Far and Away

I am not here.


Charlie and I have been walking our toes in the sand,

putting my Mom's sage stuffing in our bellies,

pretending to be locals in a beach town,

pushing a Trader Joe's shopping cart,

applying sunscreen,

munching fresh salsa and tortilla chips,

not sleeping in a tent,

and spending many glorious hours with my far-away family.


Photographic evidence shall forthwith come hither.

Perhaps by the weekend.

Once I get all the sand out of my Birkenstocks.

Painting With Reuben

It started out as a math lesson of mixing primary colors to make secondary colors.  We were pouring blue water and yellow water into quart jars and having a great time.

Then, as homeschooling often wonderfully allows, our lesson inspired Reuben to want to try other colors and then other mediums.

"Can we mix colors of paint?"

Aha!  Yes we can!  And, oh how I love the freedom, inspiration, love-of-learning that homeschooling gives us.

To the school table to paint!

Then to the floor to paint

because he asked,

"Can I paint with my feet?"

Yes, my sweet creative boy.

Sit down and let me tickle your toes with a paint brush.

 Black is his favorite color.

 Taking a walk.

 Time to wash.

I felt like Jesus, washing his feet.

 

Here's some feet painting in action.

Speaking of homeschooling...

I went to a school board meeting last night.  Our school district is having to cut about $500,000 from its budget for next year.  So they are talking about closing our local school and busing our kids to another town.  Everyone is very upset about it.  So about a hundred of us went to share our comments and concerns with the school board last night.

One feisty woman stood up and threatened to homeschool her grandkids if they close the school.  Gasp!  Then another man stood up and boasted the same claim.  It cracked me up.  No!  Don't resort to schooling your kids at home!  How terrible.  I didn't say anything.  Just couldn't stop smiling at their silliness.

The Nightly Read

Here they are.  All my boys enjoying their evening read.

But watch Charlie in these next photos

to see how he got settled...

 to the right

 back to the left

 up and over the dad

back up and squat

here's a good comfy spot

ahh

cute

Back To School

Oh, it feels so good to be back on a school schedule.  I gave myself the goal of starting school with Reuben in January, but he asked if he could start now.  When a child wants to learn, go with it!  We've been learning to read, write, and count for two weeks.

And it feels so good.

Since Charlie's been home - three months - we've been completely unstructured.  It almost put me in therapy.  You think I jest.  Structure, routine... I need you.

Our routine goes like this...

Get ready for the day and meet on the couch for Bible.
Play until Charlie's first nap.
Phonics and Math lessons during Charlie's nap.
Play until lunch.
Lunch.
Read books on the couch after lunch.
Play until Charlie's afternoon nap.
Do an educational yet very fun activity during Charlie's nap.
Play the rest of the day.

See?  Doesn't that feel great?

He gets so excited reading the words on his caterpillar.

It makes him feel really good.

And once again the cape has become school uniform.

 Here's some of that playtime.

I found them under the table sharing a bowl of Cheerios.

See the smile in Reuben's eyes?

Reuben thinks he and Charlie are twins.

Singing the Days of the Week song

(with the washing machine singing backup).

Ah.  Don't you just love the smell of newly sharpened pencils?

The Nebulizer Club

Yeah!  We're in The Club!

Various friends and relatives talk about their "nebulizers" and having to "give their kids breathing treatments".

Yeah, well, us too.  Charlie got us in.

Here's Paul and Sami the Seal.

We got the cute nebulizer.

 Figuring out how it all works and such.

Our Mr. Bingley is rather sick.

He is taking four daily medicines

to remedy his recurrent ear infections, cough,

wheeziness, and snot overflow.

We do the nubulizer breathing treatments every four hours,

(see how cool that sounds)

nasal spray in the morning,

steroid at lunch,

and antibiotic at dinner.

This may be our initiation into the

My Kid Has Tubes Club.

What do apples ready to be carameled have to do with

The Nebulizer Club?

Well, we were up in the four o'clock hour this morning

with the aforementioned unwell child

to whom we then gave a breathing treatment

and since we were awake

we decided to caramel two dozen apples

for a homeschool gathering *much* later in the day.

 The caramel unwrapping crew.

I love this picture.

See his little hand snatching a caramel.

Totally caught, buddy.

 The caramel apples were delish.

Reuben dropped his first one in the grass.

And his second one in the gravel.

Next time we'll try sitting at the table and eating it.

Ha.

I greatly dislike giving medicine to my children.

I can't believe I'm giving Charlie four different ones.

Paul and I both have a feeling this will not easily be solved.

Three ear infections in two months.

Are the drugs just masking the source of the problem?

Does his former cleft lip have anything to do with this?

And the six daily breathing treatments

that got us in The Club?

Charlie cries and cries.

The directions say to "sit back and relax."

Charlie read that to mean

"flail about and fight with all your might."

The nurse said he'll get used to it.

I don't think Charlie got that memo.

Oh, but good news!

My impaled tonsils?

Miraculously self-un-impaled.

That's a relief.

Thanks for asking, Tricia.

Looking Back

I went looking in the archives for a specific picture (which I did not locate) and found these fun memories...


An old family pic taken Spring 2007.  Peter is 4 and Reuben is less than a year...

Reuben laughing in the kitchen.  Not Charlie.  Reuben...

In which Reuben needs a snack...

Cousins in August 2007...

I have many more smiley moments, but my internet connection has slowed down and I'm ready to go to sleep.  Double whammy.

Good Night.