just a teaser

I know, I know.  It has been way too long since I gave an update.  And I'm not going to do it now either.  I am coming down with a cold and I need to get to bed before I fall on my face.  I have to get over this one; I am suppose to teach this Sunday and I want to be well enough for it.  I missed last month because I had no voice and two in a row is just bad form.  I'm not one to miss church so they will start to worry.

But I wanted to share this. just for kicks.

That's my handsome boy over to the left, -almost cut off.

good night

Lego Ships

After reading the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Steven started to make ships. This is his Dawn Treader They are becoming more elaborate all the time

Scouts -- or boys are crazy!

Jonny and Steven both went camping on Friday, but not together. Steven went with his 11 year old scout troop. They camped in Deception Pass State Park (just down the hill) and did a service project. He had a blast and came back with a huge smile on his face. Steven now has his 2nd class in Boy Scouts and is really loving it.

Jonny on the other hand, went with the older scouts on his first snow camp ever. It was just warm enough to rain and rain it did everyone was getting soaked. Jonny was pretty well off since he had his sailing foul weather gear with him. Several of the boys had good warm clothes, but once they were wet, they got cold. Jonny kept checking on the boys and asking them math questions to make sure they were ok. One of the boys was cold, shaking, and couldn't even tell the difference between a sleeping bag and a sleeping pad. He sent him home. Jonny said he didn't sleep at all. He kept checking on the boys through the night and waiting for their snow caves to cave in on them. He had brought several extra sleeping bags. This turned out to be a good thing. Some of the boys' bags got wet. Yet, surprisingly enough, he too came home with a huge smile on his face. He said that was the most fun he had had in a long time ... BOYS!!! He is already making plans on how to make it better next year.

We finished the day by going to the Cub Scout Dessert Auction. It was a fund raiser for Cub Scout Day Camp. It was fun and they met their goal . They had some fun creative desserts.

Uhhh

Sometimes my camera disappears. Then when I find it again...

Update

I know, I am way behind. Let's see if I can catch up. OK, Mom died on Oct 18. Of course we expected this and I was grateful that it finally came. But I still walked around kind of out of it for a few days. Then all the kids got colds and I was up all night for several days with a baby and at least one kid at a time that wasn't sleeping. Hence I was not sleeping. Come Saturday I was not a very pleasant person to be around. I needed to kick everyone out of the house anyway so that I could take a test, so Jonny left a few hours early and said, "call us when you want us back." He is so good to me. I took my test, and called them with an the all clear, and I took a nap. It still took several days for my sleep to catch up.

Steven wanted to be a Obi-Wan Kenobi for Halloween. He found some good pants and a karate uniform that looked great. But he also wanted the robe. I do not have a working sewing machine, but he didn't care, he sewed it by hand. I helped guide him and did some of it, but he did most of it while we listened to a librivox recording of Treasure Island. It turned out pretty good. I didn't get pictures, cuz well, it's me and I always think of it after. I will see if I can get them all to dress up again and do a picture. We went to the trunk or treat - carnival - chili cook-off. A trunk or treat is when we go to the church parking lot, people decorate their cars and hand out candy to the kids going from car to car. It is safer and quicker, but it ends up being a lot of candy for very little work.

Mom's funeral was the 5th. It was a long time to wait for closure, but we needed the time so that everyone could come from the 4 corners of the world to make it. I went down and help dress Mom for the burial. I actually was grateful for the opportunity. Not that I would like to do that all the time, but I was glad I could perform that service for her. The funeral was good even though I had to speak. The service was in the morning in Shoreline, and then we traveled to Bremerton for the burial. That was followed by a reception at the Bremerton church building. We were able to see all sorts of people we hadn't seen in years. Actually, quite enjoyable.

This last week I was finishing up an assignment for my literature class. That is all of my prerequisites. As soon as I pass this assignment I will have finished 21 credits so far this term and I am only a little more than half way through. YAY!!! Now I can get back to the education classes. My advisor said that most people go slower through the pre-reqs and then accelerate through the education classes. It is unusual for people to make the progress that I have. So I should probably feel pretty good about my progress.

Jonny is the new scout master. He figures that this will be his job for the next 18 years until Joshua get's he Eagle. The man who called him felt the need to assure me (multiple times) that even though it will be time away from my family, we will be blessed. I had thought about the Wednesday activity nights gone, but I hadn't thought about the monthly camping trips and other trainings it would be. So our Wednesday's are crazy right now. Steven has 11year old scouts from 4:30-6. Isaac has Cub Scouts from 6:00-7. and Jonny's is 7:00 to 8:00. AAHHH (blessings, blessings, blessings). Actually I am kind of happy about it. I do think that good things will come of this and I am excited to watch the results.

Well I am sure I forgot things and I didn't even add any pictures. But I am kind of tired of staring at a computer so I'll chat later.

EEAAKKK!!

Steven can wear my shoes
He is showering regularly of his own accord.
He has asked for deodorant.

I don't think I am ready for this.

Happy Birthday Steven

I tried to talk him into staying 10 for another year, but he just ignored me. Children!!!

I have enjoyed him so much lately. He is blossoming into a wonderful person. I am so blessed to have a front row seat to watch, encourage, cheer, and guide him.

Climbing up the ivy covered tree

falling off the ivy covered tree

up again

down again

shooting with his friend

Archery

Have I told you (bragged on) how good Steven is with archery? Jefferson Academy (the charter school in Show Low) had an archery class. Steven fell in love. At the time we were able to buy one of those cheap (toy) bows from Walmart. He has been saving ever since for a real bow. With a wonderful gift from Grandma, he was able to finally get his Genesis Bow after Christmas.

In early March we found a 4H archery club in Mount Vernon. It is almost a 45 minute drive, so we do not go every week. But he has already made a name for himself there. He is the kid "who doesn't need sights." (He has just gotten use to not using them and when he tries, they mess him up.) But even without sights, he shoots better than almost everyone else there. The kid is actually pretty good!

Agency is a beautiful thing

After the interruptions of summer and moving, Steven reverted back into Core Phase in his education. He was not ready to have anything required of him and was just in play-learning mode. It took me a bit to catch on to what what happening. In my mind he should have been eagerly in love of learning phase spending his days on learning all sorts of things. Well, I decided to back off and give him the space he needed to get back to where he was supposed to be. So about 6 weeks went by with my battling between thinking he really should be doing more and knowing he needed time. Why do I doubt myself?



Well shortly before Christmas, he kind of started to get back in the grove. Then that silly Diary of a Wimpy Kid came along. He started reading like crazy. I had to make him turn off his light at night so that he would get a little sleep. When he was done reading those books as fast as he could get his hands on them, he went over and picked up The Jungle Book of all things. Now that book is NOT necessarily easy reading!! But he is sticking with it and enjoying it.


That Diary thing also got him wanting to write in his journal more, but he feels self conscience about his spelling. So he has been asking to work on that too. I am amazed at the amount of spelling practice he is going through. He is reading his scriptures a lot and reminding me when we forget. He is finding passages he wants to underline and is even quoting stuff. He did say that reading his scriptures helps him understand the older language in The Jungle Book.



I am grateful I gave him the space he needed. I could have decided he needed to be studying more and require more of him. But not only would it have been a battle and not fun for either of us, I could not require all that he is doing now: he is asking for this stuff. He is now back in his Love of Learning and it is stronger than ever.

I love agency education!

Inspiration ?!?

Steven received a copy of The Diary of a Wimpy Kid for Christmas. Sage stole it and read quite a bit of it laughing along the way. Of course that is the perfect way to get someone motivated to read a book (generally, curiosity will inspire an observer to read the book and find out what is so funny). I read some of it too. Unfortunately I did not find it funny at all; most of the humor comes from unjust parents and an unfair school system, and I just get frustrated with both.

But Steven has been going through it. Today he found his Journal and began writing in it. Now I have been trying to encourage him to do this for MONTHS. Then all of the sudden, this silly book does what I have been unsuccessful in doing.

Go figure! Such is life.