well, it's not really his birthday yet, but Auntie offered to take him and his two big siblings along with them on their camping trip only a half an hour from home, so yesterday they pulled up with all their toys, horses, dog, kitten, quads, and scooped up the three biggies, leaving T and I at home with four littles. What fun! The little ones i think have really enjoyed having us all to themselves (although Lulu who is 5 said that it is "lonesome" with no biggies to play with)
I remember so well when he was born. we had spent the whole day exploring the Canada Day celebrations in Kelowna, painting huge apple boxes to represent our growing family, trying new ethnic foods, watching dancers from all different cultures, sitting on the beach watching the sailboats, and ending with fireworks at midnight and popcorn before bed! Then, waking up in the middle of the night, knowing this was it, but hoping to be able to deliver quietly, alone, in my bathtub :) - and dh waking up after 2.5 hours, realizing i was in labour and scuttling me to the hospital for the worst hospital experience ever - and then finally feeling like i had been released from prison 13 or so hours later, with the sweetest little baby in the world in the backseat, listening to classical music as the sky colored up for evening... He's always had his daddy's olive colored skin and i was so in love with him.
He's still the most like his daddy, not just in looks, but in temperament. He's a quiet boy, who thinks a lot, and spares his words, who is thoughtful and diligent, and kind and gentle. He's the kind of boy who notices who is left out and without drawing attention to it, goes out of his way to include them, and be a friend. He's the most physically adept child we have - always has been very dexterous (and his middle name is Dexter!), adventurous, and strong. Maybe because of his allergies, he's found it hard to put on any weight, but he's just solid, lanky muscle... We love Silas!
Anyway,this morning we drove up to meet them - testing the limits of what our Suburban can do by driving through a little river (the bridge was out) to get to their campsite! I got to ride Chenille, a nice lady horse :) and we went quadding down to a swimming area with the littles - three families, and sixteen children all together - from 15 on down to 3 mo (and one being knit together....) I love being out of doors in the summer, i love being with my sister, and my brother in law and all the cousins (and i think my sister has great in laws on that side, too!)
I've gotten a lot accomplished that i wanted to, without the biggies here to ask me interesting questions (we brought home Silas, but left Lulu as Si had had enough (his allergies i think get very bad at nighttime, so i'm glad he's home to sleep, and Lulu was in heaven that he got a chance to stay behind with the cousins)... I'm getting acquainted with my *new to me* Tapestry of Grace curriculum for next year, and i'm starting to see what i will need to do to make it work - it seems like the logical extension of what i am already doing, and my philosophy of homeschooling, just distilled down to make it more doable with a larger household, and i think it will be a lot more challenging to my children, which is really what they need after such a busy year and a new baby...
I'm trying to get a year portfolio done that will have samples of everything the littles have done this year, how they've grown, successes, etc. I wrote three little reports for each of the four oldest children - one in September, one in December, and one in June (i got a lot of good advice on what to include from my friend Grace, who is on a homeschooling e-list i love called tidbitsofwisdomforhomeschoolers@yahoogroups.com), and i also got some scrapbooking done which is always fun - i'd made up cute pages for Mimi's first few days, and i got to finish those off - they still need a little journalling, but i'd rather come back and do it when i have time and good ideas - i think i will use quotes from the pregnancy journal, as i always keep going in there for a little bit after baby is here...
I'm ready to start making up a purchase plan for Tapestry of Grace (and the other subjects i'll be covering this fall) and i think i still need to get back to our facilitator with writing samples (our printer is not attached to our internet - connected computer, so that involves the inconvenience of going upstairs, scanning, saving to a flash disk, bringing the disk downstairs and emailing the samples - and there are usually interruptions at every stage of that process... Next year's necessities include a printer that is Vista compatible!) sooo... i'd better post my picture and get off!
What a great start to the summer, though! |
