Fun-filled weekend!

Thank you, God, for some good times.

Pues...

... here I am, already weakened by the earth's tilt.  Ugh.  Sol, sol, solecito, ¡cómo yo te necesito!

So, what's going on?  We have just finished week 6 of ManSoul Academy.  The mornings are going very well, thank God, but I definitely have trouble mustering up the energy, etc. to do the afternoon's activities.  I am going to play around with the schedule next week, to see if I can't ameliorate the situation in time for Term 2.

For my own personal education, you can see off to the right that I've moved on to Autobiographies, after accepting that I don't really like modern fiction.  Whilst I'm awaiting Augustine's Confessions to arrive at my local library, I'm wading through Good Ideas from Questionable Christians and Outright Pagans.  So far I've made it through the basics of Socrates and Plato.  Next up?  Aristotle.

In the garden, well... Mr. Mapache is voraciously attacking, so far unsuccessfully, our poor two remaining hens.  Rob has been in hand-to-paw combat with the masked beast, but he just won't give up.  On the positive side, I have planted about 120 cloves of garlic.  Wahoo!

Let's see... oh, yes, what the kids have been saying:

So, I had sliced apples on the table the other night for dessert.  There were just a few slices left and I encouraged our guests to finish them, since no one wants to eat an oxidized apple.  Ever since, Girumy asks me after each dinner if there is any food in danger of oxidation... because, you know, he would do me the favor of preventing such a calamity.  Ha!

Yesterday, I heard the boys talking to our dear Kun-y.  "So, you need to love Jesus," said Ty, "and when you go back to China, it's not allowed, but don't let it be a secret.  You have to tell the people."  To which Girumy responded, "No, she'll get in trouble.  She should just keep it (you know, Jesus) in her house."  I clarified for her and then she said, "Well, which is it?"  I said "Both."  "Don't keep the good news a secret, but maybe tell others about it in your house instead of on the street."  God, help her!  God, help us!

Oh!  Can you tell that our camera's battery is dead?  And yes, the earth's tilt is keeping it from getting charged.  Waa-waa.

Me rindo

¡Oy!  ¡Madre mía!  And other such exasperations!

I am just too old.  You know, I don't have time to waste.  None of us does, of course, but I feel it now.

I just read Kafka's The Trial.  -a very annoyed and disgusted "Ugh"-

So, I am done with my fiction list.  Yes, I quit.  I will, however, begin another list... perhaps the biographies?

For memory's sake, I did make it through:

Don Quixote
The Pilgrim's Progress
Gulliver's Travels
Pride and Prejudice
Oliver Twist
Jane Eyre
The Scarlet Letter
Moby Dick
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Madame Bovary
Crime and Punishment
Anna Karenina
The Return of the Native
The Portrait of a Lady
Huckleberry Finn
The Red Badge of Courage
Heart of Darkness
House of Mirth
Great Gatsby
and, The Trial

My baby!

You know, just chilling on the sofa with our dear CristiAn, jamming (left-handedly!?) on the guitar and small-talking in Spanish.  Ah!  It makes my heart burst with happiness!

Promise me you'll never grow up.

-a thorough sigh-

Yesterday, when we reached the end of the penultimate chapter of Peter Pan, I had already started misting up.  And when the children asked me what was wrong, I just said that I was sad and that tomorrow I would be really sad.

Accordingly, when we sat down to our mountain of morning reading today, I had my little orange and white Ukrainian handkerchief at the ready.

I sobbed through the entire last chapter.

I have always cried at the end of good books or TV series, but... whoa!  I wasn't just sad that a good read was over, but at the loss of a friend who had never grown up and at the fact that I think I have never been "gay and innocent and heartless."  So, so sad.

"Woman, woman, let go of me!"

ManSoul Academy, etc.

So... a week and a half into school, and... I like it for the most part.  Some days, like yesterday, are horrible; but today, by the grace of God, has been better.  I think that I am going to ditch the expectation that the twins will read sooner than later and just be satisfied with their writing.  I will continue with phonics, but not expect them to replicate.  It's OK.  They will read.  I can't compare them to their older brother.  We are all different.  God made us how He made us.  God, help me!

Sophie (and the unphotographed Ty) does solo activities while I work individually with Girumy.  She still has a rought time with the difference between pentagons and hexagons.  Ugh!

"This is going to be the hardest one ever in my life."  Ooo!  Did I laugh aloud!

"spelling"

the twins' individual work... which is grueling for all parties  (The boys, by this time, are rough-housing in their bedroom)

On the literary front, we have been reading Peter Pan.  The kids LOVE it, probably because it is a tiny, hardcover book.  Anyways, the other day I read something about Tink being up in a tree, spying on The Wendy and Ty said, "So, she's being creepy?"  "Yes.  So creepy."  :)

a recent, sample harvest: Thank God!

Miss Sophie

Well, what a difference a few months make!  We had our first day of school today and... well... I had prepared myself for a struggle.  Although Miss Sophie takes... her... sweet... time... to do everything, she did everything today very well.  We have even started working on writing out her WHOLE name!  She did a nice job with the first half of her first name today.  Ha!  

She is ready for her first ballet class!  Wahoo!  And, so it begins...

So dressed up for Liz's party...  She ALWAYS wants to wear a dress!

I do believe that her Madrina Boo has influenced her taste in color!

She loved the time with her sweet, nail-painting cousin.