Wrapping Up August

I'm sitting here listening to "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel in amazement remembering my friend who made her children learn every reference in that song. History--check! I don't think I caught half of them. I could educate myself. One day. If I have time.

We celebrated our oldest's birthday this weekend.

The little girls and I made her the shirt. She was not excited about being 19. 

So many goodies! It takes 3 different kind of donuts to accommodate all the allergies and diabetics in the family. 

The whole family (grandma, aunts, cousins, etc.) got together and gave her a whole bag of fidget toys and stress relief toys. She LOVES them. They are to help her study this fall. 

 She's 19 now and about to embark on higher education. Gotta get her a house key this weekend as she will not be on our schedule anymore. Growing up is strange and hard and I so remember being where she is. How can it be **cough28yearscough** since I was her age?

The younger girls and I started back to co-op last week. We forgot to take their pictures at home so we took them on the lovely gym wall once we got there. They had a great first day. The youngest is taking choir, general music, P.E., ballet, and art. The second-born is taking choir, band (she plays clarinet), music theory, and drama.

I teach the preschool class and assist the youngest drama class. It's a tiring day, but I can't beat the classes my daughters are getting to take and the friendships they make.

This time last year we were in the middle of Hurricane Harvey and a DIY remodel of our house. When the water got half-way up our front yard that Friday night, but we didn't flood, we figured we weren't going to. So Saturday found us painting during the storm. We were really fortunate to not flood (our old house did flood during a storm).

This shows our rain total during the hurricane compared to our then 5 year old. 

So many friends were not as fortunate. I don't personally know anyone who is not back in their home or a new home, but I'm sure there are many who have yet to re-build. The effects of storms like that are long-lasting.

The effects of remodeling are too, it seems.

See, last summer we packed up 50% of our house belongings planning to hire someone to do the remodel. When that didn't pan out, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. A year later, our garage is still a big mountain of mess. Actually even more so because we moved all those boxes before Harvey. Then we moved them 472 more times looking for things over the last year.

(This is where there will not be a picture. Ahem. Pride.)

So next month we shall embark on a new project here at Project: Family---the garage. Somehow I don't think this will garner as much sympathy or help as Harvey did.

"Help the victims of home remodeling" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Signing off,

Chapters

We started off our Geography study this year by panning out. We made those little books (I've seen lots of versions) where you start with a picture of the child's house. Then you have them draw their street, then their city, then their county......all the way to their planet. You get the drift. It's a way of showing where they are on the map in the grand scheme of things.

So my children requested to watch this video which we have seen several times before.

All of this got me to thinking deep thoughts while I was cleaning up the kitchen cabinets just now. Our oldest daughter just graduated high school in May. This summer she got to go on two very special trips. Yesterday, she purchased scrapbook materials so she can put all the pictures from her trips inside. She's about to embark on a very different part of life: work and college. I was thinking how glad I was that she got to go on those trips.

But what if those trips are not the end of her fun teenage summer days....but rather the beginning of her young adult life, which could be filled with all kinds of adventures?

I realized that the chapters of her life are getting broader. When we first brought her home from the hospital, I was concerned with what she did on MONDAY. And then TUESDAY. We were getting by hour by hour and cherishing every minute.

As she grew, we thought of her chapters as "infancy", "toddlerhood," "the preschool years", etc.

But now, I feel a dividing mark between her "childhood" and her "young adulthood." Her chapters are long and thick and wordy.

And all those things you worried endlessly about in their younger years are simply dots on the page now. You would be hard-pressed to flip back and find some of the things that once were concerns.

So even though we are very perplexed about this new chapter which we have never been through before, if I have learned anything from her life--it's that at the end of this one, Lord willing, there will be a wonderful new chapter waiting to be written.

And I can't wait to see it play out.

Signing off,