Saturday...Four?

You will enjoy the fruit of your labor.
How joyful and prosperous you will be!

~Psalm 128:2 (NLT)

1:: Continuing with yesterday's themes, I seriously have Babies on my mind.

The creativity at this blog, Mila's Daydreams, is astounding. I don't have babies who sleep that soundly. I also have laundry to fold...

2:: I mentioned this movie a while back, but had been unable to find a location nearby where it was playing. Then, voila, I found it at Netflix Instant Play! (Thank you, Netflix.)

3:: And....Education. I know that is a surprise to all of you. I figured since I managed to get a little bit of handwriting in this past week (and took a picture!), I could post this interesting article:

How Handwriting Trains the Brain: Forming Letters Is Key to Learning, Memory, Ideas @ The Wall Street Journal:

She says pictures of the brain have illustrated that sequential finger movements activated massive regions involved in thinking, language and working memory—the system for temporarily storing and managing information.

And one recent study of hers demonstrated that in grades two, four and six, children wrote more words, faster, and expressed more ideas when writing essays by hand versus with a keyboard.

4:: I'll roll with the documentaries and share two more. Two ends of the school system spectrum:
(HT: Jennifer @ Planted by Streams)

"Our students are pressured to perform. They're not necessarily pressured to learn deeply and conceptually." ~ Race to Nowhere

"We need to really think, 'What does it take to produce a happy, motivated, creative human being?' " ~ Race to Nowhere

Friday Four ~ Week 38

:: Life is good.

I'm in a really good place today. Full of contentment and hope. Full of joy. I love my husband. I adore my crazy boys. I am so blessed with an incredible circle of family and friends.

I went to bed early yesterday evening with a book, slept all night, and slept in this morning. Maybe that has something to do with my good mood. Grin.

Today will be a quiet, foggy, rainy day of enjoying home life. The boys are playing creatively in their (clean!) room with playmobil and animal figures. I'm working on laundry and dishes. A little later we'll snuggle on the couch and go over some lessons. We're sure to sneak in a bunch of reading, as well.

:: Learning happens.

Sunday afternoon, Leif found a cork lying about the house and was reminded of a science experiment he watched on one of his Discover and Do DVDs. He recruited Luke to recreate the experiment with him. They got a bowl of water, several items (some from the video, some they thought of on their own), and a science journal to write down their discoveries. Sink or float.

:: Classical Conversations is an early success.

We've had two weeks of classes and lessons, and I'm pleased to say that I think that Classical Conversations was the right choice for us this year. The classes have been very productive. The tutors have been excellent, and just right for each of the boys. I'm so impressed with the work and preparation they've put into their classes. The boys have really been learning and digesting the material. Review has been enjoyable and very easy.... It is something we can do anywhere, at any time. Even while waiting in line for prescriptions at Costco!

I'll share more about CC as we progress through the year, I just wanted to give it an early two thumbs up.


:: Food for thought (Really great stuff. Don't miss this opinion article!):

How to Raise Boys Who Read
Hint: Not with gross-out books and video-game bribes
The Wall Street Journal

Education was once understood as training for freedom. Not merely the transmission of information, education entailed the formation of manners and taste. Aristotle thought we should be raised "so as both to delight in and to be pained by the things that we ought; this is the right education."

"Plato before him," writes C. S. Lewis, "had said the same. The little human animal will not at first have the right responses. It must be trained to feel pleasure, liking, disgust, and hatred at those things which really are pleasant, likeable, disgusting, and hateful."

This kind of training goes against the grain, and who has time for that? How much easier to meet children where they are....

One obvious problem with the SweetFarts philosophy of education is that it is more suited to producing a generation of barbarians and morons than to raising the sort of men who make good husbands, fathers and professionals. If you keep meeting a boy where he is, he doesn't go very far.

Saturday Seven ~ Week 37

1:: We decided to have one last summer and pre-baby hurrah at the Shrewsbury Renaissance Faire. It was our fourth year attending, and the boys had been begging to go. It really is a wonderful Ren Faire, and the weather was lovely. The boys were getting over colds, and we thought some time outside might be better than putting them in Sunday school class with other kids.

2:: I worked really hard Sunday evening to help our new Monday morning routine go more smoothly. Monday morning came, and we successfully made it to our first Classical Conversations classes. All things considered, it went very well, though I was exhausted by the time we got home and felt progressively worse (sore throat, headache...) as the day went on. Luke also started coughing more than he had previously.

3:: All our first week of school plans went out the window that night. Luke hardly slept for coughing, he was starting to have trouble breathing, and he ended up with a slight fever. It was a long night for both of us. The next day I took him to the doctor and got a prescription for an inhaler. The rest of the week was a blur. I was sick, Levi and Leif had lingering coughs (and Leif woke up occasionally at night), and Luke was up almost all night every night with non-stop coughing, breathing issues, and fever. Fun stuff.

4:: The sleep deprivation hit me really hard by yesterday (Friday) morning. The doctor called in two new prescriptions for Luke (and I hauled the kids to Costco to pick them up). My mom showed up in the afternoon and sent me to bed. She got some lunch for the boys, managed to get Luke to take a nap, reviewed CC memory work with Levi and Leif, read with the boys, and got dinner on the table. (Have I mentioned how wonderful my mother is?!) My new favorite friend, Olive, spent four hours cleaning my house. Things were looking up. Then, miracle of miracles, Luke slept over 8 hours straight. I had to get up in the middle of the night to make sure he was still breathing!

5:: This weekend will be full of projects, to-do lists, and trying to finish up the nursery. I'll post 'before' pictures shortly. I'm praying that everyone in this house will steadily feel much better, and we'll be bright and chipper by Monday morning!

And to engage our brains:

6:: Phys Ed: Can Exercise Make Kids Smarter? @ The New York Times:

But for now, the takeaway is clear. “More aerobic exercise” for young people[...] So get kids moving, he added, and preferably away from their Wiis. A still-unpublished study from his lab compared the cognitive impact in young people of 20 minutes of running on a treadmill with 20 minutes of playing sports-style video games at a similar intensity. Running improved test scores immediately afterward. Playing video games did not.

7:: The Case for Memorization by Stefani Austin (of Blue Yonder) @ Simple Homeschool:

To the boy who can recite “Paul Revere’s Ride,” a lowly broomstick is the noble steed that will, at midnight, help him to warn his countrymen of approaching danger.

A girl who has internalized Lewis Carroll’s “Jaberwocky” runs after the family dog with her paper towel tube saber crying, “Beware … my son, the jaws that bite the claws that catch.”

The great speeches of days of gone by, issued from atop the jungle gym, make history ring true to a young heart. When he can speak them, he has, in his own way, lived those pivotal moments in history through his own imagination. They are no longer simply trivia, but wisdom gained through experience.

Memory is a child walking along a seashore. You never can tell what small pebble it will pick up and store away among its treasured things.

~Pierce Harris, Atlanta Journal


Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.

~From the television show The Wonder Years


And even if you were in some prison, the walls of which let none of the sounds of the world come to your senses - would you not then still have your childhood, that precious, kingly possession, that treasure-house of memories?

~Rainer Maria Rilke

I'm Still Here

Not Saturday (or Sunday), more than a week, and more than seven...

I've been slacking on the blogging, lately, but you will all forgive me, right? Let's play catch-up with more details about my life than you wanted to know.

1:: VBS, oh, how I love you; let me count the ways. The boys attended THREE weeks of VBS this summer, the last at a charming little church less than a mile down the road. Which means we were up and ready for our day by 8:45. The boys got three hours of physical group games, upbeat songs with hand motions, messy crafts, fun themed snacks, and social interaction every morning. Which meant I got three hours of silence and then felt no remorse expecting quiet time, chores, or independent play for the afternoon. The only draw-back: a counter COVERED in crafts with which the boys are loath to part. Oh, and the germs they brought home. I've had to fight off several colds the past month or two. Seriously, though, I think VBS single-handedly saved my sanity this summer.

2:: My sister, Shannon, and her husband, Ben, came and cleaned out the upstairs 'playroom' for me a few weeks ago. You have NO IDEA how bad this room was. I won't tell you, either, because it is plain embarrasssing. Good grief. What a HUGE job, and what a huge blessing that was to me!!

Since they got the ball rolling, I've been able to muster up some enthusiasm for turning the room into a baby nursery. It is in the process of transformation (Russ has been working his tail off, and THANK YOU, Ron, for helping out this past weekend!!), and I am soooo looking forward to getting the painting done this week and then putting up the finishing touches. You can be sure I'll share pictures when it's ready!

3:: Getting going on the nursery has (finally) inspired me to get a few other things on the pre-baby check list accomplished. Trying to finish as many of those as possible this week. My get-up-and-go has been sadly lacking for a while (like the past eight months....), so I'm praying this will be a sustained burst of productivity.

4:: One of the things on my to-do list this week: meet with a wonderful girl who will be helping around the house for the next couple months. I'll share more about her later, but I'm wildly ecstatic about the possibility of my house being clean and staying that way before, during, and after the birth of this baby.

5:: I'm trying to get as much of the to-do list checked off this week, because Classical Conversations begins this coming Monday. Tuesday will mark the start of our simplified fall school schedule at home. I was an utter failure at summer school, so we'll see how this goes.

6:: I never posted pictures of Boys' Camp or Shannon's house. (Or several other things this year.) I wonder if I'll ever get around to that?

7:: Baby is due in four weeks. I've been chatting with her, and have asked her to please humor me and show up somewhere between September 19th and October 1st. Not before. Not after. We'll see how obedient she is...

8:: Speaking of (un)productivity, I read only one book last month (which was more than the month before). I read Mockingjay, the third and final book in The Hunger Games trilogy. I would review it, but I can't without spoilers. (So, go read it, and we'll chat!) Fascinating stuff and lots to thinks about and discuss. I liked the second book, Catching Fire, the best, though.

Oh, and look. Something not about me:

9:: I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The internet is an amazing thing for free homeschooling resources. My latest discovery? Core Knowledge (of E. D. Hirsch, Jr./Cultural Literacy fame) has made their entire (very detailed) Core Knowledge Sequence: Skills and Content Guildlines from preschool through eighth grade available online for FREE download! And they have a large number of detailed lesson plans (search by grade or subject) available for free download, as well. Fantastic stuff.

I reviewed the book Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know some time ago. It is an excellent read. And I think that A First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy is a fabulous reference for homeschoolers.

10:: On vocabulary:

We cannot Name or be Named without language. If our vocabulary dwindles to a few shopworn words, we are setting ourselves up for takeover by a dictator. When language becomes exhausted, our freedom dwindles--we cannot think; we do not recognize danger; injustice strikes us as no more than "the way things are."

~ Madeleine L'Engle, Walking on Water

How are YOU? Have you embraced your autumn routine?

Saturday Seven ~ Week 32

1:: In case anyone wonders how long until baby-doll arrives... the week of the Saturday Seven matches up with my pregnancy. So, I hit week 32 on Tuesday. Less than 8 weeks to go (more like 6 would be nice.) I feel 10 months pregnant, but I'm in no way ready for a newborn around here. Sooooooo many things left to do on the project list. At least I got a few things done this week!!

2:: Made it to the last concert of the Monday evening series in the park. Sadly, only the second one we made it to this season! It was a lovely evening, though, as we snacked on Blackberry Gingerbread and enjoyed the local concert band (perfect addition to our instruments study, not that the boys were paying attention....).

3:: My best friend, Char, took my boys to the water park/pool for the afternoon so I could have some quiet time. The boys had an incredible time. My friend is a saint.

4:: Had to-die-for corn on the cob from the local farmer's stand. {SWOON!} Then breads and cheese from the Saturday farmers' market. I really love to eat. Have I mentioned that?

5:: Triple digit temps this weekend. I shouldn't complain, since we've had such a mild summer, but GOLLY!! I'm more of a 73 degrees sort of person, not 103.

6:: I'm such a slacker. We've done almost nothing in the way of school lessons, despite my best intentions (not much of a surprise). And I didn't read ONE book last month {GASP!!} (though I skimmed and reviewed a couple). This month doesn't look much better. At least Mockingjay will be delivered on August 24th, so I'll be sure to have read one book.

7:: And in case anyone would like to actually THINK: From Why Are Parents So Unhappy? And Who Would Settle for Happiness, Anyway? at AlbertMohler.com in response to All Joy and No Fun: Why Parents Hate Parenting from New York Magazine:

Christians must see children as gifts from God, not as projects. We should see marriage and parenthood as a stewardship and privilege, not as a mere lifestyle choice. We must resist the cultural seductions and raise children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and understand family life as a crucible for holiness, not an experiment in happiness.

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

~Frederick Douglass

Sunday Seven ~ Week 31

1:: I shouldn't have used the words 'perfect storm' when describing what I hoped for this past week. Instead of a perfect storm of energy, well-behaved boys, and self-discipline, I got a perfect storm of nasty cold for Luke, Leif, and myself. Did you know that your immune system is suppressed during pregnancy so that your body doesn't reject your baby? (I didn't either, but I read it here. And everything you read on the internet is true.) That explains why I was on the couch, dead to the world, for a couple days. Sigh.

2:: A friend (thanks, Cheris!) invited us to another VBS this week. Levi and Luke made it 4 days. Leif was able to go and was well enough 3 days. I was so thankful to have some quiet (nap) time in the mornings while nursing my cold. The boys were in heaven. Levi decided that is what he wants to do for the rest of the summer. Awesome. There is one just around the corner from us in another week. Who needs elaborate family vacations? (Not us, obviously.)

3:: After accomplishing NOTHING all week, Russ and I worked like crazy to make progress on Saturday. I feel like I can finally breathe. Still a looooong way to go, though. (I have high hopes for this next week, but I refuse to use the words 'perfect storm' again.)

4:: Blackberries galore. Just sayin'.

5:: Yes, we should have kept the ball rolling on the to-do list. Yes, the day dawned cool and drizzly. BUT, Russ suggested we get out of Dodge. And we needed to get out of Dodge. I'm so very glad we got out of Dodge. (See above photo.)

6:: On our way out of Dodge, we sang at the top of our lungs to the CD we purchased from the VBS the boys attended this past week. The songs were terrific, and I didn't feel quite as heathenish for missing church this morning. On the way back to Dodge, we listened to our new poetry CD, Peter and the Wolf, and The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra for our fine arts study. (Must post about those this next week.) See? We did accomplish something today. Oh, and the boys explored tide pools with Dad...

7:: Because I have to have a link for you in here somewhere, I really enjoyed a fellow homeschooling mom's thoughts on Classical Conversations here and here.

Have a lovely week!!!!

Saturday Seven ~ Week 30

1:: The boys arrived home from their camping trip on Sunday. Happy and filthy. I hope to get some photos up this next week. Russ did an amazing job keeping it all together and making fabulous memories with the boys. The time alone did wonders for me...


2:: Luke and Levi spent the mornings this week at VBS (for the first time). They LOVED it, and I loved having 5 quiet mornings with Leif.


3:: Book club on Thursday was amazing. Twilight is out of our normal repertoire, so it provided some interesting fodder. My sister, Holly, has been hosting a French exchange student the last couple weeks. She happens to be quite the Twilight fan, so Holly and Shannon drove her up to see several locations where the movies were filmed (including Bella's house) and took photos which they shared at our meeting. Marie also made us the most delicious crepes to add to our traditional chocolate dessert. Debi, the cake was wonderful!! And twilight in the garden was lovely. Have I mentioned how much I adore my book club ladies?!


4:: To add to the week's Twilight theme, we played a rousing family game of softball in a thunderstorm Friday evening. Okay, so there was only one clap of thunder, and our game in no way resembled the one in Twilight other than the fact that we don't have enough players to make teams. The sunset was stunning, though (see above). When twilight descended and the ball was hard to spot coming at us, the sisters and Marie (the French exchange student) cozied up in Shannon's playhouse for movie night. Yes, that one. The commentary included excited 'we saw that!'s and 'we've been there!'s.


5:: My brain is on vacation, and I have no intellectually stimulating links for you today.


6:: I've spent too much time this week looking at every single photo at Jinky Art. (Now you know why my brain is on vacation...) I don't think I've ever seen more inspiring children's photography. It made me want to have ten kids. And that is quite the accomplishment.

7:: I need to get much done this next week. Here is hoping for a perfect storm of energy, well-behaved boys, and self-discipline...

The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are,

first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.

~Thomas Edison

Saturday Seven ~ Week 29

1:: Made PB cookies for my hubby for (sadly) the first time. I don't care for them, but he loves them. A friend made these, and when I found out how simple they were I had to give them a try! Russ gives them two thumbs up. (Oh, and they are gluten-free!)

1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar (or a little less), 1 egg, and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Mix together. Roll dough into balls. Roll in sugar. Press down with fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. (Makes about 18 cookies.) Easier than pie.

2:: Enjoying a few days of solitude. 2 doctor appointments, 2 shopping sprees, 2 photoshoots, 2 chick flicks, 2(0) loads of laundry, 2 rooms cleaned and organized (unfortunately not the 2 I was really hoping to work on), more than 2 naps, 20 projects still unfinished... I need 2 extra days!!

3:: I LOVE fresh peaches!!!

4:: I don't so much love having so much to do and so little energy/stamina. Sigh.

5:: Okay, I realize that I don't share everything on this blog, and I really try to focus on the positive, but sometimes I realize that y'all might think I have it all together. I'd hate for anyone to think that. So, for the sake of complete honesty:

Most days, lately, this parenting gig has me on my knees by nightfall. No, that isn't quite strong enough. This parenting gig has me flat on my face by mid-morning. I simply don't seem to have what it takes. Not the self-discipline, not the consistency, not the personality, not the energy, not the imagination, not nothin'. I'm so freaking exhausted. The thought of adding a newborn to this life is terrifying.

There really isn't a solution. Well, there are lots of solutions, but every single one requires more of me. And there isn't.

Enough of the honesty, let's find something productive to contemplate...


6:: On Education (and the work force):

*Would You Hire Your Own Kids? 7 Skills Schools Should Be Teaching Them at The Daily Riff:

Clay Parker stressed the importance of employees whom he hires being more than just smart. "I want people who can think -- they're not just bright -- they're also inquisitive. Are they engaged, are they interested in the world?" And Mark Summers told me: "People who've learned to ask great questions and have learned to be inquisitive are the ones who move the fastest in our environment because they solve the biggest problems in ways that have most impact on innovation."

*Here I Stand: 2010 Valedictorian Speech by Erica Goldson:

"And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force. Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us."

7:: On Creativity (and education and industry):

*The Creativity Crisis at Newsweek (fascinating stuff here, friends):

Researchers say creativity should be taken out of the art room and put into homeroom. The argument that we can’t teach creativity because kids already have too much to learn is a false trade-off. Creativity isn’t about freedom from concrete facts. Rather, fact-finding and deep research are vital stages in the creative process. Scholars argue that current curriculum standards can still be met, if taught in a different way.

Having studied the childhoods of highly creative people for decades, Claremont Graduate University’s Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and University of Northern Iowa’s Gary G. Gute found highly creative adults tended to grow up in families embodying opposites. Parents encouraged uniqueness, yet provided stability. They were highly responsive to kids’ needs, yet challenged kids to develop skills. This resulted in a sort of adaptability: in times of anxiousness, clear rules could reduce chaos—yet when kids were bored, they could seek change, too. In the space between anxiety and boredom was where creativity flourished.

From fourth grade on, creativity no longer occurs in a vacuum; researching and studying become an integral part of coming up with useful solutions. But this transition isn’t easy. As school stuffs more complex information into their heads, kids get overloaded, and creativity suffers. When creative children have a supportive teacher—someone tolerant of unconventional answers, occasional disruptions, or detours of curiosity—they tend to excel. When they don’t, they tend to underperform and drop out of high school or don’t finish college at high rates.

*My childhood friend and writer, Trish Lawrence, has been talking about creativity on her new blog, Bringing Creativity to Life: A Blog for Burnt-Out Human Beings.

I don’t intend to be wildly innovative tomorrow when I brush my teeth or when I do the dishes or when I handle my conference call, but I intend to go in with the right mind. A creativity mindset. To enjoy, to live out, to pursue my passion, wherever and whenever I possibly can. To be happy for the chance to be so creative, to be alive, to have two hands and two feet, to have freedom to accomplish things, and for the breath to do it with.

*If you are interesting in exploring how Christianity and Creativity collide, read Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L'Engle. This book had a big impact on me as I read it last year, and I'm anticipating revisiting it as it shows up this next month as our book club selection.

To trust, to be truly whole, is also to let go whatever we may consider our qualifications. There's a great paradox here, and a trap for the lazy. I do not need to be "qualified" to play a Bach fugue on the piano (and playing a Bach fugue is for me an exercise in wholeness). But I cannot play that Bach fugue at all if I do not play the piano daily, if I do not practice my finger exercises. There are equivalents of finger exercises in the writing of books, the painting of portraits, the composing of a song. We do not need to be qualified: the gift is free; and yet we have to pay for it...

Creative scientists and saints expect revelation and do not fear it. Neither do children. But as we grow up and we are hurt, we learn not to trust, and that lack of trust is a wound as grievous as whatever caused it.

It strikes me that perhaps I am elevating scientists and down-grading theologians, and that is not true, not fair. For the few scientists who live by revelation there are many more who are no more than technicians, who are terrified of the wide world outside the laboratory, and who trust nothing they cannot prove. Amazing things may happen in their test tubes and retorts, but only the rare few see the implications beyond the immediate experiment. They cannot trust further than their own senses, and this lack of trust is often caught by the rest of us.

*The creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kinds of things--ancient history, nineteenth century mathematics, current manufacturing techniques, hog futures. Because he never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea. It may happen six minutes later, or six months, or six years. But he has faith that it will happen. ~Carl Ally


*We have come to think of art and work as incompatible, or at least independent categories and have for the first time in history created an industry without art. ~Ananda K. Coomaraswamy

Have a lovely weekend, and go BE CREATIVE!

*Creativity is the quality that you bring to the activity that you are doing. It is an attitude, an inner approach - how you look at things . . . Whatsoever you do, if you do it joyfully, if you do it lovingly, if your act of doing is not purely economical, then it is creative. ~Osho


*Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun. ~Mary Lou Cook

Saturday Seven ~ Week 28

1:: Off to the annual family reunion, today!! (You know I have to say it: I have the best family!!)

2:: This has been a rillllllllly tough few weeks as far as parenting goes. I'm counting down the days until Boys' Camp. This will be my only year on my own. Then it's Girls' Party for baby girl and me.

3:: I have 3 million (really unexciting) projects planned for my days off, but I'll probably sleep instead.

4:: I still have a bunch of photos to edit. Tired of seeing wedding stuff, yet?

5:: Luke's stitches come out in a couple days. Wowsa, it is a pain to keep a little boy's hand clean and dry during the summer....

6:: My hip is out of whack and it's getting really uncomfortable. I think I'll add a chiropractor visit to my to-do list.

7:: Our thoughtful topic today is books (not much of a surprise around here).


*From The Medium is the Medium at The New York Times:

The great essayist Joseph Epstein once distinguished between being well informed, being hip and being cultivated. The Internet helps you become well informed — knowledgeable about current events, the latest controversies and important trends. The Internet also helps you become hip — to learn about what’s going on, as Epstein writes, “in those lively waters outside the boring mainstream.”

But the literary world is still better at helping you become cultivated, mastering significant things of lasting import. To learn these sorts of things, you have to defer to greater minds than your own. You have to take the time to immerse yourself in a great writer’s world. You have to respect the authority of the teacher.

Right now, the literary world is better at encouraging this kind of identity. The Internet culture may produce better conversationalists, but the literary culture still produces better students.

*More book list fodder: Books for Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Build Forts All Day from Institute for Excellence in Writing.


*And one can never go wrong quoting C. S. Lewis when books (or anything, really) is the subject:

"I am a product [...of] endless books. My father bought all the books he read and never got rid of any of them. There were books in the study, books in the drawing room, books in the cloakroom, books (two deep) in the great bookcase on the landing, books in a bedroom, books piled as high as my shoulder in the cistern attic, books of all kinds reflecting every transient stage of my parents' interest, books readable and unreadable, books suitable for a child and books most emphatically not. Nothing was forbidden me. In the seemingly endless rainy afternoons I took volume after volume from the shelves. I had always the same certainty of finding a book that was new to me as a man who walks into a field has of finding a new blade of grass."

Wishing you a life filled with endless books...

Saturday Seven ~ Week 27

1:: Russ put up the tent this past weekend and had a backyard camp out with the boys for a couple nights. I have the most awesome husband.

2:: Luke ended up at urgent care, again. This time for stitches in his pinkie finger. Not good. So glad Russ was home to take care of this emergency. Did I mention I have an awesome husband?

3:: As if he needed more points this week, he ALSO had to play the part of hunter/protector and save me from an animal-type-thing-which-shall-not-be-named in the middle of the night *in our bedroom.* I get points for not shrieking. First the skunk (oh, I didn't tell you that story, did I?) and now this. Ugh.

4:: I'm photographing a wedding today. Pray for me. My stupendously amazing sister is designing/coordinating/hostessing. This girl has talent you can't even imagine. It's going to be AMAZING. Have I mentioned my awesome family, yet?

Food for Thought:

5:: On Gender Wars and the Work Force : The End of Men at The Atlantic.

"The postindustrial economy is indifferent to men’s size and strength. The attributes that are most valuable today—social intelligence, open communication, the ability to sit still and focus—are, at a minimum, not predominantly male. In fact, the opposite may be true."

The Case for Working With Your Hands at The New York Times. Really good stuff, here.

'When we praise people who do work that is straightforwardly useful, the praise often betrays an assumption that they had no other options...

'If the goal is to earn a living, then, maybe it isn’t really true that 18-year-olds need to be imparted with a sense of panic about getting into college (though they certainly need to learn). Some people are hustled off to college, then to the cubicle, against their own inclinations and natural bents, when they would rather be learning to build things or fix things. One shop teacher suggested to me that “in schools, we create artificial learning environments for our children that they know to be contrived and undeserving of their full attention and engagement. Without the opportunity to learn through the hands, the world remains abstract and distant, and the passions for learning will not be engaged.” '

And I Choose My Choice at The Atlantic.

'Linda Hirshman claims that “the family—with its repetitious, socially invisible, physical tasks—is a necessary part of life, but allows fewer opportunities for full human flourishing than public spheres like the market or the government.” Many people would no doubt find unpaid household chores less interesting than Professor Hirshman’s job … But walking up and down the super­market aisle selecting food for a family dinner is a job that has more variety and autonomy than the paid work being done by the supermarket employees who stack the same shelves with the same food day after day, and those who stand in a narrow corner at the checkout counter all day tallying up the costs of purchases, and the workers next to them who pack the purchases into paper or plastic bags. That space in the market is a bit cramped for human flourishing.'

Or, if you'd like to get really annoyed with the entitlement attitude of the new generation (which segues nicely into thought #6), you can read American Dream Is Elusive for New Generation at The New York Times. (Emphasis and [ ] comment are mine.)

After several interviews, the Hanover Insurance Group in nearby Worcester offered to hire him as an associate claims adjuster, at $40,000 a year. But even before the formal offer, Mr. Nicholson had decided not to take the job. Rather than waste early years in dead-end work, he reasoned, he would hold out [while living with his parents and letting them pay his expenses] for a corporate position that would draw on his college training and put him, as he sees it, on the bottom rungs of a career ladder....

For young adults, the prospects in the workplace, even for the college-educated, have rarely been so bleak. Apart from the 14 percent who are unemployed and seeking work, as Scott Nicholson is, 23 percent are not even seeking a job, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total, 37 percent, is the highest in more than three decades and a rate reminiscent of the 1930s.

6:: On Prolonged Adolescence: Long Road to Adulthood Is Growing Even Longer at The New York Times.

“A new period of life is emerging in which young people are no longer adolescents but not yet adults,” Mr. Furstenberg said.

And Why Young Men Delay Adulthood to Stay in Guyland (originally for Newsweek).

In his new book, "Guyland," the State University of New York at Stony Brook professor notes that the traditional markers of manhood—leaving home, getting an education, finding a partner, starting work and becoming a father—have moved downfield as the passage from adolescence to adulthood has evolved from "a transitional moment to a whole new stage of life." In 1960, almost 70 percent of men had reached these milestones by the age of 30. Today, less than a third of males that age can say the same.

7:: On Morality: Bad Books for Kids

"Making any sort of moral judgment is always bad, unless it reflects a mainstream piety, one of which is the wickedness of moral judgments. People who make any other sort of judgment are not attractive and lead lives the hero and the reader know they do not want to lead."

In The Core, Leigh Bortins quotes Ravi Zacharias, a popular debater at Ivy League schools, as saying:

'We are living in a time when sensitivities are at the surface, often vented with cutting words. Philosophically, you can believe anything, so long as you do not claim it to be true. Morally, you can practice anything, so long as you do not claim that it is a "better" way.'

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

And locals, don't forget the Mondays @ Monteith concert series starting this next week!!

Sunday Seven ~ Week 24

:: My most favorite childhood strawberry stand is open for business. The boys helped me pick out a flat. YUM!! Nothing like fresh-picked Oregon strawberries, though it has been so ridiculously rainy this season, I'm guessing the strawberry season is going to be rather short. Get them while you can!

:: We had a 2-day summer.... LAST weekend. It is pouring down rain as I type. Sigh.

:: Even though the weather hasn't been great, it was lovely enough last evening that my family was able to have an awesome game of backyard softball. (ETA: Pictures at my mom's blog, Treading on Moss.) HEAVENLY. I found out that Luke can really throw that ball, and Leif is awesome at batting! I can still hit the ball, even if I run the bases verrrrrry slowly. We all play outfield when the brothers-in-law are hitting...and no one is left to play infield. My nephew, Drake, can pass everyone else up when running with the bases loaded. My Dad pitched the whole evening. I think he is going to feel it today.

:: I feel it today. Ouch. It doesn't help that I have a stomach bug on top of an evening of softball playing. I got out of bed at 1pm. And I'm heading back there shortly. As soon as I kick Russ out so he can watch the boys again.

:: The back seat of a '65 Mustang is not meant for adults. (ETA: I'm not sure I want to edit this, but my hubby laughed like a crazy person. For RIDING in the back seat. Good grief. It is the only place left for me on a *family* drive after the boys are buckled.) Especially the MIDDLE of the back seat. Driving a '65 Mustang isn't much more comfortable. I'm guessing both experiences are 'enhancing' the way my body feels today.

:: My hubby may come in 6th on this list of 7, but he's #1 to me. Grin. What an awesome Dad he is!! Happy Father's Day, Love. And I have the best Dad on the planet. How did I get so blessed?

:: And because I think you all deserve something profound, informing, or edifying in all my posts, I found this article about ideology in children's books by M. T. Anderson quite fascinating.

The words that a father speaks to his children in the privacy of home are not heard by the world, but, as in whispering-galleries, they are clearly heard at the end and by posterity.

~Jean Paul Richter

Saturday Seven ~ Week 23

:: We get some sunshine this weekend. FINALLY!! And Russ gets a day of white water rafting. The river should be insanely perilous after all this rain we've had (we broke the precipitation record for May and June, and it's only the 12th). Maybe y'all could say a few prayers for those guys today. I'm single-parenting at a BBQ with the boys. Maybe y'all could say a prayer for me, too. (Grin.)

:: 4 days of walking this week, but it was slow going. It isn't agreeing with me like it was a few months ago... Life is changing (again) for Shannon this next week, so early morning walking may be out the window.

:: Speaking of Shannon... She recently quoted that God's past faithfulness demands our current trust while in the middle of MORE unexpected life changes. Her life has gone through some MAJOR changes this past year, but God has worked out every single detail while she and Ben chose to trust. And God came through last week, AGAIN. Inspiring. And congrats to Ben on successfully finishing his first year of school and passing his EMT Basic state boards.

:: Food for thought at The New York Times: A Classical Education: Back to the Future. We are already registered for Classical Conversations (more about that this next week, I promise), and this article further inspired me to purchase Leigh Bortins' new book, The Core: Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education. It is now on my book stack (thank you, Amazon Prime). I'll review when I've finished.

:: More discussion fodder: What is the purpose of education? I'm loving the Twelve Reflections on an Educated Person at the end of this essay by John Taylor Gatto. I'm printing them off and adding them to my inspiration folder. I'd love to hear opinions about this list. Do you disagree? Anything to add? Comments? Do tell.

:: I can't stand it. "Using "text speak" to celebrate an educational accomplishment is like celebrating your SCUBA certification by drowning puppies. STOP IT." Cake Wrecks. They're painful.

:: Enough about education, or lack thereof. I'm off to enjoy my day.

My crown is called content, a crown that seldom kings enjoy.

~William Shakespeare

Saturday Seven ~ Week 21

:: The rooster died. And we had a really odd experience with a skunk. (Don't even want to share that one.) Then a huge snake in our front yard. We've already done deer and wild turkeys (and mice, sigh). What will be next? I'm on pins and needles.

:: Shannon and I walked another 3 days this week. I'm blaming her for our extra 2 days off.

:: I'm done with rain. And cold. DONE, I tell ya.

:: Making lessons plans/goals for summer and this coming fall. More on that this next week.

:: Luke turns 6 tomorrow. I have no idea how that happened.

:: It was a very uneventful week. I haven't even watched the AI finale. It's on my DVR waiting for me. I think I'll serve up a bowl of ice cream and plop myself on the couch. We did make it to farmer's market this morning and visited my niece Ilex's new chicks. And I posted regularly on the blog. So, wahoo.

:: I love my book club. I mean REALLY love it. Everyone should be so lucky. Don't have a book club? Start one. Ours is called ChocLit Guild (Read 'em and Eat), because we savor a chocolate dessert while talking about books. Does it get any better than that? I don't think so.

Chocolate is a perfect food, as wholesome as it is delicious, a beneficent restorer of exhausted power. It is the best friend of those engaged in literary pursuits.

~Baron Justus von Liebig, German chemist (1803-1873)

Saturday Seven ~ Week 20

:: A homeless rooster adopted us. We have been awakened by his crowing at 5 am for over a week. Russ is requesting rooster soup for dinner, although he (the rooster, grin) does look quite charming in our yard and the boys think we have a new pet.

:: Had a wonderful, sunny weekend (last weekend). Saturday: Yard work. House work. BBQ with friends. Sunday: A drive south. How to Train Your Dragon in 3D (what fun!) with the boys. A new wardrobe for me. Dinner out. Drive home and crash.

:: Our family attended a Classical Conversations Mock Day on Monday evening. A new group is starting this next year in Albany. All three boys are registered, and I'm stoked. More details later...

:: Food for thought: Plan B: Skip College (NYTimes). But are 'our 11-year-olds, in fact, less “intelligent” than their counterparts of 30 years ago?' (TimesOnline) (The second is an older article, but relevant and fascinating, nonetheless.)

:: My sister and I decided that Casey deliberately handed the finals to Crystal and Lee with his song OK, It's Alright With Me. 'It never comes easily, and when it does I'm already gone.' He had his spectacular homecoming, and now he wants to get away without having his life dictated by AI. And without having to sing (or record) an asinine 'Here is my moment' song. Or maybe it was lucky rather than deliberate... Lee hit it out of the park this week (one has to feel he was set up for that, ahem), and I think he'd benefit the most from AI guidance as he doesn't have much confidence and looks like he wants to throw up after each performance.... (Don't get me wrong, I do like him and thought Simple Man in particular was awesome.) Crystal is ready to do her own thing. Finale next week, and then I can have my life back. At least for one week until LIE TO ME returns...

:: Our family is watching Liberty's Kids (all 40 episodes available through Netflix Instant Streaming!!!!) and enjoying this site with corresponding fun and games. What a fun and painless way to absorb American history at the time of the Revolution. (Thanks for reminding me, Elaine!)

:: 'Tis true. The whole family tagged along for the 20 week prenatal ultrasound. Leif gets his baby girl. (This is 'his' baby, and he has requested a baby 'gril' with a blue dress.) Then I went shopping. Grin. It looks like we won't be using the name Lachlan John (but I've waited over ten years to use my most favorite girl name in the whole world...).


Did you notice that I blogged *every day this week*? It's been a while since I managed that...


How was your week?

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace.

~Victor Hugo

Saturday Seven ~ Week 19

::Watched the new(ish) BBC production of Persuasion (a la Netflix).

::Walked only 3 mornings. What a slacker.

::Savored The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

::Had 53 people (okay, slight exaggeration) ask if we knew yet whether we are having a boy or girl... even the ladies at the dentist office and the lady working at the pizza place at the mall (she has been there since Levi was a baby and the boys know her by name). Sigh. NOT YET. And, no, we aren't holding our breath for a girl.

::Read interesting commentary. "But when it comes to being pro-choice, the one choice you're not allowed to make is an informed one."

::Had my first family photo session of the year. Felt a bit rusty.

::Craved banana splits. And caved. More than once.


How was your week?

Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Here and There and This and That

~Saturday Seven (and a few extra for good measure)~

::I (and my family) spent an afternoon with Elaine from Know Myself, her husband Seth from Collateral Bloggage, and their son Ethan. I really love it when I can finally call wonderful blog friends real-life friends. Thanks for taking the time to visit, Elaine!!

::I spent hours on an addicting United States geography game (thanks a lot, Tera....).

::I'm ashamed to admit it, but I watch American Idol and adore Casey James. There. I said it. (Harry Connick, Jr. isn't too bad, either.) So very glad Aaron went home this week. I'm liking the top four.

::I'm suddenly feeling about 7 months pregnant. I'm measuring a couple weeks ahead, and after three 9 1/2 pound babies there is very little chance this baby is going to be a small one. Ultrasound in two weeks...

::I walked 5 mornings with my little sister again this week, and then an afternoon nature walk with my older sister (with kids). I think I actually got in my word quota this week. Grin.

::I love this book list: The Literature of Honor for Boys. Speaking of reading, how about this College Instructor's Advice To Parents of Middle and High Schoolers.

::I officially have baby fever. If you click on only one link in this post, let it be this movie trailer.

::After a long dry spell from reading, I started in on The Devil in the White City. And finished all 400 pages in two days. Do not stop by my house unexpectedly. It's not a pretty sight.

::I'm the last person in the world to watch The Blind Side. It was worth the wait.

::I love family time: last night at the swimming pool, this (gorgeously sunny!) morning at the local farmers' market (listening to live music and eating fresh-baked raspberry scones) and then the library.

::I have about 20 blog posts I've started but haven't taken the time to finish up and publish...

Though the circular round-and-round of routine be the bulk of life's affairs, make an occasional jutting diversion - of fun, love, or something that will outlast you - so the shape and motion of your life shall resemble the round lifegiving sun with bright rays shining forth from all directions.

~Destin Figuier

Saturday Seven

2010 ~ Week 9

{1} Days Walked/Ran: 0

(Russ was gone all week...)

{2} Dr. Peppers Consumed: 1

{3} It was a bit of a rough week with Russ gone on a business trip, but we survived.
My sister, Shannon, and I managed a girls' night out at our favorite theater to see When In Rome.
I don't know the last time I've laughed so hard. The movie got terrible reviews, so maybe I just really needed to laugh.

At the very least, it was a refreshing change to watch a romantic comedy that didn't go for the raunchy jokes.

(Thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting the boys come over for a movie night!!)
My sister, Holly, and I (and the kids) met up at our favorite nature hike location for a wonderful time of walking and enjoying fresh air on Friday afternoon.

Russ returned home this morning at 3 am. He got in a few hours of sleep and then took us all to my favorite (sentimental) donut shop

and to the last event of the Children's Performing Arts Series: African Acrobats.

The boys have played like crazy outside in this lovely weather, and we're headed to my parents' house for pizza.
Not bad.

{4} Daily Reading (Bible, A Year With C.S. Lewis, Intellectual Devotional): Still plugging along.

{5} Days of Math with Levi: A couple. Yeah, not such a good week.

Dad gone and Levi and Leif both sick. That's my excuse. Next week we'll make up for it.

{6} Intentional Reading:

Finished The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma. Read The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf (Gerald Morris) cover to cover.

Headed into Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz for book club this month in honor of Easter. This one is a book with a capital B. Whew.

I really need to catch up on book reviews.

{7} No pool. Again.

I just can't manage all 3 boys at the pool by myself. (Can you hear the whining?)

Give thanks for what you are now,

and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow.

~Fernanda Miramontes-Landeros

Saturday Seven

Daylight. It is a precious thing at 6 am.

2010 ~ Week 8
(Yes, I've missed a couple.)

{1} Days Walked/Ran: 4
I walked 4 on week 6, then had a week off when Russ was out of town.
We were back in the swing (sorta) this week.

{2} Dr. Peppers Consumed: I have no idea. Less than one a day, though. (Smile.)

{3} Blah, blah, blah....

{4} Daily Reading (Bible, A Year With C.S. Lewis, Intellectual Devotional): Still plugging along.
(Finished Matthew and Exodus.)

{5} Days of Math with Levi: 4?

{6} Intentional Reading: Finished Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson, meandered through Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson, Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, and Nurture by Nature by Teiger, and began The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma.

{7} No pool for a while. We were on vacation (with no pool at the hotel...boo!), Russ was gone, and the boys spent this Friday evening at Knights of the Realm (staged jousting tournament).

Though the circular round-and-round of routine be the bulk of life's affairs,
make an occasional jutting diversion - of fun, love, or something that will outlast you -
so the shape and motion of your life shall resemble the round lifegiving sun
with bright rays shining forth from all directions.

~Destin Figuier

Saturday Seven

My attempt at learning manual exposure means that the boys are spending more time as guinea pigs.
And at some point (usually sooner rather than later) the photo shoot abruptly ends....


2010 ~ Week 5

{1} Days Walked/Ran: 5

(Week 16. Two days were a little shorter than usual, but at least I got out there!)

{2} Dr. Peppers Consumed: 3, I think.

(Need to drink more water and tea!)

{3} Fruit/Veggie Smoothies: 4

(Made a really tasty one yesterday that had red cabbage, yellow squash, and spinach in it along with lots of fruit and a little agave nectar.)

{4} Daily Reading (Bible, A Year With C.S. Lewis, Intellectual Devotional): Still plugging along.

{5} Days of Math with Levi: 3 or 4.
(We had an off week due to some sickness going around...)

{6} Intentional Reading: Finished the last little book in the 26 Fairmount Avenue series by Tomie DePaola. Reading Shakespeare: Life as Stage by Bill Bryson,
Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson, Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, and Nurture by Nature by Teiger.

{7} Made it to the pool again!


Sorry about the lack of blog posts lately. I've been feeling a little blah (what is it about January and February?), and we had a stomach flu bug around here this week.
I have a few things to share this next week, which I hope will include book reviews.
Oh, and I totally spaced Living. Lovely. on Thursday. Guess we'll have two weeks to make a phone call. Grin.

Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall.

Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day.

Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down.

And this is all life really means.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

Saturday {Sunday} Seven

2010 ~ Week 4

{1} Days Walked/Ran: 5
(Week 15. Roughly 4 miles a day, running 1+ of those.)

{2} Dr. Peppers Consumed: 2.
(Well, better than last week...)

{3} Fruit/Veggie Smoothies: 4
(Trying for daily!)

{4} Daily Reading (Bible, A Year With C.S. Lewis, Intellectual Devotional): Did much better this week!

{5} Days of Math with Levi: 4

{6} Intentional Reading: Finished Jack: A Life of C.S. Lewis by Sayer, and a couple more little books in the 26 Fairmount Avenue series by Tomie DePaola. Picking up Shakespeare: Life as Stage by Bill Bryson and Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson.
(Book reviews this next week.)

{7} We didn't make it to the pool this week, but the boys have had lots of outside playtime today which they really needed.

Good for the body is the work of the body,

and good for the soul is the work of the soul,

and good for either is the work of the other.


~Henry David Thoreau