Grasshopper Days

Grasshopper Days

For today...  Monday, April 22, 2013

Outside my window...  snow in the hills and frost on the ground - (snow! and frost! and it's nearly the end of April!) - and a beautiful, sunny day dawning.  Hmmm, probably a good day to mow ;D

Hearing...  a quiet house.  Wyatt already left on his bike for the high school, Kerry is in his office, Gunnar is sitting in a patch of sunlight reading about Laura and Almanzo, and Tate is no doubt already a third of the way through his school work.

Pondering...  lots to do this week, and how to make it all happen!

Praying...  for the friends I mentioned yesterday who lost their son.

Thankful...  for the unshakeable promise of eternal life, for the boys' hard-working mindset (most of the time), for the freedom to homeschool, and for the brightness of the day.

Wearing...  sweater, t-shirt, jeans... but WAIT!  They're not just jeans, they're capris.  Wow!  It's a dramatic foray into a new style!  

Or maybe not.  They're just short jeans ;D

Creating...  I've been happily sewing for the new babies coming this summer, and now that all my sewing stuff is out I'm motivated to keep going... for me.

Going...  to gather the boys and "open" our school day together (though Tate is already doing his independent work), to take advantage of the sunshine to dry laundry on the line (especially my sheets, I love sheets dried on the line!), and to do a bit of tidying of my sewing things so I have space to launch a new project.

Reading...  very much enjoying Seven Daughters and Seven Sons with the boys!

Learning...  it's a bit ironic, given the recent terrorist attacks, that we happen to be studying the Middle East and the Muslim world just now.  *sigh*

Looking forward to...  the boys - Gunnar especially - would have you know that it is TWENTY-TWO DAYS until Disneyland :D

In the kitchen...  barley and vegetable soup, made of leftovers from the last couple of days, simmering in the crockpot.  Maybe I'll make some home-made bread, and - WA-WAH - dinner.

in the learning rooms...  hard to keep myself from counting down (three weeks of school before Disney, and four after) because that makes it sound like we're just enduring something, and the year is going quite well, really!  We enjoy what we're doing!  Tate is about to finish his math book and start Algebra.  Gunnar is (finally!) wrapping up a science unit on worms, with an unpleasant focus on parasites... I mean, it's a great science course, but we've both felt the "ew factor" of this last section!

Around the house...  I'm so tired of people leaving clutter laying around!  I've started a box.  It's in the mudroom.  If you're missing something and you just may have left it lying around then you can go check the box.

The Mother Load...  oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!  Laundry piling up, papers on my desk piling up, and lawn mowing jobs piling up!  All good things that need to be managed.

Noticing that...  All the boys need shoes again... all of them.

Something fun to share...  ooo, almost!  Can't share quilt pics yet, but I like how they came out.

A favorite quote for today...  

If you can't make it better, you can laugh at it.

Erma Bombeck

One of my favorite things...  seeing color again, outside.  All winter is gray, brown, and a bit of green.  And now, color!  That's probably why I have so much color in the house.

A Bible verse...  

Job, have you ever in all your life

commanded a day to dawn?

Have you ordered the dawn to seize the earth

and shake the wicked from their hiding places?

Daylight makes the hills and valleys stand out

like the folds of a garment,

clear as the imprint of a seal on clay.

from Job 38

(Photo from here)

A few plans for the rest of the week...  oh my word...

Monday - schooling, mowing

Tuesday - school, probably more mowing, CAP

Wednesday - school, then the older boys will be "victims" for a CERT class (emergency responders) and will be made up with moulage to look ghastly, much to their delight they'll go straight on from that to youthgroup, while I will be at Bible study

Thursday - school, weather-permitting Wyatt's first day on the job (gate at the motocross)

Friday - school, Wyatt and Tate go to two-day marksmanship course

Saturday - game night and potluck at church

and there's probably more I'm forgetting!

A peek into my world...  

The happy evidence of a sale at Joann's and a 50% off coupon :D