Loving Life

Last week, I sent the kids on separate field trips.  They each attended a day of public school with a friend.  David went with a 7th grade buddy (David is technically in 6th grade, age-wise) and had a decent time.  His first and foremost complaint was that his lunch was too small and he was still hungry after he finished his lunch.  Do you think the boy is growing???  He came home being happy about being homeschooled.  He did enjoy PE because they got to roller skate.  He also enjoyed the study hall where he could do what he wanted to do, which was see how high he could go in the Mayan number system we had studied earlier in the week. So the day was pretty uneventful for him.  He said he doesn't think he wants to try out public school right now. The girls were a different story.  They each went for a half day with their respective friends that are in their grade.  They came home bursting with excitement over how much they lo...

This year spring has decided to go directly into summer.  I am not at all complaining.  Nope.  Not one little bit.  I am loving every moment of it.  I can't remember the last time I've wandered around outside barefoot in the middle of March, had my windows open day and night, or had my daffodils in full bloom this early.  The trees are beginning to blossom and green up, the grass is getting greener, and I'm itching to get out in my garden.  It's quite lovely.  I keep trying to tell myself that it's still utterly possible to have another snowstorm this spring.  I don't want to crush my heart with that possibility, but I need to be mentally prepared for early spring weather to go back to normal (i.e. cold).  But until then, I'm soaking up the warmth, happy sunshine, open windows, chirping birds, and barefoot walking.  Have a happy Monday!  Are you a cold weather person or warm weather person?

First flowers in my yard First daffodil in the yard The beginning promise of greenness all around me. Beautiful bouquets of flowers leftover from a wedding reception at our church. Almond Butter A blanket I am making out of old neckties These four people Goofy girl What's been making you smile today?

Abby asked if she could take my camera a few days ago and take some pictures.  I decided it would be interesting to see what she took pictures of, so I said sure.  I had fun going through all her pictures the next day.  So here is a small snapshot of life through the eyes of a five year old. This is Emerald, the favorite tiny doll that the girls love to play with. A doll house decorated with an old medal Abby wanted to take a picture of me.  I had to squat down because she couldn't figure out how to find me when I was standing up.  Ana jumped in the picture at the last minute. We were then instructed to make grumpy faces. Followed by goofy faces. She then needed a goofy face from Daddy.  I had to help her find him in the viewfinder.  She then decided it would be really funny to take pictures of everyone's butts while they were unaware of what she was doing.  Sometimes she acts way more like a middle school boy than my real middle school boy...

I was reminded last night by some friends that I have not posted anything new on the ol' blog for a few weeks.  Hmm... I guess it's time to post something.  I have posted many things in my mind over the last few weeks, but obviously none of those posts have made it from my mind to the internet.  So here we go in a random, no particular order, with bullet points, post about what's been rolling around my mind. I survived my 21 day vegan diet  with my mom.  It really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be (though I did cheat once with ice cream).  My mom lost about 11 pounds.  I lost about 3 1/2.  We took about three weeks off and ate a little more normal (i.e. lots more ice cream).  I'm going back on it for another three weeks or so again with her again.  I might not be ultra strict, but when I have the choice, I'll choose vegan again.  But I'm positive this won't be a permanent lifestyle change for me. Life skills week in schoo...

So I obviously didn't post pictures as soon as I had hoped about our sewing project day.  Sorry to those who were anxiously awaiting my update.  Our sewing day was only for the girls last week as one of my sewing friends was sick, so I couldn't do all three at once.  The girls each decided to make a kitty.  I let them pick out the fabric of their choosing and my dear neighbor Miriam came with her sewing expertise to help us.  Abby's role was a little less than Ana's due to being little and the pattern was a little harder for little fingers.  But here she is happily stuffing her kitty. Ana did more of the work by herself.  I helped guide the corners and curves as she sewed.  She did the rest. The almost finished product.  We still have to sew on eyes, nose, whiskers and mouth.  The girls are delighted in their kitties. David started his sewing project today.  He is making an organizer that hangs over the seatback of the car.  ...

I get antsy and discouraged with school around this time of year every year.  So this year, after talking over ideas with my supervising teacher, I decided we're going to take a week off of "normal" school and do a week of "life skills".  So far it's been pretty fun.  We started off learning about how to budget and pay bills and keep a check book.  I created two little scenarios for David and Ana (Abby is living with Ana while she goes to college).  They have a hypothetical monthly income with house payments and all that go with real life living.  I tried to keep it fairly close to real life.  It's been interesting watching their reactions from being excited about starting with so much money and seeing it being eaten away by regular living expenses.  We are 2/3 of the way through our bill paying and will finish it up today.  They will each end with around $200 left and we'll talk about what we could do with that extra money.  Here are t...