Tuesday, June 14, 2011



Summer So Far- Achoo!

The long and short of our summer so far is: we've been sick. Not for hours, days, but for weeks and weeks. It would seem that as the tornado passed by our house, it dropped all sorts of ick into the area, plaguing us with respiratory issues. Kathryn had pneumonia, followed by my, Nathan's and Alex's bronchitis bouts. My pitiful little eustachian tubes, for some weird reason, were freaked out by the barometric changes as the storm passed by, causing them to be stopped up for all this time as well. More annoying than painful, I've begun to have problems hearing. I really wondered why the lady in the store was calling my children "lab rats"- when all along she was asking about 'lite-brites'. She must have thought I was nuts...

Meanwhile,the children play right along and the dog is growing like a weed. Well, a stunted weed. We had her spayed to avoid the inevitable parade of male dogs ringing the doorbell. She spends her time doing things my children never did, like running around the house, emptying a toilet paper roll as she goes, then systematically shredding it. Trying to drink out of the toilet. Lying on the air conditioner vents. Eating crayons (OK, my kids DID do this). Ad infinitum. She's great!




Kathryn is plugging away at homeschool. (shh- nobody tell her that everyone else is getting a summer break) Since I 'rebooted' her K5 in January, we're running through August, and taking September off. The reading is coming along well (which is my top priority, of course).

Alex is super-excited about his being ALMOST FOUR!!! He talks about his birthday everyday (it's 7/26), and when the wind blows, asks if there's another "tomato" coming. I get the impression that he thinks a giant Bob the Tomato came walking through, and squished all these neighborhoods and woods he's seeing. Vaguely disturbing, I guess. Malvala bitter paint stuff has killed the thumb-sucking habit he established before birth.

Nathan is traveling a bit more this summer, and is especially excited about his trip to the Grand Cayman with his dad in July. I have to say seeing him walking about the house in flippers, snorkel, and goggles is DEFINITELY worth a pic. But he would kill me. And then slowly pull out my fingernails. And then kill me again. So we'll have to settle for reader's imagination.

As most of you know, we've begun attending a church close to home, the Pleasant Grove Pilgrim Nazarene Church. And Nathan has begun teaching the adult Sunday School class. As biased as I most assuredly am, he is fantabulous. And now, for your listening pleasure (spoken with great drama), he will be posting weekly audio online for whomever. He is working through the book of Hebrews, from start to finish. The first lesson covers the contentious debate of the authorship of Hebrews, and here it is! Enjoy!