Last week, in review

~Sunday~

Party recovery and cleanup.  Grocery shopping. Out to dinner at Panera!

(L's funny face selfie collage)

After we ate, I took N and C to the potty, and when we came out M and L were sitting at the outdoor table.  L remarked, "Hi Mom.  Me and Dad are just sitting here, chattin'.  I don't want to leave, because I want to keep talking with him."

How they love their Daddy!

~Monday~

At-home day.  Laundry.  Serious session of playing with new birthday Bendaroos from about 8 AM to 11:30 AM.  No exaggeration.

Daddy brings home new rocket balloons, which were a present for the girls from a friend of his at work.  Much fun is had by all!

(Make sure you turn down your volume before watching this video!)

~Tuesday~

Last swim lesson, lunch at the beach and playing in the water with friends afterwards.  Our friend Stella came with us after swim and spent the afternoon.  We stopped for ice cream and played on the playground, came home and showered off the beach sand, made homemade pizza, and watched Swan Lake while we ate it.

~Wednesday~
We met Grandma at Old Sturbridge Village so that we could exchange L who was going to spend a few days sleeping over at Grandma's.

It was a chilly, rainy day so we spent some cozy time in the cafe sipping coffee and hot cocoa...

We spent the remainder of the morning playing "Mary and Laura" in the indoor hands-on play area.  Then we grabbed some lunch at the tavern and headed back home (minus L).

When we got home C slept it off, and N did a craft independently so I was able to take a little snooze too.  I was feeling feverish and nauseous that afternoon; not sure if it was something I ate or a little virus.  Anyway, after sleeping I was refreshed!

~Thursday~

I was still feeling a little wonky so I cancelled a play date with another friend and decided we would just go quickly go to the nearby wildlife sanctuary to sign the older girls up for a nature school that happens there once a week.  It's a drop-off day program that I think will be a great addition to our homeschool curriculum!  We toured the facility and walked around the frog pond, and some of our other homeschool friends happened to be there signing up for the same program!  They asked if N could come play for the afternoon and I gratefully agreed, happy to have another opportunity to rest at home and shake off my sick feeling.

C and I both rested and then I went to get N later in the afternoon.

~Friday~

We tried a different art museum than our usual favorite, because they were offering free admission.  It was a fabulous day and we stayed the entire time they were open... and then I still had a hard time getting the girls to leave.

They had an awesome Egyptian exhibit... we spent most of our time there looking at the Egyptian artwork and hieroglyphics, and listening to the audio stories and folklore they had available to go along with the paintings.  The girls got to write their names in hieroglyphics, decode some secret riddles, travel through a pyramid tunnel, and build their own mummy's tombs out of cardboard.  Lots of hands-on stuff for kids and they loved it!

in a replica of King Tut's throne

There was also a balloon guy there making free balloon hats and we took full advantage...

And of course we did all the free crafting that we could.

~Saturday~

Beach with friends!

Again, they never wanted to leave.

We had to bribe them with ice cream.

We got home, showered, and had some well-earned TV time before bed.

~Sunday~

We played a game of Uncle Wiggly with Daddy while Mommy went grocery shopping, 

and then it was off to Old Sturbridge Village again to pick up L!

It felt like a busy week to me, but maybe I'm just a homebody.  I really crave days to stay home, and last week we only had one home day out of 7!

I guess part of my current need to stay home is feeling the pressure to get our home and home-school organized before the summer is over.  There is still a good chunk to do before I will feel like our classroom is really "ready", and I definitely need some more planning time for some subjects, but I'm trying to tell myself that not everything has to be letter perfect before we start.  It can be a work in progress... although free time will be much harder to come by once we're doing school every day.

One of my violin student's moms once told me that the newborn and toddler years felt easy to her compared with the hustle and bustle and taxi driving of the school years.  It's the opposite of what you usually hear from moms-- that things get easier as kids get bigger and are less needy.  But I can kind of see where that mom was coming from.  The newborn/toddler time is certainly exhausting, and complicated in its own way, but at least you have the option of just staying home.  There was a simplicity about that time that I miss-- much less to keep track of.  There was no school schedule to be a slave to, no activities to attend... now that my kids are older and need more stimulation and more social interaction, I feel a bit of pressure to provide them with plenty of opportunities.  It's not that I want my children to be weird unsocialized homeschoolers, but I do want to find a good balance with our amount of activity, and include plenty of stay-at-home days next year, even just rest days where we don't try to do any school.

Mamas out there, do you prefer the school years to the newborn/toddler years?