It really has been a long time since I posted on this blog. I can say, however, to my credit, that I posted every day for 37 days to our other blog,
West Trip 2012, while we traveled across the country in our RV! I have been encouraged to post more often here and am starting today now that I am feeling mostly caught up from returning home.
We came home and jumped right into our school routine. Thankfully, I had spent the 2 weeks before we left getting the house and school-room in order so that we could jump right in without any extra work. School was all ready to go-the kids just opened up their books and we got started! Eric is in the 8th grade this year, Bay in 4th and Leah in 2nd. Bay and Leah do a considerable amount of their schoolwork together-everything except Math, spelling and Bible are done together. That includes grammar, science, vocabulary and writing. They could do Bible together, except that this year I got them a Bible curriculum that focuses on boys (for Bay) and girls (for Leah). Eric does the majority of his work on his own, but comes to me with questions or clarity on assignments. Of course, I check his work weekly to make sure he is not too far off in understanding, but he is very much self-taught. He enjoys the independence and I enjoy being able to give more time to Bay and Leah. It is hard to believe Eric will be in high-school in just one more year, but also good because he is maturing in so many ways and I am glad for him to be able to grow right into where he should be.
The weekend after we got home, we joined some of Dennis' extended family for a cookout and gathering in northern Maryland. His cousin, Alice, and family hosted. This was the first time that Bay and Leah got to meet their cousins of close age (technically I guess they are second cousins, but who's paying attention!) and Eric got to spend some time with Dennis' other cousin, Tony's, kids. We enjoyed hanging out, visiting, and the kids loved playing together-especially taking a walk into the woods and playing at the creek behind their house. The weather was perfect and it was a great way to spend the day.
The boys (Dennis, Eric, Bay and Gramps) also spent a morning splitting firewood outside. It was a beautiful fall morning, and they have quite a pile of logs to split before winter, so they got to work and knocked out a good portion in a morning. Dennis and Gramps worked on getting the logs that were split organized into piles, while Eric and Bay operated the woodsplitter together-Eric on the logs, Bay on the handle. They all make a good team out there and it is nice to have Bay old enough now to get out there and really be a help!
Eric got quite a work-out flipping, lifting and moving those logs!
Bay and his cousin, Andrew
Leah and her cousin, Julia with Brody in between them
