Update

Yes, I know, it has been a while. I fear I have lost the blogging bug. Part of it is the loss of my camera--I don't feel like taking many pictures since they all come out poorly and part of it is a lack of any interesting anecdotes or happenings that seem worth sharing. Then again, I think it might just be that I have the winter blues. There is also the fact that any free time I have is spent reading. I am a Jane Austen fan, right? Well, my sister, Jen, told me of a website, the Derbyshire Writer's Guild, on which is a plethora of Jane Austen FanFiction. There are so many fun stories to read some that are complete and others that I wait ever-so-patiently for their weekly updates. I can't seem to get enough of Darcy and Elizabeth and all their fellow characters, some new some old, in whatever form the story of Pride and Prejudice can be told. It's fabulous! My very thoughtful father has enabled me in this new addiction by gifting me (and my sisters) with books on Jane Austen for Valentine's Day. What goes better together than Valentine's and Jane Austen, I ask. It was very sweet of him don't you think?

But I do manage to get other things done during the day too. As little as I mention it, I should make it known that we are still homeschooling. Noah is doing so well too. He is now able to read out of level 2 readers and his favorite are the Henry and Mudge books. A couple of days last week he actually brought them to me to read instead of waiting for me to tell him it was time and instead of just reading one chapter like he normally does he read the whole book through. I think he is starting to see how much fun reading can be and that is the most exciting thing to me! We have been working a lot on telling time too. I remembered an old clock that I had put away in a drawer so I got that out and took the plastic cover off and wrote the minutes around the outside and we use that to practice. Now, when he wants to know what time it is he can figure it out for himself and he doesn't even run to the digital clock in the kitchen any more to do it. The living room clock, which seemed so daunting at first because the numbers are Roman Numerals, is a piece of cake to figure out.

For the past couple of weeks we have spent our Thursday afternoons at the Children's Museum because someone organized a series of homeschool science classes. The first was "Bugs and Botany" the second, "Edison's Attic", this week's is the third session and is on inventing and the fourth is "CSI 101" in which the kids will get to solve a crime. Noah has really enjoyed them and Lily has been well entertained exploring in the museum. We will soon start a new session of Monday Homeschool classes as well and this time Lily will have her own pre-school class to participate in and Noah will be playing soccer. If he enjoys it, I will probably sign him up for town soccer in the spring.

This past weekend was a bit out of the ordinary for us. Noah went to his cousin, Alex's, birthday party on Saturday and then spent the night as well and Grammy and Grampy were nice enough to take Ariel and Lily overnight so Luke and I were left childless for most of a day and night. We went and spent the afternoon with U2 at the theatre and finally used a gift card for the Macaroni Grill that we had received for Christmas. It was rather enjoyable and was especially nice to be able to sleep in the next morning and wake up at our own leisure not have to worry about feeding the kids and getting them ready for church and what-not. It of course went by too fast in my opinion but it was also nice to see the kids and know that we had been missed.

Since the last pictures were taken, Noah has lost another tooth. We asked him if he wanted to put them under his pillow for the tooth fairy but he said very matter-of-factly that she isn't real so why would he do that. This of course made his father very proud. He did suggest that maybe we could send them to Grandma because, wouldn't she really like to see his teeth? While I found this very 'endearing' I guess, I thought maybe we shouldn't. He has since forgotten about them and they still sit somewhere in an envelope awaiting the addition of yet more baby teeth. Apparently this marks some sort of rite of passage for him because he announced that he was quite ready to give up his Batman toothbrush for an adult one.

I regret the lack of information on our dear Liliana but she seems to be in a bit of a lull developmentally. Not much is changing for her. Actually she seems to be attempting to remain a baby for as long as she possibly can. She has completely stopped any and all potty-training business and absolutely refuses to give up her pacifier. And all may say, just put your foot down and get it done. Well, I have tried that. I have tried it all. I have gone to my wits-end and back trying to get it done. I have decided that the strain on our relationship is just not worth it and I would much rather that my daughter like me and I like her at this point in her young life. So, those battles have been abandoned for the time being. Please, don't tell the pediatrician, ok?

She does have a new favorite past time and that is playing computer games. In one sense this is a good thing because it does mean that she has mastered the hand-eye coordination necessary to work the track-ball. However, from the moment she wakes up til the time she goes to bed she asks me if she can play games. As I am unwilling for her to spend the entire day staring at the computer screen, the words "Not right Now", "No" and "Maybe Later" are heard more often than normal around here. I will say at least that the games she plays are mostly educational. So, they aren't a complete waste of time. Hopefully soon the out of doors will be more appealing than they are right now and will provide a better distraction from said games and other sedentary pursuits. I cannot wait for spring.

So, that is our life in a nutshell. Sorry for the absence of posts recently. You'll have to wait and see if the lull has indeed lifted...

It's all a blur...

I think there is something wrong with my camera. Most of my pictures come out blurry now. At first I thought it was just a lighting thing but it seems to be almost all my pictures now. I'm a little annoyed. I don't know what I am going to do about it. This is just in explanation of the poor quality of Noah's pictures...sorry.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

On Thursday we got our first major snow of the season. It was quite the storm: it started in the late morning and came down 2-3 inches an hour for a while. They had closed all the schools ahead of time and after it started most businesses closed (including Luke's) and parts of the 2 major highways were closed throughout the state as well. By the time it was done late in the evening we had approximately 11 inches of snow on the ground.

I was reminded of "The Long Winter" in the Little House series. What a depressing story that was! I can't imagine being pounded by blizzard after blizzard in which you can't see 2 feet in front of you and it's so cold that the wood stove only manages to warm a small area right around it. I say thank goodness for insulation and furnaces and global warming for that matter! I'm sure places even further north than we are get really hard winters with more snow than I've experienced but I doubt it's on that scale anymore.

A train stuck in the snow in Southern MN, March 29, 1881

Saturday the kids spent some time out side playing in the snow. They had a grand time and lasted longer than I expected.

And today we are stuck at home because of more winter weather. This time it is a yucky "wintry mix" . It was raining when we woke up and now it is snowing and up where my sister and brother-in-law live it is even worse...they can't get out of their driveway and since we go to their house for church we have had to call it off this week. So, next week we will have to catch up in our Advent celebration. Can you believe that Christmas is next week?!

New Pictures

Apparently it takes my "cranky" sister bugging me before I will update my blog. So here's the latest pics of the kids:

Baking Fall inspired sugar cookies:

YUM!

And here they are just bein' silly.

(I made Noah's hat and scarf. Lily's was a gift to me from Nina, my knitting instructor)

Life has been quiet here lately. We've had no visitors and made no trips and thank goodness we have not been sick with the stomach bug like some of my blogging friends are posting about. We are planning a trip back to the 'Burgh for Christmas/New Years however (please make note all those who are reading this and live there...starting Dec 29th) and I am really looking forward to spending the holidays there with my family for the first time in I think 8 years...entirely too long!

In other news out of left field: I have discovered a strange connection between Connecticut and Western PA. Apparently we are drawn to this area for unexplained reasons. I have been having very "It's a small world" experiences recently and several have been with people from that area. Just yesterday I discovered that friends, who we met recently through Monday Homeschool Classes, grew up in New Castle. She actually knew about Geveva College...no one here has ever even heard of Geneva College! Very interesting (well, it was to me anyway).

Another Scorcher

It's been a really hot week: every day a little hotter than the one before. Today it is 91 degrees and there is not a cloud in sight to break the intensity of the sun (even though the humidity is pretty high and they're calling for scattered thunderstorms). I have taken Noah and his friend Sophia to swimming lessons every morning and sweated it out while they frolicked in the water and complained of being cold. I would have paid money to be able to get in with them. It's a good thing the lessons are only 35 minutes long. Next week is supposed to be more of the same but Sophia's mom will be going to the pool while I will get to stay with her two younger kids and Lily at her nicely air conditioned house. I am so glad that we were able to get the kids in the same session because I can't even imagine having to take Lily with me. It would have been a battle every day to keep her out of that pool and I probably would have fainted from heat exhaustion. I met another homeschooling mom there and another who goes to the women's Bible Study I used to attend and will be again in September. As big as this town is, it's still got a small-town feel to it, which is really nice.

Today Luke had the day off but had to go to the doctor for a long over due physical (I really hope he gets a good report) so we weren't able to do any special day trips like we wanted to. Instead, he spent the morning putting together bunk beds for the kids. Gone are the Thomas the Tank Engine toddler bed and the crib that has been a constant fixture for over 5 years now. The kids are "napping" in there right now. And I say "napping" because I think they are experiencing the newness of the beds rather than sleeping in them. Noah doesn't even take naps anymore but he was thrilled at the possibility today. He has been so excited about these bunk beds for so long and now, finally, he has achieved the dream. It remains to be seen whether either of them will actually achieve a dream state in them however. So far, Lily has not been climbing in and out of her bed, which was my biggest concern, so that's a good sign.

I plan on remaining cosseted in my room for the rest of the day enjoying the cool of the air conditioner. We do not have any downstairs and it is rather steamy down there. Who knows what dinner will be tonight since I don't plan on turning on any heating elements in the kitchen. Last night we had pizza delivered and watched a movie on the laptop while we dined in the bedroom. You just can't do pizza every night though.

And here is Noah now--apparently he wasn't that tired after all. He reports that Lily is indeed asleep. Success!

It's been awhile...

I feel the need to post something though there just isn't much to tell you about. The weather has been so nice that we have been spending a lot of time outside recently. Last week started out so miserably but turned gorgeous the last couple of days and it happened to be spring vacation so there was no school. We were able to spend most of the day at a park with friends on Friday. Saturday I spent the day trimming the copious hedges around our house. They reside on three sides of our house and have been in need of a trim since we moved in. I finally borrowed my father-in-laws hedge trimmer and had a blast cutting all the ugly brown scraggly stuff away and now they are somewhat uniform in shape. Luke would have done it but for some reason I really wanted to. It was really hard work but it was rather rewarding. Hopefully we are going to be able to just rip out the hedges in front because they are a sorry site with dead spots and what not but we'll see if that actually happens this year.

This week I have been a helping mom at Noah's school, which is always an interesting experience. 18 little boys and girls in one room...need I say more? Friday is my last day this year (this is my fourth week) and I'm mostly happy about that--it's just been more fun then I expected it to be I guess and it also means that the year is coming to an end, which will be sad for Noah. You can definitely tell by the kids behavior though that they are getting ready for it to be over. They just don't listen quite as well, they get more excited and are a lot louder than normal and I've noticed that they just aren't as nice to each other. Noah has made so many good friends this year and I hope that he will be able to maintain some of these friendships even though they won't be going to school together any more. But then I guess that's more up to me than him.

It's not a Dyson...

But it works! I am so excited because I got a new vacuum. The old one was ok but not working so great anymore and when I ran out of bags, we decided it was time to just replace the machine instead of making the trek to Sears to replace the bags. So, now I have a bagless vaccuum in which I can see all the dirt that was picked up after one trip around the living room and I feel like my floors are so much cleaner (even if they aren't--perception is key) than they used to be. Ah, the simple pleasures...

A Most Depressing Sight

Notice the date. Yes, these were taken today, April 5th! This weekend is Easter for crying out loud. It's supposed to be warmish not snowing! Granted the snow squall did not last long but it's dang cold out there! I just hope it's warm enough this weekend so that Lily can wear the pretty new spring dress I bought for her with the money that Grandma sent for her birthday (at least I bought a sweater to go over it). We also have a sunrise service planned for Easter, which will not be very fun if there is no visible sunrise and it's as cold as it is today...we have it in the meadow outside our friend's house and last year it was really quite lovely. Ah well.

Ooh, a Contest!

I found out about this from my sister's blog and now I'm passing it on too. 5 minutes for Mom is giving away a free Dyson vaccuum. Click on the first link and enter the contest.