Miscellaneous Photos

In the next few days I will be doing a major photo dump onto my blog in preparation for our trip to Washington. So you've been warned. :-)

Husking corn


Driving on daddy's lap in the church parking lot after church one Sunday.




Daughter G making dinner. She did the entire pizza herself except for the crust (which I made in my Bosch mixer).

Summer Goals

The children and I had a meeting shortly after school ended for the summer, to determine which things we really wanted to do before summer was over, and what things we wanted to work on during the summer months when we're not doing all our regular school work. Nothing too intense or heavy, just things we don't always have much focused time for during the school year.

I've already mentioned that we made a list of fun things to do that were free or very cheap, and we are still doing 1 or 2 things from that list every week (sometimes 3!). Here are some of their individual goals:

Daughter G:

Make dinner once a week (plan, shop, cook, clean up).
Finish one more literature book (that we should have done in the spring, but didn't).
Finish Epsilon math u see book.
Go on birthday date with mom (promised back in April).

Son G:

Learn keyboarding skills.
Learn how to do laundry.
Finish Gamma math u see book.

Son L:

Learn to clean bathroom completely by himself.

Son C:

Learn to roller skate.

Little Man:

Learn to make bed (all the other children learned this by the time they were 2, but Little Man insists he can neither fold nor spread flat?!).

Mom:

Watch all the IEW "Teaching Writing: Structure and Style" dvd's (4 down, 2 to go).
Make science notebooks for the 4 older children (3 down, 1 to go).
Prepare workbox activities for this fall (haven't done this yet).
Walk 5 days a week (limited success).
Do something fun with the children at least once a week (doing well with this one!)
Read something every day (doing well with this one too)
Plan the first unit (9 weeks) of our history studies this year (have started but not finished)
Prepare for our Moms group - formerly known as MOPS (working on)

Our summer routine includes a page of math right after breakfast, playing or doing something fun the rest of the morning and early afternoon, and then an afternoon quiet time where Little Man pretends he's napping and the rest of us read or do quiet activities for an hour or two. It's been a wonderful summer so far ~ a good blend of lazy and productive. The goals are keeping us focused, but we're having lots of play time too. And of course......(drum roll please)......ONLY 6 MORE DAYS UNTIL WE LEAVE FOR WASHINGTON!!!!!!!

Belated Sparklers

We forgot to get these sparklers out on the 4th of July, so last weekend we lit them and had lots of fun! The children were nervous at first, but quickly got into it.

This 'n That

1. I didn't walk once last week. I took a couple naps, watched lots of movies with my husband after the kids were in bed, read for hours each day, and was a happy slug. But I can't afford to be a slug for long ~ I'm really shooting for 5 days of exercise this week. Really!

2. I'm in the middle of a big huge MOPS project. The two MOPS groups our church sponsors (morning and evening) decided to break away from MOPS and run our own, similar, program. This is primarily a cost saving measure, as being an official MOPS group cost us hundreds of dollars each year. It will be a good thing, but it means writing a new policies and procedures manual. Something I would really like to be done with before our trip to WA. And we're still working on fully staffing our evening program, so lots still to be done. And that's just my part. :-)

3. My husband is still looking for work. The good news is that there seem to be more jobs to apply for in recent weeks than there were in the winter. The bad news is that none of the applications has led to a job interview so far.

4. We are still waiting to hear from our lender about our mortgage forbearance application. They are busy processing other applications and haven't gotten to ours yet. It's been 6 weeks already. The bank's silence makes me nervous (my imagination makes up answers to our many questions that are not what I want to hear in real life), but that means more opportunities to lay it at Jesus' feet.

5. I have been meeting with my friend Angela once a week to watch dvd's of a writing seminar (from Excellence in Writing - IEW). We have been pausing the dvd to do the practicums (where we actually have to write ourselves!) and are both learning a lot. We are so excited to teach writing to our children this coming year! I have been using IEW for nearly two years, but not as consistently or completely as I'd like. So this is our year to focus on writing!

6. In other school news, I have just about completed 3 science notebooks for our 3 older boys to use this coming year. We will be reading through the Apologia Elementary Science series: Zoology 2, Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. I downloaded some free notebooking pages from the author's website, as well as some free lapbooking minibooks from homeschool share. I decided not to comb bind these notebooks as we may want to add other things as we study throughout the year, but instead to put them in 3 ring binders. They look pretty cool and my boys are very excited to learn about ocean creatures this year! Next on my school prep agenda is printing out the pages for our daughter's science notebook. She will be reading through Apologia General Science, and has an accompanying notebook journal to record what she learns.

7. Our fun thing today was jumping on votemom's trampoline! The children had a great time jumping while I enjoyed some adult conversation. :-) Thanks votemom!

And singing again!!!

My husband gets to come to Washington with us in a couple weeks!!!!! He was given a frequent flier ticket. So he will be flying separately from us and returning home earlier than us, but he will BE THERE! And we will be ALL together with my ancestrals for a WEEK! I am so excited!

Thank you, Lord. You know how much my husband needs a change of scenery and a break from the constant pressure of the job search. Please use this time to recharge his batteries in every way. Help him to be refreshed in body, mind, and spirit, and give him the daily courage and strength he needs to face the turmoil without and the turmoil within. Keep his mind focused on TRUTH. What a gift this ticket is. Thank you. I love you, Lord.

My Heart is Singing.....

We've had a couple of hard days with our son L, who lives with SPD. The relaxed summer schedule (ie, late nights), the need to go grocery shopping (ie, a bit of hunger), and the change in routine are probably not helping this particular boy. So those are things for me to work on. But the fact is, regardless of other circumstances, he is easily frustrated and has a hard time dealing with frustration appropriately. It is hard on all of us when he has an especially difficult day ~ and he has had several difficult days in a row. My mother's heart has been heavy for him. Does he know he is loved, in spite of everything?

My husband and I laid in bed this morning before getting up and prayed for him. That we would show him love today in ways that matter to him, and that he would be able to exercise self control and remember some of the coping skills we've been working on. Challenging situations occurred today ~ ample opportunity to practice. Limited success. I did find several moments during the day to demonstrate love, but by bedtime I was exhausted.

What a sweet reward it was to hear these words during his bedtime prayer: "thankyou that I'm mommy's son and thankyou for creating me." He couldn't see my tears, there in the dark, but God saw them. And God heard my heart singing.

Overheard....

Son L to a neighbor girl:

"My mom is a strong and independent woman!"