Precious Memories

This week has been a good, albeit busy, week.  I’m not good with frenetic busyness and am looking forward to things calming down a bit.  We have had last-minute preparations and final rehearsals for the cabaret night the children are singing at on Friday night.  Gary is drumming and has needed to be present at the rehearsals.  He was also requested to drum at a friend’s thanksgiving service, which was both a privilege and very sad for him.  In addition to this T12, who has been fencing for less than a year, was fencing in the finals of his very first ever competition.  Each night the children went to bed past 9pm, sometimes close to 10.  This is incredibly late, especially for my little ones.  We have been playing it by ear each day with regards to school and naps, with most school work being quiet time reading of historical novels in their room with the option of dropping off to sleep should the need arise.  It will be good to return somewhat to normality next week.

Here is our week in collage:

The week began with B3 still unwell.  The penicillin she was on has affected her more than the scarlet fever and all she has wanted to do is sleep.  Everyone has rallied around taking care of her and thankfully she has perked up the last few days.  It is lovely to have my very big charactered three-year old back to being cute and cheeky!

School this week has been all about looking through the resources and garnering an idea of what they might like to focus their projects on this term.  I wrote about their ideas here, and the last couple of days have resulted in defining their goals a bit more clearly.

I have changed up the children chores a bit and have been met with much enthusiasm over the new variety.  I have put a lot of thought into utilising their interests and strengths with much success.  T has spent his time outside working hard in the garden, whilst L and C have done lots of organising.  Their next chore will be sorting through the pantry and making an inventory of all we have.  They were literally jumping up and down with excitement!  I’ve never had that reaction from them about washing up….!  The bottom picture is of poor C who whacked her hand on one of the door frames and immediately burst into tears, squealing that she couldn’t feel her hand!  Again everyone helped out with getting pain-killer, sweet tea and an icepack to put around her hand.  T showered her with chocolates and soon the pain subsided.  We were concerned she may have broken it as it was swelling slightly, but she had full movement so we concluded it was simply bruised.

Both our plum and apple tree are producing their fruit abundantly this year.  Although the apples won’t be ready for picking for a while the tiny plums are just right.  So as well as eating many, the girls collected a basketful and quickly turned it into some jam.  Not being of the patient persuasion they literally left it in the jar for 2 1/2 seconds and then proclaimed it to be ready for consumption.  They mixed with some natural yogurt and enjoyed it for their snack!

Wednesday is T’s fencing night and this week it was the end of term competition finals.  T had fought his way into the finals and we were all very excited about going and watching him.  The girls usually have a friend round and so we invited her family to come as well to support T.  She has a brother who T always enjoys hanging out with.

T didn’t do too well in the first half, mainly because something wasn’t quite right with his foil.  Just before the second half began, and after his foil kept buzzing without him actually touching anything, the judge replaced it with a different one.  After that he began to fence much better.  I was very proud and it was wonderful to hear all the boys cheering him on.  He didn’t win but was very pleased with his first ever medal as runner-up!

His sisters and friends all got a chance to try out fencing and A5 has decided she wants to learn!  We all had a great night and got home very late.

These are just some of the odd photos I’ve taken throughout the week capturing life at home.  B3’s hair is finally long enough to be put up which she is incredibly pleased about, and boy does she look a little cutie-pie!

And because I’m the mummy of some really lovely children I love to capture those moments of beauty.  I very much enjoy watching their relationships develop and mature and one of my prayers for their lives is to always be close to their family, in particular their siblings.

Tonight we will be having yet another late night watching the older four perform in a cabaret night with their children’s choir, and tomorrow we will be at friends for lunch.  Then we will sleep for a couple of days to recover!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend with much love and laughter with those people closest to you.