Recap of Celebratory Events

In spite of the previously mentioned virus making his way through my home at present, yesterday was a glorious day.

My first thought upon waking was mom. I heard her voice singing "Happy Birthday" to me. It was always her job to be the first to call and sing loud and off key this traditional song. Even when she felt her worst, she would call. Then the brothers started trying to beat her to the punch, and sometimes they would win, so they all started getting smarter about this impromptu competetion and would call me at o'dark-thirty. I got a bit smarter, remembering to turn the phones off before I would go to bed.

Well, yesterday, even though mom isn't here to call, I still heard her singing. I awoke, glanced at her smiling face which sits upon my dresser and instantly heard her singing and laughing.

After this, I dragged my older, however much wiser, behind down the stairs to beautiful childrens' voices saying, "Happy Birthday, Mommy!" (is there anything more wonderful than that??!!)

The phone began to ring. First my brother in Mass. His annual call. We joked about the fact that I never hear from him unless it's his annual birthday call. Then my eldest daughter Alicia showed up and brought these



She wrote a wonderful card which brought tears to my eyes. It would have brought tears to your eyes too, especially if you are a mom...

Not long after she arrived, my dear friend Mary and her daughter stopped by to deliver these




She told me they were her favorite colors. And they are beautiful!

Later in the afternoon, my brother, Kevin stopped by to wish me a Happy day and then asked me if I had received his text message. I had not turned on my cell phone, so I had to run and check it. Sure enough, at 12:00 am exactly, I was text messaged the "Happy Birthday" song... cute, sweet, but mom still wins... I actually heard her singing...

As the day gave way to runny noses, fevers, and sore throats, I was pretty sure the celebration would be quite muted as the children were not up to Red Robining or much more than chicken soup and bed. But they did not give in so quickly.

Fish was so precious as he delivered these




He was so proud that he picked them out himself and suggested that we place them next to our blessed Mother and the image of the Sacred Heart.

Then Foo presented me with these



Not only are they my most favorite flower, they are my favorite color!! Beautiful!

Finally, Lem offered her gift to me and my heart was singing because these were always mom's favorite



My wonderful husband, seen here doing what he loves to do



prepared a wonderful spaghetti dinner, complete with my favorite, GARLIC BREAD, (yummy!), birthday cake, and ice cream. And I abandoned my sugar fast and indulged completely!

His gift was over the top. A 19" flat screen monitor for the computer. Yes, folks, no more 13" screen for me! I can now sit more than 6" away from the screen to do my work and still see it! Thank you sweetie! My eyes really love you right now!

Boo's godmother stopped by on Tuesday and gave me a wonderful gift. I have never read "Jane Eyre", however, it is now adorning my bedside table waiting to be read. (I know, I know, how can it be that I have never read this??!!)

I had several other calls, emails and visits that were so much appreciated. Do I feel loved?? You bet! And my home looks so sweet with all of these beautiful flowers.

Thank you to all for the well wishes, prayers, and happy thoughts. They have been well received!

Happy Day, sort of!

Well, today was the day I celebrated the big 41... Older than dirt now, I suppose, but really good dirt, ya know...

Unfortunately, as much as the kiddos wanted to celebrate by relieving me of my "teacher" duties, I did not allow them that priviledge, until they started dropping like flies!

One by one each appeared with runny noses, sore throats, and finally fevers. Fun. Even the boo bear has a fever. He was kind enough to pose for this cute picture though!

School began Monday for us here at Holy Oak Catholic Home School. It is going well, despite the illnesses and threats of birthday celebrations.

I am planning to post our curriculum as soon as I can figure out how to post them as a link. I'll be calling in the Bean for help on that one.

For now, I must go, Boo is not happy and actually calling MAMAMAMAMA!!! He must NOT be feeling well!

We did it!

Saturday marked a day of celebration after many months, truly years of hard work and dedication.

The morning began with Fish testing with his Tiger Team and achieving his Cheetah patch! He did a great job and so did his fellow classmates.

The afternoon promised to be full of wonderful moments as my three older children, Foo, Bean, and Lem all tested and then participated in the Black Belt ceremony.

Foo became an official 2nd Degree black belt, Bean and Lem both passed their mid-terms with flying boards, I mean colors, and even my sister and I made the transition from white belts to orange, with our wonderful classmate, Misty! (you go girl!!)

I became extremely nervous about an hour before the testing. It came upon me very suddenly and I suppose it was because I really wasn't thinking about the fact that I was testing, rather I was consumed with making sure that the children all had their things together, uniforms pressed, and snacks in tow.

Once they headed up to the school to help get things started, I began to realize that I was testing and the nerves hit, HARD!

I didn't do as well as I had hoped on my form, but I did have a great time, especially watching all of the other students testing and breaking boards, sparring, etc.

Seeing our friend AW was a wonderful treat and a great source of support. Thanks for coming AW!!

I am so proud of my kids, my sister, my buddy Misty, and all of the great kiddos at the TKD school. It is so wonderful to have such a great sense of extended family.

Congratulations to all who tested. You make all of us so proud!

Since I can't seem to upload pictures tonight for some reason, check out MickeyMiss's blog!!

Sad News

Nothing life threatening or earth shattering, but I now remember WHY we don't grow tomatoes here...

For the past several weeks, the kids and I have painstakingly watched over and cared for our 4 tomato plants only to produce ONE, I'll say it again, ONE stinkin' tomato.

It was a beautiful ONE, perfectly shaped, great size, and days from becoming ripe.

I have pondered in my mind how, once this lovely specimen was prime for harvesting, I would split it between seven of us. I thought to myself, self, take a picture of it with the kids, you know, for the blog update!

Well, the other day, shortly after noticing that the tomato was on target for harvesting according to our calendar dates, the tomato went missing! AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Some lowly critter has apparently been eyeballing our fruity attempts and took advantage of our inexperience in gardening swiping the relished reward before we could harvest it ourselves.

We have several disappointed folks around these parts, and inquiring minds as to why out of 4 plants we have only been able to grow one tomato.

On the other hand, the basil is doing well! I guess critters don't like basil...

I am coming out of my self-imposed blog restriction for a brief moment. I want to share with anyone who reads my blog my current music obsession.

Mainstay was discovered quite by circumstance by my daughter and FANTASTIC sister MC a few months ago.

At first, I really didn't "get" the music. They are a Christian band, yet the lyrics didn't really seem to promote Christianity in the way I have been accustomed to. Then my darling husband, (he has no blog, so I can't link to him... HINT) found the lyrics online with an explanation behind them.

Once I read the thoughts behind the words I was blown away. This is hard-core, in your face, accountability laden, Christian music.

It's been in my CD player for about 6 months now and has yet to come out. I doubt it will anytime soon, unless they cut another CD soon!

Check out their music. You won't be sorry!

Feeling Buried!

It's been too long since posting, but I have been totally enveloped with planning our school year, set to start on Monday.

I think I finally have our studies set, which leaves me to divide it up week by week.

My brain is really tired, so any posts I would have would most probably be very uninspiring.

Back to scheduling and planning now...

I hope to return full force next week!

Graduation

After almost 8 months of attending Kid Potential, Lem has graduated! She is reading most anything she would like to read and writing letters and notes all of the time.

We are so proud of her! Thank you to all of the wonderful folks at KPI who worked so much with her. And thank you to Aunt MC and Lem's siblings who attended her graduation. A special thank you to Mr. M who wanted to be there with all of his might...

Watch out world, Lem is on the loose!

See my muscles, Mama!?!

Question of the week

Ok, so I'm a few days late in posting this, I apologize.

One night I was listening to our local Christian Radio station, KSBJ, while a very interesting topic was being discussed.

The interviewer, and I am afraid I don't know who he was, asked this question and it has been swimming around in my head ever since.

How do we live our lives, as if we fear God, or fear man?

Since I've heard the term, "God-fearing" I must admit I have never really understood it. I mean, in my world, God is all-loving and all-knowing. To think that I must be AFRAID of Him baffled me.

But when I heard this question on the radio, I think I finally captured a glimpse of what is meant by "God-fearing".

Unfortunatley, as much as I think I love God and try to seek His will in my life, I am guilty of worrying more about what others think than what my God will think. At least at first. Which is often times why I need to go back and change my mind or my opinion about things. And being an impulsive type personality that says whatever comes to the tip of my tongue, I usually have some apologizing to do with that.

This is an area I am working on...still... probably forever. I need to think for sometime before acting, commenting, or even internally reacting to a given situation. I desire so much to fear God more than man. I desire to love Him above all things, but my humanity keeps me from meeting my goals more often than not.

The question then is this:

Whom do you fear more, God or man, honestly?

Also, this week, please keep Moneybags in your continued prayers. He has just made his decision regarding his call to the priesthood.

It's a bird!



It's A Plane!



It's SUPER BOO!!

WHAT???!!! This green stuff is GOOD for me??!!!

Question of the Week

Since I'm in school planning and organization mode around here, I haven't much time to blog, at least not with any consistency right now, so I thought I'd select a question each week to ponder.

Feel free to comment publicly or email me privately. Or just read and reflect on your own.


My question this week is this.

What would you most like to be remembered for?

In reading St. Francis de Sales, he points out that after we die, it is not long before we are forgotten. Of course our children will remember us, probably our grandchildren, (who will only remember us as older folks), and if we are very blessed, maybe even a few great-grandchildren will we get to meet and they might remember us. But within about 50 years after our death, not many, if any, will recall who we are.

Obviously, living our lives for Christ, striving for holiness so that we can live with Him forever in Heaven is or should be the forefront of our lives. Does our life reflect this? If you were to die today, what would you most be remembered for?

A Pirate's Life

Our day as pirates started as any good day does, readying the mates for our voyage.

After collecting the crew and piling them into the Ship Suburban, we headed over the stormy seas to our dear Auntie's house. There we embibed ourselves with yummy bbq sandwiches and soda, not to mention brownies, popsicles, and other pleasantries.

After watching Pirates #1 to prime ourselves for the big show, we, all 11 of us, boarded ship again, and headed for the big island in the center of the big blue to view the newest chapter in Jack Sparrow's quirky life.

We were able to commandeer enough tickets to get us in at the last minute and we were even fortunate enough to get seats in a pretty good section of the theater.

The movie was better than I expected. I do not typically hold up high hopes for sequels, but this one did make the grade. It is rated PG-13, as it should be. There is no nudity, but the violence that is implied (nothing shown) and the scary factor on some of the characters, would make me really think about taking young children under 10 to see it. My children, guinea pigs for this event, did pretty well, but they have seen their fair share of movies which I would rather they have not seen. My four-year old, Fish, loves Star Wars, and though I thought it might be a bit to scary for him, he was actually more interested in going home after an hour. His attention span leaves room for improvement. He was not scared, did not have any scary dreams, but he lives for battle scenes. If he doesn't get to see them, he makes them up on his own.

Lem, my 8 year old, was a bit more in tuned to the scary parts, but enjoyed the movie nevertheless.


Our family really enjoyed the show. We give it an official F Troop 2 swords up!

In Honor of Jack Sparrow

Fish saw this costume at the store today and just had to have it!! He can't wait to go to the "Pirate of the Carrot Bean" party tomorrow!!

Looking forward to an afternoon of Pirates 1, dinner, then on to see Pirates 2.

Good thing my family enjoys being together. I think we are revving up for our trip in October!!

When Foo babysits...

Boo Bear....




Oh, Boo Bear....




THERE YOU ARE!! Boo, toys go in the basket, not babies....

Have a Happy Day!

Happy 4th of July!

One Nation, UNDER GOD, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for ALL!

Prayer for the Salvation of the World

Father, hear our prayers for the salvation of the world. Grant Mercy to all souls that turned away from you. Open their hearts and minds with Your light.

Gather your children from the east and the west, from the north and the south. Have mercy O God on those who do not know You. Bring them out of darkness into your light. You are our saving God who leads us in our salvation. Protect us from evil.

Bless and praise You O Lord, hear our prayers and answer us. You, our Savior, are the hope of all the ends of the Earth and the distant seas. May Your way be known upon Earth; among all nations Your salvation.

We put the world in Your hands; fill us with Your love. Grant us peace through Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

The Devil Will Never Win

The last few days have been strange and obscure. Issues have come up which seem to appear from no where. I can only say that Satan is trying to have his way with me and those I love so much.

I recalled to mind last night at Mass, Christ has already won the battle, he's won the war. I totally trust my Savior to take care of each of my concerns. They may not turn out exactly how I'd like, but they will always reflect God's glory!

My prayer this night is for all of those who feel abandoned, for just a moment, I pray you can feel His presence as He embraces you.

Week in Review

I haven't had the time I'd like to blog lately. My vocation as mother seems to be calling me into different directions right now.



We've had a pretty busy week, as we usually seem to do. Em is still attending KPI and should be finishing up by the end of July, I hope. She is reading at grade level now and spelling has improved greatly. We are focusing on the more complex codes and memory skills which will in turn help with math applications.



A has moved back into the home for a temporary stay. She will be finding her own apartment within the month. The roommate scene did not work very well for her. Adjusting to having an adult-child move back home has been interesting. For her, having to answer to a curfew, house rules that are not hers, sharing space with siblings, etc., for us, realizing that we can't really "discipline" her anymore. She is not a child, not really fully grown, but legally she is responsible for herself and we can only offer encouragement, wisdom, experience, and advice (which isn't always welcomed).

I remember when I was this age (18.5). I knew everything. I was so much smarter than my parents. They had no clue what the real world was like. And then, one day, in fact, it was a few short hours after A was born, I realized I knew absolutely nothing, was scared to death and only wanted my mommy!!

Well, how the times have changed. You see, I am now the one who doesn't understand how things work. I don't have a clue how the real world works, and I don't know very much. And A thinks this too!!



Bean enjoyed her first full week of being 15. Her wonderful friends picked her up last night for a surprise luau. They had a wonderful time together. This week will greet her with Algebra I waiting in the wings. She needs to get through her lessons so that she can move onto Geometry.
She also authored her own blog this week. I won't be posting her blog here, however, for safety reasons.



Foo also began his hand at blogging this week. He is so excited about writing! Little do either of them know that this is my sneaky way of watching their writing skills develop. (always the homeschooling mom, you know.)



Fish enjoyed showing me his handstand that he can perform on the trampoline. Then we checked in on our tomatoes and herbs. We counted two tiny green tomatos, beautiful little babies! The basil and parsley are doing very well, however, the cilantro has seen better days. The oregano and thyme have not grow very much. I wonder if they aren't good choices for container gardening.



Baby Boo is sitting up so much better now. We still need to place pillows around him for when he topples over, but he is enjoying reaching out for his toys and practicing his new skill. At 8.5 months, he probably should be doing a bit more moving around, but for his size (over 22 lbs) I think he is right on track.



I've been working on planning our school year most of this week. I am refocusing my efforts toward The Latin Centered Curriculum. I have also been trying to plan our trip this fall to Florida. We have a family reunion planned and we can't wait to get there! I might be going a bit overboard, however, as evidence by my dreams last night. I was walking around in Orlando all the while translating signs into Latin...

A neat site I found for those of you interested in translating Latin - Harrius Potter I think Bean will be spending some time with that site.
It looks like fun!

A new blog to visit

If you are looking for a wonderfully refreshing view of the world, please check out my dear sister's blog, The MickeyMiss Club.

OH MOOOOMMYYYYY

I am ready for church!!!!

Our helper

Lawn work never looked so cute!

Incredible Story

About a year ago, I picked up a book at Kroger for Bean to read. It was called Gianna.

I found it an amazing story and was somewhat surprised that I had not heard about her before.

Then Laura stopped by my blog and I visited hers where I found this. ** Note** You may need to scroll up to see the post. I can't seem to fix this issue. *** You must read it. For the sake of any unborn child, you must.

Does anyone else

find Target's newest marketing campaign highly annoying if not offensive, but unfortunately true to life??

(Did anyone find that statement unbearable to read?)

Target is singing

"I want it, I need it" to which is answered "We got it!"

I find this so sad that our wants are now being recognized as our needs.

I suppose this has been the "theme" for our society for some time, but for Target to be so bold as to advertise with it?!

Do we really even know what our needs are anymore? Do I need new clothes? Do I need to get out and see a new movie or indulge in some supposed well-deserved mom-time out?

I think we have grown accustomed to having that which is necessary so easily attained that we now believe that our wants are actually needs.

Of course, having things is very nice. I enjoy most everything I have. I am very blessed and very grateful (usually), but I do feel much guilt over spending so much money on frivolous things when others go without true needs such as food, water, shelter, and basic clothing, not to mention medicines, jobs, and most importantly, love.

How do we balance our needs and wants? How do we recognize/trust that God will provide all that we need?

Do I have more than I need, and if so, how is it justified?

I certainly do not have answers to these ramblings, but I am interested in what others think.

Perhaps Multum non multa can apply to more than just our curriculum this year.

So much to choose from

I have so many things that I could/should be doing at the moment, but alas, here I sit on my blog, churning ideas in my mind.

I was at my spinning class tonight and heard several women discussing how much time was left for summer vacation. One woman replied... "AN ETERNITY!" Everyone laughed. Everyone that is, except me.

I used to feel the way this woman does. Summer break was entirely too long. I could not handle being around my kids that long. Why couldn't we have year-round schooling??

Today, I look at summer-break as the time I spend relaxing with the kids, doing things we don't normally get to do (besides catching up on laundry) and planning our next school year. This year, I've also comitted to getting back into shape and studying Latin myself.

When this question came up tonight, my first thought was, "Only 6 weeks?!! Oh my goodness, I've got so little time left to play! I need to plan some FUN for the kids and I!" Yes, I even thought about running out of time for planning our next school year.

My goal for the next several weeks is to enjoy these dog days of summer. The 90 degree + heat by curling up with books, eating watermelon, and maybe even slipping in a nature walk in the early morning hours. The schedules can wait, but my children can not.

8 months old!

I can not believe how quickly the time goes while watching this wonderful baby boy grow! I don't think I've ever seen a more content child.

Things he can do now:

Sit up, but be ready to catch him

Babble, "Ba ba ba ba"

Run over anyone's toes in his walker, no favoritism shown to anyone, including ME!

Sleep

Fake cough... pretty funny!

Play Peek-a-boo

Bite the "hand" that feeds him... not so funny!!

Happy Birthday, Bean!

Our sweet little angel came into this world 15 years ago today. We are so proud of her and enjoy watching her transform from a wonderful young girl into a remarkable, brilliant, kind, and loving young woman.



Of course, with 15 comes the learner's permit, held high over her head with chants of "FINISH UP YOUR ALGEBRA!!"

As you can see, from an early age, Bean has been pining away for her dream car, currently one of these...



People are kind enough to remind us of how beautiful Bean is, and yes, we agree, but what these pictures can never show someone is the beauty that she has inside. She loves life, loves her family, and loves Christ. She strives to serve Him in most everything she does, and wouldn't that make any parent proud?

So please join me in wishing our little girl a very happy birthday. May God continue to reveal Himself to you and may you always feel His love as well as ours! We are so PROUD to call you daughter!



God has blessed our lives
By loaning us his daughter
Love with gentle touch

A Belated Father's Day Wish

Though my post is late, my wishes and prayers for Father's every where is not.

I thank my Heavenly Father for the blessing of my wonderful husband, the best father for our children. He is the maker of my dreams, the shelter in the storm, the rock on the sand. He is all that I hope my children will someday aspire to be.

I thank Him for my beloved father who is so far away physically, but never in spirit.

I thank Him for a father in law who treats me as his very own. He has taught me more about unconditional love and living your faith out loud than anyone I have ever known.

I thank Him for my brother and brother in law. They have made me an aunt to some of the greatest kids in the world. Being an aunt is an extension of motherhood that helps me to embrace love on levels that I never knew existed.

Happy Father's Day, today and everyday.

Sons with phases

Poor Foo is trying to find his place in this world. Not quite old enough to fit in with the teens, but too old to fit in with the little kids.

Eleven. The beginning of the tween years. These days, I can find him in his room, trying to figure out something important to do. He is so pensive, so insightful, and as always, so thoughtful of others.

Praying that he moves from this phase of childhood into young adolesence with great ease and sense of self.

Speaking of phases...

We thought we had been blessed with a child who might actually enjoy and appreciate the benefits of sleep!

Until last week, little Boo would go down at about 8 pm and sleep until 6 or 7 am, nurse for a bit and then sleep at least another hour.

Lately, we are on the dreaded 'wake up every 2 hours' loop. Did I mention that I am quite the grumpy soul when I don't get a full night's sleep?

This I am definately praying is a phase.

Is it any wonder...

that Fish woke up this morning, snuggled into bed with me and asked, "can we slap bad guys?" To which my thought is, "exactly what did you dream about?!"

I inform him that it would not be nice to slap anyone, bad guys included.

He then confides to me "When I grow up, I want to be a POLICE OFFER!!" (no, that is not a misspelling)

I have to admit that while I applauded his decision and hugged him and told him how proud I was of him, inside, my heart sank. I am embarrassed and ashamed that it did, but it did.

My selfish-self reared it's ugly head. I couldn't help but think of all the good men in this field today that put their lives on the line every day of the week all in the name of justice. I don't want my baby to fall prey to some "bad guy" out there.

Quickly, I admonished myself and considered that Fish's call may well be to become a POLICE OFFER, and who am I to stand in his way.

then I prayed it was just a phase...

Mr. Campbell, please make my mommy stop!

Hey, Mommy, I have an idea!!!

If you put that Latin Centered Curriculum book down and get off of that Greek Mountain, (Parnassus), maybe I could eat??

Mr. Campbell, if you are reading this... please, please, please tell my mom to it is ok to take a break from your book... just for a day?



Update: My wonderful Godmommy heard my prayer! She borrowed the book from my mom... I get a whole night without hearing about it!

Narration of today

Today was quite a busy day. We got several things done that needed to be done.

The best part of the day is when our dear friends came over to work on a project together. There were 11 children here from the ages of 17 - 7 weeks.

The kids worked wonderfully together to complete our task (more on that later) and the day went fairly smoothly.

Until you consider Fish and his best buddy... Two 4 year olds ready to take on the world, like it or not! They have been appropriately nicknamed - Arma and Geddon.

We love these boys, but let me tell you, they can cyclone through a home in less than 5 seconds.

Key words of the day, I'll let you use your imagination...

Watermelon slices
Popcorn
Chips and Salsa
Tempera Paint

Oh, and let's not forget the Nerf Guns!

What a fun afternoon!! Really!

Summer is here

It's official, summer is here. My schedule tells me so! Twice a year I find myself at this point in life. Time to wrap up loose ends, re-organize things on the homefront, and plan for the upcoming year. Christmas/New Year's and summertime will usually find me in this mode.

I had made so many plans for the summer, but I am finding that I am overscheduling myself and leaving little room for the truly important things that summer is all about, at least for us.

This is the time of year that I try to relax. I try to do more "fun" activities with the children. I try to learn something new.

For this reason, I could never truly homeschool year-round. Perhaps this is a result of my own education which meant having the summers off. Whatever the cause, as much as I tell my kids, "We'll be doing school all summer if we don't finish up by June 1st!" I can never bring myself to follow through on the threat.

This year, Bean will be working on Algebra all summer, but other than a few books we'll be reading together, our learning will consist of nature study from the pool, math calculations by figuring out how much food to prepare for friends who come to visit, and life skill development activities will come into play while we "Flylady" the rooms in our home. (I have tried to stay on Flylady's schedule all year, but I am a failure. I maintain until summer when I take one room a week and deep clean it. I also try to do this during Christmas vacation, but not as in depth.)

As a result of discerning what I need to focus on this summer, I realized that some things needed to be cut from my life, for the time being. I have a very hard time admitting that I can't do it all and feel somewhat disappointed in myself when I let go of things, but I am learning to hear God's voice more clearly and when He says, "LET IT GO" I'd be silly not to listen. Which brings me to my great epiphany this week...

I haven't been trusting God in all things. I was taken back when I realized it. Shocked actually. I thought I was doing so well, but then I realized, I am holding onto some things, trying to figure them out all on my own. How selfish of me! How typical of me!

The amazing thing is how all of this comes into focus at once. WHAMO! In my face, here it is, this is what you aren't doing, K!! I guess He tries subtle on me, but that doesn't usually catch my attention. I think I may even have asked for this. I remember praying for Him to show me what I need to be doing for Him and then, this showed up. TRUST ME! I heard it. In the shower. The place that I encounter most of my spiritual awakenings. Crazy, eh? Not at Mass, not in adoration, but the shower... Meet me where I am Lord! Thinking about this, I guess it's the one place I can't have a book in hand filling my mind and leaving little room for Him to talk.

I'm still working on "my plan" for the summer, while trying to hear His plan for us. I am hoping "His Plan" has some of the things I'd like to accomplish on it...

Another Busy Week

This week was supposed to be my down week, but God has other plans! I plan to post all of the exciting things going on when I have a moment, but for now I'll leave you with a laundry list.

1. Reading Climbing Parnassus - what a book and I'm only in the first chapter!

2. KPI for my eldest... FINALLY! We may have found the key to a successful future for her.

3. Finishing up school for the 2005- 2006 year and looking ahead to 2006-2007 using LCC.

4. Re-reading LCC.

5. My self-education of Latin using Henle 1.

I'll leave you with another picture of Em from her First Communion. My husband and I are taking her out tonight for her special dinner to celebrate her reception of this sacrament.