Adam woke me up bright and early around 7:15 this morning. After snuggling with him a bit we came downstairs and found another early riser. Emily was on the couch, reading the Friend magazine.
I played a bit with Adam and Emily and I talked about some of the stories she had been reading. During this time Ashley wandered downstairs and I went upstairs to wake Alexis. We had breakfast of banana pancakes and yogurt. Then everyone scattered to get dressed and do morning chores.
Ashley had been begging me yesterday to get the play food out, so while everyone was getting ready for the day I went upstairs and brought the tub of play food downstairs. She and Adam excitedly jumped in and started playing. I let her play for a while before I reminded her to finish getting dressed and putting the dirty clothes down the laundry shoot. She informed me she was going to set up a restaurant, which she did. Emily joined her and the two of them made menus, set a table, had napkins, cut snips of paper to be salt and pepper, little crayons to color with, and Ashley wore a chef hat as she took orders. It was very elaborate and they were having so much fun I let them play for an hour or so.
In the meantime I cleaned out the refrigerator and the snack food drawer. I also put on a load of laundry, read Adam a couple of books, and talked with Alexis about some books she's been reading lately for independent reading.
When I saw the restaurant game was dispersing, (and after eating 2 or 3 meals there, myself), I called everyone into the living room for devotional time. We sang a few songs, read an Uncle Arthur's Bedtime story about a little girl who was grumpy, and read out of "At the Back of the North Wind."
After that Emily and Alexis went off to play piano together. They love doing duets together and they were playing a song out of the Friend magazine. They each practiced their own individual lessons and Alexis practiced her violin. Ashley asked me during this time to play a game where I am the witch and she is a little girl trying to bring her mother a basket of treats for Mother's Day.
After that I played some multiplication Uno with Emily and Ashley. Then Ashley asked if she could play on the computer a little while. She told me she was making a garden on one of the games. Emily and I read about comets and meteors and Ashley chimed in with some questions as she was playing and listening at the same time.
After that we decided to make some cupcakes. Emily and Ashley were my helpers.
I checked on Alexis, who was working independently upstairs for the past hour or so. She was busy reading about the brain and we talked a bit about what she reading. She was amazed how complicated and integrated everything was.
I went downstairs and read Ashley a couple of books and then took the cupcakes out the oven. Adam had a diaper change and we played some baby games like Itsy Bitsy Spider and Round and Round the Garden. He giggled and giggled. I put on some nursery rhyme music and danced with him and most of the other children ended up joining in.
I started fixing lunch of sandwiches and fruit while Ashley and Emily made a circus. After lunch they performed for us and we clapped and clapped. Adam LOVED it - especially the high wire bear that Ashley got for her birthday.
After lunch Emily did a bit of copywork in her language book and worked a bit in her cursive book.
Alexis wrote an E-Mail to a friend. Then everyone did a midday tidy up and Adam went down for a nap. The girls continued playing circus, reading, daydreaming, etc.
After his nap everyone went outside for a while to play. Alexis took a walk and Emily and Ashley played family, scooters, jumped rope, dug for treasure, and played town where everyone owned a different shop and there was a poor orphan baby who wandered around they fought over who got to adopt.
We then had a quick snack and headed over to the library. We returned books and got new ones.
We then headed home and had dinner of fish, rice, and broccoli. Everyone pitched in and helped clean up and then we headed back outside for a bit to enjoy the evening. We caught a bunny nibbling at these red clovers. We also did a little nature journaling. Emily and Ashley taped flowers in their books and then sketched them. Alexis sketched some clouds and I sketched a the red clover.
We also checked on our gardens. We have given the children each their own little sections to be in charge of growing whatever they want. Emily chose cherry tomatoes and broccoli, Alexis is growing carrots, potatoes, and cantaloupe. And Ashley is growing peppers. This is a picture of Emily's broccoli.
After that we headed inside, the little ones had baths, and then we all cuddled up to read our current bookclub read aloud, "Journey to the center of the Earth." After that we had scriptures, sung a hymn, and said prayer. Then I tucked Ashley and Adam into bed, while the older two girls stayed up a little later to watch an episode of "Avonlea." After they went to bed I switch the load of laundry I put on this morning and forgot about to the dryer and headed upstairs to browse on my laptop for a while before falling asleep.
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