Random happenings

The boys are gone. Kain and Jack are visiting my parents for a few days. It is very quiet around here. Jack has never been away overnight before except out of necessity when Tess and Henry were born. We finally decided he was ready and would probably handle it ok. So far it's going well. But I sure do miss him.

The boys are playing baseball with the Miracle League. What a wonderful organization. Oh my goodness. They are on the same team, the Cubs. This is a big deal in our house...they are both so excited. I tried hard not to cry like a big ole dork during their first game. We are not really into sports a whole bunch around here, but it has been such a good thing for Jack to get to do this. Kain too...he has played some sports with Upward in the past, and it was a good experience, but he just got old enough that he was feeling self-conscious about the fact that he doesn't play as well as the other kids (really...like he was always the worst one on the team by far), and he decided last year that he didn't want to play anymore. Miracle League is different. I mean, no one plays very well, and no one cares. It's just all about having fun. Everyone gets to bat, everyone gets to run the bases. Jack even got to pitch! There are no foul balls, no one is tagged out. They just play. They are all assigned a "buddy" that plays along side them and kind of coaches them one on one throughout the game. This is very needed for Jack...every time he hit the ball he would run straight down the field with the baseball bat still in his hand, hehe. He kept saying, "Did I get a HOME RUN Mom?"

Did I mention I miss Jack?

Henry will be five months old in a few days. FIVE MONTHS OLD! Sigh. Oh, he's so sweet and so much fun. Full of personality now, and so interested in everything around him. My new Ergo carrier came in the mail the other day and so far I really like it. So does he. He feels very secure and my hands are totally free while he's in it. I haven't tried the back carry yet, but I will when I clean this weekend!

We are reaching Birthday Time in our family. Maria turned 14 this month! (more to come on that one) That is so weird to me. I remember being 14 so clearly. My dad and brother have their birthdays at the end of this month, and then Jack and I have birthdays in October. Jack says he wants "all the Lego vehicles" for his birthday. All of them. Hmmm.

I'm off to finish making my grocery list. John is off today, so Maria and I are going grocery shopping and also buying new Irish dance shoes for her crazy growing feet.

my Latin scholar

I found this written by Kain...he's only been taking Latin for a few weeks, but he's quite taken with it and apparently looked up these words in the glossary in the back of his book because he wanted to write something in Latin.

"Bellum,i aeternus,a contra Roma. moneo bellam,i pugna,ae."

The translation, loosely...

"Eternal war against Rome. I warn of war and fighting."

The reason for all the commas? Well, when you look a word up in the glossary, that's how they are listed, with a couple of the case endings. He doesn't know what those are yet, so he thought it was part of the word I guess. :)

August, and A week on the Alphabet Path

Hi, remember me?
I'm still here, getting our school year started. Computer time is hard to come by lately...you should see my inbox! I really really really want a laptop, ok?

Here's a mess of pics from our first few weeks of school....
"A" is for...

Apples, Angels, Airplanes, the Assumption, Angelina Ballerina, and our author of the month, Alan Say.


Kain's doing the geography path and read about America and Alaska this month.

Some of Maria's school books, just for fun.

Amazing Keva and clay creations

And making a letter A apple pie! I love to bake, but I took shortcuts for Jack's short attention span and used can filling and a pre-made crust this time.




Our school year has started pretty well. We've had some curve balls, small ones...Jack and Tess have passed two different viruses around. Maria had a terrible sunburn that left her miserable and rather uncooperative for a couple of days. The van was down for a few days, which meant I had to get up and drive John to work and then pick him back up. Such is life. Very few days go like they are "supposed to". Henry also wants to be held *constantly* and doesn't nap as well as he used to. He's not cranky, really. He's a very happy guy....as long as you are holding him! :) I think it's because he's getting older. He just wants to see everyone and be a part of everything. We are on track with our lesson plans, but behind on the alphabet path...we still haven't quite finished up our A stuff, but we will in the next day or so. We have a few read alouds left, as well as some Angel Airplanes and maybe a trip to a u-pick farm to pick apples! I also wish I had more pictures....I need to break out my camera more. I missed our Assumption pictures...we made homemade vanilla pudding with blueberries on top! Jack, all the kids, really, loved the Alphabet Path fairy stories and can't wait for the next installment. I had plans to make Jessica's painted saint dolls and even ordered some supplies, but I decided to wait and do it when Tess is a little older. Jack really isn't going to care about them. But Tess will love them!

Ok, I've got to run....a few more minutes shoveling out my inbox, maybe a bit of reading on my google reader, and then it's time to wake the masses for mass!

**update...make that three viruses. Jack woke up this morning and threw up. It's been downhill ever since! (sigh)