It's our birthday season. Last week we celebrated M's 5th birthday. He wanted chocolate frosting with sprinkles on his cake ... so that's what we had. This week we're celebrating R's 12th birthday. She wanted ice cream cake, so we used the Duggar's ice cream cake recipe to make her an oreo (not butterfinger) ice cream cake. Yummy! J turns 8 in about 2 weeks, but he's not sure if he wants a Star Wars cake, an ice cream cake, or a dirt cake with gummy worms. He's supposed to be having his first "friends party" so he's thinking about what his friends will like, as well.
The kids all seem healthy again. A few have lingering coughs, but were well enough to go to church Wednesday night. Baby G is no longer coughing, wheezing, or having a stuffy nose. That's a blessing! We still have one child on medication, since M has an infected thumbnail area from biting his nails. But even that is improving (it got nasty looking, it was so swollen.)
We've begun the process of updating our family photo wall. We haven't had the children's individual portraits taken in 4 years, except for a baby photo of 2 yo L. We had a family photo taken in the summer of 2007, but not any recent photos of the children. They've changed quite a bit in 4 years, as they've been reminding us. They're so excited to be getting updated portraits ... and they love their individual time with the photographer and a parent! The star of the show!
5 yo M had his pictures taken a few weeks ago, and we'll have 12 yo R's taken this weekend. M was very bashful and it took him a long time to warm up to the photographer. He never did speak to her. Being a distractible boy, we had to shoo his siblings out of the room repeatedly to keep his focus on the photographer's instructions. Next month we'll have J's birthday pictures taken, and so on. We'll go in birthday order, and get everyone's photos taken this year. Hopefully we can end the year with a family portrait in the Fall.
Homeschool is going well. We've finished testing Further Up & Further In, although I need to read it over some more and gather my thoughts on the curriculum. I have Beyond Five In A Row and Tapestry of Grace to test with the children now. Auralog Tell Me More Spanish just arrived yesterday, and I need to start that. 13 yo A is still plugging away at the Latin Road to English Grammar, and we need to begin Friendly Chemistry with her. SpellQuizzer is ready for me to download for testing, and Apologia science (not sure what level they're sending) should arrive in the mail this week. It's getting busy again, and keeping track of it all can be confusing at times. But we're enjoying our TOS Homeschool Crew journey.
Oh, 7 yo J is improving so much in his reading! He's really reading now, although he still lacks confidence. I'm trying to encourage him, brag on him, and build up his confidence. I still haven't seen him pick up a book on his own to read to himself, but one day he will ... and I'll rejoice!
I just created our cattery website this week. I had originally wanted a full website for our Persian Cattery, but I didn't know how to build one and Steve didn't have time to create one. Then a friend of mine used a blog for her Ragdoll cattery last year, and I've thought about it off and on ever since. Our Queen is pregnant right now, so I guess I was subconsciously thinking about a website again. I'd discussed a website with my sister a week or two ago. The other night, I was researching something for Steve at WordPress, and just signed up for a cattery blog on a whim. I should have done it sooner. You can view our cattery blog at http://elcloudcattery.wordpress.com. See our pretty kitties!?
That's a little update on our life. Next week we begin (resume for us) Tapestry of Grace, and I'll give a more detailed homeschool update then.
Trusting in Him,
April
