Nothing in Particular…

I figured when we made the decision to homeschool that our already spotty blog would likely become closer to scarce, and I think after a month of “school” that notion is becoming a reality. We won’t shut it down, but I am here to tell you what you already know: there will not be as much reading material here as in the past. (Not that a whole bunch of you have been losing sleep over waiting for the next post to show up.)

Life is full but very, very good. And for this we are thankful.  But given my much larger reading/work load and Jay’s extra hours put in on the Viewzi front, neither of us have been giving our little ole’ blog much love or attention of late.

What we have been doing:

* Loving our home schooling thus far: it has its ups and downs, but how thankful we are that we have the opportunity to try this out for a year.

* Visiting the horsies each week with Abigail as she begins riding lessons – this was a long-time dream of hers (long-time in the worldview of an almost ten year old!) and she could not be more thrilled, nor could we. Love our instructor (also a homeschooling Mom as it turns out) and the way our children are welcomed to the stables each week by the other adults/students there, not to mention the pretty, pretty horses!

* Preparing for the remaining bedrooms/baths in our home which have not been painted by yours truly, to be painted tomorrow and Tuesday – YAY!! Much testing and agonizing over color choices, repeat trips to the paint store to adjust shades of blue and pink, removal of hardware, filling of holes, sanding of cabinet and drawer fronts, moving of furniture and paraphernalia to allow this work to take place. Though I love our bathroom, I am not gonna miss the screaming red walls that frighten me awake each morning!!

img_7032.JPG

* Counting down, along with the bride-to-be, the last few days before the big event on the 27th. There are a lot more details I could insert here, but I haven’t the time – suffice to say we are trying to coach Josiah about what it means to walk down a church aisle at the front of a wedding procession (and yes, the bride and groom have been forewarned that ANYTHING could happen!); getting ready for the kickoff event of the weekend: the big “Welcome to Town For the Wedding” barbecue at our casa on Thursday night; and making sure all wedding clothes are ready to go for the five of us in the wedding party. Here is miss Abigail in her junior bridesmaid’s gown at her final fitting:

hf100_0918.JPG

* Schlepping kids to volleyball, soccer and football practices each week (one child for each sport) and cheering aforementioned children and their teams on each weekend at their respective games. Yesterday was Abigail’s first time to get that volleyball over the net on her serves (go Abigail!!), thereby scoring points for the Lady Knights, and it was also Nicolas’ first soccer game EVER!! He gleefully reports “We won, Mom!!” about his first game, and if ever there was an enthusiastic little soccer player, it is Nicolas.

hf100_0891.JPG

Jonathan is thankfully only playing the “flag” kind of football, we’ll save that brutish tackling for another year!

hf100_0850.JPG

* Listening to kids practice their piano: Jonathan joined Abigail in taking lessons this year. After a rough start he sits down no less than ten times a day to practice his stuff, I am astonished at how he has taken to it!

* Cleaning out closets and “junk stashes”, welcoming new neighbors, fellowshipping with friends, planning field trips, delighting in the cooler weather by playing outside a TON and continuing in my feeble gardening attempts.

img_10332.JPG

* Trying to exercise with some sort of regularity. ‘Nuff said.

Hopefully we’ll be back after the wedding with a report and some festive photos!

5 Replies to “Nothing in Particular…”

  1. The riding lessons are cute, until she wants her own horse. Been there, doing that, just back from 4 days at the state 4-H horse show. Riding lessons are the first step on the road to financial ruin. I know of what I speak, they named a section of that road after me.

    Not that I don’t love every minute of it 🙂 I’m just resigned to the fact that I’ll be the 80 year old guy handing out carts at WalMart because I spent too much money on horses in my prime earning years.

  2. Is Nicolas wearing a cape in that picture?

    I hear you on the regular exercise. Maybe after this week is done…?

    We already have our own idea about what might happen with the flower girls, and have warned Sandra about our respective premonitions. Hopefully we’ll get it all on film.

  3. Chris, you are funny. We figured “no private school tuition bill = plenty of money for a few horsie lessons”. Not to mention the extra time in our schedule, which really makes a difference too. Regardless, I now see the error in our logic! How old is your daughter?

    Peter, sadly…no. He is quite a little dude, even if he is already six (well, as you of course know!). Most of the boys’ jerseys are really big on them the first year, Nicolas’ even more so. Parents buy with the idea that the kids can wear them at least two or three years while playing for the same team. You should see the size of the girls’ volleyball jerseys – they hang down below their shorts when they become untucked. So the girls have taken to tying those sweet little side-knots.

  4. Speaking of long jerseys – I’ve seen some that were tucked in and still hung down below the shorts. 😉

    Thanks for the look into the happy craziness of your lives right now, and we’ll pray for your sanity!

  5. Delaney is 12. She took her first riding lesson for her 7th birthday, and quickly moved to weekly lessons that haven’t stopped yet! We leased a horse for a year when she was 10, and bought Skip when she was 11. Along the way I also bought a big gas guzzling SUV capable of towing the horse trailer that I also had to buy.

    And yes, the HSing definately makes it easier. Delaney spends 2+ hours with Skip 4 days a week, plus horse shows on the weekend. That would never happen if she was in school all day.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *