The Last Week of Summer Vacation

Many of my friends do a weekly wrap-up post. I'm sure you've seen the kind: various pictures and notes about how their week of home education went. We've never done one here before. I'm not quite sure why, I guess it is because I didn't think anyone would find our week very interesting. However, in an effort to follow God's commandments to be open, honest, and encouraging to other believers, I'm going to try. Tomorrow will be the first day of 11th grade for Arlene. Next week Emily will begin her final semester as a High School Senior, so you probably won't hear as much about what Emily is doing for school as in the past, but more about preparing for the future. Today, I'll tell you a little bit about how we spent the last week of summer vacation...

Monday

I went to work and the girls spent the day cleaning the house. That evening after Kurt got home, we enjoyed dinner at our friends' house. The food was delicious, and the fellowship was encouraging. Time always seems to pass so quickly when you're enjoying good company, but by 8:30 p.m. I knew we had to head home, I was exhausted.

Tuesday 

I took Kurt to work, got an oil change, and then headed to work. The girls finished up the house, and got ready for Wednesday. This was the deeper cleaning of the house, like scrubbing the bathrooms and sweeping everything. Monday was more pick up, put away, and do laundry since we had been out of town the previous week. Tuesday afternoon I came home, got the girls, and the  sandwiches they had made, and we went to pick Kurt up at work. Normally he drives himself, but we were headed to an Indianapolis Indians game Tuesday night and didn't want to have to stop and pick up his car on the way home.

The weather was beautiful for the first two and a half innings, and then a thunderstorm rolled through downtown Indianapolis. The ground crew ran onto the field as the players headed for the dugout and all of us spectators headed for the concourse to stay out of the downpour. It rained so hard that the steps to the upper deck of seating became a lovely waterfall as the rain came gushing down to the concourse and then on down past our seats to the drains. I would not have wanted to be on the grounds crew at Victory Field. They did an excellent job, but I know it was a tough night for them. The winds were gusting as they rolled out the field tarp, then they were blowing like crazy as they unfolded it and dragged it across the infield. The field was covered, but the crew was soaked!

After the storm passed and the rain stopped, the ushers came back out and dried off people's seats for them ( for those that stayed) and about an hour after the play was halted, the game resumed. For snacks we decided to get the bottomless bucket of popcorn. The concessions at Victory Field are fairly decently priced compared to other minor and major league venues. We had the bucket refilled twice, so we definitely got our money's worth. Because of the hour long rain delay, we decided to head home at the end of the fifth inning. The Indians lead the entire game, and ended up winning 7-5 over the Toledo Mud Hens. In case you didn't know, the Indianapolis Indians are the farm team (minor League affiliate) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. We've watched players over the years who began at Victory  Field who ended up having careers with the Pirates, most notable is probably Andrew McCutchen. 

Wednesday  

Kurt went to work, and Arlene and I took Emily to the Oral Surgeon. Emily had her wisdom teeth removed. She made me promise beforehand not to record her on anesthetic, which I would not have anyway, because that's just mean. Emily did really well, and her Surgeon and her team were all super sweet and helpful. Afterwards we had to stop at the pharmacy to pick up an antibiotic for Emily so Arlene go the job of "watching" her sister. If you've ever been around someone who is coming out of sedation  from dental work you'll know what this entails ... making sure she stayed seated on the bench, and that she didn't drool down her chin while her mouth was full of gauze. Then we went home and spent most of the rest of the day watching movies while Emily spent a lot of time with her ice packs on her cheeks. In the afternoon Em decided she wanted a nap, and I guess Arlene decided to take a sympathy nap too, because I came in the TV room to find them: one sprawled out on each couch and very soundly asleep!

Thursday 

I needed to go back to work, so Arlene and I had a powwow and I wrote down specific detailed instructions about her nursing duties to take care of Emily for the day.  Arlene texted me updates during the day, and I called home on my breaks. One of Emily's friends came to visit her in the afternoon and brought a care package full of post-surgery approved foods: yogurt, mashed potatoes, and frozen fruit bars. Emily once again spent a lot of time icing her jaws, and in general took it easy. I believe there was a lot of TV watching again, but that's OK once in a while! After all, the girls are 18 & 16, they have a good dose of discernment, and we had talked about what would be ok, and what would not be ok while I was gone.

Friday 

The day dawned bright and sunny, and Arlene and I had errands to run, so we convinced Emily to take some tylenol and come along with us. I think was the stop at the library that won her over to our plan instead of staying home! Also notable along the way was a stop at the local Historical Society for Arlene to enter the checkerboard quilt she made for 4-H this year in their winter quilt show that opens in November. It is the first quilt Arlene has made, and she did a wonderful job. She earned Champion at the County 4-H Fair, and received a blue with special merit at the State Fair. I think entering it in this quilt show will encourage her to start work on another one for next year this winter.

Friday afternoon one of the girls' friends from working at the State Fair stopped by to visit, and return Arlene's pillows that we all missed while packing up their things. (More on the State Fair adventure later.) Then Kurt got home from work and I made a dinner that was yummy and easy for Emily to eat in small bites.

Saturday 

We all stayed home all day long. It might have been somewhat hard on Kurt to understand my desire to stay home, but I really just didn't want to go anywhere! The house needed put away and organized. While the girls are very good at the surface part of putting stuff away, they sometimes lack the motivation to purge and put everything back where it actually belongs long-term. Plus, I REALLY needed to clean off my desk. It had been waiting for months for me to go through every single thing in the mail basket and reclaim my workspace. Please tell me I'm not the only working Mama who struggles to reclaim their desk from all the "important" things your family puts there so they won't get lost?! Arlene continued to stalk the mailman, to no avail. She will have to wait until mail resumes on Tuesday. She is waiting for our copy of Heirloom Audio's The Cat of Bubastes to be delivered so we can start our review. I spent some time in the afternoon reading The Pray-ers by Mark Mirza that I'm reviewing. Look for both of these reviews later this month! Some more friends stopped by to cheer on Emily's recovery, and Kurt hung a new light over the kitchen sink.

Sunday

Sunday is church, and we all needed a time of refreshing. We love our church family. The message was a continuation of the previous week's - Jesus teaching the disciples how to pray. This is something that God has been working on me about from various fronts recently, and I know He is changing the way I view my prayer life, and how it affects the whole of my daily life. Sunday evening the girls went to the park with friends to play ultimate frisbee and have some more teen fellowship. Arlene played, Em watched this time. While the girls were at the park, Kurt and I went and picked out curtain rods and holdbacks. On our way back to pick up the girls we spotted a hot air balloon.

Today? 

Today Kurt went to work and the three of us girls slept in. It doesn't happen often, and I feel much better. Ever since the wind at the ballgame Tuesday night the ragweed in the air had been really messing with my sinuses. A full, long night's sleep was definitely in order. For the rest of today? Hemming a couple pairs of pants,  hemming some new curtains we bought while on vacation, and some more cleaning. Then this afternoon Arlene and I will talk over her plan for school tomorrow, and Emily will make out her list of to-do's that she can do and still be low key for a few more days as her mouth continues to heal.

How was your last week of summer vacation?