Monday, Feb 8
I got a replacement lens for my camera today but after I installed it, there was no difference. I think I sealed a fingerprint inside so I've ordered another replacement so I can give it another go. Lauren is doing some extra babysitting this week, during the day. I'm glad we have room to do this in our schedules! We went to Ridgedale Library to stock up on some good non-fiction books for personal study/project time. (blurry photo from phone, aaaargh)
Tuesday, Feb 9
A basic day with school, work, orchestra and Bible study. We are still reading The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place (Book 4 started today!), reading about + discussing ancient history (the Olmec people of Central America right now), doing a Physics unit and a few other interesting things. It's a good life.
Wednesday, Feb 10
Today, Natalie and Jamie had SciGirls. The recap is on their blog here.
At Youth Group, there was an Ash Wednesday service (which some adults went to as well). It ended up being a great springboard for conversation.
Thursday, Feb 11
More good school discussion and time today. We started a different type of afternoon project time, which is well-loved so far. Gloria is researching and taking notes on specific Minecraft recipes and techniques, Natalie is researching endangered species and Natalie is researching seals. Lauren did all the driving for errand day and now has 16 hours racked up toward her required 40 before getting her license this summer.
Friday, Feb 12
Today, I got another replacement lens for my camera and after installing it, discovered that it did not fix my problem. I took it to a repair shop in Hopkins and was dismayed to discover that it would cost more to fix the phone than replace it. I got on eBay and found another used phone at a great price. RELIEF, but I still would rather have not dropped it in the first place!
Saturday, Feb 13
We got to celebrate Charlie's birthday today by taking him and Heidi to the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum. It was so fun to see how delighted he was with the model train displays. As I figured, he was especially enamored with the trains that kids could run. After the museum, they played at our house and stayed for dinner and a movie.
It's also great fun to see the friendship that has developed between Jamie and Heidi - pretty much like cousins since they are so close in age.
Sunday, Feb 14
We went to church this morning and Lauren sang on the worship team. We were able to do a few little celebrations for Valentine's Day, even though I sort of consider it a fake holiday. We made cream puffs from scratch and the youngest 4 made treasure hunts for each other with a gift I got each of them. Treasure hunts consist of writing out a series of clues leading to a gift or prize at the end. In this way, I avoided having to buy candy, which is just as well because we decided to try to only buy fair trade chocolate after seeing a documentary about child labor and child slavery to pick cocoa pods.
For dinner, we had fondue, which Jim, Natalie and I enjoyed the most. It's always nice to enjoy a special meal together. The salad course (in heart-shaped lettuces, quite by accident) was pan-fried scallops with pancetta and asparagus. YUM.
Lastly, this little bunny showed up in our yard today, much to our delight. Someone named it Phyllis; not really sure why!
