I'm not going to lie- it's been cold. Not really that bad, but for cold blooded little old me, it's cold. I confess we haven't been going out as much this last month and I've taken to getting my exercise by running on the treadmill. We also supplement with dance parties. My favorite moment was Cash and Tupp deciding to partner dance and then Cash throwing her into a dip. That and them in the rocking boat reenacting the Kiss the Girl scene from Little Mermaid.
It took a lot of coaxing. A lot. But Cash is finally comfortable on his new bike and even coasts down steep hills on it (another bout of coaxing). Ah my timid little love bug. He's such a good helper- even running upstairs to get a hairband and putting it in Tupp's hair so she doesn't get breakfast in it.
I was just telling Clay tonight that the effects of homeschooling on our family have been greater and more wonderful than I anticipated. I don't consider my children any more remarkable than others (though I'm tempted to) but it seems like they've been doing remarkable things, and I don't think I'm doing anything exceptional either. A couple of days ago I was counting the church bells and after I said seven Pherson said "eight." Today we passed some horses and he said "two horses" when there were indeed two. And Tupp understood an entire story in French today without me telling her what it said. And that's all aside from the relationships they are developing with each other that would otherwise be curtailed by excessive school time. Cash is flying with his reading and what's more important: he enjoys it. They also teach each other things like this....
Pherson has turned into a right old daredevil. He's discovered jumping- as in jumping off of heights. How high can a thing be and me jump off of it and survive? Let's find out! Needless to say I've been using a lot of ice and desitin.
Tupp has finally let me do her hair. Most days she want Pippi Longstockings hair (and wants to be called Pippi when she grows up) but some days I can convince her to let me try other things. She waffles between wanting long hair (just so it can be like pippi) or cutting it short. She's tried to convince me to take a go at it a couple of times but luckily I've learned my lesson before.
We had a nice bit of rainstorm to play in at the beginning of the month.
On Valentines we took a quick trip for three-four days to visit family and mostly friends since despite our trips at the end of last year we didn't get much visiting done as it was either holiday or family related. It was nice to spend the day of love (and the rest of the weekend) with those we love- friends, family and all we hold dear.
It was just the rejuvenation we needed. Plus it was our golden opportunity to get away before Clay gets a job. And no we haven't heard anything yet, but we're praying and hoping this county one comes through. In the meantime he's selling ad space for a newspaper that's starting and he's gone to a job fair and is submitting more applications.
I know it might sound sacrilegious, but Sunday's are slightly torturous. 11am church cuts through lunch and naptime. Most weeks we just chill in the foyer. The good news is our ward is finally starting to grow. Yay for the Comstock ward!
This past week I've made an effort to get us out of the house. We go on walks, play at the basketball court, play in the yard, watch the house down the street getting built. Yesterday our basketball practice quickly turned into a quidditch match. I take full responsibility for my children's addiction. Even Pherson walks around with a pretend wand muttering "Potter."
The real magic? He's started wanting to read to us. They all crawled in with him in the morning and he read to them while I got started on breakfast. Love it!!
And I love our library and librarian. She lets me check out as many books as we want ("it's good for my numbers!") and lets me keep them as long as I want. Also, I managed to lose one and can't find it anywhere and she just checked it in and didn't care. Lastly she's going to start a French club for us. Pherson and I played at the park for a bit on our last visit since he was getting antsy and Tupp & Cash had story time. Because she always makes story time whenever we come to visit. We're so pampered!
Tuppy has got be quite the little helper in the kitchen. She and Pherson volunteer readily, Cash jumps in only if he's getting jealous of the other two having fun. ;) We made lemon bars from my grandmother's old cookbook the other day and Tupp cut lemons with her kid safe knife and juiced them all herself. She says her favorite part is the stirring (which is good since that isn't usually my favorite). She's enjoying her school- we do stories, cooking/baking and art (coloring, painting, beeswax modeling, projects). It amazes me that she knows most of her numbers and can count up to thirty with no help and 100 with very little assistance as well as the days of the week and months oft he year in French. This morning I asked her to put her shoes on in French and she understood. She also has started doing the Rosetta Stone, but only because she wanted to copy Cash. I humor her when she wants to, but it's still too grueling for a four year old.
We finally got another snow day. Saturday morning we woke up to the snowplow doing our street. I decided to scrap all the cleaning, catching up, etc. I'd planned (and really needed to do) and throw our snow suits on and enjoy what we knew wouldn't last. By mid day it had already started to melt even though the flurries kept coming down. But we had snow ball fights, slid down the hill, built a tiny snowman and enjoyed it all while it lasted.
That afternoon Clay took Tupp on her first date- a daddy daughter dance at Piper's Opera house. She picked out his clothes for him (and herself) and put on her lipstick perfectly. She asked for Pippi hair (what else?) which I was happy to do. She had a fantastic time and Clay marveled at it and showed me all the pictures and video after (including an interpretive dance and sing a long with the Frozen soundtrack). So sweet it made my eyes water a smidge.
We got a bit more snow this afternoon, but nothing that would stick. Just the tops of the mountains still have a dusting. But the Sierra's are reporting much more, which is good. We keep hoping the winter's not over so that we can catch up on the moisture we need- not only for Nevada but California as well.
The next best thing to having chickens of your own (which I haven't successfully convince Clay into yet) is friends who have chickens laying an overabundance of eggs.
We hope you all know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. I know I've been terrible at keeping in touch (with everyone), but I stalk you all in whatever ways I can and think about you often. I wish we had an inexpensive instant travel option, but in the meantime we love you guys from afar. Biggest hugs and much love!
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