These two don't always enjoy each other's company. They have totally different personalities and interests. They annoy each other a lot. But, there is one activity they both enjoy occasionally, and when they do, the enjoy it in perfect peace. It's amazing.
They like to trade Legos! Her Legos and his Legos come with totally different, tiny, detailed pieces, and each one admires the pieces in the other's collection. Every once in awhile, they spend a big chunk of time trading, piece by piece. It's truly amazing. I would expect trading time to produce a lot of arguments, but so far, it hasn't.
I really need some help from both of them with picking up the house this afternoon, but I also really hate to interrupt them when they're getting along so well!
If you read the blog, you may notice that I'm behind, so I'll write a little note about what our summer has been like. I do love summer break, and I love having the kids home, all to myself, without worrying about the school day schedule.
The beginning of summer included a couple of weeks of camp - one of family camp, which I have posted about, and one week of sleep-away camp for Jonathan, which I haven't posted about, but it was absolutely wonderful in every way. In the middle of the week while Jonathan was gone, the "youngers" and I were rear-ended in a super-minor accident, but it was just enough to mess up my neck and cause some minor damage to my bumper. So, I was going to our wonderful chiropractor three times a week for a month, although I'm down to once a week now. I'm thankful for his help. Getting the van looked at and fixed has taken more time than it should have, and it's in the shop right now. I've been trying to keep going to they gym three times a week, too (did I mention that I joined a gym in February?) so all that driving has kept us busy.
We have enjoyed trying to make sure to have friends over to swim as much as we can while swimming season lasts. We recently enjoyed a visit from Dave, Jen, Ella, and Delia, and we're thankful to be in touch with them. Jonathan has a very good buddy in the neighborhood and it's been fun to see them cement their friendship after a year of knowing each other. And, we've enjoyed knowing our next-door neighbors well enough to have them over for spontaneous swims when we and they are both free.
We're getting ready to celebrate Jeff's birthday and my mom's birthday this month, and I'm in the midst of trying to get the kids in gear for school. Jonathan and Grace are both amazing readers but don't love handwriting, so I'm working on cursive with Jonathan and printing with Grace. Also, Jonathan was bumped up to fourth grade ***edited to add the word MATH - sorry I omitted that earlier*** in February of his third grade year. (Hopefully my mom was the only one to read that mistake. Whoops!) His teacher didn't think that there were any gaps in his learning despite the bump, but I was pretty sure that there were. I discovered that there's a big gap in the area of fractions, so I've been working with him on fractions, which he tolerates. Thankfully, he still loves math, despite my intervention. Both older kids are excited for school, and I'm excited because I didn't have to buy many new things in order for them to have what they needed! I hate to see the summer end and send them off to school. The three kids really become a sibling unit in the summer once they're used to being together all day long, and then do enjoy playing together quite a bit.
Benjamin and I are going to have a fun fall together. It will be really different to have one-on-one time with him for the half-day while Grace is at kindergarten. Last year when we moved here, I joined a Bible study with my neighbor one day a week at her church, and I also joined the moms' group at my church one day a week. Both of them had great classes for the "youngers" with their peers. Trying to get settled and take care of the kiddos and meet people kept me very busy, and then when I joined the gym, which also had a good program for the younger kids, that kept me busier, although I have really enjoyed it. At the end of the school year last year, I did a lot of thinking and praying about what this fall should look like and what my commitments should be. I didn't want to be too busy and miss out on this last bit of time that I have Benjamin at home. Two years might seem like plenty, but I know how fast it will go and then, ka-bam, all the kids will be in school. So, I'm still figuring out what this fall will look like. I know that tromping up to school three times a day is going to keep me busier than I was last year.
Well, that was a rambling account of what's been going on here…but since I've been such an inconsistent blogger, I wanted to make sure to remember this, just for myself.
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