First Day of School

In the midst of carpet and air duct cleaning (a noisy project, I now know...), we
completed our 'first' day of school! The kids are hard at work on a crayon resist
project above. We are excited about a new schedule, new books, and a couple of
new subjects this year. Ballet starts this week, too. The shoes are almost too tight,
but will get us by for a month or two. Music classes begin in about a month. Add
swim and gym, and we'll be plenty busy. But the joy of homeschooling is in the
unplanned moments. The other day, we spent a good chunk of the morning observing a group of
about 8 turkey vultures just outside our fence (not sure what unfortunate creature
attracted them...). This afternoon, Lucy spent a considerable amount of time with
her little brother working on an alphabet puzzle and the alphabet song. We also have
ample time to observe each other's faults, which forces us all to develop patience (we're
working on it) or go crazy. I know God is using this experience to purge me of my selfish tendencies
(a huge and slow-moving project, no doubt). Nevertheless, we're up and running for a couple of
months until "baby break."