Tidbits and Pictures

Other than surviving and griping about the weather around here, I wanted to share a few things that have happened in the last couple of weeks. We've had some beautiful, warm days since Saturday, by the way! We've been soaking up as much sunshine as we can and even wearing sandals!!

1. About two weeks ago, the kids and I actually did something Spring-like, and we planted some bean seeds! It's been fun to see Sara and Sky's excitement every morning as they see the progress their bean plants have made overnight! Those things grow like crazy! They've already outgrown their yogurt containers and need to be transferred to the ice cream bucket! Only the fanciest plant pots are used in this family! :-)

2. This next picture was too funny to keep to myself! Sky does a really great job of entertaining himself when I'm doing school with Sara. Sometimes I can find ways for him to be included in the activities, but other times, Sara and I just have to buckle down and focus. Last week, Sara was reading a story from her reader to me. I invited Sky to sit and listen in, but after a few s-l-o-w-l-y read pages, he decided to find something a little more exciting to do! I thought he was upstairs watching T.V., when Sara stopped reading and started giggling as she looked up at the stairwell. I looked to see what the distraction was. Sky had tied a rope to a Jonah doll that we have and was lowering him over the banister! Sara and I were both laughing by now! Then, Sky said in a squeaky voice, as he wiggled the doll up and down, "Hi Sara! How are you!" It was too funny and I hardly had the heart to tell him to stop distracting us so Sara could finish reading!

3. This is me and Slyvia. She is very tall and I am very short, which you can tell even when we're sitting down! Sylvia is like a second mother to me, as well as a very dear friend. We had the chance to go out for dinner on Wednesday evening with no husbands or kids! We went to my favourite little place in Calgary - the Diner Deluxe. Syl had never been before and she fell in love with everything about it! We had such a great time talking about everything under the sun and enjoying some wonderful food! Sylvia is always such a breath of fresh air for me. She doesn't necessarily give me advice about stuff, but whenever I'm with her, she always says something that changes my perspective on life a little bit. Thanks Syl, for a wonderful evening! I was refreshed and I hope you were too!

4. Our back deck is finished! I'm so proud of Joshua and all the hard work he put into building everything! He did an awesome job and I LOVE the new look! My favourite part are the benches he built right into the railing. The corner bench was a challenge, but it turned out really nice! The benches eliminate the need for a bunch of chairs on the deck and leaves more room for the kids to play or mingling with friends. Now the backyard finally looks finished and we're ready for summer! I can hardly wait till it's time to plant! That's my favourite part. We normally start planting around the middle to end of May, but we've lost things to frost before, so it's always tricky. Some people here refuse to plant anything until June 1st. That's definitely the safe way to go, but it's always so hard to wait! Here are some before, during, and after pictures of the deck railing.

5. On one of our gray, snowy days, the kids convinced me to get out the finger paints. I hate painting because of the mess. I usually only allow it about twice a year! :-) Since this is such a special and rare occasion, I snapped a few pictures. The clean-up was actually very minimal and didn't stress me out at all! I guess that proves the kids are growing up!

Stay tuned tomorrow for a very special post.... :-) I hope you've enjoyed the pictures and update. Sorry it's been so long. I wanted to report that we are actually getting a lot accomplished in school! Thank you all for your prayers and support. Tomorrow I have my final visit from our homeschool facilitator. She will evaluate Sara's work this year and check to see which goals and requirements we have met. I'm having a bad attitude today because I hardly think it's fair to be giving someone a year end assessment when we still have two months of school left. (The schools here go till the end of June.) I can do a lot in two months! So, please pray as I'm preparing everything tonight and tomorrow. I'm stressing - big time. I'm so proud of Sara's work, but will the facilitator be proud too? That's my biggest fear right now and I really need some peace.