the summer of the pool

I think when the boys are grown their memories of this summer will be colored sparkling blue. The smell of sunscreen and chlorine will remind them of the summer that they got to go to the pool almost every day! Warm beach towels will bring them back to afternoons lazing in the bright sunlight because mom made them take a brief rest from swimming. I hope they remember this as the summer when they first felt their bodies move like fish. The summer that they overcame some of their fears. The summer their mom wore that royal blue bathing suit along with her big sunglasses and floppy white sunhat. The summer their dad taught them the technique to make the biggest cannonball splash. The summer that every now and then they were allowed to pick a special treat from the concession stand.

We weren't sure if the cost of a family pool membership would be worth it. But we decided to try it and all I can say is that it has already been worth every penny! Almost every day finds us pulling on our suits, grabbing our swim bag, and heading to the pool for at least an hour. The boys swimming confidence has gone from, "I can basically keep my head above water" to snorkeling, underwater diving, sliding down the slide, and fierce cannonball competitions.

I love to watch the boys jump and swim and splash and snorkel. Their enthusiasm is boundless. Their hair is bleaching even blonder in the sun. Nathaniel swims energetically and fearlessly, refusing to give in to exhaustion or cold. Jeremiah proceeds with more caution but quickly masters new techniques once he puts his mind to it. They are growing so fast these boys of mine. All I can think while I watch them is that this is the stuff that childhood memories are made of.

Summer!

It is officially summer at our house. The school books have been replaced with the never ending display of swim suits and soggy towels. The magnolia tree is in full, glossy bloom. Weeds are growing prolifically among the herbs and flowers. The nights and mornings are cool and we fling the windows open only to close them around lunch time and give in to turning on the a/c. The boys are constantly hungry and their hair is bleaching even blonder from hours in the sun. I am making countless batches of granola bars for on-the go snacks. Clothes flap on the line. A fully stocked pool bag sits ready and waiting by the backdoor.

Aaron is working on getting his Education Specialist degree. He is enrolled in a year-long cohort program and his classes began yesterday. He will be gone 3 days a week for the month of June. This makes our summer different from the past few summers, but we bought a family membership to the city pool so we should be able to keep ourselves occupied while he is away.

The boys love the pool! We have been 3 days in a row since we got our membership. They are pretty excited by the fact that we can just load up and go to the pool whenever we want. "Really mama! Every day if we wanted to?! That is awesome!" Nathaniel pretty much jumped right in and is a good little swimmer, although he still doesn't swim very far. Jeremiah was his usual more cautious self. Only yesterday did he start testing out his ability to swim without his kick-board. He is a good swimmer, he just likes to take his time getting used to using his skill.

There is a lot of change in the air. Certain chapters are closing and new ones are beginning. The year ahead is appearing to end up fuller and a tad busier than we had originally planned. But for right now we are embracing the slow, hot, activity filled days of summer.

Soccer Tournament

 Setting up a corner kick

 Celebrating an assist on goal (from the corner kick)!

 Happy teammates - learning to work together

 The serious face of concentration

 Back in goal

 Setting up for another corner kick

 Good defending

 Go Fireballs!

 Coaches being recognized for their hard work

Another great season

1st Science Fair

Jeremiah has been taking a science class this past year at Hilger Higher Learning. It has been a great experience for all of us. Jeremiah has benefited from learning in a classroom environment with a teacher and other students to interact with. He has learned how to manage his time during the week - completing homework and studying for tests.  This year's science class was about astronomy and he was very excited and interested in the subject matter. I loved knowing that he was learning a lot, getting to do lab experiments, and getting instruction in a whole subject that I did not really have to help much with.

At the end of every year the elementary students have a science fair. Each student picks a topic that relates to the subject they studied during the year and completes an experiment or project to present at the fair. This was our first ever experience with a science fair and my goals for us were:
- For Jeremiah to do as much of the project independently as possible
- For Jeremiah to learn through the process of creating the project
- For this to be completed with no stress

I think that we met all of those goals. Aaron helped Jeremiah with parts of the project but for the most part this was completely Jeremiah's idea, execution, and presentation. He learned a lot about gathering data, writing and editing, and creativity in presenting information. There were a moment or two of stress and irritation but in general we parents were able to keep our cool and we were all able to enjoy the process.

Jeremiah was very excited in the days leading up to the science fair. He completed his experiment, went shopping with me for his supplies (being mindful of the budget that his teacher had set), and worked on putting the elements of his presentation board together. The actual day of the fair was so much fun! All of the students had their display boards lined up around the perimeter of the room. The purpose of the fair was for the students to learn from each other. For about an hour there were kids and parents milling around viewing the various projects and interacting with each other. I was very impressed with the level of thought and creativity that all of the students had put into their projects (this was a 3rd and 4th grade class). At the end of the presentation of the awards their teacher had all the kids recite the verse that had been the class verse for the year. I must admit, it was quite something to hear a group of about 40 children reciting

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. - Proverbs 3:5-6

I am so thankful for this opportunity we had. For not only the high level of education Jeremiah received but also for the care and kindness of his teacher. Jeremiah is signed up for science class again next year and is excited to study the creatures that were created on the 5th day.

Mother's Day 2013

 

It was a gorgeous Mother's Day full of laughter and hugs and special gifts made by little hands. 

I am blessed by my mothers and feel blessed to be a mother. 

I have been challenged this year in my mothering. I have come to the end of myself more times than I can count. I have been aware of my weaknesses in newer and deeper ways. Yet, my weakness has truly made me aware of God's breathtaking grace. I am a daily spectator of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, despite my bumbling efforts and outright selfishness and sin. On Sunday morning we worshiped, rocking out to the words

When he shall come with trumpet sound

Oh may I then in him be found

Dressed in his righteousness alone

Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand. 

What freedom and joy that truth gives me! I will not stand before God and be judged on my record as a mother. If that were true I may as well give up because my record as a mother will never be good enough. But I will be judged by Christ's record and righteousness and in that is my hope! He has already done the work for me! So I am free to do my best mothering out of joy and love not out of fear and judgement.  Breathtaking grace.

Box Day!

Even though we still have 6 weeks left of our Sonlight Core C curriculum to complete before we can call our school year done I went ahead and ordered our Core D curriculum for next year. We went hiking with friends this morning and got caught in a rain shower. When we returned home our Sonlight box was waiting for us in the carport and the boys were anxious to open it and see what was inside. I will admit I was anxious too. I love to open the box and stack up all the shiny new books. It is so fun to look through them all and see what our next year of learning holds. We are completing two years of Intro to World History and next year we will start our first year of Intro to American History. I actually don't know as much about American history as I do about European history so I am eager to learn right along with Jeremiah.

Today Nathaniel was excited to get his new handwriting and math workbooks. He breezed through his first Reason for Handwriting workbook this year finishing it a few weeks ago and he is itching to get started again.

Next year will bring some significant changes for us. I will be starting Nathaniel on Core A: Young Adventurers: Explore God's Big World! while also doing Core D: American History, Year 1 of 2 with Jeremiah. It will probably take some adjustment to get us used to doing the work of two Core curriculum rather than just doing one and having Nathaniel listen in as he is interested. But I don't have to worry about that right now. Right now we are enjoying finishing up our year, taking a break for a few weeks, and looking forward to the new things we will be learning again in the fall.

We order all our curriculum through the Sonlight website. You can click on the referral link below to see what resources they have.

More soccer...

We are really enjoying this spring soccer season. It is well organized and manageable (in terms of time) and we can see Jeremiah enjoying himself and building his skills. He continues to really enjoy playing defense positions and on Tuesday night got to be goalie again! (This league doesn't usually play with goalies, so he had been taking a break from that.) On Saturday morning he got to play more offense than he usually does and he scored a goal! We can really tell that he is understanding the strategy and mechanics of the game - passing, blocking, being in position, directing team mates. It is very fun to watch.

We have designated May as a media free month in our house as part of a project/fast that I am doing with a group of women from church. We plan to fill the month with school work, house work, hanging out with friends, and spending more quality time with each other. I may pop in here every now and then to post but we are giving up Facebook, reading blogs, watching Netflix etc. So if you need to contact me in May the phone or email are your best bets. Or a smoke signal may work too. Ha ha.

Meeting Lieke!

Oma and Opa along with Aunt Ramona and Lieke came for a visit last week! It was so much fun to have them here. We enjoyed some beautiful spring weather, treats, walks, and lots of snuggles. I didn't take a single picture, so these are all stolen from Ramona's Facebook page.

 

The boys loved to entertain Lieke and she seemed to enjoy the attention. They sang her little songs and made funny faces and generally tried to keep her smiling. They are wild and crazy boys but they can also be sweet and gentle.

 

We got some fun girls time in, which is a nice treat.

 below: A nice evening walk after some icecream at Sonic.

outside

We have been spending lots of time out of doors lately. We are still about 2 weeks "behind" in our Core curriculum and I wanted to catch up a bit last week but I just couldn't bear being stuck inside. So I decided to move all our stuff outside and we had 2 beautiful mornings of doing our work out on the deck!
There is a place near our house where for a short time in the spring the wildflowers bloom prolifically. I hate to miss the flowers so one afternoon we headed out for an after-nap hike. We met friends and then enjoyed some great pizza together. It was a gorgeous evening.
We are gearing up for a visit from oma and opa this week. And along with them Ramona and her new baby Lieke! We are so excited to see them all and to finally get to meet the newest and first Viss cousin!

nature center

 

I purchased a family membership to the Chattanooga Arboretum & Nature Center for my niece and nephew for Christmas. Since it was such a great deal via Groupon I went ahead and got one for us too. It is going to be a beautiful place for us to explore and enjoy!