STOP!! Read no further. First think of your favorite dinner to have on a warm summer evening and please go to this post from last weekend to share it! My family thanks you.
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Is it the end of your homeschool year? Feeling like you need an end of the year assessment and clarity for making changes for next year? I came across this great resource to share with you! It was designed for use if your homeschooling isn't going well, but I think it's a valuable (and thorough) assessment for anyone to use, even if things are going smoothly.
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Want to learn a little about sharing a border with our friends to the north? We live on Lake Erie, so we see Canada fairly regularly. Sometimes it even shows up in my photos, like...
Russ stumbled across a fun movie the other night while we were doing what we should never do - sitting next to each other on the couch, hardly talking, each with a different lap top. Not good. But he did find this video!
Russ stumbled across a fun movie the other night while we were doing what we should never do - sitting next to each other on the couch, hardly talking, each with a different lap top. Not good. But he did find this video!
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Are you in the mood to reminisce about my favorite childhood television show? Did you watch Square One when you were a kid? Did you believe math made for the coolest music videos in the world and that it would eventually be math that would save the world (via Detectives Monday and Frankly?) This is one of my Square One all-time favorites...
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For when you don't wanna click "like" if you believe in Jesus, or angels, or apparitions, or other stuff that you actually do believe in but it's just not your style to share your Faith via moderately hokey "Chicken Soup for the Soul-esque" stories on facebook:
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But it is Pentecost, and it's a pretty big deal ("Birthday of the Church" ring any bells?). So I posted this pic on facebook of our family "going red" for Mass...
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| best out of five photo tries - this one had the majority of people looking moderately normal :) |
WHY GO TO MASS?
(Any Given Sunday Project)
(Sorry I couldn't figure out how to embed this one... I hope you'll still click through and watch it.)
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Speaking of random, have you tried these...
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And I'm cheating, cheating, cheating, and am using Kendra's fun Answer Me This link-up to finish up Jen's Seven Quick Takes Link-up (Posting with multiple link-ups is like a rich and and intricate tapestry of blogging awesomeness . Whatever, Theresa...)
1. Do we have a land line? No. But I wish we did, or at least had a phone that was designated as "the family phone." I feel like it doesn't promote family solidarity for folks to have to decide which of us to call - Russ or me. When people have to decide which one of us to call, it automatically eliminates the option of speaking to the other spouse. They've chosen an individual and have missed an opportunity to make a connection with the Blackstone family. Not having a family phone, in some ways, segregates or compartmentalizes our lives. For instance, if we had a family phone, one of Russ' work colleagues or barbershop singing friends may call and spend a few minutes speaking with me or with one of the older kids (which would be delightful) before beginning his conversation with Russ. I feel like having a communal phone line is a way to help keep the family identity in a way. Each family member having his or her own phone seems, in my limited experience with these things, to make conducting individual business more important than communicating and acting as a family unit. Have I rambled long enough? Anyway, we don't have a third phone at this point because we already have two mobile phones ($), and the more I write about it, they more it's starting to sound like a First World Problem.
2. What is my least favorite food? Not sure. But I do not like the word "dollop" and the minute someone asks if I want a "dollop" of something (sour cream, guacamole, whipped cream) then I feel very strongly that No, I do not want that food. Like Daisy Sour Cream? Never gonna buy it.
3. What's on my summer reading list?
Out of the Silent Planet, Peralandra, and That Hideous Strength, the space trilogy by C.S. Lewis. My sister and I are reading these together and are trying to organize a mini summer book club to discuss them with some other women.
Teaching from Rest, e-book from Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things. It's waiting in my Kindle account, but I haven't dived in yet. I'm looking forward to it though after hearing so many wonderful reviews.
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown
I took this recommendation from Anne and Modern Mrs. Darcy. She said I'd like it if I like Unbroken, which I did!
I have Jen Fulwiler's Something Other Than God and Leila Lawler's The Little Oratory in my Amazon shopping cart, just waiting for me to hit PURCHASE, but I want to finish some of my other books first. Maybe these will be end-of-the-summer reading.
And I'm just finishing up Better Late Than Early, by Raymond Moore. A really good read on homeschooling and feeling comfortable with focusing more on meaningful family connections and less on reading and writing and math in the early years.
Check out this post to check out what I read/recommended last summer!
I took this recommendation from Anne and Modern Mrs. Darcy. She said I'd like it if I like Unbroken, which I did!
I have Jen Fulwiler's Something Other Than God and Leila Lawler's The Little Oratory in my Amazon shopping cart, just waiting for me to hit PURCHASE, but I want to finish some of my other books first. Maybe these will be end-of-the-summer reading.
And I'm just finishing up Better Late Than Early, by Raymond Moore. A really good read on homeschooling and feeling comfortable with focusing more on meaningful family connections and less on reading and writing and math in the early years.
4. What do people regularly ask my advice on? People ask me about getting babies to nap and sleep at night, afternoon rest time, and cooking in bulk to freeze meals. Anything else you want to know about?? People generally do not ask me how I'm able to keep my house so dusty, or how I manage to feel exhausted and overwhelmed most of the time, or how I can go from smiling to temper-totally-lost in under ten seconds. I'm really good at those things too, but no one seems to ask...
5. What's the most physically challenging thing I've done? Hmmm.... Recover from five c-sections? Does that count? It's not so physically challenging actually, because "rest" is the Dr's orders. I used to do push-ups, but not so much anymore :)
6. How do I feel about massages? Not. so. good. Occasionally I'll get a casual back rub from my husband while enjoying British television via Netflix, and that I enjoy. But if anyone tries to give me a foot massage, and I mean anyone, that person had better get very, very far away from me, because terrible things may happen.
And on that happy note, The End!
And on that happy note, The End!
I promise never to offer a foot rub to put you into labor ;) And Square One solidarity, sister. I can still hear the Mathman music in my head.
ReplyDeleteGood job finding red outfits for everyone! We thought about doing it, but then realized that my daughter was the only one with "church-quality" clothing in red, and that dress was in the wash...
ReplyDeleteI would normally e-mail this, but can't find an e-mail address for you on the blog. Based on your Canada pics, I'm guessing you live near Buffalo? We're up near there (Dunkirk/Fredonia area) every summer, where my family owns a cottage near the Lake. My favorite place in the world :-)
Yep! Buffalo it is! My dad used to spend summers on the Dunkirk beaches! How great that you're familiar with that area! You motivated me to get my personal email address for "contact" in my pages. Thanks!
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