In Case You Were Wondering What We're Doing Today

Life around here has been so extremely busy this school year, and I can't quite put my finger on why it has been that way more so than usual.  But it is!  Daily life has to be tightly scheduled and choreographed in order to accomplish our many responsibilities.  We (or rather, Nate and I) have very little down time or recovery time and sometimes it wears on us quite a bit.

Despite that, I have been feeling lately like I need to spend a little more time blogging.  I really need to record some of the wonderful experiences we have on a daily basis, instead of just waiting for the exciting things to write about each month.  There really is so much joy in the mundane, and I feel strongly that I need to be writing more about it.  So, you can look forward to that, I guess!

For today, I am going to post a few pictures just in case you were wondering what we were doing on a Thursday evening and a Friday morning (which I am sure you weren't!).  I will spend more time in a future blog post describing our school experiences so far this year, which have been crazy but very special.  So, here we go!

I can't help myself.  This child is so adorable and I can't stop taking pictures of him!  Here he is after his bath last night.  I was awfully brave to give him a cup with NO LID for his orange juice right after I had gotten him clean and ready for bed, don't you think?

Isn't this how you make smoothies at your house?  You know, with the blender on the floor so your toddler can put in the fruit, leaving the banana peel on the ground?  He's so helpful!

Doing math!  I tell you, there is no shortage of math lessons around here.  I do three of them every day, one-on-one with Courtney, Avery, and Chase.  I don't know why I still have a sense of amazement when my children learn something incredibly fast.  Courtney is just as quick at math as her brothers were at her age, and is improving all the time.  She just "gets it."  Makes my job a lot easier!

Once again, here is Trey being extremely helpful.  He needed a diaper change, so he brought me a diaper.  On his head.  Clearly he is a brilliant (and funny!) boy.

What a great privilege and pleasure it is to study with Avery!  Here, we were reviewing some material for an assignment he had for his online Literature Class.  He has found the writing assignments for this class very challenging, and I have been more than happy to give him direction.  We learn together, and that is a beautiful thing!  By the way, you MUST read this book: A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by W. Phillip Keller.  Beautiful insights about the way Jesus Christ cares for us and what we must do in return.  Awesome to discuss this with my Avery boy!

More math!  She is getting very fast on her timed worksheets!

Piano!  Avery practices diligently, just like Chase.  We are getting ready for Avery's FIRST piano recital in November.  I am so excited to see him perform; he has progressed so rapidly!

Chase.  Doing Math.  Math takes up a lot of our time around here!  But, he's happy!  He makes this horrible shrieking noise when he makes a mistake in math, essentially making fun of me for the funny sounds I make when working math problems during our lessons.  Thank goodness he doesn't make too many mistakes!