Weekly Wrap-Up: Our 2nd ER Visit in 2 Months

This short week has felt pretty long... luckily we've had beautiful weather and quite a bit of fun.  

Ian headed to work on Friday as after two whole day in a row of homeschooling I decided I needed a break! LOL.  Honestly though I haven't been sleeping well and wanted to make sure I focused all my attention on Alec and getting him successfully through his first week of school.  

After dropping Alec off I did work on my blog, got the house decorated for fall, and then Evan and I worked together to clean the whole thing!  It felt so good to get those items off my to do list.  I'll have a full post up soon but here's a little look at my fall decor.

We went for a hike after lunch, checking out a new trail before picking Alec up from school.  He was all smiles talking about his day and assured me he loved his first 3 days.  

Alec told me he could take pictures of all his projects if I wanted as each teacher has been reminding the students to get their phones and take photos-- of course I said yes!  It's like he doesn't even know me! 

For dinner we made up taco/rice bowls.  

Saturday morning was beautiful and cool.  Ian and my husband both headed off to work while Alec, Evan, and I slept in.  We had a quiet morning at home planned and I ended up reading two books in between doing laundry and unclogging the bathroom sink.  

Alec wanted to make dinner all by himself and put together a ground turkey lasagna for us.  I did sit in the kitchen to give instructions and field questions as I don't really use a recipe to make my lasagna (it never comes out the same way twice either).  I forgot to take photos but here is a quick pic. of the leftovers we had for lunch the next day. He did a wonderful job!  

Alec and I did tackle a page in his Algebra practice workbook that we were going to use if we had homeschooled 9th grade this year.  He feels like he needs a math refresher after taking the last 5 -6 months off from school.  We're going through a few old concepts & it's all coming back to him pretty quickly.  

Before dinner I went on a little walk and took a few pictures.

I tried rescuing this baby snapping turtle from the road but I'm pretty sure he found his way right back there.  

I started my Sunday watching a few episodes of That 70's Show.  It's leaving Netflix on Monday and I have 2 seasons left.. I'm never going to make it!  Ian left to go to work with his grandfather. 

After breakfast I did a bit of blogging and then made some pumpkin donuts.  My husband took the younger two boy to go cut and stack wood.  After lunch I helped cut and stack wood too and we got the whole pile done.  We took a quick ride to his work to look for a replacement part on the wood splitter and stopped to get ice cream. 

2-ingredient pumpkin donuts using a WW recipe I found on Pinterest

For dinner we cooked up steaks on the grill with egg noodles and salad. 

Even though Monday was Labor Day, my husband was heading to work at the hydroelectric plant.  He asked me to go and keep an eye on him since he had to crawl under the hydro and try to find a door to let out the water.  Dressed in waders and armed with a small laptop camera he descended into the whole while I recorded what he was finding (spoiler alert we found nothing but muck and mud that the camera couldn't see through anyway).  If you've ever thought it would be cool to own a hydro it really isn't... mostly it's messy and smelly and a whole lot of work.  

The yellow dot is my husband's head; he's standing in a few feet of water moving the underwater camera around while I look at the computer screen (not really seeing much of anything but debris floating in the water)

We stopped by my mother in law's house to fix her lawnmower on our way home.  We all ate lunch and I helped Alec with another page in math.  After lunch Ian and my husband headed out on a Ranger ride and I settled in to blog.  

We did a quick grocery shop just to pick up some fresh fruit for the week and then Alec helped cook dinner-- pork chops, roasted potatoes, and salad. 

Alec was taking the bus to school on Tuesday; the first time ANY of my boys have taken a bus to school.  We had to be up at the bus stop at 5:30  (this ungodly hour is one of the reasons I drive him to school most days!)---And the bus never showed!  After 30 minutes we gave up and I ended up driving him to school.  We'll try again tomorrow I guess.

The other two boys and I started school around 9 and finished up by 11.  They each did another 4-5 subjects and then we headed out to get Ian a haircut, drop off books at our library, get ice cream (for lunch!), get my ring cleaned & inspected, then pick up Alec.  

Alec worked in electronics today and worked soldering with copper-- He didn't get to finish either project though and asked if he could go to work with my husband after supper to finish up his pumpkin.  It turned out so cute!! It now sits on my mantle.   

The pieces he assembled at school 

His finished pumpkin!

For dinner we cooked up some pineapple teriyaki chicken with couscous & peas (and salad for those that wanted it).

Ian headed to work and we managed to successfully get Alec off on the bus on Wednesday. Evan and I finished up his 4 subjects (Math, reading/history, & grammar) in no time then headed out to the apple orchard.  We picked apples & brought home cider, peaches, corn on the cob, and some delicious apple cider donuts.  

I picked Alec up from school and he told me all about his day in hairdressing-- they had to curl and straighten hair, & paint nails.  

Then he made up a fresh batch of cornbread to go with our chili for dinner.  

And yes, he did have a minor burn on his hands after touching the hot cast iron pan here

We headed out before dinner to check out his new karate class. 

Unfortunately he had a real nasty fall at karate that completely knocked the wind of out him and with a nasty snap sound that had his teacher concerned for a broken bone we headed to the ER for x-rays.  

Thankfully, they found no damage to his lungs and his ribs felt in tact (apparently rib bones are hard to capture on chest x-rays) so as best they could tell he likely has a contusion somewhere near his upper ribs/ shoulder bones.  

While the doctor did clear Alec to go to school on Thursday (if he felt up to it!), I was rather thankful that Alec decided to spend the day at home resting.  He still wasn't able to take full breaths and the shop they were trying out for the day was masonry.  I just could not imagine him lifting bricks all day! He was so disappointed and I felt so bad for him but did believe it was the best decision all around.  

When I gathered up his brothers for school, I encouraged Alec to join us & listen in to our Harry Potter book and to practice some more math-- he's still not done his assessments at school so he hasn't had any "real" schoolwork or homework yet and I figure the practice can't hurt. He reviewed how to find slope from two points and graphed the lines.  The other two boys each worked on science, math, reading, grammar, and government.  

I spent my afternoon running to the doctor's office to get a note so he can have Motrin at school and picking up Motrin to bring to school.  Then talked with both my mom and my mother-in- law about our fun night.  

Dinner was a fend for yourself night as Ian had his first driver's ed class and the other two boys were heading out for haircuts.  

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