Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Summer, It Turns Me Upside Down

Summer, summer, summer
It's like a Merry-Go-Round...


I can completely relate. Who knew The Cars had lyrics that made any sense? So here's what's been on the Merry-go-round:

Lesson Plans! I have worked diligently on detailed plans all summer: printing worksheets, creating writing assignments, planning hands-on activities, the whole 9 yards in hopes of greatly lessening my stress level during this school year. Hopefully it works.

My Birthday! I turned 39. (Sigh.) I had a wonderful extended birthday weekend:
July 4
My mom and I went shopping all afternoon and she bought me some new tops, John grilled babyback ribs, and then we celebrated with fireworks and friends in the evening
July 5 (my birthday!)
John and I took Daddy D's boat out for a gorgeous day on the lake (no kids!) where we had a picnic lunch, I read, and he fished. We finished the day with cheeseburgers from the BBQ place down the road
July 6
After church on Sunday, we had a party at my parents: Daddy D grilled filet mignon with asparagus, baked potatoes and Death-by-chocolate cake (mmmmm!), and on
July 7
My mom and I went to the spa and had facials and massages. Afterward, we went downtown for lunch and stopped at the library and consignment stores. Fun, fun, fun!

Anniversary! Actually, our anniversary is July 6, and if I had to do it all over again, I would so not choose a day anywhere near my birthday. But what's done is done, and we went out for a great dinner together on the 7th (yes! After my fun day with my mom! Can one day get any better??) and then we went to see "Hancock"

Camp! John Mark left for camp in Missouri on July 6, and Philip had Young Writer's Camp at the local college during the day. This week, John Mark is at welding camp during the day (last year he went to carpentry camp, and since he is a pyromaniac like his father, he set his mind on welding camp for this year), and Becca goes to Quilt Camp half days. Back-and-forth, back-and-forth...

4-H! John, Becca, Philip and I took off on a road trip this past weekend to the State Communications Day Competition while the little boys went to Tennessee with GranMartha and Daddy D. We took John's small car to save gas, and it was very strange to take a trip in a small car with only 2 kids, as if we were a normal family or something! :-) Philip did a bang-up job and placed 2nd out of 9 competitors in his category. He is a natural speaker like his father, and his presentation skills and visuals were actually better than the winner's, but the winner did his presentation on a personal medical condition that really connected with the audience and the judges. John told Philip that sometimes that happens, and you just have to walk away knowing that you did your best, because a story like that is almost impossible to beat. We enjoyed staying at the farm with my Aunt Mattie and Uncle Frank, and we took my Grandmother out to Dairy Queen for a sundae. It was a good weekend.

Yearbooks! Oh yes, even homeschoolers have yearbooks, and I am 1/2 of the yearbook committee. It wouldn't be so bad except that people wait until the due date to actually begin working on their pages and it is like pulling teeth to get everyone to get their stuff in. Just do it on time and mail it in, people! Anyway, we finally put that thang together this morning and it's ready for the printer.

And here I sit, trying to absolve my blog-guilt. My goal is to finish lesson plans as much as possible this week, and then for the next two weeks, enjoy as much as I can of the last days of summer break. Because school starts first week in August, and summer "break" will be over.

1 comment:

Sara said...

I love your posts! What a fun and memorable summer. Oh, and we did have cucumber sandwiches - thanks for the idea!