A New Year...

SO much to say, and who has the time? Can we sum up? Probably...not...

Suffice it to say, we are all here and alive...

Miles started back to school on Monday after a brief holiday break, during which he had to write several papers and prepare a presentation. His first week back and he has written a 10 page paper, prepared a 15 min presentation, and written another 6 page paper. SIGH! The nights are getting later and later, and we are beginning to wonder what the heck we were thinking!!!!! He has had absolutely NO time to even think about a thesis...which is due the end of June. RIGHT! SIGH! Just thinking about it causes my stomach to start eating itself...so let's move on!

Maddie and I had our first homeschool review at the beginning of December, and we did well...think I over prepared, but that is kind of my thing! :-) Because of the insanity that is the month of December, Maddie pretty much got the whole month off...while she was super excited at the time, now that Mom has her nose back to the grindstone, she and I are thinking that a month is tooo long to not do school. You just forget sooo much! Maddie is reading sooo incredibly well. The other day I checked out a couple of "third" grade chapter books that she and I could read together. She took one to "quiet time" and emerged two hours later having completed the book. I quizzed her, she read it. That night she asked to take the other book to bed, and a couple of hours later (when she should have been sleeping), she came out of her room to announce that the book was really scary, and she was going to have nightmares. We assumed that she'd read to a "scary" point (please keep in mind that my girls had to turn off Tigger and Pooh's Halloween movie because it was too scary...scary is relative around here!) and had stopped. In a coversation the following day, it became readily apparent that she had actually read the entire book. HELLO...SIX! Today we got a new science program, and during lunch Maddie read through the first five chapters, and then spent the rest of the day drawing cell "cities". I am frantically trying to keep up with her, and it is AWESOME! The ability to read is soooooooooooo important...and she not only knows how, she LOVES to read...she is unstoppable!

Then there is Emma. Emma, who will be 5 next month, is quickly gaining some momentum. A couple of months ago she wanted nothing to do with reading, just loved singing her letters and playing sound BINGO! Now, she has several primary readers under her belt and loves to "read" them to whoever will sit still long enough, including her little sister Ellie. She loves to write, and since she plowed right through the kindergarten handwriting book, she has started in on a first grade book. We have told her that until she turned 5 she was only required to do "reading" in "school" (She liked to be a part of school, but working through all the subjects just was a BIT much) I think that she is definitely going to be ready to take on a full school day...and she will be awesome! Emma also continues to be my bestest helper. She amazes me with her innate ability to perceive what others need, and then to quickly respond to that need...without being told. I can't tell you the number of times that I have walked into a room to begin a clean-up to find that it has "magically" cleaned itself...care of Emma, or how often Emma has sat down with Ellie and played with her, or reads to her, keeping her busy so Mom can get stuff done. She is truly a blessing!

That brings us to Ellie. Sweet little Ellie, who will be 1 on Saturday...impossible to believe. Ellie is everywhere and into everything...very age appropriate. Her favorite things in the whole world are her family...she loves to be in the middle of the family, no matter what! Whether we are cleaning, or watching a movie, or snuggling on Mommy and Daddy's bed, or singing...she is right in the middle doing her best to figure out a way to "help" out, or participate! She is also developing a love for books, and wanders around the house carrying one in each hand, looking for somone to read to her.

I am left, in my rare free moments, to ponder the seasons of our lives. To contemplate how even the best laid plans are often revised, and revised, and revised, etc. Wondering what tomorrow will hold...and I'm not talking in the metaphorical sense...I mean, literally, TOMORROW! ;-)

With that, I am off to do dishes, and maybe even get some yoga, or a spin in before Miles gets home from his night class...hmmmm...

Stay tuned for next month! :-)