It is the end of October....and it is finally feeling like fall here in Virginia. We just caved and turned on our heater yesterday. It was 63 degrees in the house....and the high outside was only going to be 63 degrees. We try every year to make it to November before we kick on the heater but I don't think that has ever happened. I shouldn't be complaining though. Mesa, AZ (where I grew up and where my parents still live) was supposed to be 100 degrees today. YUCK!!!!!!
We have had a busy but wonderful fall so far. We've had an insane amount of acorns fall in our yard so we've been doing a lot of yard work. Our neighbor, who has lived in her house for 20 years, says it is the worst year for acorns that she's ever seen. I have seriously considered helmets for the kids when we're outside. :) We were finally able to enjoy a bonfire in the back yard 2 weeks ago. And we've been enjoying spending a lot of time with friends and enjoying traditional Oktoberfest beers (in liter jugs...of course!) with them! It really is the most wonderful time of the year!
As I indicated in my earlier post, Jeffery has been very busy this fall. He is still doing swimming lessons every week and absolutely loves that. But this fall, he returned to FC Richmond (soccer) and has been playing on a U6 team. Unlike his U4 experience last spring, which consisted of 45 minute soccer clinics for 6 weeks, was co-ed, and there weren't any assigned teams....this time he has an actual team of 6 boys, a weeknight practice and then a game every Saturday and the "season" goes for 10 weeks. He is LOVING it! His coach is great with the boys and the boys on his team are so much fun.
Because of Dave's rehearsal schedule, he is unable to join us for the weeknight practice....but we all go to Jeffery's games on Saturdays. They're 40-45 minutes long and really are a TON of fun to watch. We embarrass him (because, isn't that what you're supposed to do?!) by randomly starting the Iceland Clap and Chant that we learned while watching the Euro Cup this summer. He's been even blessed to have some dear friends from our church show up for a game.
We've been trying to get back into our Friday Family Fun Days but it has been hard with the rain and heat and basic yuck! We have explored some new places though....like the Mid-Lothian Mines. It is 10 minutes away from our house and so neat! It was the first coal mine in the country and had the first train, in the 1830's, in Virginia. Train = donkey pulled freight on tracks. We hope to go back as it is a nice area to walk around.
And we've explored favorite places too.....like the Botanical Gardens. The butterflies are gone (much to Jeffery's dismay) but we still enjoy everything the garden has to offer....which is a TON.
One of the biggest things to ever happen to me and Dave occurred just a couple weeks ago....on my birthday actually. Our good friends, Kathryn and Robert, asked us to be godparents to their little boy, Michael. I sing with Kathryn in the James River Singers and we've been friends for several years. I knew about Michael's existence very early on and with another good friend, was honored to throw Kathryn a baby shower. Michael decided he wanted to make his arrival in the world 4 days after the shower....and a month before his due date. I got to visit him and Kathryn in the hospital and held him before he was even a day old. Kathryn and I have been getting together for coffee dates periodically and as a result, my boys have just fallen in love with little Michael. When she and Robert asked us to be Michael's godparents.....we were both overwhelmed.
In the Catholic Church, godparents are not symbolic. It is the responsibility of the godparents to make sure that the children are raised in the Catholic Church....and to take over those duties if the parents are not able or not willing to do so anymore. It is a huge responsibility and an EXTREME honor. It was the best birthday present I could have received. Unfortunately, due to Dave's Sunday responsibilities, he was unable to be present at the baptism. However, Jeffery accompanied me and represented his daddy well. ;) So, happy Christian Birth Day, little Michael! Dave and I love you so very much!!!
On the school front....Jeffery is doing an awesome job! Swimming and soccer are his physical education. He has religious ed at church (which he adores). And then we have a pretty set schedule at home Tuesday through Thursday in the morning. The picture below is from last week. Here is what we did that morning:
1. We read the entire book of "Ruth" from his Children's Bible Lessons book.
2. We did two of his reading lessons in his reading book.
3. He then did 5 full lessons on his online program. 2 of the lessons introduced addition for the first time. That was rather exciting! (During this time, I oversaw his lessons while making our 2 weekly bread loaves.)
4. We worked on writing the letters "M" and "S" and did some cutting and tracing exercises.
We then included Jakob and...
5. looked at a dozen or more pictures by Van Gough and Cassatt and discussed the images and colors.
6. read 5 Robert Louis Stevenson poems
7. listened to a few selections from Saint-Saens's "Carnival of the Animals" and discussed what animals we were hearing.
And all of this was done in just a little more than 3 hours.
He will be done with the Kindergarten portion of his online program by the end of December. We'll probably take a Christmas break and then dive right into first grade.
His biggest achievement so far happened just 2 days ago. He finished his reading book. We have been working out of this book (see picture below) and he completed it on Tuesday. I was overwhelmed. As I closed the book, he started to cry and when I finally got him to tell me what was going on, he told me that he was really proud of himself. I'm not going to lie. There have been days of pure frustration as we have been on this journey together but it has been a beautiful thing to open up this new world to him. The back of the book says that when all 100 lessons are completed, the child will be reading at an end of first grade/early second grade level......and he just turned 5 years old in July!!! He's blowing us away and we are so terribly proud of him!
As a reward, we took a trip to our local library branch yesterday and he got his very own card and then proceeded to check out 12 books. We got home and he opened up one and started to read to me (the one in the picture below) and read 95% of the book with very little sounding out of words or help from me. You should have seen his excitement and joy!!!!!
Like I said....it has been a VERY busy fall but it has been wonderful. And the busyness....which I try not to glorify....won't be letting up any time soon. There is Halloween coming up: Jeffery is going to be a viking and Jakob will be a pirate. We have a beloved aunt of mine coming in 2 weeks to visit for a week. We have concerts galore on the horizon. My parents are coming to visit for a week prior to Christmas. We're planning a small family vacation for part of our Christmas present to each other. And then the new year will be here! We've been very blessed this fall....and we pray that you have been as well!
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