We made it through a busy track season and graduation festivities. Now it is time for us to look ahead to what we have in store for us this summer.
Caleb: The Saturday of Caleb's graduation party was a little hectic for us as Caleb had his last violin recital in the morning. His teacher asked if she could have it at our church, so we were glad we didn't have to drive far! He was the only advanced student that his teacher had (most were in Suzuki book 1 or 2) and the only male student. Kind of cute to see all those little girls looking up to him and wondering if they could play like that some day.
Caleb worked the last two weeks for a gentleman from our church who was experiencing significant back pain. He has a huge garden and lots of outside work that needed to be finished and so we offered Caleb's services. I am not sure what he all did, but I think the list includes planting onions, digging up dead bushes/roses and planting new trees, and building a fence. I think he ended up working about 50 hours. This past Tuesday he had his wisdom teeth extracted. He had so much trouble coming out of his anesthetic that I told him I was NOT filling his prescription for narcotics; he was going to have to get by with ibuprofen. He did just fine without the big stuff and I am sure he felt better too. Since he finished up working for the gentleman from church, he is picking away at his list of other things he needs to do: write oodles of "thank-yous", paint some interior walls for me, get things ready for college, and work out for soccer this fall. Keith and Beth have offered to haul some of his things to the Midwest when they are here to visit next week, so we are planning on sending some tubs of bed/bath things and winter clothes. We are tossing around the idea of flying him out to Dordt in August so we want to keep our options open. He needs to be there for soccer by August 13.
Nicolas: If the violin recital wasn't enough on graduation party day, Nicolas also had his audition for the BPYO for next year. He just got word yesterday morning that he again has a spot in the cello section for the 2015-16 school year. I know it makes him busy, but I do hope he continues because I love going to his concerts! Another change for him...he decided to be a kicker on the high school football team. His friends and the coach are all very excited. His mom...well, let's just say she's adjusting. (Dad is very supportive). Because of that he had football camp every morning this past week. He also will be doing quite a bit of conditioning/lifting this summer.
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| Not the equipment I am used to seeing lying around the garage... |
He just heard back from the vet clinic that they do have some work for him this summer. He will hopefully start with 15-20 hrs/week and increase that as he has more time. Right now I have him stripping the paint off the deck and digging out the 4-5 roses that turned wild in our landscaping. A gentlemen from the church also just hired the boys to shingle for him later this week on Friday and Saturday. Both him and Caleb will be leaving for a week long mission trip to Mexico with the church youth group in a few weeks.
Anna: Anna pledged that she was going to spend a lot of time with the piano this summer. We will see how that plays out. The girls plan to keep with lessons through the month of June and take July and August off. She is my faithful helper and will do most any task I ask of her. Right now I enjoy asking her to bake and help with laundry. Cleaning...not so much her thing, but she will vacuum a room other than her own if I ask her. She is finishing up work in her science book and faithfully does about 20 minutes of math on Khan Academy each day. We are hoping to finish up our biography writing assignment this week too. I love to see her coming out of her shell more and more. She still loves to be my shadow, but I enjoyed watching her play and interact with the kids we were with on Memorial Day.
Good old fashioned barrel rolling.
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Lydia: Lydia and I talked to Caleb's violin teacher (Aeja) at the recital since Lydia is losing her violin teacher (Caleb) when he goes to college this fall. She said she was more than willing to take Lydia as a student. When I asked whether it would be a problem if she decided to try viola instead (Lydia's desire) Aeja was so excited because that is what the she plays and has her degree in. She does not currently have a viola student and would love for Lydia to switch. So we will maybe have to get that going this summer. We also noticed that CVCS has a volleyball camp for girls starting in 6th grade. I know Lydia has expressed an interest in playing volleyball some day so asked if she was interested in going to this camp this summer. A resounding YES! It is only three evenings for a couple hours, so not a huge commitment. Anna? No way...she's afraid of any sport where balls are coming at her face:)
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| Loved this cartoon in the paper last week. This is totally Lydia's experience! |
Seth: This boy will be hard to entertain this summer. He needs to finish up his math book (Mom's request) so that keeps him busy for about 30 minutes of the day. That only leaves 13 more hours... Keith and Beth will be here this week and we are planning on making a short overnight trip to Stanley, ID. The following week Philip and Pam will spend a couple nights with us on their way to or on their way home from Glacier National Park. The following week the boys are down in Mexico, and I plan to proctor the ITBS for him and Lydia and Anna. I also signed him and the girls up for art/nature activities at the Watershed for two afternoons this summer, and next week we will sign up for the summer reading program at the library. I think I scheduled a well-child physical in there somewhere and I need to schedule an eye appt for him as well. Hopefully, if I add swimming lessons for another couple weeks he will be too busy to get in trouble with me or his siblings!
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| Coloring is one of the favorite activities when I am reading a book aloud to the homeschoolers. One day this spring I encouraged them to "play outside", and I had to laugh when I found they had set up this table on the front porch and were coloring. Not exactly the physical outside activity I had in mind! |
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| This is what happens when your child is bored...you indulge him and make Turkish Delight. Honestly, I was a little intrigued myself. I always wondered what it was about Turkish Delight that would make Edmund betray his siblings. It tastes a lot like chewy sugared fruit slices...only a little bit better. |
This summer I will make sure everyone gets where they need to be each day and taxi kids to dental, eye and physical appts. I am sure we will take many trips to the library, as well. I have a few activities I would like to do with the kids if it isn't too hot. The older boys have not been to the World Center for Birds of Prey so the younger three would like to introduce them to all the cool birds they have there. I would like to go to the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa now that we have studied both World Wars and the Vietnam Wars. Also, we have not been to the Morrison-Knudsen Nature Center in downtown Boise, nor have the kids seen the Anne Frank Memorial area in the downtown park. We should have plenty of time to do some of those fun things if we have a nice days the end of June and beginning of July before we take off for our trip to the Midwest. We are planning to spend a week again with my family in Park Rapids, MN and travel via Yellowstone National Park. After the week in Minnesota we will spend almost a week at Newton Hills State Park in South Dakota with Russ' family. In between all that I am working on finishing up 20 hours of home study CEUs for my Iowa/Idaho licenses.
Not too much changes for Russ in the summer. The men's book group will still meet on Friday mornings throughout the summer. He will continue to work through the book of Hebrews on Sunday mornings and will preach through the book of Esther in the evenings. He will specifically examine God's providential workings in the life of His people in the book of Esther as an extension of Lord's Day 10.
Overall, the summer should be busy, but not too crazy. I am afraid it will go by too fast and I want to hold on to this summer and make it last a l-o-n-g time. I guess I eventually will have to let my firstborn go...
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