Floundering Along

 

Everyone has returned to school.
Here they are in the order in which their schools began.

 

Second year of college.

High school senior

No explanation needed!

Second year of college.

 

Now we are in an intense period of adjustment.

Not only is it hard to leave summer behind and jump back into the academic world,

it is hard to have four different school schedules that vary from day to day.

One college student has a different schedule each day of the week;

I am never sure when he is coming and going.

 

These adjustments don't only affect the students but affect me as a mom

and teacher just as much.

Their schedules affect when I can get things done at home and how much

time per week I spend away from home.

Even things like who does laundry on which day has to be renegotiated each semester

with me adjusting my days around theirs.

Then there are all those other duties that I am expected to fulfill both

at home and away from home.

 

So, I drive in my snazzy red car to writing class, to PE class,

to pick up Bethany, to do my shopping, to take people to appointments,

while trying to remember that I also HOME school.

I try to hang on to a shred of sanity when said home school

student has melt-down multiple times per morning.

 

But...I know from experience that things will smooth out as time progresses.

We will adjust and it will all become part of the flow of our days.

As the seasons flow from one to another,

our household will also flow through the changes of life

and we will find beauty and grace in each of those times.

 

***********************

One day I was explaining to Tiana that she could not use a certain product

on her skin because it would give her a rash.

She started listing off the different things she can not use on her skin

or scalp because of negative reactions.

Then she exclaimed,

"Why am I so fragile and delicate?"

 

That is not exactly how anyone views her,

least of all her family!

It also showcases the great grip she has on vocabulary.

 



Please Pray

This is my mom's family; five sisters and their one remaining brother.

My Uncle Jerry has faced many health challenges recently

and the latest has left him weak and bedridden at home.

Please pray for his well-being and for his wife, Mary Sue,

and for the rest of his family as they face this difficult time.

****************
My Uncle Jerry passed away on June 25th.

 

Celebrations

 

Family celebrations are always reason enough to pack up for the weekend

and make the trek south.

 

Passing through the mountains that divide central and southern CA.



 

This is what our cargo looks like for a quick weekend trip.

 

The first event of Sat. was to celebrate this little guy.

Since he has a big brother to keep up with, he is daring, adventurous, and has

an amazing vocabulary.

 

The party started with pizza at the park but due to clouds and wind, it moved

indoors where the house was filled to capacity.

 

The bigger kids were so helpful at present time.

They were constantly reminded to back up and to not try to help unwrap the presents.

 

 It had been only a month since the family was together so Ethan and Rudy

quickly became friends again. 

Plus, he found that Uncle Rudy would respond positively to his requests.

How can you say, "No" when someone sweetly requests to go outside

 or be given another treat?

 

The second event of the day was a graduation party.

Yes, in January.

Sometimes that's how homeschooling works.

 

For some odd reason, the cake pops were the only picture of the food laden tables

that I managed to get.

 

The beautiful graduate.

 

{T & A. Cook}

 

Ethan was giving Uncle Rudy a workout. 

 

 

Since the practical thing to give a graduate is money but my kids declared that

it is way too boring to give someone a card with a check in it...

They took the cash,

rolled up each dollar,

and stuffed each one in a balloon.

Each balloon was blown up and placed in a large plastic gift bag

 (which we didn't remember to photograph).

The graduate was so thrilled to pop each and every balloon to eventually get her gift.

 

After a nice Sunday dinner together, we returned home

with a backseat full of kids who had too many late nights

with cousins and were no help with the driving.

 

 

Snapshots of Summer:

 Part 3

 

August

 

August is actually reduced to just two weeks of summer vacation.

What in the world happened to starting school after Labor Day?

Our biggest event the first full week of August was our annual
beginning of the week camping trip.
We went to church on Sunday, loaded down with our equipment,
and from there headed up into the mountains.

After many days of over 100* temperatures, that day dawned cool and overcast.
It was definitely abnormal for the central valley of California.
It was all of 80* when we headed up through the hills but the temperature
climbed as we gained altitude.  That was reassuring but once we got
to 3000 ft. elevation then it started cooling again.

As expected, we had our choice of campsites.
It was just our family this time and the only thing we really
planned to do was to be lazy...after setting up camp.

The Chief Cook...

 

who provided all our yummy meals.

 

 

Then the Chief Dish Washers take over.

(We are "equal opportunity" in the clean-up department.)

 

 

The camp ground was so quiet with just a few other scattered spaces being occupied.

Due to the lack of traffic, Tiana was allowed to ride on the road to her heart's content.

She did her best to provide the noise the campground was missing.

 

One fun thing we brought along was an instant camera.

It's amazing to think that this was the quality of photos of days gone by.

 

I definitely prefer the clarity of today's photos...

 

She must have been sent to sit in the chair for some reason and

she sure is not happy about it!

 

We certainly got in some R&R.

 

Our one excursion was a drive up the highway to Columns of the Giants

where we took a walk to this interesting geologic feature.

(See if you can spot our mountain goat children in the second picture.)

 

 

Rudy and I are down at the base where we kind

of enjoyed being alone for a little bit.

 

Climbing the columns.

 

These boys can not resist trying out some photography stunts.

 

 

This is what the sky looked like most of the time we were camping.

There was not a lot of change between the temperatures of the day and night.

It rained in the middle of the first night and then there was

a mist most of the evening on the second night.

We are not used to getting rained on while camping in the summer

but we were surprised to find that things really did not get too wet as

long as they were under a tree.

 

Hanging out at the river...

Rudy challenged Tiana to walk across this log, which she did with lots of drama.

Then he challenged her to run back across it.

She finally agreed when he offered her 200 pennies if she would do it.

Then he offered her 500 pennies if she would walk back and forth across it backwards.

And she did!!

Then we had the math lesson where she had to figure out how many pennies equaled

a dollar and how many dollars Daddy would pay her for her bravery.

 

Nothing is better than spending the day with our family.

The bonus was spending the time with our family and being nice and cool at the same time!

 

 

 

It was rather anticlimactic to have to lay the wet things out to dry when we got home.

That is something we are not used to doing after camping.

 

And so ended the summer fun as we began back to school preparations.

Our long and sometimes lazy days were over and reality was quickly taking over.

Our minds turned to schedules, book buying, and all the technical details of four

different school schedules.  Life was taking a turn down a different road and we know

that all change is not bad...it is just different and takes some getting used to.

 

********************

 

 One of our conversations while camping turned to skin color and how Black people

from Africa have really black skin while in the United States they have variety of skin tones. 

Tiana informed us that she did not have black skin but she had brown skin

and that is because she is "half Filipino and half American."

That might be why the week before she told me it was too bad I was the only

white person in the family while the rest of them where "half Filipino and half American."

I guess I am the one missing out in this family!  :-)