Friday, so far, so good

I slept late this morning (7:30) so it was hard to get up and get going. I thought by 8 the day was going to be a total waste. I was not motivated to do anything. But then some of that old-school discipline kicked in. Not really, just everyone has be eat and if we have to go chase the chickens that got out we might as well get dressed. My mother-in-law came down about 8:30 and told us the chickens were out of their coop. So, I rallied the troops and they all got dressed quickly and were out the door to chase down some wayward chickens. I watched from the door.

Since we were all dressed by the time they got through doing the Chicken Round Up we got busy on school. But first, Tyler and I worked on a project. Matt found this really cute bird nest and it has been sitting on my counter for awhile. I thought it would be neat to try to hang it in the kitchen and make it look all "nature-like." Here's my oldest and youngest helping. Notice James trying to put the chicken eggs in the birds nest.

It didn't turn out quite like I had in mind, but I am going to ask Mark to make some origami birds to hang on it. And then I can also switch it up seasonally. I might try to find a little bird at the thrift store or some eggs to put in the nest.

Abbie dressed James up in his chicken outfit and so Matt had to go get Pearl, the real chicken, so they could have a photo shoot.

But, as you can see, Pearl was not nearly as excited about the photo shoot as James was.

Later I found James singing into his little microphone. He thinks he has to put the whole top of the microphone is his mouth to make it work. And don't get on me about him being in his PJ's in the middle of the day. He's a fourth child and just thankful he has PJs.
Today, I let the kids do a science experiment. I just can't stand the mess and there is usually a meltdown or two when the experiement doesn't work out just right. I would just prefer to read the experiement to them and then tell them the outcome. I know, I'm a homeschool science mom flop. But, today I let them do whatever experiement they wanted. Tyler made crystals. Abbie mixed some different chemicals together in an attempt to make crystals. And of course my Matt chose the messiest thing to do - a volcano. And as you can see, it really did make a mess. But, he cleaned it all up and he kept telling me thank you over and over for letting him do it. Guilt, mommy guilt all over the place.

Since I had the camera out I decided to take a picture of Abbie also. She's been pretty silent today. It took awhile to get her to smile at me. But, that sweet smile finally came through.

This afternoon I have paid the bills and made my grocery list. Tonight is grocery buying night. I'm trying a new chicken dish for supper and also making potato soup. We can have the soup over the weekend. Tomorrow I am deep cleaning bathrooms. WOO-HOO!!!! Supposed to do that today, but you can stick a fork in me right now, because I am done.