Happy Birthday George Washington!

22 February 2012

Everyone needs to stop getting hurt/sick. Just stop! Ok? So we all got sick with a cold/flu a few weeks ago and Ca ended up having a really bad ear infection (which we didn't know about until he fell of the bunkbed and I thought he was seriously injured when he wouldn't stop crying and it turned out to be just an earache). Ra has been coughing pretty badly for about two weeks now. Yesterday at Grandma Jane's house El got into her sewing things and cut the tip of his finger with her rotary fabric blade. Then later at home when I went to grab a tool out of my husband's tool bag I stuck my hand in and cut open the tip on my finger on the only sharp thing in the bag. This morning I decided to take Ra in to the doctor's to see about her cough and it turns out she has a sinus infection. When we got home we were cleaning the house and El slipped down the stairs and hit his head/cheek on the cement basement floor and I was worried he had a concussion  (which he didn't, thankfully), but he had a very bad headache and a large bruise on his cheek. Ca keeps hitting his feet on things by accident and getting hurt in various other ways by tumbling around the house. Then when I was saying good-bye to my mother at the door, Em fell into a bucket of water. She was fished out instantly and no harm was done but oh my heavens! I have had enough! I'm done. No more. I am going to strap them all to their beds for their own safety! At this rate they wont live to see another year! AHHHH!! Seriously though. Enough is enough.

This morning over breakfast I asked Ra what she wanted to learn today. She reminded me that today was George Washington's birthday and so she wants to learn about him. I asked her what she knew about George Washington. Her response was that he was the first president. A good start to be sure, but in all honesty that is about all I really know about him either. That is a very sad fact. I tell you, all morning (while we were at her doctor's appointment) I felt like the blind leading the blind. It is a terrifying feeling.

After her doctor's appointment we stopped by the house to gather our library books and then went to the library in search of books on George Washington. We found several good ones. Some longer, some picture books and a few read-alongs. I even checked out one for myself. The kids picked out several other books then made our way home to clean house for Grandma Debbie.

My mom (Grandma Debbie) volunteered to do Singing Time with my kids every Wednesday. Today she reviewed another primary song Nephi's Courage from the LDS Children's Songbook. After reviewing the story behind the song, (same as was done with The Wise Man and The Foolish Man) we discussed the many different kinds of boats there are and their purposes. Grandma Debbie asked them how hard it would be to build a boat that you would feel safe on for long distances if you had never done it before. They all agreed it would be nearly impossible. Grandma Debbie explained that Nephi was given instructions by God not only on how to build a boat but also on how to make the tools to build the boat! We talked about different scenarios in the kids lives where they would need courage to do the things God asks us to do and reaffirmed that God would never ask us to do something that was impossible, He will provide a way. Brings on kind of a whole knew clarity to the old adage "Where there's a will there's a way." More to the tune of "Where there is God's will he will provide a way." At the end of the lesson the kids made boats out of tinfoil and floated them in a bucket of water. (Yes the same one Em fell into.)

Ra listened to one of the read-along books about George Washington then I think she was pretty well "learned-out" for the day. My anxiety at all of the kids little traumas throughout the week keep me from being productive with anything but dinner and dishes. I talked on the phone with my sister for a while and she got my mind off things well enough that I could calm down again.

We read a few passages about George Washington from a couple books then read a chapter of Genesis in the KJV Bible and two chapters of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. We only had three chapters until the end and we were trying to finish it tonight but by the time we finished the second chapter it was already well past bedtime. Tomorrow then!