The title to this post is my excuse for not updating anything for over a week. Haha! SO. BUSY! We started baby steps with a school schedule, Nathan started his new job, ripped more gross out of the mudroom, revisited Houston for Weston’s official birthday party and pet retrieval, AND refloored 70% of the upstairs. Whew!

Schooling “officially” started October 3rd.  It is going good. I want to say great because it is working, but using good because it’s not quite my vision yet. 😉 We’re working at the kitchen table and I have about half of my resources unpacked at the moment. Thank goodness for the Internet!

Ashlyn is reading a chapter book series and completes a journal entry after each book. We revise the entry together and she earns the “AR” points. I made a rewards list for her points and she is well on her to picking out a piece of candy at the grocery store! 😉 Math is review worksheets at the moment, but I was able to put together a money activity that she enjoyed. It was fun coming up with the variations of coins to make the amount. She even tried counting out 84 pennies! 😆 

Weston is working out of a couple different workbooks for alphabet and numbers. We’re focusing on recognition and writing. He has pleasantly surprised me with his ability to stay focused for an hour to 2 hours straight! It helps that his books are Star Wars themed. 👍🏻  I was able to get Archer to play with shape puzzles and blocks at first, but the new quickly wore off and he mostly hangs out with the iPad or plays with Weston’s Legos while I work with the older 2. I think he likes the uninterrupted playtime.

We haven’t formally done much with science or history yet, but we did manage a walk out back the other day where we discovered armadillo poop and collected a variety of pecans from the ground. We cracked them all open and found some with edible pieces inside! Weston and I were fans, Archer and Ashlyn not as much. My initial plan for a schedule was to do 2 weeks on and one week off year round. After doing 2 weeks straight with Weston, yesterday was his biggest struggle day. So I’m going to try the week off next week and when we come back to it, see if he is refreshed and ready or even more lax. And who am I kidding?! I like the idea of a week off every 2 weeks too! 😜

Before last weekend, Nathan and I ripped almost all the carpet out upstairs and pulled a lot more out of the mudroom. Turns out underneath the sink and vanity was just as gross as the shower! So needless to say the smell is definitely improving and this is how it sits currently.

We pulled the sheetrock down where the washer and dryer go and revealed a really cool shiplap wall! We decided to leave it exactly as it is. Nathan is going to patch the hole and install a floating shelf below it. What do y’all think of my mudroom accent wall?? 😄 

We left Friday and had a fun but exhausting and over stimulating birthday party at Chuck-e-cheese Saturday morning. It was a great wrap up for 2 weeks worth of 5th birthday fun for Weston. Sunday, we left from Nathan’s parents’ house with our Star and Skye loaded up. We also had a pop-up camper in tow, but I’m saving that for another post. 😉 The trip home was great and the pets did awesome on the 3 hour haul. The kids loved walking a dog of their own at Buccees. They settled right in at the house. Skye likes to walk the yard with us, but is happy to just lay in the hallway. Star is gone a lot, but she makes sure to visit when she’s hungry. I’m working on getting her a few male barn kitties to keep her company.

My wonderful husband has come home from work everyday this week and worked on something in the house. I’m pretty sure I can confidently say he is enjoying his new job. So far he has driven an ambulance through an obstacle course and worked on a radio in a helicopter! The kids enjoy all the pictures he comes home with. I’ve enjoyed eating dinner with my husband every night. 😍

The last few days, I completed all of the flooring in the kids’ rooms and got their furniture figured out. We’re not sleeping up there yet, but probably will be by this time next week. I’m also saving my before and afters of the kids ‘school rooms till after paint. Make it more dramatic, ya know. 😉

We’re off to Tyler today once the rain clears for our first visit to the Rose Gardens and a Target shopping trip. Gotta make those trips into town count!

-Lindsay