Friday Favorites: Not Such a Great Week

This week wasn't the best week we've had in a while. I decided to wean Zoey last Friday, and I can happily say that she is totally weaned now. She still asks to nurse, but she is asking a lot less than she was at first. I've had some pain and soreness, but I think it's getting better now.

We did have some days with sunny weather.

Zoey also got sick on Sunday - and she's still not quite 100%. She's been whiny off and on all week, due to the sickness and the weaning. This wasn't the best time to wean, but I didn't realize she was going to get sick. I took her to the doctor on Monday, but it's just a virus. All of her flu and covid tests came back negative, and her ears looked good.

She put her stickers on her shirt.

Zeke got sick on Wednesday night with fever and a sore throat. His throat was red with white bumps - just like it did when he got strep throat. However, he had his tonsils taken out in August exactly for this reason. He got strep throat at least once a month. I took him to the doctor, and while his rapid strep test was negative, the doctor said it looks just like strep throat to him, and his lymph nodes were really swollen (also happened when he got strep). Evidently some people will still get strep throat after a tonsillectomy. Ugh! 

I called out letters for him to find on the posters.

Titus's baseball game was canceled Monday due to rain, and we got more rain all throughout the week. Today we have had some bad weather already with more to come this afternoon, so his practice was canceled today too. 

My week wasn't the greatest, but I think it's important to always remember the good things that did happen. So here are some of the highlights:

Zeke and I did get his schoolwork done this week, and he made this adorable kangaroo pencil holder!

Zoey and I did not get any tot school done this week, but we did sit on the porch and play with play-dough a few times. She loves play-dough, but she still wants to eat it! I'm ready for her to quit tasting it every time I let her play with it.

We did start Treehouse Nature study Spring, and Zeke really liked dissecting a bean seed. 

The boys and I spent Thursday afternoon picking up the yard and doing some things that needed done. 

My mom came and sat with Zeke and Zoey on Wednesday so I could go to town alone. I enjoyed being able to run errands in peace! I went to the library by myself, too. That was nice!

Maybe next week will be a little more productive, and I hope both the little ones will feel much better. How was your week?

Currently: March 2024

I'm joining Jennifer again for this month's Currently blog link-party! It was fun last month, so I decided to join in again this month. 

What I'm LOVING:

I'm loving that my oldest son got married on Saturday! He went on a mission trip last summer to Nicaragua with my parents, fell in love with a girl from a small village in the mountains, kept in touch, went back in December and proposed, and got married March 2! He will be staying there until the summer when she can get her tourist visa and come here. He's also working on her spousal visa (which takes longer than a tourist visa). Here are a few pictures from the ceremony down there. They're not professional because they just do things differently down there! 

I'm also loving my new dining room table! I've been in search of a table that seats 8 that will fit in my smallish dining room, and this table and chair set is perfect. I love the color of the wood, and the chairs are comfortable and large! Now I'm in search of placemats because I'm afraid it will get dirty. I told the kids, let's not eat at the table for a few days! They just looked at me like I was crazy.

I'm loving that Zeke has really been making progress with his reading. Going through his word list is much quicker and more fun than it was at first. He picks up on new concepts really fast, so I'm thinking he will be reading by summer!

What I'm LOOKING FORWARD TO:

I'm looking forward to the end of summer when Eli and Gendeling will be coming home. We're going to have a reception/wedding shower for them, and that will be fun! I can't wait to meet my new daughter-in-law.

I'm also looking forward to these beautiful spring days that will be here soon. We've had some warmer weather lately, and I love being able to spend so much time outdoors. Baseball season has begun, and it's way more fun to watch the games in cool, spring weather than in hot, muggy, summer weather. We have been spending much more time outside!

What I'm PLANNING:

I'm currently planning for our church's Vacation Bible School since I'm the director again. It's fun to plan, but it's way harder to find the time with a 17-month-old! Our theme is The Great Jungle Journey by Answers in Genesis. Jungle themes are easy to find decorations for!

I'm also planning out Treehouse Schoolhouse's Nature Study for Spring. I think it will be really nice to have a planned-out nature study for Zeke. There are so many beauty subjects she incorporates into these unit studies, like art and music and poetry as well as science and nature, copy work and narrations. It will stretch Zeke's mind a little, and that will be a great thing for him. We started on it today, and I really think he is going to enjoy it.

What I'm WEARING:

I've been wearing a mix of jeans and maxi skirts. I try to wear a skirt or dress to church each Sunday, and honestly, I enjoy wearing skirts and dresses. I have been wearing some skirts during the week, too, simply because they're comfortable and cool! Jeans are so uncomfortable to me. The older I get, the less I care to be uncomfortable in my clothes! I'm going to pick up some more skirts for the spring and summer next time I go shopping. I rarely take pictures of my outfits, so this one is the only recent one I could fine! Eli snapped it one day after church.

I've also been wearing my Birkenstock chunky clogs a lot this winter. I broke out my Birkenstock sandals and realized I need some new ones! I usually get one pair a year, but I wear them almost daily, so they wear out quickly. I think I'll buy two new pair this year! These are the ones I'm eyeing:

What I'm EATING:

I haven't eaten anything out of the ordinary lately. When Eli and I went shopping for his wedding clothes, we at Sbarro pizza and it was delicious! I cooked a pot roast for lunch after church Sunday, and I made Rod a chicken pot pie with biscuits on top Friday evening per his request. I have been eating these Resee eggs that are so good - they're the only Resee candy I like (well they have bells and hearts, too). The outer shell is hard chocolate, and the peanut butter filling is smooth. I don't like regular Resee cups!

That's it for this month's Currently post! 

ABC Jesus Loves Me: Year One, Week Eleven

Zoey is 17 months old, and we're using ABC Jesus Loves Me, Year One - the free curriculum. I make a loose "lesson plan" for the week with the ideas on the website and a few extras that I come up with.

TUESDAY:

I put some cotton balls into a whisk and showed Zoey how to pull them out and push them back in again. This is such a simple fine motor activity! She didn't play with this as long as I had hoped, but I kept it out for later this week.

Her color this week is white, so I pulled out our white Kwik-Stix paint stick. She loves these! She painted her cat coloring page, her last Color Train, and then I gave her some black cardstock to paint on. The white showed up so well on the black!

THURSDAY:

Zoey is loving stickers at the moment, so I let her put a bunch of white dot stickers on some brown cardstock today. Zeke helped hand them to her since she can't peel them off of the sticker sheet yet. Zeke and I decided it looked like snowballs!

She is really into using glue sticks and paint sticks, so she used a glue stick all over her I is for Infant coloring page, and then I helped her glue some yellow "hay" on the manger.

I had written in my plans for her to transfer cotton balls with a spoon, but decided to give her some large jingle bells to transfer. She really liked doing this! Her attention span for these activities is so short, but she did this for several minutes before letting me know she was finished by throwing it on the floor.

FRIDAY:

I cut out two mittens in four different colors (yellow, green, blue, and red) and helped Zoey sort them into matching bowls. She liked this, and I was a little surprised to see how well she could sort when she wanted to!

Next we did some water-coloring painting. As always, she painted her face. I don't know what her fascination with face-painting is!

She glued some infants (clip art) on the letter I's.

She stamped cats on the cat worksheet using silver ink. It was the closest thing to white ink I had!

And that's a wrap in Tot School for the week.