Here is just a smattering of stuff that has happened since I last posted in September. Blogging has taken a backseat to life at this point, which is as it should be, I suppose.
School: We’ve been squeezing the more academic bits of school into the spaces of the day when Will sleeps or when we’re gathered together anyway (specifically mealtimes and bedtime). I find it especially helpful to associate certain things with mealtimes. We do morning prayers after breakfast, poetry at lunch, and bedtime math (using the iPhone app) with supper. We just finished up our study of Henri Matisse (we especially like the books Matisse: the King of Color, When Pigasso Met Mootisse, and Henri’s Scissors). Bea was particularly taken with Matisse’s colorful cut-out shapes and was inspired to try her hand at it on a couple different occasions. Adeline has been using Xtra Math for extra practice, which we both like. We recently watched Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and now the girls have taken a fancy to stop motion animation. We’ve attempted a couple little videos of their Lego people using our Nikon. Fun! But it sure is a time-consuming process!
Halloween: We had a monarch butterfly, a bumblebee (for the 2nd year in a row), and a tiny raccoon. When I asked Bea what she was going to be for Halloween, she said, “My bumble costume that’s my Halloween costume.” As though it is customary to wear the same costume every year. Actually, I rather like that idea…
Weather: Those mums and everything else in the garden is dead, thanks to the dip in temperature to 1 degree last week. Now we’ve got snow and grayness. The sun, when there is any, has begun to slant in across the living room floor and illuminate all the dust bunnies under the couch.
Other stuff: Jake built us a table! The baby is crawling! Adeline is about to turn seven! The girls are slowly taking over responsibility of their laundry!!! (Note which of those announcements rates three exclamation points.) And so much more that I’d like to share, but alas, time is not on my side. If I don’t hit publish now, this post is likely to linger til after Christmas, when none of this would really seem relevant anymore. So here it is, half-finished (like many of the projects in my life right now – mine and my family’s – most of which are piled on the kitchen counter).
making life 