Random Post about Life

I'm just going to ramble today.

First of all, Kevin and I are very excited because on Friday, we sent in our final payment on a big debt!  That was a significant goal in our lives, to get it paid off.  So that makes us happy.

I am taking off the week from "normal" school to work on a variety of projects around the house.  The children will still work on math and they will do some reading, and I hope to organize the papers we've generated thus far.  A fair number of people I know started school after Labor Day, and we started August 1st, so we can take a break.

Naomi and Lydia both have outside the home classes that march on. Naomi's English class at the local community college seems to be going well, though she hasn't gotten her first paper back yet.  She writes very well and has a phenomenal grasp of grammar.  She could seriously be an editor, she is that good.  Having said that, she has never taken an English class so of course she has to learn what her teacher wants and there may be some bumps along the road.  I am sure she will do well with hard work and natural ability.

I just went through the children's winter coat situation. It looks like everyone has a coat. That's good news.  Now I need to figure out whether everyone has snow pants and boots.

Isaac has grown SO MUCH this year.  Like, literally, 6 or 7 inches!  And every time we turn around, he seems to be taller.  He is very close to being as tall as his parents and he is only 13.  Stay tuned, he may surpass us all by inches!

I've had many 5 year olds before, but I don't remember any being as full of questions as this little lady.

I wonder, with some guilt, whether the other 5 yo's had a bazillion questions for me but I was so busy with the latest baby that I brushed them off some of the time. Maybe?

Anyway, Sarah has questions.  She asks about what makes rainbows. She asks about the world and the stars. She asks hard, complicated, challenging theological questions. I'm just going to be honest, that evenings are not my best time. By evening, I'm toast mentally.  And sometimes when I put Sarah to bed (she shares a room with Miriam and Angela), they bombard me with complicated theological questions while I'm reading the Bible to them.  Last night we talked about how God was "sorry he had made Saul king" and how God could be "sorry" when He knew ahead of time what Saul would do.  Wow.  Those are questions that challenge adult theologians. As Kevin said, sometimes it is fine to say "I don't know."  I do have thoughts on that and talked to the kids about them, about how there is the combination of God's knowledge of everything but there is free will as well. It is complicated.

Rose continues to be her own little barrel of monkeys, but maybe she is a LITTLE calmer?  

There are brief minutes when she plays with toys quite nicely.

Her room reflects the need for safety, though.  A mattress.  A tall wardrobe she can't climb.  Toys. That's it.  Her dresser is still out in the hall so she isn't climbing on it at night in her room.

I am working on Apologia Biology as Lydia was having a hard time with it.  My own biology knowledge is abysmal so I decided we'll work through the book together. It is, truthfully, incredibly interesting.  I am realizing that while I feel very busy, I DO have more time. I'm not pregnant, and I don't have a little baby to care for. Kevin's mom, since she has retired, has graciously helped us out with the kids quite a bit so I have more time to read and understand a biology book.

I'm doing more decluttering this week.  It never really ends.  I find the less we have, the easier it is to maintain the house in decent shape. On the other hand, we are effectively running a school here, so we do need quite a few books and other educational materials. We have a very large family so we have many clothes. It is obviously a balance.

It is mid September and our pool is cooling down.  It is now 70, which is colder than most of the kids can stand.  Angela is the notable exception. That girl is like a polar bear. She is incredibly thin and can't have much body fat, but she is very rarely cold.

I took over dumping chlorine in the pool this year.  I was very consistent and we had a great year. We didn't have any major algae blooms. So that was a win.

It has been a great pool year.  We had a very hot summer and the children swam a LOT.  Having said that, caring for the pool is hard work and I am always extra aware of the need to protect the littles when the pool is open.  So in some ways, it'll be nice to close it and cover it for the fall and winter.

Speaking of fall, I'm looking forward to it.  I used to be a hot weather person but now with chiggers driving me insane during the summer, I am more excited about cooler weather when fewer bugs are out there.  So September and October are now perhaps my favorite months of the year.

Happy Fall to you.