Update time!

Well, I certainly didn't intend to let so much time go by between posts (again)!! Somehow, we are already into September and well on our way to fall weather. We just finished our first week of homeschooling. It went really well! I was so encouraged to see Sam doing better with reading. In spite of my big plans to have him keep up with his reading lessons through the summer, we didn't . . . and I was afraid he might have forgotten a lot. Although he definitely needs review of some things, he had remembered MUCH more than I expected, so I was very happy about that! And, reading is no longer his most dreaded subject . . . Writing with Ease is! (Mostly the copywork part, though he's not a fan of narration either. :)) I have a feeling he will do fine with both things, though, once he gets used to them. We had a nice week that was light on work, with quite a bit of review, helping to ease us into school. Our main read-aloud for this week was The Boxcar Children. What better story to start with, for a boy who loves anything to do with a train? :) Both Sam and Julia have been completely engrossed in this book. In fact, we have read way beyond what was scheduled . . . they are constantly begging me for "just one more chapter, Mommy!" Well, how can I refuse that? :) I checked out another book in the series from our library so they can hear more of the Alden kids' adventures. Sadly, our library only has a few in the series, but hopefully we can buy more sometime. I am loving our schedule of doing school 4 days/week, too. Friday will probably usually count as a school day too, though, as we catch up on anything that didn't get done during the rest of the week (today it was a handwriting page) and incorporate extra stuff such as art, craft projects, and nature study. I'm hoping to make time for nature study, in particular, every Friday. I just purchased this e-book for autumn nature study, and I'll let you know how I like it. This lady also has TONS of free nature stuff available on her blog . . . I just chose to purchase the book this time, because I would rather not have to visit the blog every week and print stuff off (just loading the pages takes quite a while with our slow connection!).

Last week, we headed to the beach with friends for the last time this summer. By last weekend the weather had cooled off and we have already cranked up the woodstove a couple times! Jim has been splitting lots of firewood and today the kids and I stacked a bunch of it. I'm thankful that we'll be able to heat the house very inexpensively this winter. :)

Next weekend I'll be going to a ladies' retreat at The Wilds of New England. Beth Lynch is the speaker. I'm really looking forward to that . . . she's one of my favorite speakers ever!! And this will be my first time ever at an overnight ladies' retreat, too. It will be weird to be away from Jim and the kids overnight! I'm excited for the opportunity to have a refreshing weekend away, though. Hopefully I will come away with some fresh vision and renewed vigor for the task of being a wife and mom, and most importantly, a deeper love for God!

I have so many more things to write about, but this will have to do for now. Hopefully I'll get some more posts up soon! In the meantime, hope you all have a wonderful weekend!