Our last year...whew!

So.....it's about time for a post, I'd say!

Life has been hectic, er, I mean, exciting, with three kids to train, homeschooling with a toddler underfoot, a child with food/health issues, work, etc., but it's been a great year! Here's a few things we've now got under our belt:

Enjoyed our first year in CC, or Classical Conversations, our Christian Classical homeschool community, where the girls watched a rocket launch and painted "Monet-like" masterpieces, memorized the world history timeline, and recited Latin among other things. I jumped in with both feet and taught a highly entertaining, bright-eyed class of 4-year-olds, aka "Abecedarians," or "ones who study the alphabet."

This was also our first year in CBS (Community Bible Study) where we studied some of Paul's letters in the New Testament. I enjoyed "grown-up lady time" in core group while the little ones sang, did crafts, played, and memorized scripture. I don't have to worry about finding another Bible study next year because our group has homeschool classes for the kids all the way up through high school (if I'm that brave!).

We loved our field trips to Avery's Branch Farm and the Pumpkin Patch in the fall and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra and Baltimore Aquarium in the spring. Then there was a trip to see my baby sister graduate college in South Carolina in May, the Virginia State Fair in October, a trip to Philly in December, and overnight trips to Massanutten and North Carolina in the last two months. We have put some *serious* miles on the minivan!

We were so thrilled to welcome Harleigh Ann, my niece and the girls' cousin, in September. Cousin Preston is doing a great job as a big brother and Harleigh is getting cuter each time I see her!

Congrats as well to my cousin, Laura and her husband, Jake on the birth of Olivia Grace!

John is still enjoying his job selling insurance policies to companies and life insurance to individuals. He is on the road quite a bit and that can get very tiring!

(Disclaimer: Here comes the kid-bragging, so avert your eyes if you're not up for that! ;)

Mary Beth has become a fluent and avid reader! Although technically she's in second grade, she loves math and is progressing in 3rd grade math now with learning her multiplication tables. Soon we will also begin cursive writing and hopefully piano lessons.

Abigail is well on her way to reading as she continues to practice phonics. She enjoys playing with manipulative while learning math and is she *ever* on a puzzle kick recently! (Seriously, as in doing the same puzzle six times in a row!) She has come a long way this school year and is somewhere between kindergarten and first grade.

Maggie enjoys puzzles, music, baby dolls, and dancing to any tune she hears! She has had her share of tantrums, but overall she is a mild-natured child. She is almost always smiling and will chum up to almost anyone within seconds of meeting. This child seems to have no fear!!!!

We have all been learning Ephesians 6 which was our passage of Scripture at CC this year. The girls also learned and had fun in camp at the CC practicum in May with Mary Beth in Geo Draw Camp and Abigail in Play Camp.

Both older girls completed their second year of tap and ballet. It may have been their last (sniff, sniff). We might try soccer this year. I'm hopeful but not too sure how the schedule will work out with that. We shall see.

As part of our nature studies, we hatched painted lady butterflies in our butterfly habitat which was a huge hit! See the video below. The girls have also caught, studied, and released many toads, grasshoppers, and praying mantids (yes, that is the correct plural form, I just checked).

Mary Beth and Abigail were stunning little flower girls in their Uncle Brian's wedding and then again in their Aunt Melissa's wedding--and John and I were proud to serve as honor attendants for our siblings and give some rockin' toasts!

I must give a shout out to my baby sis, Melissa and her new hubby, Philip--congrats, you two! Too bad for us East Coasters the lovebirds moved to a land far, far away (aka Denver). *Sob!* It's not the same without you!!!!

Maggie kept me on my toes as I chased her all over the house and all over town. That girl loves to tear up my house! If she weren't so cute.....;) And my part-time job tutoring students was a blessing--how lucky am I to get 3 different kids who were all fantastic!

This summer our plans include attending Vacation Bible School and visiting the dollar movies, the pool, the beach and botanical gardens and the Science Museum.

I am thankful that things have slowed down quite a bit from the school year, although it never seems like I have time to really catch up. I'm hoping to finally make it to my scrapbooking club in the next week!

And yes, we are still trying to sell our house! Uggggg.....

It's so easy to get frustrated, overwhelmed, just plain tired, and to wish and dream for a different season of life, but then I reflect over *just* the past year and how quickly those special moments and difficult times passed.

Sure, I dream of a big house with space to stretch out, rooms to organize, shelves upon shelves of books, and no doubt the unhurried, leisurely afternoons to enjoy it all. I wistfully glance at the latest HGTV episodes about how to have the perfect living space. I yearn for trips to Europe and the Virgin Islands...but for now I have little ones to train and soon these days will be gone. As the song goes, "You're gonna miss this, you're gonna want this back, you're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast..."