I learned this weekend that a friend and former MOPS mentor mom of mine passed away suddenly in her sleep. The suddenness and surprise of her passing took me quite off guard. My heart has been so heavy since I heard the news. Aside from my grandparents who both suffered long illnesses before their death, this is really the first person close to me that I’ve known whose died. She wasn’t just a person that I recognized or said Hi to on Sunday morning.

You all know that the really talented crafty genes somehow skipped over me in the family tree. My girls are not going to get their wedding dress sewn by their Momma like I did. In fact there is a lot of doubt as to whether or not they’ll ever get the pajama pants I set out to sew them a year ago. But, I think I may have stumbled across a medium which I can do, and do with confidence.

Now that my oldest 2 are at their tutorial two days a week, I find myself with just 2 children at home on those mornings. It is a truly odd feeling and a dynamic I am not yet used to. Though I am sure it is nothing compared to the strangeness I’ll feel next year when I am left with only my lil man two days a week. I am hoping to use this time to

During the intro for of one of the speakers at the Women of Faith conference last month, they asked the speaker what quality she valued most in a friend. She answered loyalty, but my answer was a resounding… realness If you want to win me over/endear me for life, let me see your imperfections… do me a favor, don’t clean before you invite me over…show up to my house for a play date late… with a head full of wet hair… let me see your van full of cheerios and wrappers and those “lovely” Sunday School papers which seem to multiply and grow wings and threaten to over take your car.

While we’ve been “doing school” at home for the past few weeks for the purpose of reviewing and getting used to the routine, today was the first official start of our new school year. We homeschool, but also use a tutorial. The kids attend the tutorial twice a week and study at home with me three days a week. So far, I feel it provides the balance our family needs between homeschooling and traditional schooling.

Why hello, dear neglected blog of mine… yes, the circus family is still alive and well. It’s just been a busy week at the circus, what with an earthquake, a hurricane, a Women of Faith conference (another blog post to come about that soon), a head cold, a fantasy football draft and home schooling…. Right now I have mounds, literally mounds of unwashed clothes and dishes to take care of, shirts to tye dye, food to buy, and our annual Labor Day weekend to prep for… but I wanted to stop and preserve a few moments that I didn’t want to forget…

6 Flags Amusement park offered a free ticket to any K-6 grade student that registered for their Read to Succeed program and completed 6 hrs of non school required reading. As a bonus, the teacher who enrolled the student also got a free ticket. So, that meant this home schooling momma got a ticket for herself and her son to 6 Flags. I kept track of his reading in the spring and when he completed 6 hrs of recreational reading, unannounced to him, I registered him for the free ticket.

Scott and I have a few sayings that we use often with the kids. Life is not Fair Life isn’t Always About You You Can’t Cry to Get What You Want and…. Never Trust a Bad Guy 1 -3 are pretty self explanatory… in a family of 6, you learn quickly that your not going to get what you want when you want it, you gotta wait, and that’s just the way it goes.

My lil man reached a major milestone today as he played in the sand. We’ve been going to the beach, splashing in the water and playing in the sand all summer long. And all summer long he has wanted to put fist full upon fist full of sand into his mouth. You’d think eventually cause and effect would come in to play, but he never seemed to mind the mouth full of grit.