Doing Our Best Through February

That's Belle in line with friends to listen to a devotional by President Dallin H. Oaks at BYU-Provo

I hate to whine too much.

I count my blessings every single day.

I do!

It has been a rough few weeks, though.

For me.

Nothing huge has happened.

But I feel defeated anyway.

And I don't think I should pretend otherwise.

I'm old enough and experienced enough to know that seasons like this will pass.  I will feel light shining through me again, and I will see more clearly the good that I am doing.

Acknowledging the hard will, perhaps, make the joy all the sweeter.

Our habits and routines keep us grounded.

Morning Meeting continues to be our daily anchor.  We're reading, discussing, singing, and memorizing our way through scripture.

High School Studies have been simpler lately because between post-surgical healing and a cold, I haven't been up to putting notes up on the white board for history/geography.  We've focused instead on reading and narrating.  We finished A Separate Peace and are well into Great Expectations now.  My kids are dying over how just plain weird this book is, and I laugh every day at their reactions because it's so much a given in my English-major-in-college mind, but experiencing it again for the first time is a grand experience.

(Miss Havisham's wedding cake!?!?!?!)

The high schoolers are making progress individually, as well.  Of note are Little Princess' second taking of the ACT (She had a minor car accident on route to the test site!!  We're no longer hopeful that her score will be as high as we were previously hoping for.  She's physically okay, but she is very mentally/emotionally shaken.), Mister Man's progress in Electronics, and Ladybug's beginning to study for the driver permit exam.  (She's nearly 6 months from her last seizure, so she'll be clear to practice driving at that point.)

Family Studies are simple and sweet.  We finished The Princess and Curdie, and Breaking Stalin's Nose.  (Seriously, read this book!) We've begun to read The Turning by Gloria Whelan and The Diamond in the Window by Jane Langton.  

The Turning is about the fall of the USSR, and I keep wowing my kids by having memories of this in the news.  In addition, my dad took my siblings and me on a 90-day backpacking tour of Europe in 1991, and I have high school friends whose families escaped Soviet countries to the USA, so I have their personal stories to share.  My crew are generally open-mouthed with awe at some fact/story/memory or another each time we read together.

We completed our study of the circulatory system, and we are now reading about the cardiovascular system for human anatomy.

We're up to Richard M. Nixon in memorizing US presidents.

We're reading 2-3 poems at a time in our sweet little poetry book (all the small poems and fourteen more by Valerie Worth).

Dance is well under way with two review rehearsals over and our first of 4 shows in a row completed.

When Johnny Comes Marching Home

Tulsa Time

My cutie patootie baby class dancing to Where Has My Little Dog Gone?

Fire in the Hole

Seriously, she always has this face during dance.
Little Bitty

Froggy Went A'Courtin'

Ghost Riders in the Sky

Turkey in the Straw

The Can-Can

All 4 of my CAP members are trying to complete final requirements for promotions.  They've worked hard on both academic and physical requirements.

Here are some photos from the model rocketry class they attended a few weeks ago:

Little Princess was called to be the president of her class in church.  She called Ladybug to be one of her counselors.  They will be busy with planning meetings and serving the other young women in their class.

Ladybug and her favorite friend being silly at a church activity

The weather has been so spring-like that the kids have been playing outside with neighbor kids almost every day--lots of baseball.

We had Sugar Bear and The Munchkin over on Friday, so we spent 3 hours at a park.

Beowulf finished Math 6!!

I've been trying to play a game a week with someone or a group of someones.  It's my effort to do activities with the kids instead of working in the background.

We had a couple of psych appointments--nothing major to report.  

Ladybug is thriving in therapy; her therapist is young and enthusiastic and fun.

Today we're celebrating Valentine's Day as a family, but first we're attending an informational meeting about participating in Island Fest this spring!