Count Your Blessings, One by One

This weekend we took it easy. We just enjoyed being a family with young children and let the days roll and change as they wanted. So when Mike and the kids were being spontaneous in the backyard, I thought I would take some pictures. :) What struck me is that I can take visual stock of my many blessings just sitting there on our grassy hill. For Instance:

I am truly blessed that I love a man who is also a great Dad.
That with each addition to our family, the older children have been excited to take on their older sibling roll. That I have strong, healthy children that can do anything they set their minds to. (Even swat a couple whiffle balls around because they were inspired by visiting the PGA tournament last week)
Not to forget the strong, sturdy house I have been blessed with, even though I can't seem to keep the neighboring woods from overtaking the back patio...And that I am the Momma of that sweet little baby neck. Which is my greatest joy to be able to snuggle and kiss any time I want.

3rd Annual Wolfe Academy Kick-Off

(Alternately titled - the 1st day of school)

We have officially embarked on another year of school. (Oatmeal to feed those brain cells!)

I can't believe that we have started on time (you know, according to the schedule that I have in my brain). Just last week the school room looked like this. But after some moving of furniture, some ruthless purging, and good ole' fashioned cleaning up. We were ready for our 1st day.

I was/ am a little nervous about this school year for a couple of reasons.

1. I now have two home schoolers. Yep, John has started Kindergarten!
2. The other twist is that Sofie has started 2nd grade. Which translates into a more rigorous and challenging academic schedule. This will be my 1st year where we will not be getting done by lunch time. Still, I have to be able to have some of my day for myself or I might go completely nuts. The goal is to be done by 2 - 2:30. And we definitely accomplished that this week!

So what have I learned this week?

1. Kindergarten may be too elementary for John. A perfect example was after one of his writing lessons this week. (The curriculum started him out with a few curved lines that he was supposed to trace, which he got done in, like, 5 seconds!) With out any prompting from me, he goes over to the white board and starts to write some of his favorite words that he has learned from Sofie.

And don't even get me started on the math. I literally feel like I have the reins of a horse that I'm constantly pulling back to a walk. When all he really wants to do is run. So I had a good conversation with Mike. And suffice to say, I think I'm just going to let that colt run. Isn't that the beauty of homeschooling. You can go at the child own pace?

2. My plan for the two youngers needs a little tweaking. Caleb is NOT happy to spend any real time in the pack-n-play. So I've been blocking him into the TV portion of our basement and letting him have free reign. Though he's already figured out the I haven't blocked off the access to the school room and has started crawling in to see us. Ugh! With Lilia I think that I am going to put together some easy activities that Sofie and John can do with her when they have a down time. She doesn't do well with boredom...

3. The last two years I have been literally able to crack open my curriculum and go on the 1st day of school. But, with 2nd grade, I actually need to do some planning and preparing. Oh well. I knew that day would come eventually.

Overall we are very excited to start in on school. It has been a true blessing to sit down on the couch with John and read to him and spend some concentrated time with him. He seems to get lost in the shuffle so many times and it has been my greatest joy this week to talk with my son and truly enjoy what a fabulous man-child that he is growing into. 2nd grade is downright exciting as Sofie and I dig into some meaty subject matter. I know I'm biased, but she is doing so well. I can't believe how well she reads! In our reading time she is supposed to read 7 pages a day out of her book. I was very skeptical that she could do this. But she has really enjoyed the story and has been devouring those pages. Absolutely amazing.
Mostly I am SO thankful that Mike and I chose this road for our children's education. I get to be on the front lines watching them learning, growing, and maturing. I love that I get to be this involved in their lives. Yeah! Another school year has begun!

Woopee!! She's Three!

Well yesterday was THE day. Lilia's long awaited third birthday. She has known for months that her birthday was August 17. While we've been celebrating everyone else's birthday she has been diligent in reminding me that her birthday was on August 17!

I had called up a few friends to help us celebrate with a picnic at at park. So we met the families and we all had fun. The Moms got some adult conversation time while the kids ( there were 13 kids between 3 Moms... ) had a lot of fun together. Then we had lunch and cupcakes! Another boy had his birthday on the same day so we were able to celebrate two birthdays!

After that we went to the American Girls store because Lilia wanted, "Bitty Baby Stuff" for her birthday ( I think that idea was planted their by her sister) but we didn't spend too much time because we were all very worn out from the park.
Lastly we got home just in time to leave again with Mike. Lilia had requested pizza for her supper and so we obliged! We then came home to the rest of the cupcakes, and one more present from Mommy and Daddy (this one I knew SHE wanted ). Baby Girl, you're growin' up!

A Day of Nothing

Yep, I'm just gonna keep churning out posts about nothing. Isn't that what summer's to be about anyway? Nothing? Our school year is going to start up this next week. So this is our last chance to do, nothing!

I thought I would attempt to make this post a tad more interesting by chronicling a day in the life of the 4 Wolfe Cubs. The day of doing... nothing.

The morning was spent mostly outside, riding in the electric Jeep and playing at the picnic table with Lilia's new birthday toys.Later, when Caleb woke up from his morning nap we celebrated with him and his new ability to crawl without his belly touching the ground.Lastly, since it was Thursday and the local Farmer's Market was open we went over there. Where we spent a whopping 10 min at the actual Farmer's Market. Long enough to by honey sticks. Then they found some kid chairs outside a boutique down the street where they were able to sip on their honey sticks. Yup, a glorious day of "nothing".

3 is the new 12

Lilia's 3rd birthday is just around the corner. I've been asking her lately how old she is going to be. To which she usually gives the correct answer. But that all changed last night.

The in-laws came over for a pre-birthday celebration since they will be gone on her actual birthday day. We had yummy ice-cream cakeand opened some presents. (This would be the hair accessories kit, complete with hair glitter, that she received)We sang Happy Birthday and inevitably someone asked her how old she was going to be. To which she replied, "12"....

Don't worry, dear child, you will be 12 before Mommy knows it. Lets just enjoy you being 3.

Chillin'

What a summer this has been. The weather has been cool and dry. We haven't turned on the air conditioner in over a week and Mike even closed the bedroom window the other night because he was too... COLD. Literally we've been chillin'.

We've been trimming our budget here lately so we haven't been camping as much, are summer social calendar has been light, and any extra-curricular activities have been postponed. Yes, we are definitely chillin'.

The greatest part about all this is the kids are having fun just being kids. Playing in the dirt patio outside, taking long naps, or having time to sit on the couch flipping through a magazine or book. We have been able to spontaneously hop into the car and go play at a park, or take Daddy his lunch when Mommy has woken up late... again.

Yeah, ya gotta love chillin'.

A Man on a Mission

I guess when you are the 4th child, you are reminded daily of how many skills you lack. Caleb is obsessed with being a part of everything going on at all times.It's very tough to photograph him because he won't stop moving!!He is "army" crawling all around the house. He's trying very hard to pull up to anything he can get a grip on.He is a man on a mission! Thankfully, every once in a while he does sit still long enough to capture a moment of his babyhood. But then he's off again to explore new rooms and new toys, to satisfy his insatiable hunger to discover "what else."