Mother's Day and Spring

This past week went quickly and other than the expected emotional ups and downs, was pretty calm. T ended up catching chicken pox, even though he was immunized for them when he was a baby. Apparently there are a lot of K and 1st graders catching it, so now they recommend a booster. But at least he had it pretty mild. I'm still watching to see if A is going to get it. He hasn't been immunized for it yet, so I wouldn't be surprised.

We ended up keeping the whole family home from church in case the other kids were contagious. So we had a very relaxed, lazy day at home-- everyone except J, who kept crying because she was missing her class and her teachers.

Emotionally, I think we're doing pretty good. Mornings are hard, mostly just because I physically feel yucky and it's hard to get up and get things going when you feel like throwing up. So we've been starting school later, around 10 and just doing the basics-- reading, writing, math, piano, and devotional. And spending lots of time out in the wonderful sunshine catching bugs, working in the garden, picking dandelions-- and trying to get them in the trash instead of being blown across the yard. Ever since we started homeschooling, we've went with the lighter school schedule for a few weeks in the spring and in the fall-- when the weather hits that wonderful magic stage where you can be outside all day without being too hot or too cold. And there is so much to see and do and explore outside. It's one of my favorite things about homeschooling. Then when it's hot and muggy and miserable in the middle of summer, we do our fuller school schedule with more history and science activities and more indoor arts and crafts.

For Mother's Day, the kids found rocks that they painted for me-- one looks just like a heart. They also painted the old stump in our back yard that they are slowly working on breaking apart. It's the most colorful dead tree around. :)

I love all the flowers this time of year. Quite a few of my tulips are still blooming, the lilacs are in full swing, and the irises are starting to open. The flower beds are finally to the point that we have something blooming from early spring with the crocuses all the way through summer with the roses.