First Day of School

So...

It begins again tomorrow--Josh back to class.  These last couple of weeks have been so nice having him home all day.  It makes me sad to lose him for those precious hours each day; alas, that is why we're here.  Now that Josh has decided what he wants to be when he grows up, though, the atmosphere has changed a little.  It's not quite as stressful because he doesn't feel like he's going to fail at being a teacher or pastor or whatever because he doesn't do well on some theology quiz.  He's now decided that he wants to write fiction.  I'm actually really excited.  I know he can do great things with that.  It's not that I questioned his ability for teaching or preaching, but I could just never see him clearly in those roles.  I could see him teaching some things but probably not at a seminary, which is what he thought of for awhile.  I can TOTALLY see him holed away in some corner typing on the laptop for hours working on a novel or pacing the floor with a baby in his arms while creating a character in his head.

The only problem now, however, is that I want the seminary chapter to be over.  I was never in a hurry before to be done here because we never had any idea what was next, but now that we know, I want to be there now.  Lord, please help me wait.

Waiting has never been something I'm good at, unless it's something I don't want to do.  I'm sure that's the way for anybody.  Speaking of that, the two main things on my to-do list are still undone because they are overwhelming tasks for me, so what have I done?  I've completed all the other things before these two, of course.  Now, I'm down to the wire and am still putting them off by writing this post.  Sheesh.

My major one of the two is making some "lesson plans" for school for the boys.  It's not that it's hard; it's just time consuming.  I just want to snap my fingers and it be done.  I hated school so much (in high school) that I'm desperate to make it fun for the boys.  I don't want them to have the same experience I did.  I don't know what the problem was exactly in high school.  I had friends; I had sports; I even graduated sixth in my class with a 3.96 for goodness' sake; I just hated most of the actual classes.  I guess, aside from the few classes I really enjoyed (thanks Ms. Ferguson, Mrs. Meade and Mr. Meade), I could just never get on the same wavelength as most of the teachers.  It probably had something to do with the fact that I didn't want to think any harder than I had to.  Who knows?

Anyway, I'm working on making some plans for the boys because I just don't want to wing it and not give them my best.  I don't want them to grow up wishing they didn't have a loser life by me teaching them and not getting to go to "a real" school.  There are various reasons why we're homeschooling that I won't go into, but I want school for us to be SO cool that they'll never feel like they missed a thing.  Well, if it's going to be spectacular, I better get to the planning.  

Here are a few books we're using.  Seems a bit much for preschool and first grade doesn't it? :)

Random Pictures

So...

Here are a bunch of random pictures for those of you who don't get to see the boys very often.  They are just some of my favorites.  Enjoy!

Now that Finn can walk, he also likes to climb, sometimes in his toy basket.
Daddy and Finn.  Finn loves hanging out here.
Max climbing over the back of the couch.
Max after his first shower by himself.
Finn having a pancake.
In the toy basket again.
Cuteness.
Leo getting ready for the slip and slide at a seminary picnic.
Max before the picnic.
Slippin'...
...and slidin'.

These last few loaded a little weird.  They are some swimming pictures and a couple family reunion.

Conversation with Leo

So...

Today, we were at the gas station getting gas.  Leo heard Josh talking to the man on the other side of the pump.  Here's the conversation:

Leo:  Daddy, who's that man...Daddy, who's that man...Mommy, who's that man Daddy is talking to?

Me:  I don't know.

Leo:  What did he say?

Me:  He asked Daddy how to get to the airport.

Leo:  Why is Daddy going to the airport?

Me:  Daddy isn't going to the airport.  The man needed to know how to get there.

Leo:  Why does that man need to go to the airport?

Me:  I don't know; maybe he needs to catch a plane.

Leo:  Why does he need to catch a plane?

Me:  Maybe he's going somewhere.

Leo:  Where's he going?

Me:  I DON'T KNOW, Leo.

As you can see, I get a little tired of answering questions.

Leo, Leo, Leo

So...

This morning, I'm sitting at the computer, doing something totally unimportant I'm sure, when I hear a thud and crying.  Never a good combination.  It's Leo.  First of all, I must tell you that Leo's cries always sound the same, fake or real, so we never know when he's really hurt unless we see his face.  Needless to say, this one was definitely real.  He was holding his head around the temple area with blood seeping through his fingers.  Sooo not a good sign.  I surmised that he tripped over something; I don't know what.  It could have been one of the 20 toys in the floor or it could have just been his own feet.  He has inherited my klutz gene after all.  Anyway, he whacked his head right at the end of his eyebrow on a little bench we have.  

I have to congratulate myself on an excellent display of composure, I must say.  I was afraid if I reacted that Leo might freak out, so I calmly examine him and get a washcloth for him to hold on it.  After that, I ran to our bedroom and franticly called Josh to come home from class to see if he thinks we need to get stitches.  The conclusion is, yes.  I believe Josh's words were, "It looks like a gash that boxers get in a fight."  I take one of the fastest showers ever, and Leo and I head to St. John's, the hospital that's only about two minutes away.  Thank the Lord, they were not busy!  Can you believe it, an ER not being busy?  Leo got checked out, and it was decided that he definitely needed stitches; ended up being two inside and five out.  He was quite the little trooper until the doctor had to shoot him with some numbing stuff.  He freaked a little, but overall, he did super well.  He and one of the nurses hit it off, and she gave him some of her peanut brittle.  Then, he and I headed to McD's for some late lunch.  Poor little guy fell asleep in the drive through, so he ate when we got home.

He's Mr. Cool about it all now.  I'm so glad--the arms outstretched with the, "Mommy, I want yoooouuuu," was a little hard to handle while the whole proceedings of stitches were going on.

The picture is not really close enough to actually see the stitches, but you can tell where they are and see my adorable Leo.

Duncan Double Entendre Day

So...

Today Josh and I are in the dining room chatting, and Max comes walking down the hall with a trailer from one of their trucks, a sword and a rifle (all toys) stuck down in his waistband.  He says, "I'm going to play the instrument in my pants now," and commences to blow on the end of the rifle like a tuba.  While Josh and I are suppressing our laughter, Leo follows behind him with another sword between his legs and announces, "Hey, look.  I have a third leg!"  We couldn't hold back the laughter then.  As you can see, Josh was able to get a shot of the third leg.

Teaching

So...

In high school, I often wondered if I should be a teacher, and then I'd remember that would mean being with other people's kids all day.  Don't get me wrong, some people have great kids, but I'm just not up for that.  It's hard enough to stand my own kids some days, and I love them.  They are the fruit of my womb for goodness sake!

All that said, I never in my life (before children) planned on homeschooling.  Guess what I'm doing now.  "Why?" you ask.  Let me enlighten you.  At one point in our marriage, Josh and I were planning on moving to California.  That was the initial pick for school when Josh first started thinking about a Master's.  Obviously, we have chosen a different part of the country.  St. Louis, Missouri is not anywhere near California.  I digress.  When we were thinking of moving there, we were overcome by the appalling situation of the public school system there.  Well, I should say, Josh was; he is the researcher.  After much discussion, we decided it would probably be our best bet to homeschool because we were afraid to put them into public school, and there was no way we'd have the money to do private school.

I just have to say now, "What the crap was I thinking?!?!"  No really, I don't feel that way (every day).  Max is so complex.  I get so aggravated with him sometimes because he just can't turn his brain off to all of the plots he's got going in there to realize that he's supposed to be reading the sentence I've been pointing to for a whole minute.  However, after I remind myself that he's not even quite six yet, I get over it for awhile.  He's reading waaaaay more than I was at that age, and if I do say so myself, I'm a pretty good reader.  I could go on about the aggravation, but that's not why I started this post.

Today was probably the BEST day of school we've ever had.  It was like all of the sudden his focus button turned on.  We finished reading in 15 minutes, whereas it usually takes us almost an hour.  It was great!  I felt rejuvenated today because he actually enjoyed it.  I've been slightly worried lately about school this fall because I'm going to start working with Leo, too.  The worry has not been because it will be hard with two kids or that Leo is trouble, but I've been concerned that Max will be so distracted by him that he won't accomplish anything.  I think the lesson for me is that I need to get over myself and not worry if Max isn't as far along as some kids or trying to make sure he lives up to that genius idea Josh and I have of all our boys.  One of the things I wanted to accomplish with homeschool was that the boys would love learning, unlike me who hated school, and that's not what is happening currently.  Today gave me a glimmer of hope, though.

If you're reading, pray for me to be patient and let the boys learn the way they learn, not how I learn.

Ninja Finn

So...

Finn is a walker now!  This isn't the best evidence of it, but you can see him walk a little as well as execute his ninja skills.  There's a bit of Leo too (Max and I were doing school while this was going on).