This week at our house...minus one Big Guy

Matt is gone again. For another 5 days. The stretch from Christmas until mid-summer feels like he's gone all the time. Then, from the end of summer until Christmas, it's like he's never gone. I'm not 100% sure why it works out that way, but such is life. So, he's gone again.

And because there are so many more hours to fill when daddy isn't coming home in the evenings, we end up doing extra crafty stuff and taking a few more field trips. It keeps us all sane. So, Claire finally talked me into buying whipping cream today at Trader Joes so that she could do the project she's been wanting to do since she read the Little House books: making butter. So, here she's shaking up a little pat of butter.

It takes a lot of shaking to make a pretty small amount of butter out of whipping cream, but it amazingly does work just as it's supposed to....and it's good!

And, of course, we couldn't eat the butter by itself, (well, Claire and I don't neccessarily believe that, but we try to be civilized people) so I was forced to buy a box of banana bread mix (lazy, I know) and also forced to add chocolate chips to it, so when Sammy awoke from his nap, we had a pretty fabulous snack.

Along with the extra projects, we've also been trying to get back to our very-extremely-extra-relaxed version of homeschooling. In my mind, we're officially starting next year. And, since she's already reading, I've been very lazy and just put everything on the back burner. But not anymore! We're getting back into it. Here's Claire doing her history lesson...she's studying the Jewish people right now.

Here's her new big-girl desk. I found it at a thrift store. It's just an old school desk from the 70s probably, but someone painted it a nice light blue color, so we picked it up.

She likes doing her math there and sticking her little school supplies underneath in the shelf. There are a few things that most homeschoolers wish they had that kids going to "real schools" have. One of the things is a desk...a REAL desk, (at least for Claire). Another is a chance to ride a school bus. That I'm not sure I can swing. City bus: yes. School bus: probably not. We'll see.

It's still grey and blah here in Chicago. Spring is supposed to be here and we're happy for the more mild temperatures, but it's not sunny and great yet.

But we still go to the park...especially when daddy's gone. Because it's that or I have to wrestle with them on the floor in the living room like Matt does...

..and Sammy doesn't think I'm as good at that as the Big Guy is. He always misses daddy from the very first day until he gets home. He always makes me save stuff for him too. Like, if he doesn't eat all of his toast on Monday morning, he'll say "lets save it for daddy for when he gets home". Yum...5 day old toast. Or, if he gets a sticker at Trader Joes he'll save one for his dad.

Not to segway into an entirely different subject, but Montessori Services is having a free-shipping special right now, and I love that place. So, I picked up this sweet tool set for Sammy for his 4th birthday which is coming up in April.

I also had to get the book "How a house is built" to go with it because Sammy is always analyzing how he thinks things must be built. This started when he learned the story of the 3 pigs. "Do you think they're going to build that house out of straw or sticks mom?"

He also requested a small broom "just his size" so I added that to the cart as well. He's into doing jobs for money now. And then, when he gets $1 saved, we have to go immediately to the dollar store so he can blow the whole thing. Claire, of course, on the other hand, saves her pennies and dimes and is probably a secret millionaire. She's just like Matt. Guess who Sammy is like?

I also got this embroidery loop thing for Claire. I don't actually know how to use it, but I saw a cool craft for kids in a book once that I think Claire would like. You draw a picture on a pillow and then sew over it with thread. That might be called embroidering, but I don't know. But I think they used this loop thing to make it, so we'll see. They were only $1 so....

Anyway, that's our life this week. We miss you Big Guy!