What a Night! We had a super fun Halloween evening this year and I am thankful we got to know several of our neighbors better. This year we had Harry Potter Super Girl (yes she has been Supergirl for 1/3 of our Halloween’s but what can I say, the girl likes being super girl) This year she changed it up and went with pink super girl though.

We carved our pumpkins tonight…. My second born has always been my tactile child. She loves getting her hands messy… she’s the one who loves the feel of dirt on her skin and apparently is also fond of pumpkin guts on her fingers. She happily squished and sorted seeds. Her sister was less thrilled with the feel of pumpkin guts on her hands. But,we were all happy with how the jack-o-lanterns turned out.

While picnicking at the orchard last weekend, a bee made his way to our 4 year olds apple. As it buzzed around and lingered around his hands, Scott thought that it might freak him out so he started to swat it away. “No Daddy!” our 4 year old protested, “he’s trying to become my friend!” That’s one we hadn’t heard before…

I absolutely love apple picking with my kiddos.  This year I found a great price on delicious locally grown honey crisp apples at the local grocery store and we enjoyed them all fall and I was so tempted to skip out on apple picking b/c we had already enjoyed such delicious apples this fall. But apple picking is about so much more than the apples for me. It’s the memories.

It’s been a few years since we have been to the zoo, and our youngest has been eager to go and see real animals up close. He was super excited about the lions and tigers. He’s been asking for several months if we could go to the zoo. I thought fall would be a nice time as it wouldn’t be too hot. I was hopeful we could see animals being more active than in the summer months that we typically visit.

I feel like we are off to a pretty good start this school year and we are settling into a routine. The hardest part for me about home schooling and the part I like the LEAST is the juggling act of wearing both the hat of mom and the hat of teacher. The kids don’t understand that my making them do a subject they don’t like doesn’t make me a mean mom, it makes me their teacher.

And so a new year begins… this morning was our first day back at the tutorial. I can’t believe it marks our 6th year of homeschooling. What a blessing this community had been to our family. Here we are starting 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grades! “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Our youngest child had his first soccer practice this week.  As I struggled to put him into his shin guards and knee socks and cleats, all while watching him grin from ear to ear, my mind drifted back to going through this same right of passage with his older siblings…. Fall 2009 Fall 2010 Spring 2011 Gosh…. look at all those chubby cheeks and teeny tiny legs chasing after those soccer balls….

I feel like the month of August is much like the 9th month of pregnancy. I go into crazy nesting mode as I gear up for another school year. There is the ordering of curriculum… then the purchasing of school supplies… then the organizing of the binders… and cracking open that homeschool cabinet which ALWAYS turns into the junk closet over the summer. Ya know, the “Company is coming and I need a place to hide all these papers and misc junk from the kitchen counters,” place….

Ever since we signed our 4 year old up for soccer, he has asked when fall is… and my answer is always, “After Labor Day.” So with Labor Day behind us, I guess I must officially bid farewell to summer. If I am honest, summer break is one of my favorite parts of homeschooling… we work hard during the school year, but when our curriculum is done mid to late May, we play hard until fall.