Highlights

Here are a few of those beautiful things I can see when I get my head above the water for a second.  

Our school district insists on sending Elementary School students home at noon every day for a week so the teachers can have parent conferences.  I take a dim view of this policy--mostly because my kids aren't getting anything out of the school day so why send them at all?  However, it is fun to have them for lunch and it gives them extra free time after homework and chores are done.  The weather has been spectacular.  I know we will pay for these gorgeous days in the summer with water rationing so we are trying to enjoy them.  Clare, Adell and Colter spend most of their free afternoons out in the greenbelt climbing trees.

Today, while I was scrambling to make everyone lunch Colter started to play "tiger" with Wyatt.  "Tiger" is a game Colter and Lorien invented.  Basically, there is an imaginary tiger somewhere in the house and they have to hide from it.  Wyatt and Colter were hiding and Adell came along to join the fun.  Seconds later Clare started playing along as the tiger.  They were all laughing and squealing with delight.  It was truly music to my ears.  

One Saturday, Will and I decided to make it a family day and take the kids off to do something fabulous.  We ended up at a children's museum south of us.  It is a very cool place.  When we lived on the Peninsula I took the older children there many times.  Our youngest children have gotten the short end of the outings stick.  Guilt aside, we had a great time.  Lorien (a little too old for a children's museum) spent the whole time making a detailed corn husk doll.  The other kids roamed here and there, making a parachute guy, playing with gigantic bubbles, learning about Mammoths and playing in water.  When the museum time was up we went out to a park where they have the largest Monopoly game.  People can play as the pieces with huge foam dice to roll.  Someone already had a game going so we couldn't play but it was fun to watch for a few minutes.  Family Saturday, success.

Will and I have been married for 15 years...15!  That seems like a lot.  To couples celebrating their 50 year anniversary we probably seem like total newbies...but it feels like a super-long time to us...a happy, super, long time.  

Adell is kicking TK in the butt.  She is having a great time and learning a lot.  It was such a perfect fit for her--not full Kindergarten but not baby preschool either.  Perfect.  I tried to take a video of her "reading" this book but my memory was full.

Last thing.  I don't know how to make this sound humble.  I've thought about it for a while and rewritten my thoughts several times.  No matter how I say it--it comes out as bragging.  So I give up, I am going to brag.

My oldest daughter has the most amazing vocabulary!  Now, you can go ahead and re-read that sentence and be confident that her vocab skills do not come from me.  Lorien has been a lover of books and writing for a long time.  She excels in creative writing and expression.  It is awesome--and kind of funny.  Here are a few of the things she says on a daily basis:

On discussing practicing at home for her dance class: "It was kind of a perilous dance because the floor was covered in Legos."

After fixing the corn husk doll Adell made at the children's museum: "Now be more careful with this, corn husk dolls are not meant to be played with--they are meant to be cherished."

While complaining about the history text I am making her read for homeschool: "This book is full of superfluous stories about random dead people!"

See, I told you so.