The latest

Once again I"m determined to start blogging again. So much to catch up on. I'll do my best. Let me start with the kids. Margaret is a senior now! She is fabulously juggling waiting tables at a neighborhood restaurant, taking mostly advanced classes at school, and running cross country. I think she's finally learning to enjoy school, and has been participating more in the social life at VHS. This year she holds a solid position on cross country and is running her best times yet. She is a joy to be around. She is also so helpful! I don't know where I'd be without her! Samuel is in his sophomore year. He is also running cross country and is Vandegrift's fastest runner. He trains with a local elite runner, David Fuentes. Samuel has improved so much in his ability to juggle all of his classwork and homework, as well as keep up his training. He's also taken up an interest in guitar and is actually quite good. He is quickly able to pick out songs he hears on the radio. William is in 8th grade. He has grown so much since last year. He's not the same kids who spent much time in the principal's office the last year. He's determined to do well both academically and athletically. He's playing football and ( according to him) is one of the best players. We have yet to see him play, but their first scrimmage is Tuesday. John is in 6th grade now. He seems to much prefer middle school to elementary, but I miss that he doesn't come home as early. I enjoyed having a little time with him while the others were still at school. He's in the Quest program for gifted students. We thought he would be our one band student, but at the last minute he chose to do art & theater arts instead. He shows great interest in architecture and is fascinated by sky scraper. He's already decided he would like to be an architect. Over the summer he did a little work up at Brian's office, even going out on job sites with the architects. He's a voracious reader and it's hard to pull him away from his books. He's still my faithful babysitter and is so good with the girls. Hazel is nearly five years old. She is dreamy and imaginative. She loves to be beautiful and changes clothes several times a day. I'm homeschooling her using Horizon's kindergarten curriculum and also making up some parts on my own. She just eats up the special attention and is already attempting to read all the words she sees. Olive sits in on our little lessons until she loses interest and then goes off to play with ponies or princesses. We're memorizing The Sermon on the Mount for our scripture memory, and are currently reading the original Winnie the Pooh by A.A.Milne for our read a loud. We are incorporating a few Charlotte Mason ideas, doing nature walks and creating nature journals. Id' like to add art to our lessons eventually. Olive is a funny little girl. She's much different from Hazel, so feisty and witty. She teases Hazel quite a bit. I don't want her to grow up. I'd be happy for her to stay a chubby, curly haired cutie forever. Brian and I are just picking up our marathon training, and I'm feeling it. We run together almost every day. The days we don't run I make up the distance in walking. I got a Fitbit this year and am pretty addicted to tracking my steps. I aim at 30K a day, which is around 16 or so miles. When I hit that goal for many days in a week I'm just beat! We're registered for the Houston and Austin marathons again. I'd love to get under 3:45 in either, a goal I've been chasing for a couple of years now. That would qualify me to run the Boston Marathon, something on my bucket list. I guess that's all the updating I can do today. We were at a Vandegrift football game late last night and then had to get up at 4 am. for Margaret and Samuel's cross country meet, and you know what? I'm so very tired. Gonna try to slip off for a nap before I need to fix dinner, and before the Longhorns play tonight. Samuel is going to the game with some buddies, and John is going with Thomas and Tommy. Maybe someone will ask me to the game sometime. =)