Grasshopper Days

Grasshopper Days

For today,  Tuesday, February 14, 2012.

Outside my window...  we are practically in the clouds.  Rain is drizzling down through the leafless trees and not much daylight gets through the clouds.

I am thinking...  about all the new music we're learning for the Easter concert - fun!

I am thankful for...  Kerry spent a crazy amount of time on the phone yesterday and got our mortgage "restructured".  Basically, we refinanced without going through a refinance (if that makes any sense at all.)  The downside - it re-set the 30-year clock.  The upside - locked in at 3.75 interest (yay!) and reduced our monthly payment by about $250 (huge yay!)!!!

I am praying for...  more work, good attitudes, and a peaceful home.

I am creating...  hmmm.  Wish I had something inspiring to report, but not so much.  I have some mending I need to get to - does that count?

I am going...  to get pizza for the boys for lunch.  Happy Valentines Day!  (Love that Little Caesar's two-large-pizzas-for-ten-bucks-on-Tuesday deal.  I can hardly feed five of us a cooked meal for ten bucks.)

I am reading...  Steams to the River, River to the Sea with the boys.  The story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, told from Sacagawea's point of view.  Fictionalized, for sure, but lots of good history in there :D

I am hoping...  to hear from Children's, but it's still too soon.  They probably won't even review Tate's "case" until late next week.  Still, I'm waiting on pins and needles...

I am hearing...  heavy equipment working in the alley, in the next block.  They seem to be replacing something.  Storm sewer?  I don't know.  The boys are having a Lego break before we start school.

I am remembering...  are all little boys fascinated by heavy equipment?  Mine were.  Especially Tate.  One year they were digging up the street near us, and I drove by with the boys in the van.  Tate was probably two, maybe three.  I pointed out all the different vehicles and what they were doing, knowing Tate would be intrigued, especially with the excavator.  He gave me a patronizing look, and said,

Actuwee, Mama, a backhoe. 

And he was right.  It was a backhoe.

From the learning rooms...  Wyatt - one more week of factoring polynomials (which he hates), wrapping up the Civil War, studying weather patterns, and the usual round of grammar, writing, Wordly Wise, and Logic.  Tate - exponential fractions, finishing a unit on Geology, grammar, Wordly Wise, and more.  Gunnar - dividing by two-digit numbers, studying cephalopods (octopus, squid, cuttle-fish, nautilus, etc.), spelling, grammar, handwriting.  And Tate and Gunnar together - learning more about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which has always fascinated me :D

From the kitchen...  yah.  Pizza coming ;D

Around the house...  a few red candles and things for Valentine's Day, plus the usual piles and piles of books and games (Take Off!, Uno, Apples to Apples, Axis and Allies, and more.)

Something I want to remember for later...  watching Wyatt at choir practice, and seeing him enjoy it.  He realized that choir isn't a "girl thing".  There are men there.  It's cool.

On my mind...  the Mother Load (I need to start a load of laundry.)

Noticing that...  the boys were SO good yesterday.  Praying or a repeat :D

Pondering these words... 

One of my favorite things...  seeing the boys when they really "get" something new.  I mean, a new idea.  Like Gunnar and long division.  He loves it.  He even wants to do the extra problems.  And I don't think it's because long division is necessarily so fun, but because he's mastered it, and that feels good.  :D

A few plans for the rest of the week...  well, we already have choir practice accomplished, then CAP tonight, and youthgroup on Wednesday evening.  The boys need to check their CAP schedule.  They may have something Saturday.  If not, we're having our annual LOTR marathon.  Woot!

Here is a picture I am sharing...

 
I've always loved this pic of Gunnar.  We were off to Disneyland, in 2007, and he was five.