Lost: Kepler’s glasses.
Duration: Long enough that I decided to buy a new pair.
Found: Wrapped around the bars of his crib, five days after I ordered the new pair.

Lost: Important insurance papers.
Duration: Two Weeks.
Found: Yesterday, in the space between the cabinet and the fridge.

Lost: Kepler’s NEW glasses.
Duration: Since about 4 hours after I put them on him for the first time.
Found: NO. And I’ve looked everywhere. My goal is to find them before his eye doctor appt next Wednesday!

Just a little snippet of life in the fast lane.

There should also be a dictionary, car keys, and a thermometer in her hands. This week, we homeschooled, yes indeed, but we also cleaned like maniacs. I just think I reached critical mass on how much clutter I could stand. So, out it went. We did less book work this week, but some good life skills work. Somebody please tell me how many weeks down and how many to go!

Last Christmas we went a little crazy in the gift-buying department. One of the gifts we bought for Kepler was a neato set of playdough — 20 cans of excellent colors. He seemed a little young for it, so I put it in a box under Greg’s end table by his chair. Long about April, I got some out and offered it to him. He liked it about as much as pond slime. Put it away. Offered it again in July. Still didn’t think he wanted to be associated with it at all. Along about September, Kepler discovered the box. And he learned how to slide it out from under the table. We learned how to slide it back in, over and over and over. So, the past two months, I have been gathering up empty playdough cans, along with large hunks of playdough that have been liberated from their cans and left in interesting places. I think we’re down to two or three cans. He STILL doesn’t like the playdough, except to liberate each color systematically. I’m sure he has enjoyed it, just not like the manufacturer, or the giver, intended. I’m learning to be detached from the outcome and this seems like a perfect time to practice!

Actually, 10 years ago yesterday, I was sitting in the midwife’s office with Greg, 14 days past my due date with baby #4. We all decided to give it overnight and see if baby decided to make an appearance. If not, I would show up at the hospital at 6 am and we would induce labor. Baby didn’t, so we showed up the next morning. After simply breaking my water, I went into bigtime labor and 3 hours later, Anna-Jessie was born, all 11 lbs 7 oz of her. There was only one other baby born in the hospital that day, and the teeny little thing was only 5 lb 10 oz. THAT mom was sailing around the hospital like she had just finished a 5k. I on the other hand was recovering from my natural childbirth, and there was a little recovery involved after birthing such a toddler-sized baby. What a sweet girl this one is and how she blesses us every day. Happy Birthday, Anna-Jessie!

But we’re still hanging in there. When you’re homeschooling, there are so many details to cover in the education, let alone all the tasks that need to get done to keep a household running, let ALONE any of the bigger tasks one might like to address. I’m probably the millionth mother to write this post, but it’s true! Sometimes it all just gets a little overwhelming.

Good week, though, in many ways. I became aware of the need to create a schedule we can stick to on a regular basis. I think my kids experience my inconsistency as something that helps them be inconsistent in their own completion of tasks. So, that’s my job for this weekend. Make a schedule. I’ll let you know how it works next week.

Highlights of the week. Anna-Jessie finished one of her math workbooks/textbooks, which is a good accomplishment for all of us. Joel went with me to my personal training session yesterday afternoon and he and I were instructed to do a tug-of-war, four of them actually, and that was fun. I’ll keep it under wraps what our win-loss records were.