Catching Up

What a heavy, brooding sort of day.  My body feels weighed down with the headcold that won't go away.  Gloomy snowclouds hang over the valley, making the world feel cold and melancholy.
And my heart is heavy with grief over the loss of our kitty.

The perfect day to stay inside and read and ponder and write.  I have no energy for anything else, anyway.  The fruit in the garage might just have to feed our compost pile instead of stand in pretty rows of glass jars in the storage room.  It will feed our garden next year...or at least the deer who come to eat our garden...they are apparently starving...Looking on the bright side, you know.

But really, I've been aching to write and praying to know what to write and when.  Somehow a bright side to Max's death is that it broke my writer's block.  Last night I HAD to write. 

The past months have been busy and joyful--like we're trying to squeeze every last drop of goodness from each and every day.  A season of activity and service and doing that hasn't left much time for reading and pondering and writing.

I love seasons.  They give us so much hope and comfort. 

Last time I wrote was the end of summer.  I wish I could remember what happened next...

I think it was a whirl of trying to get ready for school and Dallin and the boys trying to get the yard wrapped up.   We went on a couple of family bike rides and went swimming once.

Two very wonderful things happened: My good friend Rhyetta came who moved to Missouri on the day Sarajoy was born.  We had a big party with her family and the families of the other 2 families who homeschooled in our old ward.  The only downside was that it was way too short.  I got to show her around my house and yard.  I'm so glad I know her and I really wish we could see each other more often than every 4 years.
The next day, her sister Anaise came for a visit.  Rhyetta introduced me to her blog years ago and I found another kindred spirit.  We have blogged and emailed back and forth and shared so many similar experiences it was wonderful to meet in real life!  The kids got along beautifully and they didn't feel like strangers at all.  We could have talked for hours and hours.
Now that Chris just moved his family to Kansas City, we might have an excuse to visit them in their homes!

It felt really special and nourishing for me to have such nice, long visits with Rebecca, Debbie, Rhyetta, and Anaise this summer.  I felt it an especial gift from God to strengthen and lift me.  How I love good friends!

Things were up in the air and all over the place trying to plan co-op this year.  We were trying so hard to have it all mapped out in the spring so we could use the summer to prepare...

The celebrated our 16th anniversary with the kids at the County Fair.  I always like to see the animals and the exhibits most of all.  The vegetables, paintings, sewing, photographs--I enjoy it more than my kids.  We all liked the Lego exhibit, though.  It is amazing!  We got some food at the food booths and came home to get ready for our last big trip.

We wanted to make it to another Utah temple this summer, so we hoped for Brigham City on our way to Idaho, but it was closed.  We made an appointment at Logan for Friday night, but traffic made us miss that one.  We stayed at Kim's that night instead.  That was really great because our lives are so busy I don't get a lot of down time with Kim anymore.  It was great that they were free and we could relax and visit and watch a movie.  I remember being very inspired by it: 42 about Jackie Robinson.   We got up and headed up to Logan and did baptisms.  It was neat that we were there at the place of our marriage on the weekend of our anniversary.  We took some fun 16 years later wedding photos.

We spent the evening with my family and headed up to Island Park Sunday afternoon with them.  It was perfectly lovely.  The weather was great.  We saw a moose right in our camp.  The river was close and fun.  The company was excellent.  It is so refreshing and wonderful to see the kids enjoying their cousins and enjoying nature.  I am so glad that I can provide such carefree memories for my kids.

On the way home we stopped at my mom's to pick apples as the rain began to fall.
(Those ones made it into some apple crisp.)

And the next day was Nathan's first day of school at Salem Hills High School.  He's enjoying Men's Choir and soccer and barely tolerating Chemistry.  We are thankful that he is so responsible and glad that he has such good friends.  We wish we got to see more of him, but he is fun and helpful when he is here.  On Wednesday I pick up him and a friend from school on our way to the temple.  My van is usually full of homeschoolers, and I love it!

And then, the day after Labor Day, we started our school year with a bang!

Actually, it was a trip to the vet to attend to the giant abcess on Mikey's neck.

But the amazing thing was we still got all of our school plans done for that day.  We had a wonderful first week with just enough structure and just enough flexibility to make me hopeful that this year will work!

Our first week of classes and co-op was a little strange.  It has been a slow process, but bit-by-bit the kinks got worked out and co-op has settled into something wonderful!  We study artists and composers and geography songs together while the big kids are at  Speech and Debate.  Then we gather with the big kids for a hymn, the pledge, a prayer and a chance to share our work and talents.  We eat lunch and visit and play and then the big kids do Pyramid Project while the visiting and playing continues.  It is just enough structure without the pressure.  I love it, and I hope the other moms do as well.  It is especially nice that my closest friend is in the big co-op this year.  Everything feels just right!

September has been just amazing!  There is a different feeling in our home.  A love for learning and reading that I've yearned and struggled for for years.  What is the difference?  What is the cause?  I think it is a combination of a few things:  We cancelled Netflix in order to use our time to do things we REALLY wanted to do.  I didn't think it would be a big deal.  We didn't watch movies THAT much, but I know it contributed especially because Dallin and I started reading out loud to each other again.  And lots of little tweaks in life to make it more Christ-centered.  We feel the urgency to use our time well and we choose to fill it with more uplifting things than we did before.  We have both been learning to pray more carefully, specifically, and earnestly in the past year.  We are working together and have a common vision for our family.
It feels really, really good!

This year we are studying Geography, Earth Science, Journalism, Book of Mormon and continue our Artist and Composer studies.  We did Continents and Oceans, stars and constellations, began our own newspapers, and learned a few mastery scriptures.  We are studying Beethoven and Carl Bloch until November.  I feel really great about all of the things we have done.  Our learning has been natural, together, and enjoyable.  We use a variety of resources, reading until somebody has a question and then exploring that question.

Brandon is taking Shakespeare Conquest, Life of Fred Math, Speech and Debate, and Pyramid Project from the commonwealth and co-op.  I am reading the books out loud to him for Pyramid Project.  Partly because I am excited about what he's learning and partly to give him a break.  He has a heavy reading load and it is not easy for him.  He did finish reading the Hobbit, though, and is quite proud of that!  This month we read one of my favorites, Carry On Mr. Bowditch.  Dallin and Nathan listened in as well and we had some nice discussions.  The next book we're working on is String, Straitedge, and Shadow.  It is about geometry and how it was discovered.  It is pretty interesting.  He's studying Julius Caesar with his class and is working on the 17 plays to read, watch, or listen to on his own.  He is doing a great job of keeping himself motivated and staying up with his assignments. I'm so glad to have him home.

Ruby and Daisy are in 2 book clubs.  One meets twice a month and they discuss and do projects based on classics.  We finished Pollyanna first.  We all loved that!  It was my first time reading it.  I couldn't help but do the voices like on the movie :) Sarajoy and Simon beg to stay up and listen.  They are allowed to only if they are very quiet and rush right to bed when we're finished.  Now we are finishing up Farmer Boy.  What a lovely story!  Their other book club is American Girls.  They did Kaya for September and are starting Felicity.  They do that class while Brandon is at Shakespeare.  They have absolutely loved it!
Sullivan learned how to say Ruby this month, so she is feeling extra special and as always is his number two mommy.  They love each other.  Today when I went to change him he said, "Wooby.  Poop."  I could tell he was letting me know that Ruby had just changed him and sure enough, his diaper was dry.

Daisy is working on reading all of the Magic Tree House books, and she is getting to where she reads one almost every day!  She is learning how to fill out a planner and plugging along in Math.  She is very good at getting up and getting all of her chores done without being asked and without whining!  Way to go, Daisy! 

Simon is working on the Bob Books and doing better than any of my kids have at his age.  It is nice now and then to have a kid that reads easily.  He is always writing letters and notes and drawing numbers.  One day I needed him out of my hair for a few minutes so I could work with one of the other kids so I gave him some dice and told him to write the number of whatever he rolled.  That kept him busy for awhile.  He is getting so good at mastering his temper!  He is also doing really well with his chores.  He graduated to a new chart and some bigger responsibilities this year.  He is Dad's apprentice at dinner jobs, has piano practice on his chart, and helps a big kid with their Act of Kindness (assigned room or chore for the week).  He earns quarters for stars on his chart, and when it is full he gets a day with Dad's ipad. 

Sarajoy is the queen messmaker!  But what can I say when she's so cute about it?  She starts each day with some kind of stuffed animal or baby doll setup and imagines and plays all day.  Just after she gets dressed, she changes into a princess dress for the rest of the day.  Its funny cause it always takes her awhile (and a mess) to come up with an outfit and she promptly changes it for a dressup.  She is definitely in training for learning to follow instructions and do some chores and we're having some success.  She and Sullivan are starting to play a lot, and he just barely learned to call her "Beeb" (Babe) like the rest of us. 

Sullivan is in the stage of quietly pulling random objects from drawers, shelves, and cupboards and depositing them in unlikely places.  I'm tempted to pack up all of our toys for awhile so I can survive the stage Sulley and Sarajoy are in!  He is amazingly cute and funny with his growing sense of humor and new words every day.  Today Daisy said, "Mom I can't help but smile and laugh at Sulley even though Max was killed."  He is sunshine to us all.  Except he doesn't go out at night.  It seems the nights I need it the most desperately he wakes every hour or less.  Now and then he'll sleep for 3 hours in a row, but that is usually during his afternoon nap.  There are a few reasons I put up with it:  It keeps fertility at bay.  I think the breast milk is so good for him and he doesn't have the patience for it during the day.  But mostly I know it is important for me to overcome my dependence on sleep for happiness.  I am learning that through Christ I can choose to be happy on very little sleep.  I can choose to cherish and enjoy getting up to nurse the little person who I wasn't sure would make it to our family.  It is a matter of spiritual curriculum for me, and I know I can still learn from it.  Oh, but I am SO tired of it! 

The front yard is done.  DONE!  We had a couple of great big rainstorms to test out the new drainage system and it works!  Yesterday the grass seeds sprouted.  How lovely it will be to have a front yard!  Dallin and the boys did SO MUCH WORK out there this summer.  It looks great!

Another tender mercy of this month was this week.  I somehow missed it when I planned our year.  An inbetween September and October that has given me a chance to catch up on some projects and sleep in a little and not feel so tied to the schedule.  I've appreciated it, especially being sick.

 Somewhere out in our yard is a cold little box turtle that got lost.  Ruby put him out for exercise with yarn tied around him so she could find him, but he got out of the yarn.  Where else can we look?  Poor Squirtle.

It feels so good to report on this happy season of our lives.  It feels so good for life to seem doable.  There are so many many things that remain undone each day, but we are learning that that is a big part of trusting the Savior.  When we share our burdens with Him, He shows us the way to get done the things that need to get done in just the right way and time.  I still feel tempted to feel overwhelmed (and today it got the best of me!),  But it is getting easier to cast the negative feelings aside and truly enjoy this interesting experience called life.

Now to attend to two brave little girls who made it through the day but need to make it through the night...

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