Life Snapshot

Books, books, and more books.

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Complete with a crayon wall mural composed by the young artist Claire. A Theraband (dancer exercise device) also hangs in the background.

Landon’s Graduation

Congratulations Landon! You made it to the end of your homeschooling years.IMG_4644

We celebrated his graduation at the end of May in a group party with five other homeschool graduates.

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 A favorite lego creation was displayed on his table, combining two of his hobbies: building and music. I love the little details in the piece, like the lined ‘sheet music’ in front of the pianist.
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Here are several pictures from when he and I went out for his senior photo shoot:

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I snapped this adorable picture of my Grandpa and Claire at the graduation party. So cute!
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Christmas Snapshots

A gate guarded the gifts while they were displayed for a short time before we opened them:

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Claire learned very quickly how to open presents…
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…and was on to the next one.

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The whole family caught the stomach bug right before Christmas. Landon was the last, and he was still recovering until the day after Christmas.
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Note that our family is growing-a little brother coming in May. I cannot wait to hold a little newborn again. Luckily, I’m so busy with school it seems like this pregnancy is passing by more quickly than any of the others. I think it will be spring before I know it.

Odds and Ends

Hello, everyone!  Monday I had my wisdom teeth taken out, and the surgery went really well, but recuperation has felt really slow.  I’ve been existing on a pretty much liquid diet, and I’m only just beginning to get back to regular foods. I’ve had enough milkshakes and pudding to last me a year!  Also, everyone around the house can’t wait for me to talk better again.

All that sitting around has had me searching for things to do.  I went through some recent photographs and found ones from several events from the last couple months:

Alexander and his friend from my ballet class’ recital dance at the end of May.  They danced to ‘Danse Macabre’.

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May and June brings a bunch of birthdays: Claire’s first:

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Daniel’s fifth:
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Alexander’s tenth,

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Dominic’s third,

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and Joseph’s eighth.

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Joseph also got to receive his First Holy Communion

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Probably the first photo of our entire family together (including Claire):IMG_2114

 

 

 

Tutu Claire

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I took this picture a few weeks ago for my college photography class, and now that I am on Thanksgiving break I finally  have a chance to share it.

Claire had just learned to sit when I took the picture, and now she is fully mobile, crawling around like crazy. She even has pulled herself up to standing a couple times!

Yummy!

This adorable picture makes me laugh. It pretty much sums up Claire’s philosophy of life right now: everything is edible.

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In Which I Heave a Sigh of Relief

Whew!!!! I just made it through my first set of midterm tests. Finally, I can breathe!

Lots has happened in the last few weeks. I have finally gotten the swing of college time management. The two commandments: Thou Shalt Study Hard on Weekends if Thou Wanteth to Survive, and Thou Shalt Not Ever Fall Behind in the Reading.

The biggest difference that I have had to adjust to in college is that homeschool can maneuver around life events. If I catch a cold and don’t feel well, I still have to make sure to do homework and attend class. Johnathan had his appendix removed ten days ago, and
I spent a night in the hospital with him. I didn’t get all of my reading done that day, and it took me several hours each evening for the next four days to just catch up.

Life is moving fast at home as well. It seems to race by now that I am not around for a good chunk of the day, and I end up missing out on major happenings around the house. I glanced in the small aquarium where we keep our two little frogs one evening. “Oh!” I cried. “One is missing!”

“Oh, yes, didn’t you know?” Mom said. “He died about two weeks ago.”

Clare is making great strides in her skills. She is sitting up almost perfectly for long stretches of time and pushes herself up onto her hands and knees. She hasn’t crawled forward yet, but she can really move backwards.

Dominic is going through the language explosion, and frequently surprises me with his vocabulary. Because I haven’t been around as much to hear him speaking, it catches me off guard when he says something that sounds like it came out of a three year old. He also knows his colors and almost all of the letters and their sounds, thanks to a Leap Frog movie.