Not Quite Ordinary Observations

For Today...Tuesday, July 30, 2013

In the great outdoors...warmer and muggier today. Cloudy. Maybe we’ll get some rain? Maybe?

Within our four walls...children sneaking in a few minutes of play before school starts; a pile of laundry waiting to be folded and put away; school books in use despite the fact that I didn’t quite get the crates cleaned out and ready for the new school year.

A heart of thanksgiving...this amazing summer. Yes, we’ve had some hot days, but it’s really been so pleasant.

A wonderful, wonderful visit with the Choates. I think that none of our visits would ever be long enough even if we lived next door to each other, so it’s always hard to say goodbye. But even five minutes with this precious family means the world to us.

A heart of prayer...for the Choates as they finish up their last week in the US; for our church as we get ready to head into a new school year, thus requiring some reorganization of our children’s ministry; for our first week of school; for the farmers.

Random observations...I’m about to have to take a break from this to start school. There’s no telling when I’ll get it posted, but it will be fun to add to all day! I completely forgot about it yesterday between day one of school and a couple of work meetings.

My silly children...actually, just my prissy child for today. A couple of years ago I made Angela a hoop skirt – well, the best I could manage, anyway. The tubing I used doesn’t keep it super-stiff or big, but it does hold her dresses out some. It was made for her dress-up clothes, but she has started wearing it with her long Sunday dresses. I just love that child’s prissiness!

Thoughts from the kitchen...looks like a light lunch of homemade pizza today since we’re going to a Gideon’s banquet tonight.

On my bookshelf...several novels – and not kids’ novels, either! YAY!

Projects...birthday gifts. Olivia and I will be going fabric shopping this afternoon for her gift-making needs.

Sounds of the moment...silence as the kids finish up independent work. Of course, my clogged-up ears might be blocking out sounds I’d normally hear.

From Hibbard Academy...first week of school! Angie and Steven are starting off with a review of the last stages of the Roman empire and a look at dinosaurs from a creationist perspective. Angela also proudly informed her daddy that she got to learn about decimals yesterday. Fun stuff! It was a nice break from fractions, I think. She’s also finishing up a unit on modifiers in language arts. Steven has nothing really new in math right now, and in language arts he’s focusing on what constitutes a complete sentence.

Olivia is starting year one of world history and a look at evolution in science. Her other stuff is at a review level right now, so she’s plugging through that pretty quickly.

More on all of this later…

A favorite thing from last week...probably goes without saying. The Choates’ visit was delightful!

The planner...school, Gideon’s banquet tonight, Bernina Club on Thursday, and a quiet weekend. A pretty mundane week. Oh how I’ve missed those!

Because visuals are fun...getting lost in books made the quiet less noticeable on Saturday afternoon.