Last Friday finally arrived - the end of the school year. All the kids had their portfolio reviews and everyone passed to the next grade. So with that, we decided (you can do that when you homeschool) that we were done for the year. Books were packed away and summer dreams began. I had the kids all line up for the customary last day picture and all were excited, including the teacher behind the camera.
Our last official school activity was the Mentoes in diet coke extravaganza. It was a dismal fail, so we made the best of it and celebrated by drinking the cokes and trying not to swallow the almost dissolved Mentoes in the bottom.
A few days ago we celebrated my dad's 92nd birthday, complete with a german chocolate cake that my mom (a much younger 91 year old) baked. He didn't get a whole lot of presents because as he is fond of saying, he already has everything he needs. I don't know what wish he made when he blew out his candles, but I know that he is everything I could have wished for in a father. He's a pretty quiet guy and has the kind of soft heart that makes him cry whenever he talks about the things he loves. And if I am sure of one thing in life it is that he loves me. I should be taking care of him by this point but he still comes to my rescue all the time - driving my kids when I can't, cleaning our pool or mowing our grass when we're away. So happy birthday again Daddy. I love you!
As we're wrapping up the school year (I'm so ready to be done), we're looking forward to our annual trip to the beach. Moving this many people to the beach for 3 weeks requires enormous amounts of preparation, organization and boxes of cereal. And as I have hopes to do as little as possible when I get there, I decided that this school week would be home economics. Which means that my children would be chopping, measuring, stirring and assembling meals for the freezer.
Did I mention that my help consists of 7 boys? And boys are different - almost strange actually. They seem to think that everything must be stirred four hundred and fifty times more than is necessary and their chopping took on a ninja feel. There was a good bit of sifting through sauces to find missing spoons and I'm not real sure that there was much effort given to accurate measurements, but we did it! I have dreams of sitting on the beach while my precooked meals are happily warming in the oven.
And did I mention that we take a freezer fully loaded onto a trailer that is then plugged back in when we arrive? Seriously.
Superheroes are big around here.
So it didn't surprise me when Samuel turned his mundane, setting the table chore, into a chance to be.....
Wolverine.
And for those of you who are germ-a-phobes, no, I didn't rewash the knives before we used them. Judge me....I'm lazy.
Yes, it was 1 degree out today. Yes, our pool is still open.
But today isn't Fools in the Pool.
It's Shoes on the Pool.
How many people have the privilege of checking out ice in their swimming pool in January.
Really James, this in no way is me asking you, "Just when exactly do you plan on closing the pool?".
Really.
I walked through the living room yesterday and stopped short. My 10 year old, Jeremiah, was sitting in a chair reading. He wasn't reading for school. He was reading because HE WANTED TO.
What! Are you kidding me?!
I've had many girl readers. They read all the series...Baby-sitters Club, Judy B. Jones, Hunger Games and the latest being the Divergent books. They read when they should be doing chores and when they should be sleeping. I get that...me too.
But a boy that reads for pleasure??? My heart is racing. Can it really be? Okay, it is a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book - but nobody told him he had to.
There is hope for the male Aclys.
I've stolen borrowed this great idea from my friend Leslie. Instead of throwing away all those Christmas cards we received this year, we're keeping them for prayer reminders. Each week we'll choose a card and pray for that family. Sometimes as we talk about the family and their needs, we're prompted to do something. Maybe an encouraging call or visit. Maybe they could use some help. So thanks for all the cards and we're praying for you!
