Sneaky Little Joy Thief

Just another little name for grief when you don't really even realize it is there. I feel like I should be an expert at this by now, but even to me, grief is this nebulous foreign sounding word. I should know the rhythm of it in my life and there are some certainties...birthdays, holidays, homegoing. It doesn't take much to realize those are times that it is going to hit hard.

But there are times, like the last couple of days, where I feel like I have cried buckets when in reality I have only wiped away a tear or two. I wonder and question just where it is coming from. Ahhh...yes, the unexpected surfacing of grief over something that seems like it would be no big deal.

I have been working on my homeschool plans for the upcoming year. The last day or two I have been going through our core curriculum and getting together book lists, seeing what the library has, what we own, and what we need to buy and scheduling it out. Our curriculum has 4 levels. Anne Michal is in the highest level, Elizabeth in the second, and Jack and Emma in the third. Knox would be in the lowest level...or at least I think. I can't know because I don't know him. Not as an almost 6 year old.

He would be turning 6 this year, PEOPLE, 6! (in my best teacher voice!) This is unfathomable to me. 6. Would he be reading up a storm? or would I be pulling my hair out? Would he be considered a big kid or lumped with Creed and Janey Kate as one of the littles? I keep wondering why if all my kids have the Jon Anderson look-a-like genes, why they don't have the Jon Anderson organization neat-nick genes. I bet he would. Every family this big has to have one right? Maybe he'd be the one keeping everything in order and putting it all back in its place. Maybe he'd always know right where his pencil was and never lose his shoes. I do know he'd have one of the best grins because he already had that and I bet he'd always keep us smiling.

So there you have it. Who know planning school could be such a teary event? I probably shouldn't have been so surprised as I bet if I looked in my archives I blogged about this last year; I guess I better just add the start of school into the regular rhythm of grief and maybe it won't catch me quite so off guard next year.

We sure do miss that sweet boy of ours. Always a joy...always a joy.

Life 101

Elizabeth and I were watching Pride and Prejudice the other night and we go to the part where Lydia is going off to Brighton with Colonel Forster's wife to be her particular companion. Her mother tells her something along the lines of take every opportunity to have as much fun as possible.

Elizabeth pipes up rather indignantly, "Well, that is terrible advice! That is like saying, 'Just have fun but don't worry about anything else...like having fun is the most important thing there is!' "

When watching the movie before we have talked about what silly girls the younger Bennett sisters are, and Jon and I have talked about how we hope our girls are not "Lydias." I think Elizabeth is off to a good start!

A Creed Funny

One of Creed's new things is to ask for 5 more minutes. If i tell him it is time to go to bed or take a nap, he is going to say, "Can I have 5 more minutes?" And when I tell him no, he is going to ask, "Can I have 3 more minutes?" He has also been known to then ask for 7 more minutes...heehee.

Today at naptime he started his usual 5 more minutes dialogue and I told him he could have zero more minutes. I didn't even consider that the might have no clue what zero meant until as I was putting him to bed he is crying, "But you said I could have zero more minutes!!!"

and so I did, son, so I did.

July 2011 Book Log

Black Notice by Patricia Cornwell

D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton

Locked In by Marcia Muller

Cover Her Face by P.D. James

A Mind for Murder by P.D. James

The Chestnut King by N.D. Wilson

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

Confessions by St. Augustine

Lewis Agonistes by Louis Markos

Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church by D.A. Carson

God, Marriage, and Family by Andreas Kostenberger

The Epistle of Galatians by F.F. Bruce

Galatians by Timothy George

The Message of Galatians by John Stott

Galatians by Richard Longenecker

Doctrine by Mark Driscoll

Chosen by God by R.C. Sproul

Confessions of a Reformission Rev by Mark Driscoll

The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor by John Piper and D.A. Carson

Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chappell

Unprotected by Anonymous

Quotable

Jon, while rereading Pride and Prejudice, "Why did I deprive myself so long?"

Christmas in July

or revisiting it anyway! I was looking through some old pictures and came across some pictures of the kids ice skating. I had meant to blog them and hadn't gotten around to them so I thought maybe a bit of Christmas ice skating in July might remind us that this heat isn't going to last forever!!!
all gloved up and ready to go. Notice the little arms wrapped around Anne Michal's legs. I guess he wasn't too happy about being left behind.

Watch out ice I am coming!

I think Elizabeth and maybe Anne Michal were the only ones that had been ice skating before, but Carol and Peggy offered to take them. Carol said she'd help them; I think Peggy just took the pictures which is what I'd have been doing!

Jack didn't want to go at all. He was sure he'd be terrible and fall down all the time. He ended up loving it. He started out this way...
and did fall down a lot as you can see but it wasn't long and he was skating all over the place. I don't think he had much in the way of brakes but he sure had fun.
Emma...always smiling and dancing or singing...even on the ice.




Getting the hang of it...

We did it!

Eight Months

After missing months six and seven, we are back again. The cute picture on command thing just wasn't working for us. She seems to be getting the hang of the camera thing now. ;-) I had a lot of trouble paring down the pictures as they were all so cute!

Always smiling these days...a welcome change!!!

Always on the move...



Always wanting to stand up ...
With your bunny, but impossible to keep him upright beside you...