:: Everyone up and lamenting that daddy's out of town. Dressed, hygiene, chores. Breakfast - walnut and apple muffins, orange smoothie. Lots of talk about Erika's first lost tooth from night before. A couple minutes of memory work. Erika read weather report.
::Clean-up, fold laundry, Erika made bread, morning prayers.
::All headed out for a 30 minute power walk & took Dorothy to school (1/2 day K). Mama needs to ensure a few brisk walks when daddy's out-of-town. Or else.
::Madeleine and Erika - 1 page of math, each read a Christopher Columbus book and narrated, Erika built a huge fort in the living room. Both practiced piano. Michelangelo copy work. Caroline and Jacqueline kept me company.
:: I came back to the dining room to find THIS gracing the table:
------The Polly Pockets had an aerobics class while Madeleine did her Math. It's all about rhythm and music with that girl.
:: Went through "Communion of Saints" wall and got ready to start putting this up over the next couple of days. Girls picked out their saint cards, found pictures of people for "Church Militant." Cut out headstones for deceased.
:: Tidy house, clean-up kitchen. Left to pick-up Dorothy Jo. Headed to adoration chapel for an hour. Jacqueline was a crab and Caroline was whiny. Other than that, it was "perfect." *wink* While at the chapel, read a chapter of King of the Golden City, did some coloring, sang a couple songs, prayed 2 decades of the Rosary, practiced genuflecting. And a few minutes of quiet prayer----a pure Eucharistic miracle.
::Home for lunch. Recited our autumn poems and did a couple hand rhymes at Caroline's insistence. Talked more about All Souls Day and the Day of the Dead. Madeleine read Maria Molina and the Day of the Dead aloud to everyone while I cleaned up kitchen. Sang "People Look East" a million times....the down side of a good children's choir program....you have Advent hymns memorized before Halloween hits.
::After-lunch-chores and some yucky outside play time:
**Isn't anyone watching that child? Who in the world MADE that mud for her? **
::While Jacqueline was occupied with mud, I caught up with Dorothy Jo about her morning at school, and did a bit of hand-writing and a couple minutes of reading.
::Jacqueline down for a nap, after a bath, of course. Quiet reading-time for all while I made phone calls. Friend, Lori, popped by with these spider cupcakes:
::Then we just HAPPENED to read the story of Arachne and Athena from Classic Myths to Read Aloud. I'm not kidding! A sheer coincidence, I tell you! So, when we got to the end and Athena changes Arachne into a SPIDER, we all started screaming and yelling about those ugly little cupcakes that were sitting right in front of us!!!!!!!! Thanks, Lori!
::Girls finished drawing at the kitchen table, then headed outside to enjoy the sunshine and to see Clint and Bob's progress on the garage-in-the-process-of-being-converted-into-living-space. *Bob still doesn't talk to me unless he absolutely HAS to; Pete doesn't believe me.
:: Grammy Anne over for her weekly visit. She stayed with Jacqueline, while the four other girls and I head to the yarn store to satisfy my obsession of finding the PERFECT yarn for a scarf that matches my new purse---
I DO have my priorities straight, don't I? Found it! It matches the top muted red perfectly!
:: Madeleine and Erika find yarn off the clearance rack for scarves for their dolls and a "bracelet" for Pete, so he can attach his gym towel to it and not lose it at the gym :-) I'm not joking. Where do they come up with this stuff???
:: Stop at Great Harvest Bread to utilize my Entertainment coupon that expires on Oct. 31, for a free loaf of Honey Wheat Bread. Another obsession this time of year: using up the Entertainment coupons, not the Honey Wheat Bread.
:: Home to chaos, and a mish-mash-dinner. Girls watch video. Everyone folds laundry while listening to Neil Diamond.
:: Neighbor comes over to cast-on for all our new knitting projects, and help me design my new scarf. Thank you Mrs. Hope! She leaves, and we're all wound-up, so we proceed to knit for awhile while Jacqueline and Caroline destroy the house. Girls think it's more fun to knit with panties on their heads:
::Jammies. Jacqueline to bed. Girls stay up and play and knit while I finally eat dinner, and search for Advent hymns, antiphons, and new skirts on ebay!
:: Bedtime for them. And, now for me!
Bonne Nuit!
