Weekly Wrap- Up: The Week Summer Vacation Officially Started

It was another quiet week around the house.  We had rainy, miserable weather most days and I had two boys who still weren't feeling 100% so we focused on finishing up all of our books for the season!  We are so thrilled to pack away this year's books and plan to take a good month break from everything other than reading.  Summer vacation has officially started!

Friday the boys were up dressed and ready quite early so we could head out and run some errands that we had been putting off all of last week.  I took the younger boys to Barnes and Noble to hand in their summer reading program sheets and pick out their free books.  Our time in the store stretched out to more than 30 minutes as they started reading book after book and browsing all the shelves.  We then went shopping for a birthday gift for a friend and it was well past noon by the time we arrived home.  All the boys finished up their schoolwork and Alec curled up to read one of his new books.  Ian and Evan went to go play in the basement with the trucks and sand and also played with Lego sets for awhile.

I had the whole house to myself Saturday morning!  Ian headed off to work with his grandfather while the other two boys went to work with their father cleaning up scrap metal and making a few scrap runs.  They were quite motivated to work since they got to keep any money they made at the scrapyard.  They were quite happy! We've been trying very hard to come up with jobs that they can do on the weekend to earn some extra money since none of our boys get an allowance.  Once home they spent the afternoon outside in the sunshine making slime.  They mixed school glue, saline solution, and baking soda with some food coloring.

The boys were invited to a birthday party on Sunday.  At the last minute Ian decided to stay home but the younger two boy were thrilled with the idea of getting to try and play laser tag.  The outcome of the games put Evan in a pretty bad mood for the rest of the day but at least they tried something new.

Monday, since my husband had the day off, we all went and cut lumber for the day.  Well, part of the day Ian was with his grandfather working on building some new picnic tables but most of the day we had all three boys helping out in the shop.  The older two boys used the saw to cut up the kindling pieces we had left.  It was a bit nerve wracking for me watching Alec since it was his first time working with the saw but he had paid close attention to his instructions and he did an awesome job! Evan helped move boards, pick up scraps, sweep, and snap chalk lines.  All three boys worked hard and learned a lot.

After watching Alec continuing to limp around all morning and hearing Evan complain of his head cold and stomach ache we decided to sit out yet another week of karate classes on Tuesday.  I did manage to get our grocery shopping done and all the boys were feeling up to a quick bank and library trip later in the afternoon.  They all completed their schoolwork and helped me clean the upstairs.  We even cleaned out Evan's drawers and organized his clothes.  Our day flew right by!  Ian headed out around dinnertime and went to help his grandfather work on making some more picnic tables.  Alec finally finished up his new Lego set (really he got the set at Christmas time but somehow forgot he had it!).

Wednesday we ended up at the doctor since Alec was still limping around.  The boys did a bit of schoolwork and Alec kept himself occupied in the car drawing a huge array of Pokemon characters on our white board.  Once home and all the schoolwork was completed the boys all headed into Alec's room to sort through his Legos.  He had offered to give some of his old, unused sets to his brothers.  They had a great time working together and afterwards all willingly gathered around the table to try their hands at soap carving.

Thursday the sun was finally shining and I sent all the boys outside early to enjoy it while we could.  It was still pretty chilly but Ian ate his breakfast outside and brought most of his schoolwork outside too.  I walked around the yard snapping nature photos and watching the younger two boys play together running all around.  We eventually headed inside and all three boys finished up all their schoolwork.  They all did a bit of housework and we ended up cleaning a lot of toys out of our playroom that no one was using anymore.  We headed to the library and the store; Alec spent most of his day with his nose buried in a book even walking to and from the library while reading.  He's been like that for quite a few days.  In fact I think he has read 3 or 4 chapter books already this week!  Once home Ian decided to try soap carving again while the younger boys contented themselves around the house.