Summer

Well, summer is finally here. Half way through June and I think we may actually be able to go through a night without turning the heat on. Despite a very dreary forecast this week, the week has turned out beautiful so far. I even took the kids out to the park and went for a run today. I have been feeling horribly out of shape and overweight lately and MUST make time to workout. The run felt great. I have always loved being out running -- just me and my thoughts. The new puppy is acclimating very well, and we have not had an accident in the house in several days. She is even learning that if she lays on her pillow to sleep and play in our room, then we won't put her in her kennel. She is a bit strong willed, but very smart. She comes to her name and sits already. She is starting to learn what in and out mean. She doesn't like IN very much. LOL. She is getting along great with all the dogs except Balou. I think he feels threatened by her, so he acts like a grumpy old man whenever she is around. So, for the time being we keep the two separated. It will probably have to be that way until she is big enough that he doesn't think he can pick a fight with her -- hopefully soon. She has double in height and weight in the past 5 weeks so it shouldn't be long.

Olivia brought me a diaper this week because she had a poopy diaper and wanted changing. She even laid it out on the floor and tried to lay down on it. It was too funny. She has learned a few new words, and will now answer yes or no if I ask her if she is hungry, wants a drink, or has a dirty diaper. That really simplifies things. She even tells us night night when she is tired and just wants to go to bed or lay down. We have only given her a bottle at bed time for the past couple months or so, and now she has only taken 1 bottle for bed in the past week. That was because she was falling asleep in her chair at the dinner table and I didn't want her waking up in the middle of the night hungry. She has decided she like to rock in the rocking chair, and it only takes about 5 minutes to get her to sleep that way. Yeah. No more bottles. . . the question is how much longer to -- NO MORE DIAPERS.

Caden now sings his entire alphabet song with no help (except for some reason he likes to leave out J). He also counts to twenty now with very little help ( and can count to 10 in Korean -- an anomaly of going to too many Tae Kwon Do classes ). The toddler mind is a fascinating thing -- A sponge -- ready to learn. I don't understand why so many people think teaching them is a bad thing. He is SO excited to learn all his letters so he can read all his books. We do our alphabet book and Bible story at bed time each night. He is REALLY into Legos right now. He can play with legos by himself for HOURS. It is nice -- See you don't need TV to have a babysitter in your house.

Ezekiel is getting better and better at his drums and is one page from finishing his music theory book. Then it is on to Music Theory II. I promised him I would start teaching him Clarinet when he finished Music Theory II. By then he will be able to read music well, and his recorder skills should be good enough to switch right over to clarinet. So, I guess sometime in the next year I will have to get my clarinet Re-Corked ($100). Which I found is much, much cheaper than buying a new instrument. I was in shock when I looked at the price tag on instruments these days. I am so thankful that I did not get rid of my clarinet. He is also very excited to start taking the online Spanish Course that Russell is taking. I found a really good course on line. Independent study with written and verbal exercises, quizzes, and tests. It actually keeps a report card for you and we have access for 6 months for $60. Russell has gotten a lot out of it.

Zeke just tested for his orange belt last week and should get it awarded in class today. He did his sword form, nunchuk form, TaeKwonDo form, and broke a board with a knife strike. Next test he will also have to test Hap Ki Do. He is loving it and looking forward to next season when he can try out for the competition team.

Russell is still waiting to hear back about Financial aid for school next year. He finally knows enough guitar to start playing some pretty cool songs. I bought him a book of guitar sheet music for a bunch of contemporary Christian songs. The guy who plays in the little church ensemble told him if he came early on Wednesday nights he could teach him some of the stuff the church plays. I think that will be cool, because if he goes to school he won't be able to take lessons here anymore. Russell finished all of his 7th grade school work except he still needs to give me his final research project (on hermit crabs). He is also taking Spanish through the summer to get ready for school (praying that he gets to go). I am torn off and on between being ready for him to go to school and understanding the benefits of this school for him, and not wanting to let go of the mommy controls etc. . . He has his first paying job, outside our house this week. A neighbor of some friends of ours has some show animals. because they are out of town for the week they hired Russell to feed the horse, 4 lambs, and 2 hogs. It has to be done twice a day. He is doing a very good job.

With Chris being home so much this summer, the house is beginning to look more like a home. Chris is finally getting some of his CLEP testing out of the way, and is back enrolled in school. Hopefully, he will finish all his CLEP tests before he deploys -- then he will officially have his Associates degree +. YEAH. At this pace he will finish his Bachelors next Spring/Summer. His mother visited us for the week last week. We just hung out at the house mostly. We did get out one day and drive through Harper's Ferry. We didn't get out of the car much since it was raining. It rained pretty much her entire visit. Chris left Friday night for National Guard Drill -- in Rhode Island. I took his mom to the airport Saturday, and the worked all weekend to get things back to normal.