Seven.

Happy Birthday to my sweet second-born! She's had quite the birthday, getting her seven year old trip from my parents, a much dreamed of Razor from Hubby's side, and a Quidditch robe from us. She was tooling around in the robe on the Razor before 8 AM this morning.

Same old, same old

Louder than usual whooping noises coming from the woods. I call out, "is everyone alright out there?"

"We're fine. Toddzilla's just hitting me with his sword."

Alrighty, then.

Notes Heading Into the Weekend

• Our science group is having a back-to-school picnic this evening. We're excited to see everyone again and get started on Land Animals of the Sixth Day.
• We'll start our new school year on Monday. I usually add one or two subjects the first week, then the rest on week two, so the new routine isn't a shock to our systems (this is mainly for me and the boys).
• Choir starts next week, music lessons the week after that, and Tae Kwon Do in September. That sums up our "extras" for now.
• I hope to finish the Core 3 American history books from Sonlight in September. This has been great summer reading and we'll continue with the Core 4 books throughout the school year. Memory work will include knowing all the presidents (they can get through 20 currently) and all states and capitals. We'll start those after finishing the presidents.

I'll leave you with a little photo essay entitled, "Baby Meets Beach."

On Our Return...

I had a long list of things to post about our journey to Wisconsin and back - 1800 miles with five little people in the car. The picture of my little man pretty much sums up the wonderful time we had with family and friends on vacation.

But my reader was filled with the tragic news of Ryan Barrett's death and my heart is too heavy for all the rest of that. I met Mary Ellen last year at the Family Centered Learning Conference where she so eloquently - and with a beautiful sense of humor - spoke about home schooling a special needs child, which of course was Ryan. My prayers are with the Barretts and their entire extended family, home school group, and parish community. It is obvious from the little I know of them that Ryan's life touched an unbelievable amount of people.

Mary Ellen's words.

Wordless Wednesday: Almost 5 Months

Japanese Tea Party

Elbow requested a Japanese theme to her seven year old trip with my parents. She spent the day at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts with her docent Nana, looking at Japanese art and having tea at the cafe. When they got home, they put on another tea party, this time with Papa too.

My brother and his wife also put on a special night for her, but I don't have any photos of that yet. I heard she got a dozen yellow roses though. What a special time for her! We're waiting to hear all about it...

Seven Year Old Trip

My dad flew in yesterday to pick Elbow up for her big seven year old trip to Minneapolis. We just dropped them off at the airport - she's so excited and a wee bit nervous too. Bobo has been telling her all about this great tradition for two years. We miss her already! (Bobo is wandering around wondering what to do with herself).

I completely missed the photo-op at the airport so we're relying on Nana and Papa to take some great pictures.

Love you, my almost seven year old!

Quiet on the Home Front

I'm trying to do some other writing these days, so my time here has been next to nil. There's not much to report anyway. We're getting geared up for some time at the lake with my parents and my brother's family. Despite the 14 hour drive, everyone is very excited. This will be the maiden voyage of our behemoth; we're hoping just the sheer size of it makes a huge difference.

Loved Outliers. I've got Gladwell's other books on reserve now because I want to read them again.

We're still enjoying our Sonlight History Summer. We just finished Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. I do believe it has even inspired my girls in their math studies. Nat's constant refrain of, "it's a simple matter of mathematics" can be heard around here now too. Bobo is almost done with Robert Fulton: Boy Craftsman and Elbow is in Sarah Whitcher's Story. Next up for us is Justin Morgan Had A Horse.

The Patriot is full of giggles and smiles all day long. Four months is so much fun. The camera is not on him nearly enough though. Must fix that.