Busy, Busy

We're starting to wind down after a very busy season of finishing up school, sports activities, and a piano recital. Maybe soon I won't feel like I need a nap every day (oh, who am I kidding? a nap is pretty much a prerequisite for my day :) ). I have a BUNCH of pictures from the last several weeks, but I need to start with this one because it speaks volumes. I don't know who took it, and I don't know what kind of trouble Nathaniel was in, but it doesn't look like he's going to divulge any secrets... :)
Here's a picture of our strange-looking dog. Daniel, if the amount of vomit he's produced lately is any indication of how much he misses you, he misses you A LOT.

Here is Adah's crazy hair on hair day. I had just taken her hair out of twists, and it's super curly. I actually like it free and crazy like this, but it's not her favorite look.

I included this video because it demonstrates the weirdness of my children. Cora got the camera one day as we were preparing to leave for field day at a friend's house, and this is the result. Apparently Shiloh was in a bad mood. :) Did you enjoy Cora's narration, and doesn't Abigail really remind you of Ramona?

Okay, this is activity number one. Our pastor's wife invited a couple of families over for an old-fashioned field day. My homeschooled children said, "What is this thing of which you speak - field day?" By the end of the day, they agreed that a field day was pretty cool. These were the two teams. Both of the teams had a handicap - a four year-old. :) We also had some others join us later in the day.

Three-legged race:

Nathaniel was HILARIOUS with the three-legged race. Isaiah, our pastor's son, was a trooper for putting up with him. I posted here two years ago after a sledding day that it did my heart so much good to see that Nathaniel was genuinely having a good time; so much of his laughter is "fakey" and over-the-top. (Hard to explain, but I know some of my favorite moms "get" this)This was one of those genuine fun days, and I got such a kick out of him. Nathaniel was giggling so much and almost falling over with laughter. What a marvelous thing to see!

Here's Jackson after running the three-legged race. He bounced on the ground a little, so he was recovering.Here's the wheelbarrow race. Nathaniel had a hard time figuring out exactly what he was supposed to do, which made him laugh even harder.

This was the sponge race. The kids had to fill up a sponge, carry it on their heads, then empty the sponge into a bucket at the other end. The winning team was the one with the most water in the bucket at the end. This was a great game for the warm weather.

Look at that smile on Nathaniel's face!

Nathaniel and Joseph enjoyed the sponges at the end of the race!

A bold move - the egg toss. This a great action shot of Jackson catching his egg. The kids had a great time with this, but they STUNK like nobody's business as the sun warmed up the broken eggs on them. Ewwww. When we got in the car to come home, I sniffed and said, "Oh my. You people smell. Open the windows!!" They cackled. I don't think they take me seriously.

A classic - the tug of war! The left side won.

As if field day didn't use up enough energy, Abigail had to find a tree to climb.

Cora is my fearless, conquering explorer. She has chutzpah, all right. (A later photo will also demonstrate this.)

Love those red cheeks!

Switch to activity number two, which actually occurred the next day. We drove down to North Carolina to attend the homeschool graduation of a friend's daughter. She's an informal young lady, so she decided to have a picnic to celebrate. We had a wonderful time catching up with old friends. This is Shiloh with her best friend, the one who came to stay with us last month.

This is the other photo demonstrating Cora's chutzpah. She decided to join a pick-up basketball game at the picnic with these...giants. It didn't intimidate her to play with these guys, and although she didn't often get to shoot, she told me, "I'm so little that I can be sneaky and steal it away from them." I couldn't watch, because they were playing on a concrete court, and I was so afraid one of them would knock her flat. She did get knocked down once, but it wasn't serious and she recovered quickly. I tried to urge her to join a volleyball game, but she wasn't having any of it. I love it that these guys, in spite of wanting to play a serious game, looked out for her and included her. The following pictures are from activity number three...the piano recital, also known as the semi-annual torture for Shiloh. :) The girls took pictures of each other as I was getting ready. We had an enrichment group meeting that day, too, so it was a really busy day. (Two other homeschool moms and I formed an enrichment group that gets together once a month for "fun stuff" - this month was exploring different art techniques.) Don't you love that Cora can go from playing a pick-up basketball game with teenage guys to pearls and high heels? She's versatile.

This is Shiloh's pained smile, saying, "I will do this for you, Mommy and Daddy, but I would really rather do ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WHOLE WORLD INCLUDING POOPER SCOOPING THE ENTIRE BACKYARD." Ahh, that's better, sweetie.

This is the wider group picture that shows all of Jo's students.

The girls with their beloved Mrs. Pettitt.

Here is the tragic story of the videos. I sat in a pew where I would have a clear shot to the piano to get videos for Daniel. Shiloh got up to play, I pressed play, and then Jo, the teacher, sat right down in FRONT of Shiloh, completely blocking her. I got up to try to get a shot somehow, but I didn't want to move too far from Nathaniel, and I didn't want to distract Shiloh. It didn't work. I didn't get anything for Shiloh. :( She played beautifully, which was huge for her because it was such a difficult piece for her to learn. I decided to get a video of her afterward, but she made errors both times. I asked her, "Aren't you glad you didn't do that during the recital?" :) We decided to give up on the whole idea. When Cora got up to play, I was prepared to move wherever I needed to go. Jo sat down in the middle of the pew, and I had a clear shot. :) Please don't envy my camera skills; it just comes naturally. Cora played a piece called "Smoky Mountain Waterfall."

And on to activity number four (phew). I kept checking email this morning HOPING that soccer would be canceled because of all the rain we got yesterday, but no deal. That's okay, though...the kids missed the last two weekends, and they really wanted to get back to it. Here is the adorable Jackson, who scored two goals today.

And here's a bit of action from Abigail's game. Please excuse the "soccer mom" yelling. I'm trying to tone it down (per Shiloh's request), but I can't help it. The competitive juices start to flow. Abigail got two goals today, one of which was a throw-in that was unchallenged all the way to the goal. :) She and her coach were pretty surprised.

After soccer this morning came activity number five. Shiloh has been interested in tennis lessons, so I signed her up for a free "QuickStart Tennis" clinic, as well as lessons in June. It gives kids an introduction to tennis that's a little more interactive than regular tennis lessons (where the kids normally have to wait to take a turn at hitting). She was so excited! We like tennis because it's something she can do for the rest of her life, if she decides she enjoys it. (Soccer, not so much.) The day would have been a bit better for her had she not partnered up with someone who really struggled with hand/eye coordination (no, Dad, I wasn't the partner :) ). Shiloh spent most of her time waiting for her to get a ball that she hadn't hit or running after balls that were wildly hit. She watched with consternation the other partners who were volleying multiple times. I reassured her that lessons wouldn't be like that, and she agreed that she'd still like to try. Here she is learning how to control the ball down low. QuickStart tennis uses larger balls and lower nets.

Learning the backhand!

Just looking cute, which is very important in tennis.

This was Shiloh's group for the clinic. Here she is learning to catch the ball and hold it on her strings after it comes over the net. She liked this drill because she was good at it. :)

So that's a quick recap of what's been going on around here. I'm ready to get off the crazy train and RELAX for a summer break. We have our unit celebration for Tapestry of Grace on Tuesday, and then we are D.O.N.E. We could be done now, but the kids are looking forward to the celebration, so we'll do that. They're making some colonial dishes, reciting some poetry, and giving presentations about topics they researched. Abigail researched colonial manners and seemed to find it funny, so we'll see what she found. :)

I'll leave you with a funny from Abigail. She saw a Frog and Toad book out on the coffee table one day and said, "Mommy, I didn't care for those Frog and Toad books when I read them." I asked, "Why?"

"Because there's not enough FEELING in them. It makes it not interesting." I'm sure Arnold Lobel would have been hurt by the criticism. :)

Stay cool, everyone!

Casey