Homeschooling Week 2: Still Not Enough Chocolate

...but this time I know it's my fault.

It was a day of too much. From the moment the kiddos begged to splash in the wading pool in the 55 degree morning sunshine, I suspected it might be. They did splash in the wading pool. I believe the temp was up at 65 by that point. It was blissfully peaceful for about 30 minutes, but then it was showers and getting dressed and lunch time and...GET IN THE VAN, WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE (although in actual fact, we arrived right on time!)

Our first official Homeschool Field Trip was on the calendar for 1 pm down at our local Nature Center (I highly recommend having one close by; they're amazing!) Every month they pick a topic and for 2 hours on a Thursday afternoon they present it to the local Homeschool kids and their families. Today's topic: Bee Ecology.

Things I learned (Iain apparently learned nothing, as he claimed he forgot it all when I asked him to tell Daddy about his day)
- Apiary: Where the beehives are
- the bee eggs are laid in the bottom part of the hives while honey is collected in the upper part of the hive. I was relieved to learn this, as I'd been imagining eating honeycomb, larvae and all. Yuck.
- Don't take all 4 of your children to Bee Ecology. It's a handful and the "sheds" (where you stand behind screens to watch the beekeeper) aren't exactly stroller-friendly.
- Lucy is apparently already at the age where she prefers to nap at home, rather than being lugged around during naptime. 6:30 pm and she's still trying to recover from this assault on her preferences.
- It was brilliant of me to pack an applesauce pouch for myself, as well as for the 3 kiddos, so that when I was trying to explain sweetly to one of my children what "Mommy's about to lose it" meant, I knew I had a sugar-boost just 50 feet away.

Did you notice how that began as interesting bee information and then morphed into mom lessons? Yeah, that was the afternoon.

After that we visited Mark at the office.

Three times between the end of Bee Ecology and arriving home, I tried to nurse a screaming baby. She refused to eat, but screamed enough for a dramatic let-down. TMI? You're welcome. She later filled her pants, twice, so I'm guessing that was what the fuss was about.

I nearly lost it again when we arrived home and my very kind, sensitive oldest said, "Mommy, I told you that I'm going to have a toast and honey snack. Right?" ...which I had said he could have as an after breakfast snack. Not a 30 min before dinner snack. (And how exactly is that asking, anyway?!) So he started crying and went to his room to take a nap. I went to try to feed a screaming baby [semi-fail], eat chocolate in the family room, and reheat leftovers for dinner. After which Iain did eat "toast on honey."

And we didn't even get any school done. But mommy learned a lot today.

And Daddy is a saint. He's out with the older 3, playing disc golf, while I stay here putting our house back together and listen to a screaming baby who is refusing to nurse, again.