Goodbye Summer, Hello Homeschool

We had big ideas for what we should do this summer.

I am happy to report as Labor Day nears its end and our first day of school dawns tomorrow that we did most of what we set out to do... 

and most of what we did not can move to our school year to-do list.

Bella is beginning Kindergarten and Tommy is doing an informal Pre-K along with her.

But there will be lots of  time soon for reading, writing, and arithmetic....

right now I want to drift and dwell on our beautiful summer.

We had little Miss Sunshine's first summer and her first dip in the pool.... the love affair begins.

We made new friends... we learned its hard to say goodbye... we learned to write letters.

We strutted our stuff poolside....

We had chicken fights with preschoolers and got photo bombed...

We soaked up the love and the sunshine....

We found Daniel's happy place and were excited to see it involved a restraint system....

We played in the sandbox....

and the tree house....

We learned to roll over...

We enjoyed some zooming around the patio...

We played with our cousins and had our first sleepover!

When we couldn't make it poolside we improvised....

Most importantly we had each other and we had fun. 

I barley scratched the surface here.... still have tons of photos from our trip to Idlewild and the Farm Show. But it is my first school night in about seven years and I need some rest! 

More about how homeschooling is going for us soon.

Gone Fishin.... and Then to College.

This week we had to say goodbye to Aunt Leesha, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Levi as they headed off to college... the hurricane on the east coast gave us a little more precious family time so we headed out to the farm to go fishing and just be together.

By the end of the night almost the whole family was there.

No small thing when you consider that is nearly thirty people.

I took tons of pictures but half of them were with Leesha's camera... 

so here is me making the most of what I got...

 

More blogging soon, now that our summer is slowing down and school is about to begin!

Bella's first year in just less than a week!

Anywhere But Home

This week has been busy, and its only half over.

We have more appointments and plans this week than we normally have in a month.

Every evening we are running around in the minivan with snacks and caffeine, 

out much past our bedtimes.... even mine.

I find myself longing for a normal night at home where Daddy arrives to great fanfare right before dinner and afterward wrestles the big kids into exhaustion while I cuddle with Vivi on the couch.

Even in the midst of the busyness of this week we have found moments that are simple and sweet.

Daniel telling Daddy  before bed all about the ferris wheel he rode last week. 

And asking "Idin't dat Essiting Dad?".... (translation "Isn't that exciting Dad?")

This week Tommy told my Mom he doesn't want to build houses or be a fireman... 

he just wants to be a Daddy.

Is it any wonder that's his answer?

Bella asking everyday, "How many sleeps till Daddy has no work in the morning?"

They all miss him when he's at work. This morning Daniel kept yelling from the kitchen that Daddy was here. I felt bad and kept saying "not yet baby." 

But he kept insisting that he was "here"... a few minutes later he ran into the kitchen with my cell phone. Sure enough Tom was calling and his picture was on the screen.

The two year old was quite proud of himself and said "See Mom!?"

Life with the little people is hectic and overwhelming. 

But even when we can't find any time to just be at home together we find little moments of cute.

Things that make your heart swell up and unreasonably make it all worth it.

And last but not least....

at this point on this evening Vivi needed a bottle so i handed Tom the camera...

he decided that he would hide and when he jumped out to scare them he would take a picture....

genius.

Enjoy.