This week was great! Thomas went to a conference for youth in our church called FSY (For the Strength of Youth) over on the coast. The 3 little girls went to my sister’s house for the week in Charlotte. The 4 older kids are in 3 different states and 1 country right now. So I only had the 2 little boys, Sam and Andy. We had a great time! They went to a free mad scientist camp at an elementary school a few of the days so I got some time to work on 20th Century curriculum I’m writing to sell as well as several other projects.
Our daily routine this week
Our daily routine was: Get up at 6:30 and ride my exercise bike for 15 minutes and read some scriptures to start my day off good. 6:45 wake up the boys and go out and milk. They would each do one teat and I’d milk 2 so we got done pretty quickly. Then we’d go to the house to strain and bottle the milk, get ready, and leave at 7:40 for their little camp. I’d go for a walk on the greenway and listen to a podcast. When I got home I’d pick blueberries in our yard (as opposed to the ones on Blueberry Hill) as well as blackberries and cherry tomatoes or anything else ripe in the garden. Then I’d go in and work on my money making endeavors until 2pm, taking frequent breaks to do housework, text my older kids, etc. I made flyers and fb announcements for picking on Blueberry Hill, worked on my curriculum, worked on my blog, and arranged some nature schools. Plus the usual bills, emails, calling dentists, things like that. I got so much done and it was wonderful to have time to catch up on things I get so behind on being a single mom with kids with me 24/7. What a blessing.
When I get home from dropping off the boys I pick blueberries for an hour. I love blueberry season! Have you ever seen such a huge cluster of them?! I haven’t! It’s 14″ long!
One day Samuel wore a white shirt to camp, saying it’s all indoors so it won’t get dirty. He came home looking like this! I really love dirty boys. It means they’re engrossed in a project and not caring about staying clean. It means they’re happy, creative, working hard, and playing hard.
For dinner we tried to eat mostly foods we have on our farm. That means a lot of ice cream! JK. We ate yogurt, blueberries, blackberries, salads and other food from the garden. Then we’d have a reading party with popcorn and either ice cream, chocolate milk, or a smoothie with our lettuce, blueberries, blackberries, and yogurt and a store bought banana in it. I read Mrs. Piggle Wiggle’s Farm to them and we had some good bonding time.
Around 6pm we’d go outside and work in the garden, getting Bead, our best bug catcher chicken, to eat the squash bugs off the plants. We had a bad infestation this year, sadly. But everything else is growing great, including Makenna’s many little watermelons. Then we’d go milk Maisy. Then we’d drive up to Blueberry Hill, check our cash box, and pick a container of blueberries for our own freezer. Then we came home, locked up the chickens, tidied the house, read/talked some more and went to bed. It was a fantastic week! I’m so glad I got extra time with my 2 little boys who were perfect the whole week. Not one fuss the entire week.
Saturday
Saturday Sam, Andy, and I drove to Charlotte to pick up the girls. We stayed and swam awhile then drove straight to a play, Mary Poppins. It’s only the 2nd play we’ve not been in since moving here (out of 9) and the kids wanted to use their birthday money to watch their friends. I think it’s also good for them to see a play without them in it and how they could do better next time they’re in it.
Playing “waterfall” where everyone jumps in one at a time.
Sunday
We got this dress for free and Talea loved trying it on. She immediately wanted to play baptism, wedding, tea party, princesses, anything with a fancy twirly dress. 🙂
