Trees, carrots, towers, clean bathtubs, and the joy of routine!

 By the third week of school we finally hit our stride.  It is hard to believe that we are now on our 7th week of school!  T thrives on structure and routine.  Our homeschool time looks just as structured as her school day would be if she was learning at her elementary school.  Each weekend I make a weekly agenda and we check items off the list each day.  So far we have diligently done every assigned item.  

M is also getting into a groove of studies.  We had some struggles the first weeks with lots of videos and games online, but we are figuring out how to parent a virtual school student and he is figuring out how to be a virtual school student.  A week ago I was blessed to have his conferences (via zoom) and he is thriving in his classes.  The teachers raved about him and it filled this mama heart with joy... but I am getting ahead of myself.  

Here are some pictures from the week of 9/20 - 9/27.  Many sweet moments in the life of our family.  Much of our life is filled with drama and chaos, but I am so thankful for the photos of the sweet moments that remind us of all the ways we found joy! 

This puzzle was completed weeks before but we finally took a picture!

T: Do you like my new fort? 

As you can see, T uses all of the storage spots possible. 

We took a field trip to see T's OT and pick up some new masks.  I think K makes the best masks.  They have great nose pieces, wonderful protections, MERV filter pockets (and come with filters), and of course are locally made by our favorite OT and her mom and sister.  She has 100's of design options, so let me know if you want a hook up and I will send you a link to her shop.  I have more masks than I probably need, but next time I order one I am going to get the pattern that she is wearing.  I love the color!  

Our amazing mask maker!

One evening T decided to get creative with dinner.  She created special treats with apples, turkey, carrots and blueberries.  She was quite proud of her creations. 

T: Would you like to try one? 

On Thursday (9/24) T had a playdate with neighbor S.  They did some raking and leaf jumping.  They also did some tree climbing.  They LOVE their tree fort.  

Working hard. 

T: Ready for me to jump? 

T: This is our tree fort!

T: I sure am glad that S is my neighbor!

On Friday T NEEDED to take this pic of Teeny Tiny.  She takes many... I am including one. 

If my memory is correct, on Friday afternoon M and I went to Aldi and Brandon and T made tall towers.  Our Aldi trip involved two full carts and a new Aldi store as ours is being remodeled. 

T: Look how tall my tower is! 

T: I added 4 more blocks and it is still standing!

T: One more... still standing!

T: This was the final block because they all fell down. 

T: We decided our fort needed some bike parts!

One Friday evening we grilled hotdogs over the fire and then had S and her family over for a camp fire! 

T: These masks are great for smoke protection!

Our weekend wasn't filled with huge events as it would have been in a world without COVID.  This weekend would have been our big adoption fundraiser, but instead  I worked on church stuff and the kids climbed on the roof and harvested the garden (with Brandon of course). 

M: We just did a bit of trimming. 

M and T: Can you tell how high up we are? 

Three kids in a tree, how can that be? 

On Sunday morning I was getting ready and noticed that our bathtub was beyond gross.  I had used magic erasers and tried to get some of the scum off of the textured floor, but nothing really seemed to get it totally clean.  I decided to do some googling.  I read about a lot of different options.  Many of them seemed like a lot of steps.  Many of them seemed like more work than I was hoping for... did I really want inches of foam in my tub?  Then I stumbled upon a video that made it look easy and I decided I didn't have a lot to lose.  This process created a miracle in my bathtub which I still am baffled by.  When I think of my decades of textured floor cleaning I ache that I didn't know this earlier.  I feel it is my duty to share this information with others.  

To have a super clean tub you need vinegar, blue dawn, and a scrub brush.  Seriously, that is it.  

1. Heat vinegar (2-4 cups) in a glass measuring cup for about one minute.

2. Close the tub drain.

3. Squirt some blue Dawn on your tub.  I just made a few swirls and didn't really measure it.  

4. Pour some vinegar in the tub.  

5. Lightly scrub the vinegar and Dawn together. (you can also use mixture on shower/bath walls)

6. Rinse the tub.

7-10. Smile in awe and pop into the bathroom randomly throughout the day to make sure it still looks amazing... and I promise you it will!!

Steps one through six take only a couple of minutes.  It scrubbing is basically a joke because it all comes clean so quickly.  Steps seven through ten are optional, but just try to stop yourself... haha... it is that impressive.  Brandon told me he actually said, "oh wow!" out loud when he saw it. Of course maybe your tub wasn't that gross and you can't really tell a difference or maybe you have known this secret for decades and just didn't tell me.  

I can't even believe it. 

Back to the regular content...

Another day, another tower!

We planted carrots seeds in the spring and then just waited and waited and wondered if we would have any harvest.  I was quite pleased with the hidden gems the children discovered. 

M: Some of them were really stuck in there. 

T: I had to look for the carrots under the tomatoes. 

M and T: Some of them were VERY tiny!

And some of them were HUGE!