My Happiest Moments {52 Lists}

I am always reading the lists that fellow bloggers have shared in 52 Lists, but have never found the time (or motivation) to participate, until now. It has been a trying week and my heart has been heavy, so when I saw what the list topic was for this week, I knew I had to take part in order to lift my spirits (and it really helped).

• Time spent visiting with my grandparents (childhood memories)
• Hiking with my dad
• My baptism day
• Marrying my husband
• Being pregnant and anticipating the new arrivals
• Seeing each new baby for the very first time
• Baby snuggles (then and now!)
• My son finally eating after 5 days in the hospital following open heart surgery
• Watching my children play outside
• Family vacations (especially to Asheville)
• Walking through flower gardens in spring time
• Teaching my children
• My children accomplishing milestones
• Having my 6-year-old read to me or her brothers
• Witnessing acts of kindness from my children
• One-on-one time with each of my children
• A quiet home with happy children
• Reading a good book

Linking Up With:

Week in Review 2016: #23

Bridget and George have spent every day this week at swimming lessons. We've been lucky that the weather has been nice. My dad has offered to watch Liam while we are at swimming lessons, which is a huge help.

Liam has developed a love of coloring this week. It has almost become an obsession. He has given up all of his toys and has spent nearly all of his free time at the homeschool table with the crayon box and a lot of paper. They are all scribbles, but they are the sweetest scribbles ever. He scribbles for a little bit, then lifts up his paper and calls for me to look at it. Then he scribbles some more. He puts a lot of focus into it and makes the sweetest faces as he concentrates. He and Bridget have spent many afternoons coloring together. George takes the opportunity to play with his train set without baby brother being involved.

Almost forgot, but for journaling purposes, last Saturday evening, George gave us quite a scare. He and Liam were racing and George was pushing his firetruck and somehow tripped and toppled over his firetruck and landed on his face on the hardwood floor. He began screaming instantly and I thought he had broken something (he had landed with his arm twisted under him). I got down on the floor and scooped him into my lap to examine him as he's screaming. I kept asking him what hurts (since his arms and legs seem to be moving just fine) and he finally gets the words out that his nose hurts. It was at that moment that blood started coming out of his nose. Daddy was already at the freezer getting ice and Bridget got tissue for me to discreetly wipe the blood from George's face (I did not want him knowing he had any blood---it would only scare him). He also had a scratch on his forehead from the seam in our hardwood floor. Daddy and I took turns holding George on the couch as he held ice to his face. The crying stopped after a few minutes and we determined that his nose was not broken, but my heart was. George is my most accident-prone child. Maybe it's a boy thing. We've been fortunate that he not yet broken any bones. All he ended up with this time was a little cut, a bloody nose, and redness on his forehead and around his eye. 

Linking Up With:

"Medieval Times" in Myrtle Beach

We ended our first day in Myrtle Beach by attending a Medieval Times show. It worked out perfectly because we will be covering medieval times in history this upcoming school year. 

When we got there but before we were allowed into the arena, we decided to get the kids a special treat. George and Liam got swords and Bridget got a wand. Since the show, the boys have gotten good use out of the swords. Most of the time they will play nicely, but boys will be boys and mom will be mom and have to take the swords away. 

If you've never been to see Medieval Times, it is a dinner show. They offer two types of dinners: a chicken dinner or a vegetarian dinner. We always get the vegetarian dinner, which is a delicious three-bean stew served over brown rice. For the appetizer, they bring out hummus, pita, celery, and carrots. The non-vegetarian dinner is a large chicken drumstick, garlic toast, and corn on the cob. The meat-eaters are required to eat only using their hands but us civilized vegetarians are given a spoon.

For the show, they bring out horses and knights. First they participate in contests with the horses. Afterwards, they participate in combat using all sorts of medieval weapons. It is all choreographed, though the kids don't know that so they're always sitting on the edge of their seats with their eyes wide open.

 
One of the knights threw Bridget a flower. She did not know what to think about that. Any attention from boys makes her nervous and a little embarrassed. After the show, Bridget got a picture with the princess.

Week in Review 2016: #22

Last Saturday, we attended our niece's baptism. Baptisms are always lovely, and the children (especially Bridget) are eager to be baptized. Bridget has another year and three months to wait.

The rest of our week was not as exciting, as we had nowhere to be. All extracurricular activities are either over for the season or on vacation this week. It was really nice.

Earlier in the week, I taught Bridget how to play checkers. She loved the game and I could see her mind working. George wanted to learn how to play too, so after Bridget's game was over, I taught him as well. It took him a bit longer to understand the game, but he was very entertaining with his facial expressions. I am happy that both Bridget and George are at the age that when I take one of their pieces or they lose the game, they don't cry about it.

Bridget has been in a rut with reading lately. She is reading well, but does not enjoy doing it. (She still loves being read to.) On Tuesday night, without being asked to, she took a Dick and Jane book to bed with her. She came out 20 minutes later to show me how much she had read. She knows all of the words in the Dick and Jane books, so it was easy for her, but I was happy that she was also enjoying it again.

Bridget is trying to be more helpful around the house. Lately, she has been the one to bathe Liam. My husband and I still wash Liam's hair, but Bridget does all of the rest. Liam is very cooperative with her. I also stick around to supervise and to lift him out of the tub into the towel that Bridget has ready for him. Then she dries him off and carries him to the changing table where I take over. Especially at the end of the day, I appreciate the extra pair of hands.

Last night, the children were banned from sitting on the couch for the rest of the evening (due to reckless behavior while on the couch). I turned Thomas the Train on for the boys so that I could have some quiet time to load the dishwasher and tidy up after dinner. I came out of the kitchen to find that all three of them had solved the problem of not having a couch to sit on.

Our homeschool schedule is a lot more relaxed now that it is summer. I am still homeschooling through the summer until mid-July when we take a 2-week break before starting the new year at the beginning of August. Mornings have become difficult with Liam, who wants to be right in the middle of everything we're doing. We're now doing most of our schoolwork after lunch once Liam has been put in his crib for a nap. We get so much more done this way, in a much shorter amount of time.

Linking Up With: