Keeping It Simple

A friend of mine passed away on Tuesday. She was a homeschool mama of 5 who homeschooled through chronic illness. She was very well educated (but not at all pretentious), kind, fun, funny, and a bit blunt. We connected a little more when we discovered "hey, you have a blog!". Tricia would have become a blogger of considerable force, but things like taking care of her kids, taking care of herself (no easy task), and being a wife took priority. I have to admit that the first thing I wanted to do when I heard of Tricia's passing was to crawl into bed, pull the covers up, and not get up for a very long time. But, one thing Tricia did was keep on going. Through so much. She complained only in the sense that she was frustrated, she wanted to do more. To be more for her family. I have to honor that. So, I got up (I let myself have one morning to wallow for just a few hours) and I got going. I love this post that Tricia wrote. It is very honest. - http://adobecreekacademy...

Monday - Beach Day My sister and her 5 children, 2 of my daughters and their children, and I with 2 of my boys headed to the beach to try and stretch our summer just a bit longer. Tuesday- First Day of Theater Fun (James) Wizard of Oz Junior, here we come! Try outs were on this day. Next Tuesday, the fun begins. Wednesday-  Children's Zoo, First Day Back to Volleyball Class (Paul),  Paul's Crazy Social Life James and I headed out first thing in the morning to visit our local children's zoo. We are members so that we can take grandchildren, yet have not gone on our own in years. But this was member's early entrance morning and we thought it would be fun to go hang out for an hour or so. The highlight of the morning was watching the Fossa eat breakfast. Eew.  I don't have pictures of Paul's adventures. As a homeschool parent, I don't want my child to feel deprived, but sheesh! This kid needs to start driving (almost ...

In no particular order, this sort sums up the last year or so. Lots of blessings, lots of busyness, and lots of fun. :) 1- In case I have not mentioned it a thousand times, we welcomed 4 grandchildren in to our family (in addition to the 4 that were already here!). Just wow! That's kind of blurry, but you get the idea.  Can you tell my husband does not take the pictures in the family?  2- Paul took his first classes out of the home as a high schooler and he did amazingly well. With scores of over 90% on most of his work, he really stepped up to the plate. Paul has several learning struggles and he struggled right through them! 3- James was in his first ever play with a few small rolls in a children's production of Willy Wonka and LOVED it! I have my sister to thank for helping me through this obligation as item #1 on this list was taking up a bit of time. That's James second from the left as one of his characters, Mr. Salt.  4- James loved hi...