39

cake“So, old people keep on having birthdays?  Seriously?”

That is the question that my loving four year old threw at me this morning.  That boy.  His timing is just perfect.  At 39 that could sting a bit,  but I have decided that with forty breathing down my neck – old is relative.  On my 29th birthday I went and got my hair all chopped off  thinking short and spiky hair would keep me looking young.  For 39 I have decided to go a different way.

My girls set up a “spa” in their bedroom for me today.  They drug in our comfy chair, had a bowl of hot water and marbles waiting for my feet and a display of nail polish ready.  I happened upon them in the kitchen pulling out honey and a ripe banana that they were fix’n to use as a homemade face mask.  These girls.  They know how to be sweet, in very creative ways, to their momma.

I think it was as I was trying to hide my giggles at the thought of being smeared down with honey by my seven year old that I made the decision about 39.  It is going to be the best year ever.  As Little Monkey smeared cream into my face she gently told me, “Mom, if you don’t scrunch your forehead you might not notice those wrinkles.”

It’s unavoidable – isn’t it?  We get old.

My grandma, one of my most favorite people in the whole wide world, once told me that the beauty of getting old is that you stop caring about some things and think about what is important.  Now, the whole story.  She was passing on this bit of wisdom to me as she ate Cheetos out of the bag using a toothpick (so her fingers wouldn’t get cheesy)!

The wisdom stands true.

For 39 I want to care about what is important.  No crazy hair cuts for me this year.  Instead, I am going to be crazy about the important things.  It started with letting my girls smear goo on my face.  Not sure where it will go from here, but I am looking forward to seeing where JC will take it.

Yes, dear son, old people keep having birthdays.   Here’s to another year….the best yet.

 

Homeschool wrap up

It is 10 a.m. and I am sipping a cup of coffee and munching on a cookie.  Ahhh.  Lazy mornings of summer have arrived and I am so thankful.  I think I need the break from homeschooling as much or more than the kiddos do, but I am glad to report that I am not in a place of desperation.  This has been a great year of homeschooling and I think for the first time I have loved it.  It has only taken me five years to hit a stride – a place where the kids are thriving and so am I.

I have begun planning for next year….ordering curriculum and prepping to school four kiddos (yikes!)  Before I can turn to much attention to our next season of school, I want to recap how far the kiddos have come.

 

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Soccer Dude:  my 6th grade graduate!

Favorite subject:  “If I had to choose something besides reading, I guess it would be math.”  (We are loving Teaching Textbooks around here!  He still reads so much that it is difficult keeping him supplied in books.  Praise God for the Kindle!)

Most improved: His Chinese skills have blown me away.  He can sit down and read entire paragraphs of Chinese characters putting me to shame.  He has his daddy’s aptitude for languages.

Hobbies: training his pet birds, learning computer coding

This summer I would like to: go fishing

 

 

 

 

 

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Roo: my 4th grade graduate!

Favorite subject: art and music

Most improved:  She has fallen in love with reading this year!  What a joy to find her hiding in a fort finishing up the last chapter of a book!  Her favorite book is”From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler”  She mostly likes reading on the Kindle….”because you can read a long chapter book and not even know it.  On the Kindle you don’t see how thick and scary a book might seem.”

What I want to do this summer: learn to play the piano

What do you want to be when you grow up:  a hair dresser just like Nana used to be.  (The girl knows I need help with haircuts!)

 

 

 

 

 

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Little Monkey: my 1st grade graduate!

Favorite subject:  Everything!

Favorite food: rice

Most improved: She went from sounding out letters to reading chapter books!  (I must admit that homeschooling 1st grade is one of my favorites!  It is so rewarding to teach a child to read!)  Her favorite books are Henry and Mudge.

What I want to do this summer:  eat at Chick-fil-A and go to a water park.

What do you want to be when you grow up:  a gymnasts and ballerina who plays the flute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Little Man: is graduating to a larger prosthetic leg!

Favorite subject: Disney planes, coloring and reading Cars books

Most improved: He is coloring in the lines, is a verbal dude who now can ride a tricycle without his prosthetic being strapped to the peddle.

What he wants to do this summer: eat ice cream and go for wagon rides.

What do you want to be when you grow up:  “I don’t want to be big.  I will always be your baby.”  (No I didn’t prompt him to say that.  Yes, it made me cry a little and he will now get double dessert!)