This Week in Pictures

  Our sweet Angela has her glasses.  I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that she has bilateral amblyopia. She needs to wear glasses to correct it.  We are thankful we caught it at age almost 4. 

  Her first day with the glasses was yesterday, and she did fairly well with them.  It seems obvious she is seeing better.  However, it also has to be quite a change for her and occasionally she would take them off and abandon them in a random place.  We'll need to be diligent in having her wear them when she is awake.

 
  Isaac became a fluent reader when he was seven years old.  Unlike his big sisters, he has not enjoyed reading most fictional "chapter" books. Instead, he loves comic books and graphic novels.  Garfield is a particular favorite.  Garfield the Cat is not the greatest role model.  He is lazy, selfish, and greedy.  And funny.  I've allowed the kids to read Garfield because we've talked about his problems AND because Garfiled fairly often gets his comeuppence.  And yes, because he is funny. He is.  Needless to say, we'd never let a cat of ours give us such a hard time :-).
  Isaac also truly enjoys Tintin and Asterix graphic novels.  There is also a series of history comics called Chester Comix, and I purchased the whole set for Isaac.  When we were at the opthalmologist a couple of weeks ago, she noticed Isaac reading a Chester Comix with his patch on.  She said that I should encourage him to read books with small letters because that "pushes" his left eye to work hard.  So during this month when we are not doing "offical school", I will keep Isaac well supplied with comics and graphic novels so that he will give his left eye a visual workout.


  The baby went into the pool for the first time, safe in Daddy's arms.  She...wasn't too sure about it.   She was only in briefly, and then she was glad for me to lift her out and dry her off.

 
  Kevin is our gardener.  He put in the garden very late due to a variety of factors, but it is growing and thriving. 


  Cute kitten, cute Lydia



  July is our "month for projects" .  One project is for me and the big girls to work on their room.  They have a lot of stuff.  We are going through everything methodically and throwing out broken toys and junk, organizing, relocating, etc. 

   Learning to organize one's stuff is an important skill, and something I hope I can pass on well to our children.  I am not fabulous at it myself, but I'm pretty good.  I am not a pack rat at all, but it is sometimes difficult to find time to go through items and decide what to keep and what to throw away.

   We live in a culture where we can acquire many items cheaply and easily.  Therefore, the problem of our day is to make sure our "stuff" doesn't take over our space and our lives.  Right now, I am in decluttering mode.  A couple of friends kindly took some clothing for their kids, so we have a little more room in our basement. I'm moving blankets and spare pillows into storage.  I hope to reorganize some cabinets and cupboards.

  Today is July 3rd, and August 1st I plan to start school up for the 2011-2012 year.  So July is not going to be casual and relaxing. I have much to do.  But I like starting school early so that we have some "wiggle room" if something comes up later in the school year and we need to take some time off.