Moms with lots of littles, do you struggle with this?

[ForeverFamily]

We often end up taking off or doing light school the last half of November and all of December. We have three birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas spread out through those two months. Come January I am more than ready to get back to work with school. But every year it seems my kids are constantly getting sick through January and February. Since we have lots of littles illnesses take a while to work through our family, often a week or two. As soon as everyone is healthy again one of our kids get sick again and the process starts over. Despite this I do my best to get the basics done, but subjects like history, science, and this year grammar and spelling often get neglected. Then come March I am often trying to work overtime in the neglected subjects on top of the basics. I always plan on schooling year round but come summer I am worn out. Anyone else stuck in this cycle? What have you done to help?

[Excelsior! Academy]

Yes and no.  

 

This past year was the first time we've taken most of November and December off.  It does seem like it is taking a bit to get back to the full schedule again!  

 

We do school year round, with the exception of last summer.  This summer will not likely be a full schedule, but a bit more than last.  

[Garga]

I only have two kids and I had struggles like that when they were little. It's not like that now that they're older, but you have so many little guys that even when your oldest two are older, there will still be littles around, so you'll be dealing with this for a long time.

 

I gave up the idea of doing much school during summer. I need the break as much as they do. I use the summer to do major cleaning/decluttering of the house and planning the next year's school work. But it doesn't mean you have to take 3 solid months off in the summer. Instead of taking off all of June, July and August, you could school until the middle of June and start up in the middle of August. You'll get a break but not as long of one. That gives you about 4 extra weeks to take off during the school year.

 

Do your best to implement a nice strong daily routine that works for you. Try your very best to get enough sleep. Without enough rest, I have a very hard time keeping to a routine. I need the routine just as much as the kids do.

 

Schedule in days off per month and don't exceed them. Right now I schedule 2 days off a month for field trips or snow days or whatever. I take them at my discretion. It gives me wiggle room to skip school if we need to a couple of times a month. However many days you allow yourself off per month, stick to it. Be determined. I found that it was sooooo easy to say, "Oh, we can take a day off here and there..." And before you know it, you're a couple of weeks behind where you'd hoped to be.

 

Taking off 6 weeks in Nov/Dec is a lot. I don't want to tell you shoudn't do that...but it sounds like you shouldn't do that. If you were ok with it and it worked for you, then you could go for it. But it sounds like it messes you up for the rest of the year. Since you know kids will get sick in Jan/Feb, you have to be prepared. Maybe instead of totally stopping school during those months you could school 3 days a week during those months to make up for the time you know you'll lose in Jan/Feb.

 

And at the end of the day, for me, I just had to force myself to keep schooling even on days when I really, really didn't want to. When they were little, I could get away with more days off, but about 3 school years ago (when the oldest was in 6th), I realized I couldn't do that anymore and had to up my game. So...routines, sleep, shorter summer, limited number of days off per month, forcing myself to stick to the plan: all those things are what keep me on track.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Garga

[maize]

We school year round and focus on the basics. Essentially, I prioritize math (or for my beginning readers, reading). If math is getting done we add music, if music is getting done we do language arts and foreign language. Content subjects like history and science I don't really focus on for the elementary years--occasional videos or read alouds or kits, beyond that I try to support interest-driven stuff.

[Heidi]

What Maize said.  I school year round too.  That means three weeks of school a month.  One school week is four days for us.  So that's 12 days a month, which is super easy to squeeze in around sicknesses and other things that come up.  For 2nd grade and under I only do the basics, period.  PLAY is way more important at that age than history and science curriculum for that age, imo.

[Coco_Clark]

A couple thoughts-

 

Thats one reason I don't take huge breaks. I mean, my biggest reason is because it messes up the routine and I need the routine to survive. But it's also for the wiggle room schedule wise. I take a good summer off but otherwise cap time off at a week. This means if I need a day here or there I can take it.

 

I also don't take off for sickness. I know that's controversial, and not for everyone. But if I let every kid do no school every time another kid was sick? Yeah, we'd be taking off most of Jan-Feb. The sick kid gets the day off. Everyone else schools. Half the time even the sicky listens in and gleans something from his "missed" day.

[Garga]

A couple thoughts-

 

Thats one reason I don't take huge breaks. I mean, my biggest reason is because it messes up the routine and I need the routine to survive. But it's also for the wiggle room schedule wise. I take a good summer off but otherwise cap time off at a week. This means if I need a day here or there I can take it.

 

I also don't take off for sickness. I know that's controversial, and not for everyone. But if I let every kid do no school every time another kid was sick? Yeah, we'd be taking off most of Jan-Feb. The sick kid gets the day off. Everyone else schools. Half the time even the sicky listens in and gleans something from his "missed" day.

This is how we do it too, on sick days. Unless my kids have high fevers and are miserable, they do some sort of school. We watch something educational on tv, we read books, etc. The activities change based on age, but we do something. I don't have high expectations of output, so no complicated algebraic equations or 2 page essays, but we do input.

[Momto4inSoCal]

My kids seem to have a harder time getting back into the routine the longer we are out of school. This year we only took two weeks and we just swung right back into it. In the past we've done 3 1/2 weeks off and it's always been hard to get back on track. We do a co op once a week so we only school 4 days a week, if we weren't in the co op I would plan one day a week of fun stuff or if all my kids were little maybe just take the day off depending on state guidelines. I agree with the others about sick days. The sick one gets lots of cuddles, oj, a nice couch bed, the remote and the rest of us do school. I divide our curriculum up by our school year so I always know where I want to end up and how far I need to get every month. Having that plan helps me stay on track. I'm like you and I need summer breaks. I can't do year round. I just make sure I plan for that break and we've always done fine.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I am right there with you!  Of our four, three are winter birthdays!  And currently, everyone is feverish, coughing, or on antibiotics for ear infections.  It has been two weeks since this all started, and the baby and toddler woke up feverish today, so we're probably looking at another week at least.  Ugh.

 

I try not to stress.  It is easier for me to take this time off (we do squeeze in lessons when everyone is ok enough to do them, but only math and spelling usually).  I am not on a schedule, per se, for content subjects, so I don't worry about those being "behind".  We do a lot of audiobooks and read-aloud when sick, so it's not like they are just plugged in to the tv (though there is a lot more of that during sick times).  

 

We do work through the summers, but take days off for the pool and play dates whenever it sounds nice.  So maybe a 3-day-week during summer approximately?  We also take shorter spring breaks and fall breaks than the PS kids.  

 

I think if you let go of the stress, you may have the energy for half-day school during the summer, or a 3-day-a-week type of thing.   

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Also, agreeing with Coco_Clark- only the sick kid gets the day off, except in shared subjects.  So my healthy kid would still get math, handwriting, reading, etc.  But we'd hold off on our joint subjects (spelling, history, science)

[blondeviolin]

My kids don't get many sick days. If they're not doing school it's because they're sick enough they'd rather be doing school (vomiting or super high fever). If they're healthy enough to be sitting upright, I require some schoolwork M-Th. I'm a slavedriver like that. lol. To be honest, if they're feeling a little under the weather, I may halve their grammar work, or allow them to skip subjects. For my oldest it may mean I say no grammar, spell a few words, simpler math, and skip Latin. For my younger school-aged kids it means reading and math get done. I try not to skip their content work because that's what makes school fun for them. My littlest guy is currently feverish and coughing and really clingy. It makes schoolwork difficult on the mornings, but somehow we juggle because I just don't want to miss if we don't have to. Summers are amazing here and my kids really value their summer break. They've even offered to skip spring break for a longer summer break. :lol: (I also make them work review stuff during the summer, but it's a bit easier work and more relaxed.)

[abba12]

We take off all December and half of January because our school year is Jan to Dec in this country. Jun to Aug is winter here obviously and while we don't take it off, I do take most of May off for personal reasons. The kids inevitably get sick in July and August.

 

Everybody other than the sick kid does school. Also, unless they're literally asleep and really unwell I have the sick kid do some school. If you're going to be sitting on the couch feeling awful anyway may as well do school and save your days off for nice sunny happy days out

[Soror]

(1) I embrace a cycle in schooling and plan for it, some times we do it all and then some extra but sometimes (like through the holidays) I purposely plan for a lighter schedule. So, I look at making sure our basics stay on track but I under plan for the extras.

 

(2) Only the sick kid gets off for illness and even that is rare- unless they are really sick they can often at least get some done

 

(3) We dont' take off for b-days and if I did it would just be for the bday only for the bday kid. I can see that you might want to take a special field trip or something perhaps but that shouldn't take over a day

 

(4) I plan to start back in July because it is so hot it is hard to do much- doing that means I can take off in Spring but you have to get in enough time somewhere- decide what are your min. requirements and map it out. We are required so many hours by law- ds easily exceeds this and dd will be right on the money otherwise I require that we make it through math and spelling/reading programs.

[wintermom]

Yes, we have been and still are in the same boat some years. It sounds like you are doing a great job getting the basics done. The subjects you drop are the exact same ones we let slide. I've never had the energy to do school in the summer, either. I NEED that time myself to recover from the school year. 

 

So no specific advice, just btdt. There will come a year (or 2) when the whole gang stays healthy! ;)

[Squawky Acres]

Here's another thought:  and I don't mean this sarcastically at all, but could you try not to get sick in January and February?  I have lots of littles as well, and had to take drastic measures to prevent that constant sickness in the winter months.  We stopped putting the kids in the church nursery or sending them to Sunday School, as we noticed that the church kids were constantly sick with stomach viruses, strep throat, or worse -- and were sent to nursery and Sunday School anyway.   We still participate in plenty of outside activities, but for some reason, we don't encounter as many sick kids at gymnastics, swim, co-op, museums and other outings  Maybe we are not in such close proximity to the other kids, or maybe we are not all eating fish crackers together without washing hands first?  The kids all take a good multivitamin, fish oil, Vitamin D, and play outside for hours every day.  And honestly, we just don't get sick anymore apart from very mild colds once in a while.  It has been two years since our last stomach bug or major flu.

 

[Hobbes]

Everybody other than the sick kid does school. Also, unless they're literally asleep and really unwell I have the sick kid do some school. If you're going to be sitting on the couch feeling awful anyway may as well do school and save your days off for nice sunny happy days out

That's how it works for us, too.

[Critterfixer]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think what the OP is concerned about has to do with the fact that she has four children age 6 and under. That means pretty much that when somebody is ill, Mom has to drop everything to care for these children. Even eight year old kids aren't always capable of hitting the bowl or making it to the toilet, so it isn't as if she can school the healthy ones while the two year old is feeling bad.

 

I don't have a bunch, but I think that I'd look into a substitute teacher for the classes that you will not be able to get to when people are sick. By that I mean, look at other options for teaching. There are only three children who might benefit from science and history getting done, so I'd target the upper two and let the younger ones tag along. In my planning for Jan/Feb I would be sure that I included plenty of history documentaries, historical fiction on audio and so forth. I'd probably invest in something like the SOTW series on audio for daily use during these two months. Ditto with the science. I'd be picking up nature stuff like nobody's business at the library. Tons and tons of picture books for informal science study. 

Spelling and grammar would get integrated into writing and reading. Pick your favorite words from this selection and learn them this week. Pick out the nouns and verbs from the sentences you make using your words. After I get done cleaning up the vomit we'll diagram them on the board. 

 

I'd not worry a bit about not getting through my science or history curriculum; not if I knew I was staying on target by simply picking a different way of covering the material.

 

[katilac]

I've never had lots of littles, but I'm going to answer anyway, bc I have seen similar situations play out in families both big and small, because people love the idea of that long break over the holidays.  

 

My opinion is that very few people can take a full summer break and still manage to take off six weeks in the winter without falling behind.  

 

If someone can, great. If you can't, and it stresses you out, time to make a change. 

 

Unless you leave town, why not just take off Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving? That's 3 solid days of school added there, before the holiday excitement truly begins. 

 

Then do at least one solid week of school after Thanksgiving. You're up to 8 additional days of school, and it's still the first week of December! 

 

Now you have a full 2 weeks before the week of Christmas. Yes, you may need some extra time in here, but you can definitely fit in some school. Plan on half days most of the time, and a minimum of an hour on overwhelming days or days that you have definite plans. 

 

That leaves you with then entire week of Christmas off, and then you can start slow and easy afterwards. (fyi, I used this past Christmas for my example). 

 

Sickness: my kids generally got some schoolwork done unless they were so sick they couldn't get out of bed. They sneezed their way through lots of spelling and grammar, and sometimes I would read their book to them and offer a bit more help than usual. Every bit you do adds up. Lest I sound brutal, I did let them decide what they could manage. 

 

General: use open-and-go texts for subjects like spelling and grammar, and have simple workbooks at the ready for math, so that they are at least getting practice when you can't teach a lesson. I used Growing with Grammar because I knew it would get done every day, and added more teacher-intensive resources as I was able. 

 

Also, don't ignore small bits of time and don't take off the entire day every time you have a field trip or an appointment. Rarely do those fill the day so much that the kids can't do at least one or two lessons. They can listen to an audio book in the car, practice spelling words, and so on. Again, every bit adds up. 

 

Now, the funny this is that I just posted in another thread about it being okay to let your younger kids play when the very basics are done. I voted in favor of active play as opposed to more official school work for the day, but that's not as different from this post as it may first appear. I mostly think that the school day for the younger grades should be short enough that there really isn't a reason to take such a long winter break (and I find the standard summer break way too long as well). 

 

With younger kids in particular, I'm a firm believer in 'slow and steady wins the race.' Many students, and parents as well, struggle with coming back from long breaks, and they are always unexpected things that occur during planned school time. If you plan for shorter school days, along with shorter breaks, you stay in the groove. The kids don't need a month of review. They have an abundance of time to play throughout the year, and the parent doesn't get nearly as burnt out. You also have more days available to take off randomly throughout the year. 

 

It also helps me to break down the books into target deadlines, and refer to it frequently. It's much better to realize that you are two weeks behind in math before it grows into six weeks! It's discouraging as heck to feel like you are never going to catch up.

 

You just have to try different things. Maybe you're more than ready for a break at the end of May, but could it be a two week break to start? Then the next two weeks have some minimal (and independent) seat work for the bigger kids, and just a little bit of mom-led stuff each day. Just a couple of hours total, except for the occasional fun project. Then a full month off in July, then a repeat of minimal school the first two weeks in August, ramping up to pretty much full time by the last half of August, until you get to a holiday schedule like above. 

 

[ForeverFamily]

I really appreciate everyone's advice. I am glad to hear that I am not the only one that has sick kids right now, LOL. I am also glad to hear that I am not the only one struggling with this. Thank you also for the "toughen up and just get it done" advice, LOL, I needed that as well.

 

I should clarify a little. I don't usually take 6 full weeks off, last year I did light school through the first two or three weeks of December. This year I planned to do the same, I even made the kids do math and reading while their cousins were staying with us over thanksgiving break. Unfortunately despite our good start two things really threw us off. We got a puppy, which has been WAY more time consuming than I thought. Also my youngest was unexpectedly admitted to the hospital for several days and she had to have surgery. She was then put on a couple of antibiotitcs for about four weeks. This resulted in several very messy diaper changes a day, often requiring a change of clothing each time. Between the diapers and puppy it was a ridiculous December. Most of those things have settled down. This is why I have been so frustrated, I am in a (slightly) better position to get school done and my kids have been sick off and on this month.

 

I do my best to do school with whom ever is healthy enough to do it. But as Critterfixer described sometimes illnesses result in my time mostly being spent caring for the sick child. So it can get a bit frustrating. But it sounds like I need to just keep pushing through as I am and get the skill subjects done and perhaps lower my expectations for the content subjects and have a plan B for those. I always tend to over plan for the content subjects which often contributes to my frustrations. I will also most likely do what several of you suggested and perhaps only take one month off in the summer to make up for it.

 

As far as keeping my kids from getting sick I do my best. Unfortunately I think the most common place my kids pick things up is at church but missing it is not an option for us. I had to chuckle at the fishy cracker comment, it is sadly true. I think it is slightly helpful that I currently work in the nursery so I do my best to slather my son's hands in hand sanitizer before he eats his fishy crackers.

 

I can see a light at the end of the tunnel as my 10yo gets sick less often then the rest. I think it will get better as they all get older. So I guess one positive from having sick days is their immune system is learning something LOL. Thank you all so much I really needed some words of encouragement right now, this will help me have the endurance to push through February. Today was better school wise despite my daughter still feeling a bit on the edge from throwing up yesterday. And over the last week or two I did force everyone, including whomever happened to be sick at the time, ;-), to listen in on read aloud time. Most of them have had their share of fevers and vomiting over the last month, yep it's been lots of fun.

[Cake and Pi]

Yeah, it seems like we have 3 months out of the year where there is ALWAYS someone sick.  This year DH even caught pneumonia and was out of work for an entire month!  We've been schooling year-round to accommodate the large (1-3 month long), unplanned breaks we've had to take for moving, illness, etc, and also because I can rarely manage to actually do lessons more than 3-4x per week between DS#1's sensory needs and DS#4's therapies and medical appointments.  The good news is that my kids are getting lots and lots and LOTS of open-ended free play time, lol!

 

I'm trying to imagine my life, plus a baby and a 10yo... to me, you sound like super mom!  

[KeriJ]

I do think it gets better as they get older.  I remember feeling the same way a few years ago.  We still have random sicknesses in the winter (despite a lot prevention), but somehow it doesn't seem quite as overwhelming as when they were all little.  Somehow, we made up for lost time with school.  I just accepted the fact that some years were just lighter years.  My 7th grader seems to be doing well academically despite those lighter years earlier.

[fairfarmhand]

I want summers off (we farm), so I can't do a long break in winter. We get our two weeks off at Christmas, but we do school the week of Thanksgiving. I treat my teaching like a job. That means that just because Grandma would like a week long visit at Thanksgiving. "Nope, we have to do school. We'll visit in the summer!" So, we say no to the Christmas parties and caroling at the nursing home that takes place in the morning, "Nope, we have to school in the morning" We say no to most field trips that occur in the morning. While my older kids could do that when they were little, I need them to school in the mornings now because their workload is heavier. It's kind of unfair, but I won't have my middle and high schooler's educations suffering because I happened to have more children after them. You can try to tackle those fun field trips on weekends or afternoons and evenings if you really want them to happen for the littles. For me, group field trips just weren't worth it for several reasons.

 

I think you're going to have to choose. Summer break or a long winter break.

 

The sick kid, if they're really sick, skips school. If they're sort of okay, they do easy stuff like handwriting practice or reading their science books. Everyone else goes on.

 

If you can switch the older kids to curricula that don't need as much mom input that will help too. I know it's hard to teach class when you're sleep deprived. Also, try a cyclic schedule. Math, English, Spelling, Handwriting happen every day. But Art, History, Science, Music, Foreign language happen on a loop where if you don't get to one thing, you start with that the next day. Even if you only get to them once a week, it's better than not getting to them for weeks at a time. Sometimes, history or science was just my kids reading lots of excellent library books and skipping the projects and experiments.  Like I said , sometimes it's just better than nothing.

 

And sometimes, you just do school, even when the toddler is whiny or the baby is fussy. Babywearing can help. But as a mom, I had to learn that we did school even when life wasn't ideal. I couldn't throw in the towel on a whole day because I was tired or had a sore throat. I'd do school, put on an educational video, nap with the baby, and do more school after I woke up.  Read alouds sometimes got passed to dad at bedtime if I couldn't read without coughing. Or to an older sibling.

 

You just figure out how to make it work. I looked at it like "If I was paying someone else to educate my kids, would this be acceptable to me?"

[RootAnn]

Little (and big) kids get sick. Mom has to spend a lot of time caring for the ones who are sick. I'd just continue to do your best in Nov & Dec not to take most of the time off.

I think that's what you should do in the future. Definitely take some time off for Thanksgiving (a week?) & Christmas/New Years (2 weeks), but that should leave you with time (2-3 weeks worth) for when the kids inevitably get sick in Jan, Feb, or March.

 

I usually build in at least one week of complete sick time into our schedule. I also schedule in a week off in Feb, March, and April -- knowing that I'll have to use at least one for catching up, one for sickness, and hopefully will still be able to give them a full week off somewhere in there plus time off for Easter (2-3 days prior, usually). If I plan for less total days, I can still get everything done. If we are running ahead, we can do half-weeks or just get done early (preferrable!)

 

I also do very light school during summer - math, typing for the olders, and one more thing that each kid needs to work on (or wants to add in but we don't have time for during the school year).

 

 

[momacacia]

Oh, this isn't a "why can't I get the 3yo potty trained when I have a 4 month old" post. ;) Then again it kinda is....

 

The two winters none of my kids never got sick, we were supplementing vitamin d and on a strict no sugar diet. Other wise, we get sick a good bit too. This summer we'll do math, tapestry and probably grammar.

[Momto4inSoCal]

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/school-at-my-house/just wanted to add this also. It's one of my favorite post because it shows me that our house is totally normal. This is my house most days. Add on sick kids and it kinda looks like chaos but we usually can get through most of the work. Eventually it will be easier but right now some days I just have to push through.

[Squawky Acres]

As far as keeping my kids from getting sick I do my best. Unfortunately I think the most common place my kids pick things up is at church but missing it is not an option for us. I had to chuckle at the fishy cracker comment, it is sadly true. I think it is slightly helpful that I currently work in the nursery so I do my best to slather my son's hands in hand sanitizer before he eats his fishy crackers.

 

 

Oh, I'm sorry.  I didn't suggest skipping out on church.  I was just cautioning against Sunday School and nursery, at least during the winter "sick" months.  It was inconvenient for me to not be able to enjoy an entire, uninterrupted service due to wiggly children and a one-year-old on my lap --- all of whom may need to taken out at some point during the sermon; but it was *much more* inconvenient to have the one-year-old pick up something awful at nursery and pass it through the whole family.  I was willing to make the trade-off.

[KSinNS]

We've had a bad year this year, mostly me being sick. And with a baby coming in a month or so, it is going to get worse before it gets better. Fortunately, my kids have their father's immune system, so have the odd cold, but are rarely so sick they need to go to bed. I do school the non-ailing and mildly ailing if practical. The sick one goes to bed and watches videos or sleeps. And we pray no one vomits. I don't worry too much about the missed days. They missed days when they were in ps, and no one panicked. When I'm sick, school comes to a crashing halt. The big ones figure out what they can do, and the littles have a play day. We don't have to count days, and I don't usually have a set goal in mind, and usually by the end of the year I'm happy with what is accomplished. Last year, I had to stop early because my Dad had surgery and Dh had to travel. We got everything caught up in September, before the local ps had finished review, so I wasn't too worried, and they have all made great progress this year despite missing most of December. If you feel guilty, or need to count days, put on educational videos and audiobooks on those disastrous days. But look at the big picture and what you have accomplished. In most schools and university classes, they don't get everything covered. My sons grade 2 class completely skipped the unit on multiplication because they ran out of time. Life happens, in B&M schools, and in home schools.

[nerdybird]

We only do school 4 days per week now. We go year round, only taking brief period off for family time and holidays.

 

Birthday Policy: We kind of consider birthdays to be holidays. DS1's b-day is close enough to Christmas that it gets rolled in with the general holiday hullabaloo. DD and DS4's birthdays are both close to the 4th of July, so we just take a couple weeks off around that time and celebrate both b-days and the 4th with a family trip if we can. The other three have birthdays scattered throughout the year, but we just take the birthdays off as a family if we can and go out for a celebration then.

 

Illness Policy: We work around it if we can. The older two (ages 12 and 9) will usually stay in their rooms. I will assign them a documentary to watch on Netflix or YouTube and they are expected to write a journal or do a narration on it. They will usually do some exercises from their Kumon workbooks and maybe some math worksheets if I feel it necessary. DD will also do penmanship and they will both be expected to do their copywork exercises. Reading, drawing, Lego, and that will round out a sick day's worth of studies for them. 

 

DS2 is 6 and when he is ill, I will usually put him in in the guestroom/office on the futon. I allow him to watch to educational programs (Word World, Wild Kratts, Leapfrog, Odd Squad) and I will have him do narrations to make sure he actually paid attention. He will do exercises from his Kumon workbooks. I will give him a stack of coloring pages and some crayons to keep him busy. I also allow him to play games on the tablet because I'm not a perfect parent, lol. 

 

My three littles are too little to be trusted for extended periods of time while ill. Generally, if one or more of them is ill, I give the older kids a light sick day's worth of study and send the older ones off to grandma's if she can take them. She will drill them and make sure they get some music and reading time in, at least. If the baby is sick, I do the best I can to keep the older ones going while caring for him.

 

Thankfully, we've only had a few bouts of illness so far this year. Mostly Mommy's bronchitis and DS3's ear infections, booooo.

 

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Do the best you can, that's all any of us can do. :)