ARGH!

I started this post on Tuesday evening , thought I sent it to the blog, but Blogger was down and decided only to save one paragraph of my post. ARGH. So I'm finally back to finish the post.
So it's been quiet on the blog, but noisy and busy around here! We started back to school on Monday, and things are going swimmingly. I know we'll have our rough spots throughout the year, but I am so glad to get one awesome week done at the very beginning. (Well, four days anyway because we took a day off for Daniel's dad being here!) We charted the kids' heights as we do each year at the start of the school year, and Jackson grew THREE INCHES since OCTOBER! (Not sure why we took heights in October as well as at the beginning of last year :) ) He won the bean plant award.
Speaking of bean plants, Shiloh's has produced quite a harvest so far. They are YUMMY. We have also had one yellow tomato, a couple of squash, and a green pepper. I put the squash and green pepper in spaghetti sauce, and the kids thought they were palatable then. :) They like the beans raw.
And the main reason I've been silent here is that we've spent so many of our spare minutes in our neighbors' pool. Yes, the same awesome neighbors who have supplied us with fresh produce have also given us access to their pool. May I just say they are awesome? And incredibly generous? AND...Mary Rose doesn't like being cold in the pool at all, so they have a pool heater. As someone who enjoys pool water that approaches the temperature of bath water, that makes me VERY happy. The kids are getting quite brown (or browner, as the case may be :) ) and they are all such water babies. Adah and Abigail are out of their vests (in the shallow end), learning to swim, diving for dive sticks, and doing somersaults. The handstand evades Adah, but she perseveres. Jackson is also out of his vest for swim lessons, and he's all about jumping in over and over. Nathaniel is out of his floatation boat and into a vest, where he's learning not to swallow too much water. He likes to jump in as well. Shiloh and Cora are learning to tread water, the requirement for swimming in the deep end by themselves. They all LOVE the pool, and I'm so grateful for such generous neighbors. Last Friday night we swam and swam and swam, then grilled out, then walked down to our neighborhood frozen custard shop. Life is good. In fact, Daniel bought me a car sticker and mug that say that because it's been my motto lately. I just met a homeschooling mom today who lives right down the street with her kids - 9,7,5, and 3. Praise God for answered prayers! She's running in her first 5K on August 16th, so we made plans for me to run with her. She's also part of the co-op that we've joined, and her 9 year-old is taking sewing and needlecraft along with Shiloh.
Well, here are some pics from recent days (which are just as much for my viewing pleasure as yours since I didn't know half of them existed until I downloaded them from the camera):
Adah smiling sweetly. What a beautiful girl she is, inside and out.
Some of my bathing beauties before pool time one afternoon.
Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ear...
Extreme close-up - self portrait? Who knows?

Out riding bikes and trying to avoid crashing on our long, hilly driveway.
Dr. Adah R. Houseworth, MD taking care of the household.
Crazy hair photo after swimming.

A picture of Roscoe trying to join the kids' campout. I think he's taking up Shiloh's entire spot, though.
All of these plants are much bigger now...these were the initial photos. Abigail's squash plants are especially huge.

BEFOREAFTER - the amazing squash plant!
This is what Adah thinks about her shower cap that's way too big. :) Not really...she and Shiloh were having a photo session after shower time one night and this was one that Shiloh took.

Hope you're enjoying your July (almost August!!)!

Love,

Casey

Summer

Dear All-
Is it just me, or is moving in exhausting? :) I think it's because we're getting older, we have more kids than when we started moving, and as a consequence, we have more STUFF. Also, our standards haven't changed with regard to HOW we put everything together in the house (that's the royal "we," by which I mean Daniel.) He still measures and uses the level to put up pictures, so it takes awhile. :) But we see the light at the end of the tunnel. He put up the ceiling fans on Monday with minimal help from me, and we are waiting on two chairs that we ordered for the study to come in. And then I THINK we're completely done, or at least until the next project comes up.
We had a great celebration for Independence Day, and I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures. We read some books about the day, made flags to hang everywhere, had some friends over, grilled hotdogs and hamburgers, had red,white, and blue popsicles, and met some more neighbors when we went to the cul-de-sac across the street to investigate fireworks noises. Then the kids had a camp-out on the family room floor, and I put on a video for them thinking it might help them settle down after a big day. BIG mistake. I went in at ELEVEN O'CLOCK to check on them and they were ALL still awake. Yikes. We didn't get out of our jammies the next day until it was time to go to our next social event - dinner at a friend's house. :)
So we're continuing along on summer break right now, and it's been very refreshing for me and I think for the kids as well. We've been doing some sewing and art projects. I'm preparing for next year's school and smelling all the new curricula. We're studying the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation for history. How do I get all that into one year? It's my favorite period of history! Next week we get to do the back-to-school shopping. I love new pencils. :) Our neighbor Oscar has started the kids on a garden project where they each adopt one of his vegetable plants, chart its progress, and harvest the bounty when the time comes. Shiloh picked the bean plant, so she'll be harvesting some today. She figured I might make them eat what they harvested, so there was no way she was picking squash. :) Jackson picked tomatoes, and he's thrilled to see all the flowers on his plant. Our neighbors are awesome. I joked with Oscar that he wanted to do this project to have the kids weed for him, and he said that works for him. :) He's in his late seventies, maybe early eighties, and he gardens with a pith helmet on. He also has a cool accent, saying "peppahs" for peppers. His wife Mary Rose already made us some cucumber soup from the cucumbers in her garden.
Before I go get ready for the day, here's an Abigail story. I was on the treadmill yesterday and saw Abigail twittering about, going in and out of the house. She looked pretty excited, so when she came out with her little pink plastic trash can and a Tupperware, I was a little curious.
Me; "Abigail, what are you doing?"
Abigail (excitedly): "I'm going to catch that chipmunk, Mommy! He's pretty fast, but I got a trash can and I think I can get him in there!"
I was pretty sure she couldn't actually catch him, but even if there is the slightest doubt, I say err on the side of caution and give the talk about rabies and the big shot you would have to get if the cute little chipmunk bit you. :) She gave up her adventure to catch a chipmunk and settled for some beetles.
Love,
Casey
p.s. Julie - Adah LOVES the video and attempted to do one for Beverly yesterday, but there was too much background noise (i.e. Nathaniel wanted to do the video, too). We'll get to it soon.
p.p.s. For those who can commiserate with me, we will be doing the "pooper-scooping" today for testing again. We had Adah and Nathaniel tested when they first got home and they tested negative for any parasites. However, after giving it much time, Nathaniel continues to have some...shall we say...odiferous problems, and we want to make sure. We will be testing every day for three days. Adah seems fine, but we might as well test her while we're testing Nathaniel. Ugh. Adah is grossed out by the whole thing, so the toughest thing will be getting her to agree to help out and do her part. :) At least she understands a lot more now...you should have seen the looks we got when we first tested within a week of her being home!! This is how I interpreted that look: "You white people are crazy, and I think I want to go back to Haiti now."