More Productive

  Well, this morning I went out and got a copy of Ciaran's birth certificate so that I can take care of an insurance problem from when he was born over a year ago.  Gotta love insurance, huh?  Then I came home, got lunch made and kids down for a nap.

After that Piper and I headed outdoors.  It's cool here in Minnesota.  It seems so odd to me since just a couple of weeks ago it was so hot I could hardly stand to move, let alone do any gardening.  But today was perfect.  The breeze kept us from getting to warm as we weeded and cut back trying to pretty things up.  Piper helped me by pulling weeds from between the bricks in the driveway and gathering up small twigs.  Weeding allowed me to point out the roots of plants and wonder at how they were formed.  If you ask me, that's a Science lesson and a Faith lesson all in one.

Just before 2 PM Piper and I got in the car and went to pick Reagan up from school.  Then the three of us sat down at the kitchen table and did school work together.  It worked out beautifully.  It didn't leave Reagan alone to do schoolwork and allowed me to work with both kids at the same time.  Reagan was doing Math work that, for him, really should have been a reminder of things he'd learned before.  It turned out, however, that he really needed an instructional lesson to remind him about long multiplication and a few basic concepts that he'd forgotten about over the Summer.  I loved it.  It made me feel like even though he's in a public school this year, I still get to do some homeschooling, too.

Piper's reading continues to amaze me.  I don't know why, but I'm just awestruck by watching her learn.  She discovered today that she has her first loose tooth, so several breaks were taken during our reading lesson just to wiggle it.   And that's okay.  That's part of the fun of being at home that she couldn't get elsewhere.

In a bit, Reagan will get ready and go to Karate, and then we'll all have dinner together.  It's days like these that I feel so good about what I'm doing as a mom, and what we're doing as a family.  I have to write it down when I have days like this.  They keep me going on the days that I feel like I do nothing but say "NO!" and "Stop it!".