My Mother's Day gift was a fishing license.  Now before all my lady friends go up in arms over no gifts and flowers, please understand that my request was not to run up any more bills, and I couldn't think of anything that I really want anyway.  I am so grateful for the family that I have, and my house does not need anything more to clutter it up, so I am happy with my gift.

The second half of my gift was to get me up at 6:30 this morning to go fishing.  Granted I was awake anyway, but I wouldn't have minded another hour to lounge in a warm bed.  That was not to be, however, as I had two excited children, and an equally excited husband keeping me company, and awake!  So up I got, made tea, had a bit of leftover coffee-cake and away we went, down to the river by the park--five minutes walk from the house.

My husband has been teaching me to fly-fish.  Up until today, it has been done with a pole and line on our side lawn.  Today was my first attempt with a hook on the end.  I thought I did pretty well for my first try.  I managed only to catch the line on the tree behind me one time--"You're putting your arm back too far"--and to partially embed the hook in my thigh one time.  The rest of the time, the fly made it into the water--sometimes with a loud plop and other times very gently.  The only problem was that I shut my eyes every time I cast, fearful of where that hook would land.

The children were very good.  The playground equipment was right behind us, and they played there most of the time, or came quietly over to watch and ask "Have you gotten anything yet?" while staying safely out of reach of my line.

The fish weren't biting this morning, and it was quite cold, so we came home after about an hour, and had more breakfast before starting into our lessons.  The poles are on the porch, waiting for another morning outing.

I'm doing something different today--actually blogging twice in one day.  Marsha gave me the idea.
There are so many positives about homeschooling that I hardly know where to start, but here is a few to start with.

1.  I get to be with my children all the time, to watch them grow and mature, and learn.  Almost nothing on this earth compares to that.

2.  They get to spend their time with each other.  It has been wonderful to see the close relationship my two have with each other.

3.  I get to seek out curriculum that fits them, not having to fit them to a curriculum.  That has been especially helpful with Belle, as she learns differently than I do.  And helpful for Boo too, because he learns so quickly.

4.  I get to teach them about the Lord freely, without having to fight the ideas coming home with them from public school.

5.  I don't have to fear for their safety at school, or for their peace of mind.  I don't have to fear the bully on the playground or in the classroom.

6.  We get to flex our schedule with the changes of life, without having to work our vacations or trips around a school schedule.  We can do school whenever we want--on snow days so we can take nice days off, during the summer, so we can travel in the fall.

7.  I get to learn with them!  This is a biggie for me.  You'd think that with twelve years of school and seven plus years of college, I would know some of this stuff.  I don't.

I could probably think of more things too, but I'll stop for now.  What are your blessings?

I'm nearly done, just need to finish the ties and then hem them.  Doing two at once is kind of fun, and I think quicker than doing them one at a time.  It is taking longer than I wanted it to, of course.  I am not quick at sewing.  But, the children shall have them for our trip, and that makes them happy.

It has been nice having a couple of days off school and at home where I can work on a project like this.  For me, it is just as full-time as teaching, I think.  I cut them out and started them yesterday, and sewed nearly all afternoon.  Then I sewed all morning, and I am hoping I don't have to sew all afternoon this afternoon.

It is a beautiful sunny day, although still cold.  The forecast is for the weather to warm up and rain next week.  Hope our basement and garage don't flood too badly.  (The basement is unfinished so it isn't a huge deal--it just happens, and then you have to sweep water down the drain or suck it up with the shop vac.)

Boo is five years old today.  I can hardly believe it!  The time has gone by so quickly.  My baby is not only out of babyhood, but he is reading!

We celebrated today for him by the usual presents, then lunch out at our favorite cafe--a ham sandwich for Boo with juice instead of milk.  Dinner for him was a home made chicken curry with naan bread on the side, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  Boo isn't really a cake or pudding person.  He does like his cookies though!

I took lots of photos today, trying to get a good one, but he seems to be at the stage where he is either looking goofy, or away from the camera.    Hard to get him to smile at the right time.

I celebrated the day off from school by doing laundry and a major decluttering.  Nearly the entire contents of a suitcase that has been sitting in one of our closets is now in a bag waiting to be picked up by a charity organization.  The clothes in it consisted almost entirely of nursing uniforms (I think if I ever return to nursing, it will be time to get new ones), and maternity clothes--including maternity nursing slacks.  I'm trying not to think too hard about giving away my maternity clothes on the anniversary of my son's birth.  I'm actually glad I managed to get almost all of them in the bag without crying.  I did hang on to two of my best dresses--I don't really know why except that I just couldn't bear to part with them yet.

I found a white uniform dress that I wore while in nurses training.  It has my school badge on the sleeve.  I decided to keep that for Belle to dress up in and play nurse.  I didn't feel like removing the badge to give it away.  She, by the way, is delighted with the idea!  What wouldn't I have given to have something like that when I was a kid.  I played nurse, or doctor, a LOT!

In addition to going through the suitcase, I put about 20 pounds of magazines out for recycling, and put a bunch of stuff away in the bedroom.  I also did at least three loads of laundry.  That requires trips to the basement.  Now my body is telling me that I did too much.  I hurt from the waist down.  Physically TIRED.

I didn't have time to post an entry yesterday 1) because it was a busy day, and 2) because I was playing with my Birthday present--Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI.  What fun!  I attended a class on it some weeks ago, and really enjoyed it.  Now it is going to take some time to figure it all out and remember what we did with it in the class.

We had a lovely day yesterday--My Mom's Birthday.  It felt like a holiday because we were celebrating not only her birthday, but mine, and Boo's also.  We spent the morning opening and enjoying gifts.  Everybody received something because there were birthday gifts, Christmas gifts from my parents (who weren't here over the holidays), and gifts sent from far away where my brother and sister-in-law are missionaries.  Some were surprises, and some were not.  It was such fun!  My Birthday gifts included the above mentioned software, and a pair of beautiful earrings from my husband and children.  My gift from my parents is being shipped.  I believe it is a book I have wanted for a while.

For our Birthday dinner I roasted a chicken with stuffing, and we had mashed potatoes and mashed turnip (the childrens' favourite vegetable) with it.  Lemon meringue pie (home-made by Mom and I) was for dessert.

Mom and Dad went home today, and we all miss them already.  To ease the pain of parting, we headed off to town to do some shopping right after they left.  There wasn't much we needed, except that we discovered that the velcro on Boo's shoes (which we purchased only a couple of months ago) was no longer sticking, and the toe area had worn so badly that his sock was wet.  Back we went to the store we got them from, and showed them to a man in the shoe department.  He said that we could exchange them, and to pick out another pair before we went to customer service.  I was quite surprised at the level of service coming from that particular store, and we even received some cash back because the new shoes were less expensive than a replacement pair of the same brand!  I don't make a practice of returning things, so this was a new experience for me.

Looking forward:  Belle is excited about starting MUS on Monday.  I am hoping to get Monday's lessons all ready before tomorrow evening.  I am looking forward to getting back into a routine after a week of sickness, and a week of holidays.

Tomorrow the plan is to take me out to lunch at the little cafe downtown, and then DH and I are invited to dinner with a few other couples in the evening.  I am looking forward to not having to cook at all tomorrow, and even Sunday will be mostly leftovers that were in the freezer.  A light weekend for cooking, but I do have to clean the house.

We all slept in today.  That was good, because I didn't sleep well the first part of the night.  By the time we finished breakfast this morning, it was nearly 10:00.

After breakfast Mom and I started making Stollen.  That is a German Christmas bread (some call it cake) with lots of raisins and candied fruit in it.  Mom used to make it for us every year.  I've made it a few times myself, but not for quite a few years.  Since they are here to help us eat it, I thought it would be fun to make this year. MMMM..my husband just made me slice some so we could have a sample.  It needs the frosting, I think, but is good anyway--nice and fresh!

We got quite a bit of snow last night, so there was shoveling to do.  DH had services to take at the nursing homes today, so the rest of us shoveled the driveway and moved the cars around.

I made soup for lunch, and we had salmon for dinner tonight.

This afternoon the children worked on a project with puff paint that was sent to them last year.

One of the highlights of my day was that my Math U See books arrived today.  Now we can start on Monday when we start school again.  I am so excited!

I feel like my writing has been singularly uninspiring lately.  Sorry if I'm boring all my friends to tears (or to ignoring my blog).

I can hardly believe it is Tuesday already!  I don't know what happened to Monday.

Yesterday the children were set to go shopping with their Daddy for my birthday present.  I had an appointment at the bank, and a list of groceries to get.  We planned to do all this in our wee town.  In the morning, while Daddy was unwinding after his busy day on Sunday, we did a bit of school.  The children watched math videos, I did phonics with Boo, and Belle did copywork.  Then I was busy doing some laundry and generally getting ready for my parent's visit.

In the afternoon, they left to walk down to the shop.  By the time I got ready to go, cleared the snow off the van, and drove down to the end of the street, they were on their way home.  I thought "Boy, they decided quick!", but later found out that the shop was closed.  I took my time with my errands, and enjoyed some time on my own for a change.

I went for a walk in the evening also.  It was great to get together with my friend.

This morning, although I had hoped and planned to do a Sonlight day, the time went in cleaning the bathroom, making beds,  keeping track of the children, and working on dinner preparations.  It doesn't look like I accomplished very much.  The kids played very well together, and spent some time with some learning games on the computer.  This afternoon, Boo stayed with me, while Belle went shopping with Dad.  (He says they got me something, but he is holding onto the receipt in case I want to return it.)

The grandparents arrived about 3:00 this afternoon.  Although it snowed here most of the day, the roads were only bad in one section, and they arrived safely.  The children kept them occupied for most of the rest of the afternoon. 

That was our two days.  Tomorrow, I want to bake some special bread with Mom's help.  The children have a craft they want to do, and I expect they will spend a lot of time with Grandpa and Grandma.