Bits & Pieces

I really like to write more focused posts most of the time, but lately it seems a lot of my posts have been random snippets about life.  I'm learning to be okay with that . . . I figure at least writing something is better than nothing!  Besides, I know some of you really like the random posts. :)  So here are some bits and pieces from our life lately.

• Jim has been working on his truck this week and some of last week.  It needed new fenders and rocker panels to pass inspection.  I am always in awe of how much my hubby knows how to do! This looks like a really daunting job to me, but he just jumps in and seems to automatically know how to fix stuff.  There has been lots of noise, rust pieces, and paint in the garage this week.  I told him by the time he's finished, it will be almost like having a whole new truck. :)

•  He was also able to purchase a trailer recently.  This will be really handy for transporting tools to different jobs; sometimes he can even leave it parked at a job instead of lugging everything back and forth every day.  He has a fairly big job coming up soon where he will be especially thankful to have this option.

• Spring has finally sprung around here.  Until last weekend, we barely had any leaves starting to come out, but now everything is getting nice and green.  BUGS have arrived also. :(  It is so nice to see lots of green after a very white winter!  We have quite a few pretty flowers around already.  

 Trillium

 Not sure what the white flowers are, but they are growing on some kind of small tree--maybe some kind of wild cherry?

I was delighted to find a patch of at least 6 lady's slippers growing up near the woods--not open yet, but soon!

 Tons and tons of violets!

• Jim set up the camper on Sunday to air it out after the winter, and check for mouse action.  Thankfully there was no sign of mice (yay!), and the kids have been having a blast playing in the camper.  We even did school in there on Monday!

 Julia through the screen :)

 Boys playing with their cars

•  Last fall, our neighbors invited us to an informal kids' soccer group at our local ball field.  Our kids LOVED it, so when they started it back up a few weeks ago, we were super excited.  I finally remembered to bring the camera last week…here are a couple pics.  

 This has been a really fun way for our kids to learn a little bit about a sport, as well as meet some new friends and learn to play on teams with other kids.  Plus it gets lots of energy out and they sleep great on soccer nights! ;)  Well, they actually sleep great most every night, but I can tell they are a little extra tired on soccer nights. :)

• This week I was so blessed to score a super deal on a huge lot of maternity clothes.  Now there was no way I *needed* this many clothes!  But I saw this lot on a local FB yardsale group, and the lady was selling 81 items for $40!!!  Even the used items I've been buying have been usually $5-10 each, and this lot had a bunch of summer clothes in it--tank tops and tees, capris, etc.  Even a denim skirt, which has been on my wish list!  Some of it won't fit or isn't my style, so I will pass it on or consign it, but Jim thought this was such a good deal that I should go for it, even though I didn't need this much stuff.  You can't beat .50 cents apiece for name brand maternity clothes. :)  Now I just need to make room for it . . . which will involve a lot of sorting and organizing of my regular clothes!

• We are still plugging away at school.  In the home stretch!!  The kids mostly have writing and language arts type stuff left . . . Julia also has a few more days of math, and so does Josiah.  Both the older kids have about 2 weeks left of their Writing With Ease books (copy work, narration, etc.) and they have about 1-2 weeks of their handwriting lessons.  I'm planning to continue working on Josiah's reading lessons through the summer, as we're not as far as I'd like in that and I hope to get him reading a bit more proficiently before we get into first grade.  We also got way behind on our Sonlight books, and science, so I'm planning to keep working on those through the summer until we catch up to where I'd like to be.  Once we have the workbooks out of the way, the SL and science books are the "fun" part of school anyway, so I shouldn't get too many complaints about continuing. :)  
• Remember how I mentioned my newfound love of podcasts a few weeks back?  Well, here is the original post that inspired me, over at Trina Holden's blog!  Apparently she added some stuff to it and republished it, so it showed up again later.  (Side note: I love Trina's blog . . . one of my favorites!)  Today when I was walking on the treadmill, I tried out the Read Aloud Revival podcast, Episode 1.  Wow.  Talk about inspiring and excellent stuff!  

I guess that is enough randomness for tonight . . . especially since I've been working on this post since last week. :)  Hopefully once school is finished, I can get back to a slightly more regular blogging routine.