General update

It seems like it has been months since I posted last...oh ya it has been months. Sorry. Since it has been so long I have a lot of catching up to do..so you may want to save this post til you have some extra time on your hands, as it could get pretty lengthy. Let's see if I can break it down in to peices...


Homeschooling..

We are finishing up our semester and I think over all it went well. We are planning to continue homeschooling the kids and I have found a curriculum that I think will give us a more complete and challenging scope for next year. We started very light with this first semester and the kids and I both are craving more (more subjects, more projects, more fieldtrips, more everything). I just finished testing the kids on the CATs and I got Will's scores back and it all looks great. I am sure Brooke's will be just as great. I feel like this first attempt was a sucess and I am looking forward to stepping it up in the fall.


Kids...

Hope is doing great. New words each day and even some two word combos lately. She is , alternately, funny and demanding. She loves her family and hates leaving us.

Brooke is very excited about her cross country family adventure. Will did a very similar trip when he was 8. We are heading up to MI for my nephew's H.S. graduation party. And we will leave Brooke there to divide up time between my mom and sister for about 5 days. Then she will fly with my brother to his home in SanFranciso. She will go to art camp there with him for 5 days and then we will all fly out to SF to spend a few days together and pick up Brooke. And I just want to make sure my brother and sister and mother are aware...she has lots of plans about how she would like to be pampered. Erin..she is looking for a mani/pedi and a trip to American Girl...so be warned. This is a girl who knows what she wants and she wants it to be all about her. Have fun!

Will is getting more and more mature. I like it and hate it at the same time. He is the best big brother Hope could ask for and yet he can not seem to find that same compassion for Brooke. But I think this is kind of Par for the course having the 2 kiddos so close in age. It is getting better as they get older (I think??). He has just started swim team. He likes it much more than he thought he would, despite the freezing cold water. Now if I could make myself not hate it so much...


Moving or not?

Some of you may know (some may not) that we have been trying to figure out if Raymond's company is going to offer him a position in Chicago. Well..we still don't really know. But, because of some recent meetings and talk, it looks like we will be here at least another year (and really this is just my opinion..I am not sure that you would get the same story from my darling husband). Whether or not this is the truth of the how the future will go ,or not, is not my concern. It is much easier to live based on the assumption that we will be here for at least the next football/girl scout season.

Do I want to move? Yes and No. I am very happy with our life, house, friends, and all the roots we have here in VA. But would it be exciting (and really almost a dream come true) for me to live about an hour away from my mother and sister (along with other extended family)? Absolutely! Do I want to mooove? No. But I could not stay away from an opportunity to be soo close to my family. That is something that has never really been an option since my dad died almost 13 years ago. But if the opportunity never actually came to fruition I would be happy to stay here in VA and the great life we have built here.

We have been dealing with this issue for about 3 months now (and that is just the most recent time this has come up..there has been other times in the past also). And I have finally been able to come to a place of peace with our foreseeable future residence. It is very hard for me ( as I think it is for most people) to live a life of meaning and purpose, not knowing if we will be moving in the next 3-6 months. So at least with this latest information I can convince myself (if not my darling husband) that we will be here for the next 12 months. I can sign Will up for football in the fall and Brooke can start Brownies. And I can paint a room....which brings me to my next topic.


Pat.

We are not moving, yet, but Pat (my mother-in-law) is. She has been living with us since my father-in-law passed away 3 and a half years ago. She feels like it is time for her to be on her own. And although we support her decision, we will miss her. I think it will be as big of an adjustment getting used to her not being here as it was to having her move in with us. She is not going too far though...about 30mins away, very close to Raymond's brother. And boy do I have plans for that room!


So that's it. Us, in a ,very long, nutshell. I am not sure when I will update again...probably July. June is our big traveling month this summer. So, grab your sunscreen and let's get summer started.