Peaceful moments

It was a pretty restful day. We had a few things to do and errands to run but in general we were able to take full advantage of some gorgeous weather we are having. I even ended up taking a 2 hour nap in the sun on our back deck. It was blissful! All the trees but our Japanese maple have dropped their leaves. This tree is a show stopper when the late afternoon sun hits it just right.

busy & relaxing days

Thanksgiving break is finally here! We are more than ready to have Aaron home for the week and just enjoy some quiet time together. Last week we had two evenings home in a row and it felt so nice to be back in our regular evening routine again. I had forgotten how nice it is to not have to hurry dinner time, or bath time, or bed time.

Jeremiah is sick. He has had some strange coughing issues since August. We have tried some different treatments and the coughing always seems to return. This time the congestion got so bad he has an ear infection. Poor kid. The doctor suggests allergy and asthma testing as our next step. Sigh...

Our plan for this week is rest, rest, and more rest. And a few household chores. And Thanksgiving. And an overnight visit with little S man. If you are interested in reading about our process with him you can click on my "Other Blog" link in the side bar of this blog. I am trying to keep that separate for a while for confidentiality purposes.

Thanksgiving is my favorite "holiday." I feel like we have been in such a whirlwind that I haven't really had time to prepare my heart and mind. Hoping that this week we can slow down and refocus a bit. Hope you get the chance to do that too.

soccer champs!

On Saturday the Wolverines played in the championship game for the 4&5yr old division from our area. They played really, really well and won the game 4-2! (I will be honest here and say that the other team scored 2 own goals, but I think our team would have won anyway, they were on fire!) And Nathaniel scored a goal! He has been working hard all year to score. He is an amazing dribbler, but not quite as fast as some of the other kids on his team. So he would work really hard to dribble around everyone on the field and get the ball into the box, and then someone else would score. Oh well. On Saturday he scored and celebrated his goal in true professional voetball style - arms in the air, gigantic smile, and ran right to me to give me a hug! Yes. I was THAT mom, screaming crazy at the sideline and swinging my boy around. It was awesome.

We really enjoyed these kids this year. They were full of energy and enthusiasm. And there isn't much cuter than 4&5 year olds playing soccer. We made some new friends again this year which is always fun.

Go Wolverines!

36

Some years birthdays come with lots of fanfare and extravagant celebration. Some years the introspection is deep. This year my birthday came quietly and gracefully. Another day in this blessed life. A day full of little every day joys like hot coffee and my Monday breakfast date with Nathaniel while Jeremiah is in science class. It was also a day with a couple of extra surprises thrown in like a thoughtful gift from my sister-in-law by my door when I got home. And a few extra treats for myself (two pieces of pumpkin pie in one day!). A day to do the normal daily thing like dishes and nap time and laundry, and end with dinner out and a complete conversation with my husband. A day to enjoy the messages on my Facebook feed (thanks Ben for making me cry!), the text messages, and the phone calls.

I hate taking pictures of myself. I hate posting pictures of myself. I literally cringe when I see a picture of myself. But I think that I am starting to change a bit in this area. I am trying really hard to celebrate myself in a healthy way. I am trying to be thankful for this physical body that I have been given and to maybe even see it as beautiful. Maybe. I am still working on that.

With that in mind - here is a picture of me, all by myself, on my 36th birthday. 

Season ends

Yesterday was a perfect fall day! It was warm, sunny, and the leaves were brilliant. We finished up the soccer season with both teams. The Wolverine's (Nathaniel's team) played in their tournament first. They won their game so they play in the championship next Saturday! The Fireballs played in their tournament as well. Unfortunately they lost their game and so their season is officially over. We then headed out to Camp New Dawn for celebratory ice cream sundaes and the presentation of trophies. The kids played on the property and wore themselves out while the adults visited.
This was a great soccer season. Both teams played hard and learned a lot. We made new friends and enjoyed catching up with old ones.
Go team!

When school unfolds differently than planned

This was technically week 10 of our Sonlight curriculum. Let me be honest with you here, I still don't feel like we have hit our groove with school this year. We have had a string of super busy weeks and I am just fitting our school work in as we can. At the beginning of this week I was feeling discouraged. I was pretty sure I was not doing this whole thing "right." I wasn't sure if my hands-off approach to school lately has been wise (philosophy of unschooling!) or a result of laziness.

Today is the first day in longer than I can remember that we don't have something to do and somewhere to be. I had planned for us to buckle down and catch up on some school work. But we all slept in. I woke at 8:30 to the sound of the boys playing Lego's in their room. When I jokingly declared that I was too tired to make breakfast Jeremiah said, "Don't worry mama. I know how to make eggs. Let me make breakfast!" He seemed so enthused and excited that I let him. Would you believe it, 20 minutes and a messy kitchen later breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast was on the table! We tried to sit down and do some math but I got frustrated with the attempt of trying to keep the boys focused. So instead of yelling at them I sent them outside to play. When I got out of the shower I ventured in to the back yard to see what was going on. They had constructed "speeder bikes" out of various things and were having races.

So no, our school year is not unfolding how I had planned. But we are reading - a lot. And we do math worksheets almost every day. Jeremiah is loving his science class. Nathaniel is starting to scribble out little notes on various pieces of paper all over the house. Somehow to my surprise Jeremiah can name the basic parts of a sentence. They are being creative. They are learning to be real brothers and friends. So I guess, even though I am not checking off our lesson plans as I would like, we are still doing okay.