I went to check Peggy's site to see if she was linking Daybooks again and saw this:
With no small amount of nostalgia I was watching Alannah as she lined up pineapple rings in the cake pan and placed a cherry inside each. It was for all the world like watching my Gram years ago. Brendan noticed as well and wanted to know if we were making dessert. I said yes, we are going to have pineapple upside down cake and didn't that sound good? Brendan nodded and then was silent for a bit. He then noted very solemnly that since we would be eating on the ceiling the table would be like this (insert arm motions of table legs pointing up) and how would we stick?
Summer evenings have been exceptionally sweet this year. The temperature drops, dinner dishes are abandoned long enough for a few more passes of the football or jumps off the bike ramp. The sun, dropping slowly into the mountains, eases in intensity and instead of washing everything out, it bathes the countryside in gentle golden light. The pull is irresistible. The dirt road beckons me and I walk and walk, no car in sight.
It is me and the wild sunflowers towering overhead along the roadsides and fences. They are not beautiful, as flowers go, but they are strong.
They are not daunted by prairie winds, nor hail, nor drought. They are briefly beaten down with the roadside mower when they threaten to overtake the road, only to return again to journey east to west daily in pursuit of the sun.
I don't walk as far as I used to these days. I am hoping to build up my strength again. Still, long or short, these walks are stolen moments of quiet reflection. They are over all too soon.
Our pasture approaches and a half dozen or more laughing voices and barking dogs meet me at the drive.
We linger outside in the dusky darkness for a few moments longer and
then drop into bed with that very satisfying fatigue which only comes
after time outside. It is good to be home.
– Helen Keller
Rebecca recently shared her list of the essentials for a simple school year. Included was "a plethora of good books on a variety of topics from which to choose, both fiction and non fiction, which can be from the library or your own family collection." While I spent a considerable amount of time agonizing over different programs, both purchased and mom-designed, it was this plethora of good books that stayed with our older boys. A chance visit to one son's facebook page last week drove home just how significant some of those books have been. One son tagged his brothers to list the 15 books which will always stick with you. Here are two of their unedited lists:
Me: Brendan, let's go now. Go get your jammies.
Asher shared this video with me last night. I am not a big youtube-er so the rest of the planet may have already seen it. If you haven't however it is beautiful. Reminds me of both Waldorf chalkboard artists and Waldorf figure drawing methods in a way since she had to create the forms in the negative – something I could not master.
Monday December 29, 2008
I am thankful we got to watch Aidan serve his first mass. It has been a year of preparation. Lots and lots of latin memorization. Lots of reverent watching from the front pew. Lots of anticipation. Grace all over.
The Montessori books are dusted off and new supply lists are in progress. Tess is the Montessori poster child. She and Brendan have been enjoying lots of practical life work this summer. Table setting is a hit and they are carefully transferring glasses and plates and napkins each evening.
Kieran has finished a test run of the first chapter of his new history program. He is accelerated though he has not skipped a subject or grade. I was not certain he was ready for the next level of history. It involves completing outline summaries and mapmaking. The whole finding data from the text thing seemed like it would be over his head. He was so excited though so we had him complete the first chapter as a trial run. He loved every bit of it and had no trouble at all and told his dad all about the people and places he read about at dinner. So much for dead textbooks.
Aidan picked up a Dover coloring book – Rocky Mountain Animals and Plants – at Garden of the Gods last week along with a new box of colored pencils. I wish I could afford some nicer pencils but little people have a tendency to let them drop or to pound on invisible drums with them. For that reason Crayola and I are tight. : ) This is the time of year to stock up on school supplies even if you homeschool. You can't pass up 28cent crayon boxes and stacks of composition books.
I am creating skirts and dresses for daughters. 
The past few weeks have been such a blessing to our family. The day after Allen and the boys returned from camp we drove to Denver to pick up Zach and Anna, whom he had brought home to meet the family. They had a whirlwind week which included a 13 mile hike to the top of Pike's Peak.
Allen and the little boys were blessed to participate in a father/son camp in the mountains with the men of our church and two of our wonderful priests last week. The highlight of their week was a living stations of the cross which culminated at the summit of the mountain where they erected three crosses.
