Out and About:
Well, for people who are trying to rest this summer, we've been out and about quite a bit. J We had a fun family 'exploration' of some of the wooded trails around where we are living on one cool-ish, gray Saturday morning. We had a brief visit from my husband's parents (they hadn't seen the children since Christmas 2011!! - we will be spending some more time with them later this month) and a fun day out with an "auntie" from Papua New Guinea days. We had a real 'proper' Fourth of July with fireworks – a first for our children. Swimming, bike riding, and playing with neighbor kids have all been regular features of our days too. We're keeping busy, but busy with good things. J
In the Schoolroom:
We are officially out of school until sometime in August, although Mama is in active planning mode. More musings on that topic soon. In the meantime the two older children are doing one school-related reading per day, just to keep moving forward a bit, and running through some math facts – adding/subtracting for James and multiplying/dividing for Michelle. That takes all of about 20 minutes for each of them in the morning, so not too much. We are enjoying having a proper break.
Creatively:
I crocheted a few dishcloths, and am now trying to teach myself some new embroidery stitches. I have long admired embroidery, but have never known how to do much more than a basic running stitch and backstich (which I didn't even do properly!). I have this book (I can't wait until I feel confident enough to try one of the projects in it!) and have also been using some of the tutorials here when the pictures in the book don't cut it. So that's my latest crafty challenge. With the children, we've been doing a bit of nature journaling:
And a bit of drawing, following the suggestions in the Artistic Pursuits Elementary 4-5 curriculum. This was purchased mostly with Michelle in mind, but the littler ones are enjoying joining in too.
In the Kitchen:
Local Peaches. I was worried when my husband brought home a box with probably 30-40 peaches in it that I'd have to mess around with freezing them or something, but I needn't have. I think we ate at least half of them within the first 24 hours. I now know how to make my picky 5 year old who tends to eat three bites of her food and then insist she is full actually finish her meal…just promise her a peach. I love summer fruits….
Around the House:
Trying to reorganize chore routines in a way that will be sustainable once we get going with a full school schedule again (meaning Mama doesn't have to be responsible for it all). We're getting there, slowly.
What have you been up to?
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