W left for Chem. R left for work. Forgot to say rosary! Got involved in posting on yahoo and such. Tsk, tsk on me!


J - practiced piano. listened to Chanukah songs and answered questions in his FMMA workbook. He tried typing up his answers on the computer downstairs but then he lost them just as he was finishing it up. How frustrating. I didn't care so he didn't need to retype but I really would rather he write directly in the workbook. It helps with his handwriting and seems less distracting.


B and S - Chanukah songs and mental math. B's mental math was adding up sums and saying which was less. S did a problem trading two columns and then he did long equations with additions and subtraction that he had to puzzle out. S also did a bit in his LLATL. He circled which words didn't fit (synonyms) and orally we divided words that end in -le into syllables. Then on his own he alphabetized a list of names and wrote them out. he worked hard on his penmanship and liked practicing his A's. B was supposed to copy over Ll, Mm, Nn but we got into a little tiff over it. S and B also washed the paintbrushes from yesterday's painting session. B set up store and we had to play store for a while.

Had lunch. During lunch I read a list of vocabulary words from an SAT prep book to H who guessed what they meant. It was fun! She also bought a sort of cliff notes on Geometry as she feels shakiest on that for SAT stuff. She's taking the test Dec. 1.

After lunch S and B went upstairs to play. H, W, J and I watched the first installment of the T3 Bible Adventure which was really good! Also I gave all three their Advent reading assignments. Actually I gave them a choice of what they could read. J is going to read If All The Swords in England. W is reading How to Win the Culture War by Kreeft which he immediately got really into. H is reading Intro to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales. I'm still reading Christopher West's book on Pope BXVI first encyclical. Forget the name. S wanted to be assigned Advent reading. I told him to keep up his Beginner's Bible reading. I've also started reading an old Vision book collection of Christmas stories. We read a wonderful story about how the 3 wiseman meet up with St. Thomas in India.

S and B have been watching TV. Wayside School and Arthur. W played guitar. H is napping, I showered then worked with J (who was reading The Worst Case Scenario's Survivor's Guide). We went over questions in F&L and then did the next assignment in his Schola Latina.

6:02. Neither B or S wanted to come with me to the library so they stayed home watching tv, looking at toy catalogues, playing the piano and doing gymnastics. I don't know what J did. H took a shower. W came with me. I got out a Georgette Heyer book and a Rumer Godden book. I also got Paradise Lost on cd. I got several picture books for the littles. the next Lloyd Alexander in the Prydain series for J, W got a book out by Scott Hahn on Opus Dei. I also got several stories on cd: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Little House on the Prairie, Rabbit Ears American Tall Tales, and Tuck Everlasting. Hoping some of those will go over big at quiet time. Stopped at Gamespot so W could buy a new game. He says he's giving up games for Advent. I'll believe it when I see it!

Came home: Read a book to B, made meatloaf. H is off to Theology of the Body for Teens at church. Need to put on sweet potatoes and read another book to B, she's requesting.

Had dinner. Meatloaf, it was good! B and S were very cute playing restaurant with B asking me how to spell different foods so she could write up a menu.

After dinner I said a rosary by myself while others did various things. H came home. Then R. Said prayers. Read part of next ch. in Sophie's World to H and W. R read to B and S. J is totally lost in Taran Wanderer I got him from the library.

It's 11:07. Time for bed.

Monday 11/26

8:39 a.m.

Woke at 7:22. Didn't got to bed until after midnight though and woke up at 6 because S had wet the bed.


Got up, put on load of laundry. Decluttered kitchen a little while waiting for water for tea. I had tidied up a bit before going to bed last night. It is so nice to come down to a clean house! Putzed around on the computer too long while waking up and sipping my tea. Should have gotten the kids up at 8 but now it's 8:30 and I just roused them. Put away clean dishes in dishwasher. H already left for Mass and Spanish class.


Things to do today:


1) Call Dr. O and then send out message reminding about St. Nick's

2) Call dentist. never did that last week!

3) Laundry. Poor R has no clean clothes. I just didn't do laundry since Thanksgiving!

4) Plan RE class; finish grading papers and tests for Brit Lit/Hist. Make sure we have copies of Paradise Lost. Finish reading essay.


I've decided to really focus on J's studies as the organizational center because H and W are kind off on their own a lot. And B and S have a pretty nicely established routine. J needs my attention.


Time to say a rosary!



12:05 p.m. Said the rosary. J and W are having a math morning with the tutor. B and S have been playing so well all morning, I didn't even attempt anything academic with them. They are playing they are superspies. Yesterday B found these old walkie talkies and so this is a continuation of that play. They've been spying on W who is taking it all good heartedly and coming up with different neat gadgets to use in spying. For awhile they were playing with a prism, somehow that was part of the game.


I've been tidying up for the cleaners. The basement hadn't been tidied since Thanksgiving. And I just did the boys room but then got too hungry. I've also been arranging to be a sub EMHC for Christmas Eve Mass and New Years. Whew what a complicated mess involving many e-mails. I also called the carpet cleaners and arranged for that which took measuring carpets.


Still haven't done anything on my to do list above!



3:41 p.m. Cleaners came. I have a huge pile of clean laundry on my bed that needs to be put away. Also, I am working through a mountain of laundry in the laundry room. It's kinda depressing.



Took a shower. Called Dr. O and scheduled him. Also did some other homeschool related stuff. Putzed around internet again. Read the next chapter of A Little History of the World while B and S painted. Assigned J some F&L and FMMA reading.



I still need to:



1) Locate more copies of Paradise Lost.

2) Work on laundry, esp. putting away

3) Plan RE class

4) Send out e-mail reminder about St. Nick's

5) I really wanted to go work at Curves, but it is pouring down rain and I still have lots of laundry and planning to do. I have no motivation either.

Friday 11/23

Thanksgiving went very well. Got up early and made stuffing. Didn't have enough time though to actually put the turkey into the oven before I had to leave for Mass. So I woke R up to do it for me, which he did. He also cooked a turkey on the rotisserie outside. It was very good. Got home from Mass late because I helped clean the chalices, etc. Also we stopped at Giant really quickly.

Got very stressed because no one seemed to be cooperating with cleaning and getting the food ready but after much nagging I got everybody moving. Tables set, potatoes peeled, boiled and mashed, gravy made, cranberry sauce made, oven stuffing heated up. S came with bread, sweet potato casserole and green beans. It was very pleasant. Grandmom looked pretty good but was very quiet.

Had coffee and various types of pie.

T and S stayed after for awhile and helped clean up some but we only got about half done.

Today - had a very leisurely day. Went to 10:00 Mass and wound up going out to breakfast with another homeschooling mom. Very pleasant time. Came home and R said he was going to take the 3 youngers out. So he took them to IHOP for lunch and then bowling. H and W went out to breakfast as well with their friends. I did a little bit of laundry and gathered four large trashbags of clothing from our closets for giveaway to the Clothing Drive. But R still needs to go through his stuff and I still need to go thru B , J and S stuff.

I watched a lot of tv. Watched a bit of EWTN and HGTV. H and W hide out; the former in her rom and the latter in the study. Then they got bored and went to see Enchanted together. Right after they left R came home with J, S and B. R, S and B decided they wanted to see Enchanted. J wanted to stay home and play on the computer. I puttered around and cleaned up some more from Thanksgiving. Then I watched a lovely movie. The Little Flowers of St. Francis by Rosselini. Beautiful!

R came home with S and B. Said prayers, put them to bed and read them Wayside. He's such a good dad. I am very grateful that he gives me these days off where I can just be lazy without feeling like I'm neglecting the little ones. They love their daddy time.

Wednesday 11/21

No rosary this a.m. Alas! R worked at home. Made bacon and eggs for everyone around 10:00 a.m. Earlier I blogged on other blog and worked on my calendar getting all of Dec. planned out.

Took a shower, then started in on cleaning. Did a good job on the study which was truly horrible. Worked all morning there. H cleaned the dining and living room. W worked on the porch. J daydreamed, B played on the computer all a.m. at noggin. S went over to neighbor's house to play. B at one point this a.m. had me measure everyone against the broom closet door. Everyone has grown about an inch except for W who's grown at least 2.5 inches! This is since July.

Boomerang came in the mail so I told J and he went next door and got S and neighbor and they holed up in their room to listen to it. H went to Burger King and got lunch for everybody.

During lunch the guitar teacher showed up! I totally forgot that most activities were going on today. W did the lesson 1st then H. Took S to VT. B stayed home with R and watched the Princess Bride. So did J.

Came home for a bit and then off to gymnastics with B and S. J did not have chess club. B and I noted the phase of the moon. She said, "Look Mom, the moon's waxing!"

Came home again for a few minutes before I took W to CLC and then picked up more carry out. Yuck. Very bad eating today, but I truly didn't feel like cooking anymore today.

At dinner remembered to record moon phase. Then we lit our Martinmas lanterns and had a parade down the driveway. J and B and R got into it and wanted to walk around the neighborhood but S got very grumpy. He didn't want to put his shoes on (unseasonably warm today) and he was kind of freaked out by the flames. So he and I came back and rummaged through our pantry to bring canned goods to Mass tomorrow for the Thanksgiving collection.

H has been out all evening visiting friends. She's bringing W home from CLC.

Okay now it's pj and story time and then prayers.

Tuesday 11/20

Woke at 7:30 with a sinus headache but it's going away now at 11:10. Everybody slept in AGAIN! My we are lazy!


Said rosary and felt really moved. H and W went to chemistry. S practiced his Greensleeves which he has totally learned by ear and then arranged by himself. J was reading Dilbert and now is working on his novel. B found an old harmonica and is playing on it and with Will's guitar tuner making the tuner's needle move all around as she plays. Now S is outside playing. He's in a great mood.


I have to make 2 phonecalls one to the dentist and one to hearthsong to order presents to make for Chanukah. Also, I just want to buckle down and do some deep cleaning now that my headache is fading.



2:01 p.m. Decluttered family room. Started in corner by globe. Magazine stand that hadn't been cleaned out for months, box of gloves, hats that had been dumped there; a paper grocery bag full of stuff that had obviously been cleaned out of van months ago. Then did mantle which had accumulated various sunglasses, papers etc. Cleared off top of old Icebox. Cleared off coffee table; only three piles now, 1)magazines, 2)reference books (story of art, atlas, dictionary and a new book about catholic colleges); read alouds. Then a box of tissues. That's it. J helped me clear out all the junk that had accumulated in the big baskets under the coffee table. One had fun workbooks, art supplies and little bits of schoolish type games. The other is for library books. I cleaned off the top of the stereo cabinet and put movies away. Also cleaned up clutter around couch, phone books, broken cat scratching post. Cleaned up around cats' dishes too.



H and W came home from Chem class. Had lunch.



Headache came back though. Right now S is trying to draw a picture of W holding his guitar. We're listening to Jack Johnson's Flake album. H is not feeling well and is hiding in her room. J and B just went outside to play. I just made some Thai soup from a package for lunch.



Both H and W have to take their British history exam today. H has SAT prep tonight.

10:14 p.m.
H and W did take their exam. Then they went to the music store. I decluttered more. The place looks good. I did the long counter under the window. There's still junk there but at least now you can see the counter top and things are in orderly piles. All in all, I did a big green trash bag full of junk. Also cleaned around the sink.

B and S played really nicely all day. They probably watched too much TV but they played some too. J was in a reclusive mood and kept going off to read or daydream. R came home early! 6:00 or so. We had ham, rolls, steamed green beans and sliced up apples for dinner. H and W got back a little late but still had dinner with us.

J did read his next chapter of F&L and we went through the catechism questions.

Made everyone clean up kitchen. I really need to enforce these chore assignments better.

H is complaining that she's depressed. I told her that you can't expect to be happy all the time and of course you go through times of slumps and that doesn't mean you're clinically depressed. Her best friend is on pills. It is truly ridiculous too.

Read some of A Little History of the World and another book on Thanksgiving but the kids weren't very interested. It was mostly for my benefit so I could feel like I had totally neglected them today in lieu of housework.

R is trying to fix a computer which seems to have been attacked by a virus. B is still up even though she was sent to bed over an hour ago.

S and J are talking up in their room. W is in the study with R. I'm watching a cowboy movie with Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner. Good movie, but violent of course.

Monday 11/19

Slept in very late! Totally forgot to have J do his math homework for his tutor. Boy is he up a creek right now! Gotta go hustle him along. Oh here he comes. he took a shower, I think. I can't always tell with that guy. He's now having pineapple upside down cake for breakfast and then he's going to launch into his homework and get at least a little done before the teacher arrives.


Will didn't get much sleep on his retreat so I'm letting him sleep in. I'm letting B sleep in because, well, life is so peaceful when she's asleep!


Anyway, this is Thanksgiving week so we're only half-heartedly attempting academics for Monday and Tuesday. Mostly I want to do things like make a Thanksgiving tree and read Thanksgiving books and clean my house thoroughly and make sure I have all the ingredients for cooking on Thursday.


So far I have:


2 small turkeys - one for roasting and one for the outside rotisserie. R got propane yesterday.
several bags of bread crumbs for the stuffing
celery and onions, seasoning and butter for stuffing
canned turkey gravy
potatoes for mashing
sweet potatoes, brown sugar and marshmellows (I'm making the recipe on the back of the marshmellows bag)
pumpkin pies - we got these at the pie bake sale at church and stuck them in the freezer.
cranberries - for making cranberry sauce

I am hoping that Susan will do some kind of veggie and her yummy homemade honey-oatmeal bread. I still haven't heard from her though.


I also promised B a lemon merangue (sp?) pie because she's decided that is the best pie in the world and can not hear the word pie without longing for a slice.


This week my environmental goals are:


1) to turn out lights. Everybody leaves lights burning and it is completely unnecessary and wasteful and bad for the earth, etc.


2) recycling - I hadn't put out recycling in a few weeks, but last night I went through it all and had R and W take it to the curb. So I feel good about that.


If I just work on saving electricity in the house and recycling, I'll bet we can single-handedly slow down global warming!!!!


Today the declutter focus is on the kitchen. I'm not going to bed unless it is really deeply decluttered.


I have RE tonight. Have to plan for that! Also must send out e-mail to Brit. Hist. group.


12:18 We had a relaxed morning. J joined us for our November songs. We did a little mental math. I read a short story about Thanksgiving and then we finally finished our lanterns. Both J and S happily did theirs. I also drew up the Thanksgiving Tree for our mud room door and cut out the leaves on which to write what we are thankful about.


Will had his session with the tutor. He has a quiz tomorrow on the elements. H went to library to work.


J is with the tutor now. B and S are munching on cheese crackers and playing down in the basement.


4:38 Tried to read from A Little History of the World at lunch. Read about Egypt which got kids discussing mummification. S wants to mummify apples. We tried to mummify a chicken a couple years ago and it was so gross!


H took S and J shopping for winter clothes. They just didn't have enough long pants and long sleeve shirts for the cold weather. B watched TV while I showered and planned for my RE class.


W practiced guitar and played computer games. Now he needs to study for his chem quiz tomorrow. He put up a new bird feeder in our backyard. We have bluebirds! Don't they fly south for the winter????


Quesadillas for dinner tonight. Need to declutter kitchen. Was supposed to do that earlier today!

9:46 p.m. I did declutter the kitchen island. Looks good!

Had very nice class with my new RE girls. The girls are so much easier to teach than the boys! They have a new thing now where the kids get their own envelopes where they can contribute whatever, either money or they can write down a good deed they've done. In class, we had a really good discussion about the prayers of the rosary, especially the Apostle's Creed. Then at the end the girls wrote Christmas letters to contribute to a big care package the church is sending to the troops.

I plan to have J also write a Christmas letter to the troops as well. Came home, helped get S and B to bed. R and H ran to the grocery store because we are out of the stuff we can't get at Whole Foods.

I am very tired!

Friday 11/15

I can't believe I forgot to journal yesterday. Really battling headaches lately and fatigue. And insomnia which would feed into the fatigue thing. I just wish I could get my act together physically so I could feel some enthusiasm.

Anyway, yesterday, very slow morning. But we did manage to say a whole rosary at breakfast. I think I'll catalogue by child:

H - worked all day on her timeline and paper so that she could go to Steubenville this a.m. She left a little after 6 a.m. this morning. I'd love to go with her but she's going with a friend and her dad. The friend is a senior this year and wants to go to Steubenville as well. H also went to her Spanish class in the a.m. And was kind enough to fetch our traditional Thursday night pizza dinner from Jerry's! She skipped her SAT prep so she could finish her paper on St. Margaret Clitherow. She also is missing her chem class this a.m.

W - finished up his math homework and did math and chemistry with tutor. I was supposed to follow up and make sure he completed his homework but dropped the ball on that. Played lots of guitar and videogames. In the evening I was in a despairing mood and sent him to bed early so he could read some. This backfired because he stayed up until 2 a.m. reading Uncle Tungsten which I gave him a couple weeks ago and he's been reading off and on. So when I got up early to take him to 6:15 a.m. mass he couldn't wake up. Today I have to take him to chem since H is gone. Also he needs to work on his Latin, hasn't done that at all this week. This evening he is going away for the weekend as well, on a retreat with his CLC group.

J - Did math with tutor, practiced piano, read next chap. in FMMA and did corresponding workbook pages. His friend M came over in the afternoon and they played outside and on the Wii. In the evening watched some tv and then started reading Robin Hood. I don't think he worked on his novel.

S - composed a new song. He writes incredible music. He needs to learn to write it down. I'm looking for a kid friendly software program to give him for his birthday. Even though his neck was fine yesterday for gymnastics, it suddenly spasmed again so he spent much of the morning sitting on the couch with a heating pad. I read the story of Jacob and Esau's reconciliation out loud. I also read the next OM fairy tale to both S and B. They watched Arthur. S played lots of piano. We went to Little Flowers of Mary and Blue Knights. S practiced for the St. Francis play and played some outside. Came home and played Sam and Pete (????) new computer game that W got that everybody seems to love. He also played with M some. At bedtime he took The Beginner's Bible up to bed and spent at least an hour reading it!!!!! That was lovely!

B - was terrible behaviorally. Acting out, temper tantrums, talking back. Ugh. She did read a little to me from a Primary Phonics reader but not much before I helped her in the wrong way and she lost her temper at me. She mostly did what S did - learning-wise.

H, W and I came up with strategy for dealing with her bad behavior. No yelling at her (we'd all started doing that). We are going to remember to praise her whenever we catch her doing something good, also to give her attention when she needs it and lots of affection. When she acts up we are going to matter of factly give her one warning and if that doesn't work, she's immediately put into her room for 6 minutes time out. If she kicks the door, screams in rage or whatever, she gets an extra 2 minutes. H and W have been deputized to dispense discipline when I'm not around (or R). We are keeping a timer up in her room to ensure the 6 minute thing.

I fell asleep on the couch right after dinner.

Anyway today's plans are: Rosary, breakfast, put away laundry, library, Barnes and Noble so we can buy a gift card for another friend of J. Then I am to drop J off at ice rink for skating party at 11:00 a.m. Ioana is going to take care of him from there. I have to get tested at 1:00 p.m. so W will be watching B and S all afternoon. B has a playdate with neighbor at 3:00 p.m. Then W has to pack for his retreat and I have to get him an early supper and to chuch by 6:00 pm.

Our Waldorf group is doing their Martinmas lantern walk tonight at 6:15 but a) we never finished making our lanterns and b)I know I'll conk out right about then anyway. Seems to be my new pattern.

Wed. 11/14

Had bad headache all night. I think it is a combo of lousy wet weather and my wacky hormones.


Woke up very early from fitful sleep. Got up and nursed headache for a couple hours. And then it subsided! Managed to read the next chap. in Sophie's World to H and W on Athens.


Got everyone up, took a shower, no one thought to eat breakfast before we had to be at the dentists at 9:45. All the kids had their teeth cleaned. Turns out that B has an extra tooth up in the front of her gum! Very unusual, they said. Weird!


Everyone was hungry and B and S were done first so I took them to Wendy's. Came home. B didn't enough sleep last night so she's very grumpy and I am too. Bad combo. So I put her up in room to rest with her coloring book and crayons. S is having quiet time too because my headache came back. He's reading more Calvin and Hobbes and is so tickled that he can really read it and get the jokes and everything.


J- read next chapter in FMMA and then did the worksheets. I need to look them over. Did a lesson in Saxon math.


I took S and B to S's VT. H and W had guitar lessons. I read the next fairy tale to B from her OM book.


Right before leaving for gymnastics, I dropped my keys into the toilet while it was flushing!! Bye bye keys!


Borrowed H's key and took them to gymnastics. I set up S's b-day party there for Dec. 15th. They were enrolling for next semester. B is moving up a class. She is go to a Tues class. S is staying with the boys class he's currently in which is on Wed. Sigh, well it's just for half a year! I don't know which will be worse having to sit through 2 classes while trying to entertain the child that is waiting or going to separate nights. (but then I'll get reading time!)



W basically went to the dentist, played guitar all day and did very little math homework. H took him to CLC a little while ago.



H did part of her timeline and now, supposedly is writing her paper.



It's 8:11 and it's been a come and get it kind of dinner. Let me make sure everyone has eaten something. Very, very bad food day!

Tuesday 11/13

Had terrible stomach ache last night. Came home from class which went pretty well, I think, but suddenly got bad, bad cramps. Wound up getting right into my pjs and lying on the couch watching Jimmy Cagney movie while poor R put the little ones to bed. Then he helped Will with his paper and timeline. H got home and worked too on hers but she is hopelessly behind.





Went to bed at 10:00. woke up at 1 when R came to bed. Then again at 4:30 when H came in saying she felt sick and needed the heating pad. Didn't get back to sleep.





Anyway, today's going to be very loose. H did get up and go to chem. W got up early and finished up timeline and then did more chem. W went to chem as well.





B is just getting up now at 10:01. S has been talking and talking about going to school and his school days at St. V.





J - practice piano, write novel, take history test, start Seton Science 7. S is reading Calvin and Hobbes.



2:24 p.m. Well, I was all set to give my first Brit. History essay exam to the teen class but then K's Mom called and pled for mercy. So I decided to make it a take home that they have to postmark by what would have been next class's date. Or they get an F. I'm going to check their timelines at 3:00 p.m. I did get all papers except H's. She didn't get working in time to get anything in, then the computer crashed on her yesterday when she was making a feeble attempt to get started. Now I've told her that she must have both timeline and paper in to me by 12 midnight Thursday or she can't go to Steubenville on Friday.



I was pleased by the papers though! B went over to P's house next door. J worked on his novel. I am going to give him his history test after snack time. Made banana choc. chip bread. It's baking now. D is working outside on stone walls. R came over to get her teacup she left here a year ago!

In the evening: J tried to take his history text but didn't do well at all. I do think it is because we have stretched it out over so many weeks and because we've been reviewing it here and there orally. So I've decided to scrap that test and start anew with the next section being a little more intensive about it and also filling out the study sheets instead of just doing it orally. He still wants to go to school next year and I'd like him to hone some of those recall skills that he'll need to test well in your day to day life in school.

He also started reading his Seton 7 Science book.

I finished reading B her fairy tale. What a long one it was! I got a headache and fell asleep on the couch again after dinner. H went to Theology of the Body.

Monday 11/12

Woke up at 7. Didn't work on novel, instead planned RE class for this p.m.


S and J showered. W worked on paper. H went to Spanish.


Said 3 decades of Rosary - W led.




J finished up math homework but lost his test, grrr. Worked with math tutor.



W - worked with math tutor and also did chemistry with her.




B and S - did Mad Lib, sang songs, B - practiced writing number sentences dictated to her. S - did addition problems trading two columns. S copied spelling words over on white board. B practiced Jj's. Taught about spelling pattern -le.





J - reading next chap. in F&L Poor S pulled a muscle in his neck and is fairly miserable.





4:07 - well I let S watch Between the Lions and Arthur while he sat on the couch with a heating pad up against his neck. I gave him Motrin as well. He was really hurting. He's better now but it still bothers him a little. No more gymnastics for a while.



W has been working on his paper off and on all day. He takes little breaks and plays guitar for a few minutes and then goes back.



J - finished reading Mystery of the periodic table and reread the FMMA chapters. We reviewed geography for the test.



H came home from Spanish. R has been working from home today. Kind of a half day because it's Veteran's Day. R took her to get stereo fixed in her car. That was her b-day present from us. R also ran errands with B and S while I took shower. H has also been working on her paper. She informed me she can't find her timeline. Sigh.



S read two pages from his reader. Now he's downstairs playing pool with B. J is helping R test the chemicals in the fishtanks.



Cleaners came today. House looks nice. I need to move laundry.

Made ravioli and sausages for dinner. Went to teach first RE class with new students. Girls are so much easier to teach than boys!

11/10 Happy Birthday Hannah

Today's to do list:



1. Write novel-did some this a.m.


2. Get bagels for breakfast - done


3. Tidy up living room and dining room before piano teacher comes-got to l.r. but need W and J to tackle d.r.


4. H to choir practice - yes


5. Piano lessons=yes


6. R and W do dump run???? R said tomorrow


7. W works on history/lit homework-nope


8. Do lots of laundry (didn't do enough yesterday)-nope!!!! Argghhh


9. R take H to get car stereo-yes


10. Clean fridge-partially


11. Get ice cream cake for birthday party plus party decorations-R did this


12. Tidy and vacuum basement-paritally, gotta do more


13. Take nap!-just woke up!


14. Pizza again for dinner, yech! - yep! With lots left over.

So this was my to do list yesterday. H had her party which went very well. Several of the girls slept over. I think they plan to go to 8:15 Mass. How crazy is that? W just came downstairs, let a cat out and went back upstairs. I thought I heard scratching at a door somewhere!

Friday 11/8

12: 15 p.m. Cold, rainy day. H and W got up early to go to 6;15 mass. Took chem books with them to study at Starbucks and then go to class at 10:00.


We were out of toilet paper, cat food, milk and peanut butter, so I wound up running to the store. S woke up and watched tv but everyone else stayed in bed until 9:30!!!!! Except R who got up and went to work.


Had unhealthy breakfast of donuts and croissants. Took a shower while the kids dressed and ate.


J - practiced piano, did a lesson in Saxon, did his pe (20 push ups, 20 sit ups and 40 squats!!!!!) Now he's rereading FMMA in prep for test.



B and S - sang songs, did mental math and 3 magic squares. B read a whole primary phonics book very, very well. S did a little lesson on contractions, a page of cursive practice and then read us a poem from his reader. He's been playing piano and composing all morning when he isn't doing gymnastics. B has been trying on her new clothes. She is currently wearing her new Christmas outfit, hat and all. She's dining on ramen noodles right now.


H just called she and W are going to a friend's house for lunch and then coming home.

Afternoon: after lunch, B and S played upstairs. J joined them. They were playing carnival, where they set up different stations in J and S's room and I had to go around and play the different games. B made up a game where she took the modeling beeswax and put it in a hat. I picked a piece and then had to match it to something of the same color in the room. If I could then I got to keep the beeswax as my prize. S was just selling sundry items using monopoly money. J was doing the old cup routine. He took the plastic cups that I had bought for H's birthday party. He put a key under one of them and then moved them around so that I had to guess which cup the key was under. He also had another game where he stacked the cups and I had to knock it down with a tennis ball.

I spent serious time trying to declutter and while the house looks better, it is laughable as far I still have to go.

B went to play at neighbors house. M came over and played with J and S.

Went with W to Foxes and bought Anna Magdalena's Notebook for J per request of his piano teacher. I also got a book of Christmas carols because S wants to learn What Child is This. He's actually already picked out the tune. W came with me and tried out the electric guitars. That is going to be his Christmas present.

The traffic and weather were awful. I can't get used to the evenings getting so dark so early.

Came home and realized I'd never gotten the fish out of the freezer so W and I wound up going back out and getting Mexican. Except I forget to get something for H!!!!! I was really rushed ordering the stuff and she had written her order on the back of the list I had. She was mad!!!! So she went out by herself and got her own dinner. Bad, bad mommy!

R came home and read to the two little ones. Then we watched most of I remember Mama. I am hooked on TCM lately.

11/8 Thursday

Well, the day started out badly. Had migraine when I awoke. But it did go away around 10:30 a.m. I was supposed to go to a meeting about E. I didn't make it.

Last night J read some of W's gamer mag. and got really spooked by the grusome pictures. As an antidote I gave him Thomas Finds a Treasure which he read until very late into the night. W got up early to work on his math homework. J got up and then read about book about Blessed William Seelos. But he didn't get his math homework completed but anyway both W and J got math done eventually with tutor. Tutor also helped with chem.

H slept very late too. She and W are going to the library to study because they think they're are too many distractions at home.

B and S - we sang songs and did mental math. I taught S about trading ones in addition.

Read last chapter of Kat Finds a Friend aloud to J, S and B. H and W went and got lunch.

4:56 p.m. Oh dear, whiled away the afternoon in a most unproductive manner! Had nice discussion with H about pro life stuff and other sundry things. Then I spent an inordinate amount of time surfing the net on Medieval Christmas feasts planning the menu for the big Christmas party. Talked to T who said 71 people are expected! Ye gads!

B and S were practing gymnastics downstairs. They took all the cushions off the sofa and got out the DK book on gymnastics. B has almost perfected a no handed cartwheel. Now they are watching junkie TV. J has spent all afternoon in his room listening to Martin the Warrior for the 3 rd time, I think it is.

H and W did go to the library. Now they are on their way home and bringing pizza for dinner. R has worked at home all day. I'm running out to meet with TORCH moms for a bit. Then I have to get to workcamp meeting at church at 7.

J still needs to study for history exam tomorrow. Also I hope I have time to go over catechism lesson with him this evening before bed.

11/7 Wed.

Had a good night's sleep, so why am I so irritable? Menopause is a terrible thing!


Didn't get a chance to work on novel. B woke just as I was about to start. Did a Mad Lib with her. Woke J and S and had them take showers. J tried to dupe me but I found him out and was heartily irritated. What is it with boys and hygiene. Such a foreign concept to them!


H would not get up. I'm thoroughly fed up with this sleeping in in the a.m.


Finally got everyone to breakfast table at 8:30. Said 2 decades. Had frozen waffles, french toast, leftover apple pie and cereal!


J - practiced piano, did a lesson in Saxon, reread some chapters in his FMMA for test, wrote some more of his novel.


B and S played downstairs while I read Sophie's World chapter on Socrates to H and W, good discussion afterwards.


Worked with B and S, sang songs, did mental math (patterns with S; simply adding for B). B took out pebbles and lined them up on little play map rug counting up to 100. S and I did workbook page on reading number words (three thousand four hundred twenty, for eg) and then writing it out in numeral form correctly. He worked very hard on forming his numerals correctly and neatly. A real struggle for him but he was very patient and did all 16 problems.


Then I introduced 'ou' sound and gave him his spelling words: through, group, count, mouth, ground. He also worked very patiently copying them out neatly. He's really trying with his penmanship. I was very proud.



B on the other hand has been horribly grumpy and screaming in rage at everything. She did however write out Ii's in her MLbook. I also went over tongue twisters or poems for G, H and I which she enjoyed.



W worked on Artes Latinae after Philsophy and then practiced guitar. He sound very good.


H got her SAT practice test score; forget the scores themselves but it was 79th percentile. H showered.


Now we're getting ready to go to noon Mass.



Made it to noon Mass but we were a few minutes late as usual. Always shoe crisis. This time it was B who couldn't find hers.



Said 1 decade on the way and 2 decades on the way home. S came out of Mass and said, that was a good Mass. We had a visitor father from India. He seemed very kindly. The regular priest at that parish is usually so dour but we've been having lots of visitors for the last couple of weeks and my it has been a breath of fresh air!



Made grilled cheese for lunch. We are not doing well on the fruits veggies this week. After lunch I took a shower then we rushed to VT. Guitar teacher couldn't come today. H went over to her friends to study for chem exam.



W - practiced lots of guitar and wandered around aimlessly. Just now (5:35) he's starting on his math homework for tomorrow.



J worked more on his novel, then he started reading mine. He liked it! S and B played. J does not have chess club this evening. I talked H into taking B and S to gymnastics so I that could do Latin with J and cook dinner. I had already partially defrosted the chicken to roast but I wasn't ready to put it in the oven when it was time to leave. Since H doesn't do raw meat, she'd rather take them. How is that girl ever going to cook for a family?????



Called K.M. back and she asked me to switch from current RE class to another girls' class. So as of Monday I am teaching another class.



J and I worked on Latin translations but he wasn't paying attention very much. Now he's back writing his novel again. He's into it today!



Tonight: tidy up, finish making dinner, take W to CLC and I'll go to Respect Life Committee meeting.

9:57 Made really yummy roast chicken! Went to Respect Life meeting. Made me sad; everybody sat and complained about Father P. I really like him, as flawed as he might be. It made me remember why I never join these types of things. I hate talking about others! I hate politics of this sort.

Got home; Rick was putting kids to bed. Time for me to go too!

Tuesday 11/6 Election Day

Slept terribly. Woke up around 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. My legs ached. finally got up and took advil. Got up at 6. Puttered around and then wrote some more of my novel. Had two cups of tea. Moved laundry.


Everybody slept late. I kept going up and calling everybody but no one would stir. Finally at 8:30 I decided to say the rosary by myself, but then J and S came down. Then W but he didn't pray with us, instead he looked over chem and ate cereal. H really overslept. B too.


Got everybody some form of breakfast. I was going to read Kat but R took J and S with him to vote. I'll vote later. H and W went to chem class.


I read two library books to B including Something from Nothing which is one of my favorites.


Then she read a primary phonics book to me. In the middle of that J and S came home and R went off to work.


J: practiced piano, read another chapter in Mystery of the Periodic Table and is now rereading his FMMA in prep for the test.


B did a tiny bit of work in her PP workbook. S read three pages from his reader, then we went through and picked out all the beginning blends we could find. He did a page of cursive. We sand our Nov. songs but they got really involved in a puzzle and I could feel that I wasn't going to get them to cooperate with any math.


Right now I'm going to go do Latin with J. Then I have to tidy up, get lunch and prepare for Brit. Lit and Hist. class. Very sleepy right now.



4:54 p.m. Wound up not doing Latin with J. Instead I tidied the kitchen and took a shower to wake up. H and W brought lunch home from Burger King. After lunch had Brit Lit and Hist where we reviewed for the essay exam next week. J did a little in his Latin workbook and then worked on his novel a little bit. B and S watched the tube downstairs and played pool. J joined them.


Class was over at 4. B and I are getting ready to go vote. H went out with her friend and then she's off to her SAT prep class. I'm making tacos for dinner as soon as I get back. Need to remember to read Kat Finds a Friend at dinner tonight.

9:29. B and I did go to vote. I let her push all the buttons. Came home and was so sleepy. I did something I never do, I put on the tv, watching home and garden shows and then dozed right off on the couch. The three younger ones were downstairs doing I don't know what. Woke up and it was nearly 7! Quick browned up the ground beef and made tacos. The kids all really liked them. After dinner I read the next chapter of Kat and then the next OM fairytale for B. Then S and B wanted to see nadia comenici on video so I googled and found footage of her. We watched amazed! R is working late tonight. Cleaned kitchen again. Said prayers and then just now finished putting B and S to bed. B is working on a maze book up in bed. W was playing guitar. J is reading Mystery of the Periodic Table. H came home bringing dessert.

I still need to put away at least 3 loads of laundry.

Monday 11/5 Happy Anniversary to us!

Woke early, managed to work on novel for 25 minutes or so. Only up to a piddly 3 thousand words.


S and J took showers. B was bathed yesterday.


Said two decades of rosary. B was naughty and sent to room.


Had quick breakfast. J did rest of math homework as did W.


H showered and went to Spanish class. Didn't make it to mass. She's having trouble sleeping.


After breakfast read the story of Esau and Jacob to S and B from Golden Bible. Showed J his assignments for the day.


Sang two new songs for Nov. Now Thank We All Our God and Over the River and Through the Wood. Greenworks showed up to repair stone walls in garden. I explained a bit of the story behind Now Thank We All Our God. S was really interested. He wanted to know what the plague was. He recalled it being mentioned in a story on his Knights cd.


Did mental math with B. She had to name what two numbers added up to 5, 7 and 8. We wound up doing this on the whiteboard. For S's mental math we rounded to nearest ten and then added together two numbers. S was getting very into the physics of pool balls. He noticed that if he knocked one ball with a line of balls only one ball rolled out the other end. So we experimented. It worked up until 5 balls then the number of balls rolling out didn't correspond with the number of knocking balls. I'll have to show him an example of a Newton's Cradle on the internet. He wanted to know how fast the force went through the balls. Good science question. He asked W who said he was learning the formula for kinetic energy right now in Chemistry. So he'd find out and let S know. S is very proud of his scientific questions!



S did LLATL. We reviewed compound words. I had him work on printing neatly because he's been saying he wants to learn to write better. I'd been giving him a break since he's been struggling so with it. He filled in the blanks and tried to figure out how to spell words on his own. He did pretty well with sounding them out. We review lots of phonics rules during this. He also practiced a page of cursive.

S also played music all day either on piano, keyboard or recorder.


B practiced writing her Gg's. Then she had fun tracing stencils on a big paper and making a picture for me. She read a Primary Phonics reader and then did a workbook page. She was into it!


Kids were very cooperative this morning in spite of the fact that we haven't been in our regular routine for several days due to Halloween, All Saints and All Souls.

Math tutor got here around 10 30 and has been working with J and W. She looks so tired. She says she has a migraine. Poor woman!


J read 3 chapters of Mystery of the Periodic Table this a.m.


Read Kat Finds a Friend out loud during lunch (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton) Said another decade of rosary.


H called to say she is going to B&N to get a SAT study book and a SAT II chem book.



W has been playing guitar. Now he's going jogging. J is reading Faith & Life, 1st chap. which were are going to discuss afterwards. S is up in his room, don't know what he's doing. B is listening to the last cd in Charlie and the Glass Elevator in her room.


R just sent me flowers! It's our anniversary! I keep forgetting!


W went to play a computer game but now it's 4:10 and he said he'd start back up to work by now. I don't know what H is doing. She did come home though. I asked her if she could type up some templates for J and me so we can practice writing out the Latin forms we need to memorize. J did the geography portion of his FMMA test review and then translated 3 sentences and went over new vocab and dictum and forms from lesson.


B came down from quiet time and asked me to do a mad lib with her. Good review of nouns, adjectives and adverbs.


I took a long shower and remembered to take my iron!


Now J is complaining of a headache and not feeling well. Uh oh! B had a headache and then developed a fever over the weekend. Wonder if J is coming down with it. He went off to play with his gameboy.


Sean just brought in the mail for me. Now he's watching Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.


W is wandering around. I sent him out to work on his history paper but he came back in and announced he'd work on chemistry instead.


I'm going to find out what H, B and J are up to. I might put H on laundry duty.



5:26 I found H. She was studying Chemistry. W did some research on Pius V. I still don't know where J is. I read some Health, Safety and Manners to B at her request and then read her the next OM fairy tale for the letter H, Mother Holle. S has been playing on the computer but came in to listen to Mother Holle. I did get a load of laundry on and now am going to tidy the kitchen.

H made dinner, ham, egg and cheese sandwiches. R took me out to Bonarotti's and we had a wonderful meal. I ate lots of spinach and red meat. Gotta get that iron. H took B with her to mass at 7:30 and B was very good!

R and I got home, W was playing guitar again. H up in her room, 3 young ones laughing away at America's funniest home videos. What a silly show.

Got kids to bed late. R read them more Wayside. Got Christopher West's new book on Love in mail earlier today and gave it to R for present. Read him introduction but he fell asleep!

Tuesday 10/30

Woke after 8. Had terrible migraine all night. Still have it now at 10:54 but I haven't gotten sick to my stomach which is a blessing.





H and W got up and went to 9:00 mass and then chemistry.





Everybody slept late except R who went to work on the earlish side.





I let B and S watch more TV, ick way too much screen time lately while I got my bearings and took a shower.





J took a shower as well.





Breakfast was English muffins and tea.





Said 2 decades of the rosary. Then I read the next chapter in Kat Finds a Friend. Now B and S are upstairs listening to The Glass Elevator on cd.





J and did part of his review section of FMMA and now he's working on math homework. I'm about to prepare for the Brit Lit class.

I read all about Robert Southwell and wrote up an outline for my class. Headache didn't go away until about 11:30.

Tidied up house and got everybody the very basic rudiments of lunch.

Class went really well. I gave a little lecture about Southwell and had some good discussion going. We broke for scones and then read The Burning Babe aloud. Then we watched the next show in A History of Britian. All about Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Mary had such a terrible life!

After class was over I collapsed. I have been puttering about both in the house and on the computer not doing anything very constructive. My brain feels fried. H ran some errands, W is on the computer. I have no idea where J even is!!!!! B and S have been alternately watching TV, playing and running around outside.

I plan to whip up some kind of pasta dish for dinner and read the next chapter of Sophie's World to the teens. H has Theology of the Body this evening. We also need to focus on costumes for All Saints Day and I've got to come up with potluck stuff for tomorrow's Halloween party as well as All Saints. Haven't planned anything in that regard! I think we might go shopping for all this tomorrow morning then come home and carve the pumpkin. I have a drs appt at 1 and then maybe VT at 2:30; H and W have guitar lessons. Then I'll cook for the potluck. Kids can work on their All Saints costumes.

Monday 10/29

Woke nice and early! Actually felt rested.





S got up early too so we chatted a bit. He was getting excited about planning a chain reaction machine. Made him take a bath and wash his hair.





W got up. H slept in very late. But got up just in time to make it to Spanish class which she is now auditing. There was supposed to be a test today but apparently because she's auditing she can't take.





Said rosary with W, J and S. B came in for the last decade. Very grumpy.





Breakfast - cereal and hot rolls. J dawdled terribly about finishing up his math homework. W worked on his math as well, not very productively.





Did a little mental math with B and S. B wanted to count by 2's, 6's and 3's. Did rounding to the nearest 100th with S. Then reviewed briefly the different phonics rules S has done so far this year:

1. words with silent '-K



2. words with double 'ee's



3. rules for adding -ed and -ing to e c-v-c words as well as words ending with silent e



4. compound words



5. adding -ed and -ing to words ending in -y



6. words with -ay



7. words with -igh

Math tutor just arrived. J did finish most of his homework before she arrived. He had a couple problems he was shakey on. S is drawing cartoons and B has gathered up all her baby dolls and is reading them stories.

I have about 4 loads of laundry to put away right now!

4:34 p.m. - rest of the morning went quite nicely. S spent much of the morning drawing pictures, practicing gymnastics and playing piano. B played a lot with her babydoll. She pretended an old broken walkie talkie was her own cell phone and that she was a working woman with a baby! I was her babysitter and had to take care of her doll for her! She kept saying she had an important conference to go to. Then suddenly she got the bad news via her cell phone that she'd been fired! But it was okay because that meant she could stay home with the baby! Where does she get this stuff????

I made the boys clean up their room some more while I went downstairs and tidied up basement. I got my laundry (mostly) put away.

J and W finished up math with the tutor.

Cleaners came and house looks good now! We ate lunch. B played a lot on Starfall. I don't know what S and J were doing. H and W read through the next chapter in Chemistry.

After shower J and I did some Latin and history. I got very sleepy during it. B and S played outside for a while. H went for a walk and W is playing a new videogame. I'm doing more laundry.

Right now B and S are watching EWTN kids shows.

Notes on rest of the day: well, the kids pretty watched the tube for the rest of the day. Arthur, Wayside, etc. I managed to bake some chicken drumsticks for dinner but that was it! I quickly prepared for RE. J, H and I all went off to do that. W babysat S and B who watched Chicken Run. R came home and helped W with Chem.

The RE class was fun. Dr. T taught the lesson but then we played a saints bingo game that I have and it wound up being quite fun!

Came home and got little ones to bed. They want R to put them to bed because he's reading them Wayside series again. J read the next chapter in Mystery of the Periodic Table. But then he stayed up really late watching Narudo on the computer downstairs.

R, W and I stayed up until midnight watching October Sky which was an excellent movie but right around 11:30 it triggered a migraine.

Friday 10/26

H and W got up at 5:30 a.m. to take breakfast and go to 6:15 a.m. teen mass. My alarm went off at 5:25 but I turned it off. The next thing I knew B was in bed with me and it was 8:19 a.m. Holy cow, I haven't slept that late in ages. Very dark, gloomy, rainy weather. Wonderful for the drought and sleeping late!

Got up quickly and got J up. He had St. George Club today. That's 9 o'clock mass, talk with Fr. D. and then since it's raining they went bowling.

Took shower, finished addressing postcards, gathered library books. Went to Starbucks and got breakfast, then library to pay incredible fine for late books, then post office to mail off postcards. Kids helped me stamp and mail them. Then we stopped at Great Harvest and bought cheese bread and challah. Came home, B and S got books out on gymnnastics and starting trying out different things.

J is home now with bunch of boys; playing downstairs.



H and W must have gone to Chemistry early. Did W tag along?



H and W came home and ate. Nice visit with I. The St. George boys came to play so we had a slew of young gentleman running around the house and playing pool downstairs. B went over to neighbors house to play. She's had a regular playdate there at 3 every Friday for several weeks.



S went over to Joseph's house to play. St. George boys went home. J is playing on the computer. W has been on the computer as well and practicing guitar. Now he's outside in the rain wandering around the backyard. It has been a very gray rainy day all day.



B came home. We watched Angel Force on EWTN and now she's watching recorded Wayside school shows. H was trying to nap.



H and W are going to see movie Bella tonight.

9:18 p.m. R just got home. I sat at the PC for a couple of hours whiling away time researching how to start up a school. Really I'm thinking more of a resource center type thing. That's been my daydream the last couple of days. The kids have been giving me their input.

For dinner, I made broiled fish. We had the challah from the bakery and applesauce to go with it. B had strawberries. W practiced his guitar some more. He loves to play that thing! W wanted to say the rosary after dinner since we hadn't said it earlier. W, B and me said it, J started but then left after the first decade but H joined us on the 3rd. After that W took a shower. I read B a couple books from the library. Then S came up and said he wanted to learn to draw. He got the drawing bug yesterday out of the blue. He showed me a cartoon picture he had copied. Pretty good! I found Mark Kistler's site on line and S tried to draw the rocket pencil of the 1st lesson. I kept telling J to practice his pieces for the recital tomorrow. He's great with one but not so hot on the other. But right now R is reading to them all from Wayside. Actually they all decided to get in their PJs and then daddy would read to them.

10/25 Thursday

Woke early - worked on ideas for novel. Took a long time for everyone to get down for breakfast. Never got rosary said. Hoping for lunchtime after math tutor leaves. Spent a lot of time this a.m. making phone calls, looking for things, chatting, waiting for R to leave. He's going to see his mom. S kept playing Greensleeves on piano. We looked it up and saw a version written by Henry VIII which amazed S. B and I spent a while looking for a veil for her wedding costume.





H got up early for mass and Spanish. She wants to audit the course and take it for real next semester. She's getting a C- in right now which the teacher didn't think was bad and thought she could pull it up to a B but she feels like the course goes so fast and she doesn't have a good enough grasp on it as it is.





W and J worked on finishing up math homework. B and S and I went downstairs. B wanted to do mental math first. We wound up working on the white erase board adding numbers up to ten. Then I did the next mental math with S which was writing out numbers and identifying place value of different numbers. We also worked on rounding to the nearest tens. He liked it.





Then S and B and I sang songs. Kept getting interrupted by the phone. After that we reviewed -igh sound and S did short exercise in LLATL on ight words. Fill in the blank. B and I reviewed 5 words she'd learn so far. Me, jump, said, look and ride. I went over all the phonics rules for each and we sounded them out. Then B wanted to knit, we got out a kit but it was too complicated and I couldn't find my 1st grade OM teachers book for simpler instructions. S wanted to paint which was amazing because he never wants to paint. So we got all the paints out and he started working then B joined him. S got out the Cartooning book and started teaching himself how to draw faces.





J finished his math and then listened to music on the computer. W keeps practicing Smells Like Teen Spirit on the guitar. Sounds pretty cool. J is now with the math tutor.





I am starting lunch right now. Want to: read aloud at lunch, say rosary, watch October Sky movie (dreary, dreary weather out). Also, I am going to have an official reading time this afternoon. W needs to work on chemistry. But he can read as can J their science books. I want to read aloud next OM fairy tale and a couple more Bible stories to B and S. I also want to review Latin and History with J this afternoon.





We have to bring breakfast to the 6:15 Mass tomorrow.





H starts her first SAT Prep course this evening.



I forgot about the teen rosary this afternoon. H and W went to it. J and I watched first half of October Sky, a movie about a coal miner's high school son who became enchanted with rockets after Sputnik.

In the evening I read the next fairy tale from OM to S and B and also the next few bible stories on Isaac and Rebekah.

Wed. 10/24

11:25 a.m.





Woke late, 7:15. Cloudy, rainy day.





Took a while to get everyone moving. S and W took showers. W led two decades before breakfast. We planned our day. H is interested in learning phil and Theology more systematically because of last nights Theo. of the Body class. W practiced lots of guitar.





After breakfast. S and B played on Starfall.com and pbskids. J practiced piano (has recital this Sat.) but didn't do his math.





I read next chapter of Sophie's World to teens. Made outline of what we're learning.





Worked with J on Latin. Made paradigm flashcards. He reviewed some vocab flashcards and then translated 5 sentences. Also we did study questions on Clovis for history. H took shower and read CCC. W worked on Latin on computer for 45 min.



2:52 p.m. Went to noon Mass. Said the rest of the rosary on the way home. H and W went out to get pizza for lunch. S had tuna, I ate the last 3 chix taquitos. Took a shower. Took S to VT all set to have a reading lesson w/B while we waited but she wasn't there again. I thought maybe there was just a mix up last week, but why isn't she there this week???????? Strange. I am going to e-mail her. I hope nothing is wrong.



Guitar teacher is here. I told J to work on his Nanowrimo workbook before I left. Need to hunt him up and see what he's doing. He also needs to do his math homework.

W helped J with math. I think it had to do with coordinates. J decided that he wanted to try to write a page a day (double spaced) M -F as his goal for the Young Writer's Project. He's got a story in mind which sounds pretty cool!

Took B and S to gymnastics. S and I went to costume store and bought Halloween costume supplies. Haven't quite finished yet. S is going to be Harry Potter and St. John the Evangalist. Don't have the St. John costume together yet. B is going to be a bride and St. Veronica. Need to work on both costumes. J has everything he needs I believe.

Picked up J at chess club. Came home and made bacon and eggs. Took W to CLC. H was had a babysitting job. Came home and made more bacon (turkey kind this time). Kids played on computer and dressed up in their Halloween costumes. R came home. Made him bacon and eggs. Said prayers. R read Wayside to kids. S read me a chapter 2 page chapter from the book.

I assigned Mystery of the Periodic Table to J and Uncle Tungsten to W.

I read a bit of Joan of Arc. I am going too slowly through that book, need to read more. R and I talked late into the night about religion and stuff. Didn't get enough sleep!

Wednesday 10/17

11:01





Been a chaotic morning. Woke late, got really involved in planning Am. Studies for next year and didn't get anybody up until almost 9! They've been staying up so late at night. Bad habits rearing their ugly heads!





Said 2 decades of the rosary. Really hard getting everyone settled. Had spat with H over college and her not working hard enough on her studies. I just don't want to spend all that money so that she can have a good time but not really work at her studies. So I told her the ball was in her court. If she wants to go to a private Catholic away college, she's has to make good grades in her high school coursework. That must have left me in an irriated frame of mind. Then poor B is constipated so she's been suffering great melodrama from this. I wound up putting her the tub. Then when we went downstairs to start school, we uncovered the garter snake that's been living in our basement. W tried to catch it. I lost my temper badly about everything, basically motherhood. Then I calmed down and said we were just going to play. But B wanted to put the sundials out again (didn't do it yesterday because the pool table truck was parked in the driveway most of the morning/early afternoon.





H showered and I have no idea what else she's been doing. (she told me later she'd been working on Spanish).





W practiced guitar, did some math and goofed off, besides catching and releasing a snake.





J practiced piano, did some Latin and also some math.





At some point earlier, S did read to me from his reader. I just read this to B.





We are leaving for noon mass in about 25 minutes.



3:06 p.m. Before mass I read B the book 12 Ways to Get to Eleven, which is a fun adding book. We were late for Mass (again!) BUT the priest was 15 minutes late so it turned out okay. H was really sad and cried on the way. I feel paradoxically too hard on her and too easy at the same time. Mass was very uplifting. Remembered to finish saying the rosary on the way home.



Got home, showered, did history with J on St. Benedict and Pope St. Gregory the Great.



Took J (and B) to VT but Dr. Malhotra wasn't there! Did she cancel or tell me beforehand????? Very unlike her. But I did a tiny bit of reading with B while we waited. I always bring her little reader with us just in case she wants to do a little one on one reading with me.



H is learning the theme song to Beauty and the Beast on guitar. The guitar teacher is here now. W's lesson is over. W's making himself a sandwich then hopefully he will now do Latin or math homework.

10/16 Tuesday

10:39 - got up at 7. Finished reading The Wife of Bath's tale. Got everyone up at 8:15. S took shower. Said 2 decades only. . . .sigh. Put on laundry, unloaded dishwasher.



At breakfast read the story of St. Margaret Mary Alocoque. H and W went to mass and chemistry.



We put out our sundials again at 9:30 and shaded in shadow.



J - practiced piano and did a little Latin.



S and B sang songs, did mental math. S told time from classroom clock. B did number sentence houses for 8 and 9 in her ML book.



S did some VT and spelling words on white board and a word search for spelling words. Read just one page of reader before the new pool table arrived. Right now all is chaos because the workman are putting the table together and B, S and J are really excited. R is home from work today.

Had Lit class. Everybody discussed the Canterbury Tale they read and then we took a sparknotes quiz. Watched next show on dvd series, Black Death. Very interesting.

After class I started my own timeline of Brit History which I was supposed to be doing all along. then took shower. Didn't make it to Curves. Got Chinese carry out for dinner. H went to her Theology of the Body for Teens class at church. W didn't want to take the course.

I am reading Mrs. Piggle Wiggle to B. R finished reading Spiderwick series to S. J is still working away on Rolf but is also rereading Encyclopedia Brown books. W fooled around on the computer. R and I watched the last two episodes of The Office. Now were are all caught up with the rest of the world.

Monday 10/15

Woke at 7:00 - put on dishwasher, tidied up a bit, started laundry. House is a wreck!!!! Heated up rolls for breakfast. Got kids up: W, J and S all showered/washed hair. R went to work early.



Read All of a Kind Family, said two decades of rosary. W working on math, J too. Didn't do any math homework for tutor, Yikes, how'd that happen????? S and B school - sang songs, worked with telling time with S. Reviews adding -ed to words ending in -y, introduced new spelling words and reviewed capitalization and punctuation rules. S did loose lens exercise with reader, read two pages. Also did Brock string exercise. B played with Montessori objects and beginning sound cards. Also wrote capital and lower case Fs in her MLbook.



Made trail mix for snack. Tutor got here 1/2 hour late. Still working with J at the moment. Then will work with W. Need to check with him. B, S and I are going to do sundial project now.

Had lunch; completely forgot to say the rest of the rosary then! Worked a lot with J after lunch. Latin, Classical Writing. H and I sat and worked through her lesson in Spanish then she made vocabulary cards. She also prepared her lesson for tonight's RE class. I took shower. W was suppposed to be working on his chemistry. He got a 66 on his last chem test. He is flunking out of the class. I spent time trying to organize things for J and riding on W to keep working. He also did some Latin. I just have to keep better oversight for those two kids! J read his history and practiced piano. I read for my RE class.

We checked our sundials twice more before I took them in as it was getting dark.

Made penne alfredo and italian sausage. I just sliced up some apple for a side dish. Ate out on the porch. Read about St. Teresa of Avila. to everybody at dinner.

J, H and I all left for RE class. The boys were rude and disruptive in class but I still think they listened somewhat. J is completely quiet in the class.

Came home, R was working on chem with W. S was watching Harry Potter II movie. B was putting herself to bed! She'd gotten into her nightgown. She announced was tired. I made her brush her teeth and then read her a chapter from Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. Said prayers with her. Now it is very late 10:01 and S is still up! But the movie will be over in a couple minutes. Then it's off to bed with him.

J needs to finish Rolf up. Let me go find him. I need to read more Cantebury Tales.

Recap of weekend 10/13, 10/14

Sat. - No piano lessons. Curves. National Basilica for 2 hour mass. Stood the whole time. B and S were great! Beautiful ceremony led by bishop. Planned for school. Read Canterbury Tales.
Evening H had her friend Emily visit. R and I watched movie, Marty.

Sunday - I went to 10 Mass because I still don't have substitute. R made breakfast at home. R watched football games. I went to Michael for craft stuff and then did a quick shop at grocery store just for dinner. Read more Canterbury Tales. Really dislike Wife of Bath story. J and S played at Joseph's then H, W, J and S went to teen youth mass at 6:00 p.m. made sandwiches for soup kitchen afterwards. I read stories to B including OM story for letter F. She also colored picture for coloring contest and played with beeswax.

10/12 Friday

What a great day!



Only got a decade in this a.m. Went on a nature hike with Waldorf group. Beautiful day. B was in much better mood than yesterday morning. H and W got up early and went to 6:15 a.m. Mass. I couldn't go because R's not here. He's coming home tonight.



Bought lunch at Whole Foods and then went to tennis. I am a rotten tennis player but I still like playing it. J went with Manuel to Mattie's birthday party. W came home after tennis and played computer game. H lost her wallet this a.m. but police called. Someone had turned it in. However, it must have gotten run over because all the cards, etc are bent/chipped. Ugh! But at least no one stole anything which is a miracle!



R gets in around 5:30 or 6:30. S is busy picking out klezmer tunes on recorder. He really has a gift for music.



I love days where the weather is lovely and we spend hours outdoors.

10/11

Didn't say rosary, boo hoo! Another snake in basement! This one slithered into the little pump closet when I tried to stop it with a broom. Will stuffed the bottom of the door with old blanket. Have no idea if that will contain it. Maybe they come in through the pump closet??????

Took S and B on Claude Moore Colonial Farm Fieldtrip.

J and W did math with Mrs. Boyd.

In p.m. worked with J on Latin, history, and Classical Writing

B & S played all afternoon: screen, played outside, played with neighbor, gymnastics

W did some Latin, he's not working steadily enough on that, no momentum there. He practiced guitar a lot and played his new computer game, whatever it is!

H????? Don't know what she did all day at all!

Read The Red Shoes from Hans Christian Anderson to B & S also the story of Abram from Bible.

Read more about Sir Lancelot to J. He practiced piano and then read lots of Rolf. Told him to finish by Monday. S started writing a lovely little piece on piano.

Went to Curves finally. First time this week! I am really enjoying Joan of Arc by Twain.

10/10 Wednesday

10:53


Said decade at breakfast


Read from Book of Marvels about Grand Canyon


W and H took their chemistry test


J-piano practice, lesson and half of math, Latin translations re: accusative case also vocab review.


B and S - sangs songs, S read two pages in reader, played outside.



Went to noon mass. Came home, made grilled cheese for lunch. Worked with Josh on his Classical Writing. Took S and B to VT. B read a little in her reader but then tired of it quickly. Saw Jeanmarie Devolites Davis coming out of the building! Told her I was going to vote for her. She said thanks very nicely!



Came home, told J to read his history lesson. Took a shower. Norm the guitar teacher was here. W practices guitar all the time, H never. Maybe we need two guitars? H was working at piano though practicing music for her choir event this weekend.



Took B and S to gymnastics. S and I went to Starbucks as is becoming our routine, while B was in her class. He talked and talked about music. While he was in his class B and I ran to Marshalls and got her some fall clothing which she direly needs. J went to chess club. Picked him up on the way home. H got dinner for us, roast chicken, fresh baked bread and fruit salad.

Yummy. H just took W to CLC.



B, J and S are in front of the tube now. I'm chillin'! 7:40 p.m. R is in California for the week.

H called me from where she was waiting for W's CLC to be finished. She wanted to know which Canterbury Tale to read. She's got the Miller's Tale.

Read more Sir Lancelot to J. Read Why Noah Chose the Dove to B and S. J read more Rolf.

I started reading Mark Twain's Joan of Arc.

Here's my reading schedule. Brit Lit reading: F, S, Sun, M. T, W, Th other reading. I still want to spend 10 minutes a day in spiritual reading. I am hoping that starting off with just 10 minutes will make it happen and then somehow I can expand on that.

10/9

Slow start. It is always hard to get going in the a.m. after a 3 day weekend.



Said rosary.



J - practiced piano, took math test and did next lesson, reviewed Latin vocabulary and studied accusative case.



W - read Knight's Tale and studied Chemistry, practiced guitar



H - went to library to read. She just read Sparknotes but found really interesting site on rules of chivalry.



B and S - songs, mental math, B worked from reader, S - VT and read from reader. I read them both Bible story - Tower of Babel



B & S Played on computer and watched tv while Lit/Hist. went on.



In class we learned about Edward I and II, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce of Scotland and Llewellyn of Wales. Discussed Chaucer and Knight's Tale. We decided each teen is going to read a different Canterbury Tale for next class. 4 kids are doing the Robert Southwell unit study while Peter and Katie are doing Shakespeare. Peter picked Hamlet and Katie picked Much Ado About Nothing as the plays they will focus on. Really good class this time. Lots of discussion. These kids know a lot of stuff!!!



I want to make dinner on the early side. 5:30 or so. H and W need to take their chemistry test this evening. I also want to read Sophie's World to them. R has been reading Sean Spiderwick which is all about fairies. I think I'll read English fairy tales to S while R is gone. B I've just been reading picture books. She hasn't been interested in any chapter books lately. Must remember to read to J and also have him read Rolf.

10/8 Columbus Day

Recap of weekend



Sat. - J and S had piano lessons; H went to choir and then shopping. She was gone most of the day. B watched tv, etc. Friday was good for her though, she played with kids at tennis then at the neighbors houses all afternoon and evening. I went to Curves.



I went shopping for R's dinner, so I got grocery shopping over with. I read lots of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Made flank steak with garlic wine sauce, mash potatoes, caesar salad.



Sunday - we went to 10 o'clock mass. though H went to 8:15. Then breakfast. Came home, tidied bedrooms. Took B, S and J to a talk given by author of books on classical music. That was cool. Came home and relaxed. The car H drives got a flat. R filled the tire. R and I went out to dinner for his b-day. We were supposed to go with friends but the have the stomach flu.



Hmm, just had words with H who is mad that I put her clothes in the dryer which weren't supposed to go in there. I have told her before to put up a big sign if she can't keep an eye on it herself so that no one else goes in but she didn't. She has basically hogged the laundry room all weekend. Then she said something really snotty to me about it. Ugh, teenagers make me so mad. So inconsiderate and self-centered.



R was going to take whichever kids wanted fishing today, but the weather looks a bit overcast and icky. Math tutor is coming today but instead of math with J and W, she's going to help W study chemistry. W got a zero on one quiz and a 53 on another and he has a big take home test to do tomorrow. He is not enjoying chemistry.

R took only B fishing. The other kids weren't interested so it turned into a father/daughter date. J and S did lots of screen, played outside, etc. Very relaxing day for me. I decided to just take it easy. Read lots of The Knight's Tale but didn't get it finished. H was out in a.m. learning to change a tire. W read and also did some chemistry with tutor. H went to a party and was gone all day.

Evening - watched some of more of the Office with R.

Oct 5th, Rick's birthday

Wow, it's 11:56 and I feel totally groggy. I just haven't enough sleep all week and it finally caught up with me. Got up for 6:15 mass this a.m. That was great but I simply can't exist on 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night!!!!!



Came home from mass and felt so out of it. H went to a SAT II chem class. W came home to do the rest of his chem homework. Everybody else slept in. When R came down at 8:30 everybody was still sleeping. W, B and S gave their cards to R. S started crying because R didn't read the card right. He's in one of his hypersensitive moods. Ugh. J didn't even make a card. I notice he is really super moody and it is also lack of sleep because he stays up so late reading. I have got to get that under control.



So this a.m. I've just been puttering around mainly. Did some laundry. B and S have been watching Arthur, playing on the computer and practicing gymnastics. S practiced some card tricks but then got mad at J cuz J knew the secret of his card trick. J and I did a little bit of Latin but then I started to fall asleep. He's been really resistant about rewriting his composition, so I've decided to chuck that and we'll start anew on Monday or maybe Tuesday since Monday is Columbus Day.



Dave came by to see how the gardeners did yesterday. The yard looks terrific.



Would it be wimpy to bow out of tennis lessons today? I feel so run down and I feel like I have to save my energy for tonight because we're hosting a teen movie night, planned many weeks ago. I'd rather nap! It is very muggy out and I think I'll wilt in this weather. I am kind of praying for rain. The mosquitos are out in droves. I just don't want to play tennis today! Waaaahhhhh!