Summer holds on...

September 08, 2015

Summer holds on...

{ Summer holds on...}

I do not think Summer is ready to quite give up her reigns and gracefully bow out to Autumn just yet. I will concede that by late February I will be complaining bitterly beneath a pile of blankets to my husband about the death grip winter has over us. Me, not complaining about the heat and humidity is a fool's errand.... but....I can not wait until the temperatures begin to drop and the leaves begin to change! I love all things Autumn. The leaves, holidays, apples, pumpkins, snuggling in warm knit things, and the other worldly feel that time of year exudes. With this being said, we are no where near Autumn temperatures just yet. So, we are embracing this warm start to September.

And yet....

Autumn will have homeschooling chugging along!

We have already settled into a steady rhythm of independent work and project based work in the morning with instructional time in the afternoon. We never break a sweat or get overly tense about the lessons. My oldest gal and I just gracefully plod along through each lesson with open hearts and minds. I dare say that it is working but I won't jinx us just yet. Her little sister has had to be coaxed into the realm of learning with fun games and crafts. She too is learning along side her sister with alphabet letters, numbers, and colors being visited upon daily. My little gal is a free spirit and imaginative one who will dance, sing, pretend, and day-dream while her older sister is logical, precise, scientific in her thinking and always ready to start another kitchen experiment. It compliments the day and helps me remember that balance is key. All this work is done with an air of chaos as their young brother finds a little more courage each day to act a little bit more wild and push the limits of what Mama will accept. He keeps me on my toes and I can feel little grey hairs sprout when he climbs the furniture or runs by grasping something he and I both know he shouldn't have. I am always surprised when a stranger will compliment my parenting in the grocery store because they would surely run the opposite way if they saw us at home. Rowdy voices, running feet, my constant struggle to keep things orderly ( which by the way is a losing battle). Thankfully, I realized about 4 years ago that my home is just that a place where people live not a museum.

Autumn has me thinking of sewing and spending quality time in front of my humble little workhorse of a machine. The summer is usually a time for outside play and travel but fall and winter give me that time to really sink my teeth into projects. I sat down the other night and started drawing out plans for things I want to do but found myself day-dreaming about things mostly (now, you know where my younger gal gets it). Knitting is happening as it always does especially when it has become an extension of my hands whenever I have free time. I usually have my face in a book or in a knitting project.

Autumn has me thinking of visits with friends and family. My calendar is quickly filling up with weekends with family and friends. New friends and old friends who have moved back to the area. It is really some of my favorite time just sitting around and keeping company with some pretty interesting people. We are going to a wedding and even an opera (Carmen)!

But for now, we will still be happy summer has decided to stay around and visit awhile longer. We head to Myrtle Beach in a few days for a big family vacation and the girls are beyond excited. It will be our first week long vacation in a couple years. This vacation comes at a great time with James transitioning into civilian life in a few short months and us finally settling down it is a good way to this move. Slow and steady with relaxed bodies and minds. As Summer holds on for a few weeks longer I know that Autumn holds a time of change and peace for us.

my mom took this over the weekend. Who is this gal? Growing up so quickly. Just an FYI: that is a very big but super gentle doberman at the end of that leash.