Chicken: Head Missing

Hi. I'm still here. Barely.... but still here.

If I thought life was a whirlwind before, I think I've reached a level of natural phenomenon of apocalyptic proportion. And, in keeping with the metaphor, it's a speed that I can't survive.

Tuesday, for instance, I dragged all the munchkins in pajamas to church (in Plantation), where I dropped Dominic off for the day. I drove back home (to Davie) where I fed the kids and cleaned up from breakfast, and from an incident that involved a prematurely-cast-off poopie diaper, and the trail of footprints that followed. By the time we finished the morning clean up and sang a few songs it was time to coordinate snacks and naps, before I ran off back to church to pick up Dominic. From there we headed to Noemie's gymnastics class (in Weston). I left her there while the rest of the kids and I checked out the Weston library two miles down the road. After gymnastics, we rushed home and I started dinner while tossing children into the bathtub. When Danny walked in the door, home from work, I had just enough time to bury my face in his shoulder before grabbing a fistful of almonds and running out the door for a Ladies in Prayer meeting. On my way I pulled out my phone to text my leader, letting her know I was running late, and found that I had 7 missed calls from a friend. When did I silence my phone? She'd been calling me all afternoon to tell me she needed a ride. I detoured out east to Lauderhill, then raced north to Tamarac; we arrived twenty minutes late. Before the day was over, I'd been in or through 6 municipalities, logged about 100 miles, and was sporting a killer migraine. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were much of the same, with some volunteer teaching, vocal team rehearsals, and church thrown in. My back hurts, my brain hurts, and the mess is beyond acceptable. I haven't seen my bedroom counter-top in over a month. And thanks to Toby, my alarm clock is coated in a layer of diaper ointment. Something's gotta give. Sometime between homeschool co-op, playgroup, a dental appointment, and potty training Toby, I'm going to have to schedule in a schedule-deconstruction.

We celebrated Danny's birthday last month with a trip to my favorite South Florida beach. We had a lovely picnic and walked the beach looking for washed up sponges and man-o-wars. I was devastated to find I'd left my camera at home. But there wasn't much time for pictures anyway; we were run off by a rain cloud before our parking meter time had run up. 

In school we've been learning about the classification of living things. Last week we covered monera, protista, and fungi. We devoted this week to plants. Noemie and Dominic enjoyed nature journaling, making detailed drawings of species like the richardia grandiflora and swietenia mahagoni in our parking lot.

I solemnly swear he is up to no good. However, I will commend him for his progress in enunciating. He is beginning to use consonants!

 

I had the opportunity to visit with one of my best friends over the holidays and meet her baby, born two weeks after Giannina. She took this fun picture of Giannina doing what she does best: making me happy.

Dominic got a bike for Christmas, one without training wheels. He has been unsuccessful so far, but we keep this photo as our desktop on our computer to let him know we believe that he will master it soon. And if not, at least it will help him finishing off that wiggly bottom tooth. 

My favorite soundbite of the week:

Dominic: I'm Davy Crocket, and you're Chief Red Stick!

Noemie: No I'm Davy Crocket, and you're Red Stick!

Dominic: No I have to be Davy Crocket!

Noemie: I'm Davy Crocket. I'm going to shoot mami so all her pennies fall out!

Dominic: You're Red Stick!

Noemie: No, no, no. I'll be Davy Crocket's wife!