This little guy is jumping on my bed. He's such an adorable scamp. Yesterday he managed to cut up not one...but two tape measures. He took a potato masher to the chocolate cake I'd made especially for Ladger. He took his diaper off after I settled him down for a nap and woke up drenched in pee. He runs with wild abandon out any door to the outside that is opened (usually by Rory). He and Rory are becoming such good friends and allies. Ladger and I are in for it! 

Ladger surprised me with beautiful roses on Valentine's day! I'm particularly blessed as they are still gorgeous two weeks later. I took this picture today.

And I haven't posted pictures of the boys for awhle so here they are. I love this picture of Rory because I just love his eyelashes... I've got to admit that I'm a little envious *grin*

I have just a few minutes before I go make lunch. Lately, I'm wondering if I'll be able to continue with this blog as I just have a hard time keeping it up to date. I think it's probably because Rory and I are at an important step in our schooling adventure. He is starting to read and while that's exciting, it takes my full attention in the morning - all morning long it seems. My goal is to see him start to work independently but so far that hasn't been a reality for us. His schooling day now includes a little more work and I find that I have completely lost my computer time in the morning...I'm lucky to check a few emails before I have to start dinner.

On the other hand, I know this will change in time and maybe I can fit in some computer time later in the day until Rory gets a little more independent and self-motivated. By the way, I'd love any ideas you may have for motivating an energetic five year old to do his schoolwork well and in a timely manner when I'm not sitting with him. If I leave the table, I usually come back to see that he has not done a single thing on his own.

Urghhh! Ladger just came in for dinner and I don't even have it started. He's early but here goes my little bit of computer time. *sigh*

Yesterday, Rory got some new goggles for his swimming lessons. Naturally, he had to take them out of the package and wear them while we were getting groceries. And the first thing this morning, "Where's my goggles, Mom?" What a goof!

The Chrysalis and Math 101

I had to laugh when someone came over the other day while Rory was doing his math. She asked what he was doing and when he said math she asked him what 1+1 is. He answered correctly and then she saw what he was working on and it was adding hundreds together like 100 + 200. Of course it's not any harder technically but it looks impressive :-)

Gradually I'm adding more to Rory's day in preparation for Grade 1 (compared to the more laid back Kindergarten year). We've added science, grammar and spelling to his routine of math, writing and phonics/reading. And next we'll add music, history and french. We've got a field trip to the police station tomorrow that we're all looking forward to. We're also getting ready to present a poem called "The Caterpillar" for a homeschool show and tell in a few weeks. You can see the freehand drawing he made to illustrate his poem. I was impressed because this was done with a sheet of blank paper and no books or pictures in front of him to copy. And then I just about fell over when he started talking about the chrysalis - I'm quite sure I didn't introduce that word to him but there he was using the word in the proper context like it was no big deal.

Many times I need to remind myself of how well he is doing and how far he has come over the last months because it's easy to get bogged down in the difficulties in learning something new. Sometimes as we're going over something that I was sure he knew already only to find that he didn't really know it as well as I thought he did, I need to take a deep breath, step back and enjoy what he has accomplished already.

This week is special because there's no school. That means I have two extra days in my week than I usually do - Woo hoo! But I have a blank mind right now when it comes to writing here. I guess that means I need a little break...just to get the creative juices flowing a bit.

Melted Ice Cream and the Cookie Shop

...just a quick note before I head off for the morning to our Moms of Preschoolers group.

Did you know that boys are really very strange creatures at times? Oh, yes...this morning Rory was helping me make chocolate chip cookies and telling me that his muscles were better than mine because they were shorter and stronger. And then he made up a song about the "Cookie Shop" and then did a dance in the kitchen with the strangest moves I've ever seen. And then he laid on the floor because he was pretending to be....melted ice cream!

Back after a great weekend!

I had a great couple of days in Saskatoon at the SHBE homeschooling conference. The speakers were Steve and Terri Maxwell who were there with seven of their eight children. I particularly enjoyed hearing Teri's experiences with homeschooling and home management and bought her book "Managers of Their Homes". I plan on incorporating the things I've learned from Flylady into a schedule that encompasses both housekeeping and homeschooling. I'm quickly becoming sold on schedules. I'm a master of good intentions and poor at following through. Schedules are a must for me although I've learned through Flylady to take baby steps for success with it. So this morning I started with some new aspects to my schedule that I've been working on yesterday.

Other than that I've got a busy week with a worship team being scheduled for this Sunday and I'm way behind (usually I have all the music picked out by now and starting the work to do arrangements etc).

But it feels good to be home and back into the swing of things. So as you can imagine, I've got plenty to catch up on and I'd better get off the computer and get at them.

Wow! For a minute there....I forgot myself!!

This weekend a girlfriend and I are heading off to a homeschool conference.
It's the first one I've attended so I'm really looking forward to it. And
I'll probably sneak away from the conference to check out some music stores as
we have nothing in my hometown. I'm ready to upgrade my main keyboard as
I spend more and more time doing arrangements for violin and other instruments. But it still must be a good piano sound and feel for me to be happy with it. I hope such a thing exists in my price range.

Speaking of arranging, it's always fun when a student brings me a song they
wish to work on. The latest is Melissa O'Neil's "Original Girl".
When I first heard it I laughed because it has little piano in it (and I
couldn't see a piano accompaniment doing justice to it). So I conscripted
a guitarist (another student) and I'm busy putting a drum track with bass guitar
and some synthesized sounds to it. I'm hoping it'll sound OK when I'm done with
it.

I've often thought there are some serious problems in the whole effort to achieve positive self-esteem. I find Christians often talking about these kinds of issues and it seems to me we've bought our society's ideas without really thinking about what the Bible has to say about it. I read this from John Piper's book "Don't Waste Your Life":

the really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and comtemplating your own greatness is pathological. At such moments we are made for a magnificent joy that comes from outside ourselves.

I remember trying to explain self-forgetfulness in a discussion and struggling to find a way to communicate what I meant. Striving for our own self-interests just doesn't work. One would think that would be the secret of happiness but in reality it makes us self-centered and miserable. We need something outside of ourselves that is worthy of our focus. And that's what's so exciting and refreshing about Christianity. It explains why we are so drawn to beauty, and all kinds of ideals like honesty, integrity, self-sacrifice and compassion...because we were created by someone who characterizes all of that and more. And we were created in His image. No evolutionistic, humanistic, materialistic worldview can explain this part of our humanity. No, the prevailing views in this world cannot explain why self-forgetfulness is a positive thing and yet our experience shows that indeed it can be.

Bread and water!

Yesterday, I was working in the office and Rory came running to tell me supper was ready. I came out to see the table set including water poured and hot dog buns on everyone’s plate. Paxton was already eating his bun. Sounds delicious, eh? Isn’t that prison fare…bread and water?