Wordless Wednesday

One thing I'll miss about summer...

The Tiniest Things...

Two reasons that I love the 'macro' setting on my camera:

1) It reminds me to focus on the amazing and perfect detail that our God has put into even the tiniest things!  If I can capture them, I could just stare and ponder those details over and over...and over....

2) It's the ONLY thing I can get right with my camera (all other photographic shots, as well as any creativity, usually fail)!

Summer Reading Goal

I'll start by saying that I like to set high expectations. In my opinion, how can one hope to achieve much if the bar is set too low?  Now, I don't mean that lofty goals must all be met - certainly not.  That would make life unbearably stressful (like for we type A's!!).

I have pounded myself with guilt struggled with feeling like Jefferson (and even Reagan) has not had enough read-aloud time this year and would really like to improve on that, especially as the weather improves (while it was warm, we were getting 1/2 hour in after school on the swings and loving it!). This requires the 'lofty' goal that I stop treating the afternoon time like it's 'mine' and give it back to the kids instead (uhhmm - this will require more coffee people - more coffee!!)! With that said, here is my reading goal for Jefferson and Reagan from now through the end of summer. [Those in orange are to be read by Jefferson or Reagan]

Jefferson:
Swift Rivers (Cornelia Meigs)
Robert Fulton - Boy Craftsman (Marguerite Henry)
George Washington Our First Leader (Augusta Stevenson)
Carry On Mr. Bowditch (Jean Lee Latham)
Meet Thomas Jefferson (Marvin Barrett)
Johnny Tremain (Esther Forbes)
Sarah, Plain and Tall (Patricia MacLachlan)
Justin Morgan Had a Horse (Marguerite Henry)
C. S. Lewis - Master Storyteller (YWAM Janet &Geoff Benge)
The Bears on Hemlock Mountain (Alice Dalgliesh)
The Sugar Creek Gang #14-24 (Paul Hutchens)
Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie)

Reagan:
I Wonder (Christian Light Reading to Learn Series #1)
Helping Hands (Christian Light Reading to Learn Series #2.1)
Happy Hearts (Christian Light Reading to Learn Series #2.2)
Great Truths for Little Children (Grace & Truth Books)
Prudence and the Millers (Mildred A Martin)
Christian Liberty Nature Reader - Book 1 (Florence Bass) - perfect for warm weather nature observation!
Jason & the Golden Fleece
A Children's Treasury of Mythology (Barnes & Noble)
Little House on the Prairie series (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
Amy Carmichael - Rescuer of Precious Gems (YWAM Janet &Geoff Benge)

What do you think??  If I read 3 straight hours per day per child, we should be able to get through this is no time, right?  (hehehehahahasnorthehehe - minus toddlers, cooking, and life in general!)

The problem is that there are just too many books! But it can't hurt to set the bar high!  :-D

Summer fun with Bloggy Friends!

In the midst of our summer craziness, I was blessed to get the chance to meet up with one of my favorite bloggy pals, Living to Learn and Learning to Live. She is better known in my bloggy circle as the one and the only - the great Momma Roar!

She is fabulous with a sewing machine (just look at these cute clothes that she throws together in a snap!), loves shoes, has the diligence to give up on soda (tough though it was!), has three beautiful children, and loves the Lord! But what's also really awesome is that she lives practically next door and her kids are close in age to mine! So when she dropped me an email to try to plan a little fun something, I was glad to accept.

I will admit that I was a little nervous to meet her in person - after all there is safety in the bloggy world for those of us who tend towards the introverted side. But she put me at ease right away with her friendly smile and easy going nature! We met at a local clock & watch museum with our boys - Jefferson (6yo) and Quintin - who both seemed to have a blast too. I was so glad that they could meet as I am always looking for boys for Jefferson to connect with (he couldn't stop asking when we would see Quintin again!).

Jefferson loved the craft time (anything involving paint is aways a hit with him), checked out all the clocks & watches on the museum tour, and especially enjoyed the old, mechanical show clock (called the Engle clock after Stephen Decatur Engle - in case anyone has a keen interest in that bit of history) from 1876. "It's like a t.v.!," he says. I think he mis-understood the tour guide who was asking the kids what they would do for entertainment if they lived in 1870 and didn't HAVE a t.v! Ahhh... the way they think! I hope Quintin enjoyed it as much! But here I am wishin' that I was as smart a blogger as Momma Roar and had brought my camera to get some pics. Hopefully she will be good enough to share? ;-)

Momma Roar and I had a wonderful time chit chatting while trying to keep paint out of our boys hair (it was a kids' day at the museum). We talked about so many different things but I wish that we had had even more time together. I hope that since we live so close, we can get together more often - perhaps church or hs co-op!

It was such a pleasure to meet you in person LA!! (Sorry - I forgot to mention that I noticed and totally loved your awesome FitFlops! *chucklechuckle*). I'll be glad to get to know you and your family more as you begin 1st grade this year!

How is it possible?

How is it possible that I could be busier during our summer break than when we were in the throws of school? Every minute seems to be filled with so much that I'm finding myself ignoring my computer and all my favorite blogs as well. I want to spend good play time with them each day as well as getting my planning for August done. Play time is easy - planning time is not. I can't even seem to sit down at the computer without Adam at my feet and someone else screaming due to some 5 yo catastrophe or 6 yo mess. I've got 4 books that I'm desperate to read (teaching resources) and 1 I just want to enjoy. Add 1 week of vacation (if you could call it that), swimming lessons, doctor appointments and I can see my summer slip, slip, slipping away.......

So to anyone that actually visits this blog (ha!)- my apologies for being scarce on the bloggy scene this month! Sometimes priorities much actually be held and blogs be held off....

Back soon - I hope with solid plans for 2nd grade and K.