First day of 2nd grade/ Pre-K

Starting a new year here at Tien Homeschool.  I need to come up with a cute catchy phrase to name our "school". Any suggestions? Pictures are what people really want to see right? OK, here we are on our first day of school.  Mid day, bribing them with a trip to the beach if they just do me the kindness of standing still and smiling.  It's all I ask. Henry goes first!

Then Sweet Lucy, all grown up.

Then some sibling love!

Then we met dad for first day of school pizza at Tutta Bella for dinner.  The waiter gave the kids a magic toy to play with, as well as some pizza dough to make a mess with.

And then there are a few people (like 1 or 2) that are interested in what we are learning about this year, what curriculum, etc.  If you're interested, here is what we'll be working on (Lord willing) this year for 2nd grade and Pre-K.

First and foremost the best voice I've heard in homeschooling is that of Julie Bogart.  She created a writing program called Brave Writer, which seems pretty great.  But more refreshing to me is basically her encouraging spirit and words on just about every aspect of homeschooling. I recommend her blog, FB page, podcasts, or her books of daily inspiration (She doesn't speak from a Christian point of view per se).   She doesn't tell me what curriculum to use, but how to have the homeschool that my family wants! Not to try and copy the classroom at home, but to create a home environment that is enjoyable for everyone!! So we will be using one of her curriculum, the Quiver of Arrows (Literature, copy-work, spelling, grammar). If you get nothing else from this post, check out her blog and website for a dose of encouragement, even if you don't homeschool!

Language Arts:
Bravewriter, Quiver of Arrows (selection of 10 literature classics)
A Reason for Handwriting, T (transition to cursive)
All About Spelling, Level 3
Teatime Poetry

Math:
Primary Math level 2, Singapore
Mathtacular DVD  (from Sonlight.  Henry loves these, and pretends to make his own Justin videos)

Social Studies (History, geography, Bible)
Sonlight level C
Little Passports World Edition, subscription
Eat Your Way around the World
Geography through Art

Science
Sonlight C (Geology, Meterology, Mechanical Technology)
Sassafras Adventures Vol 4

Other:
Homezone (art, pe, swim lessons- a weekly program thru the YMCA)
piano lessons
Gymnastics 
LOTS of  live theater (8 shows this year, storybook theater, seattle childrens theater, 5th Ave theater)
Character First
Raddish cooking kits (montly subscription)

Henry is also starting Pre K with me, much less organized but here are a few we'll use as guides
All About Reading, pre-reading.
Handwriting without Tears, My First School Book
Elemental Science: Learning thru Science, then Exploring Science
Gymnastics
Little Passports, Early Explorers Subscription
Character First

Crossing the Rubicon

I'm not a big fan of pushing kids into adult life, in the name of "they're going to have to get used to it someday." Like waking up to an alarm clock, sitting at a desk all day,not believing in magic. I'm willing to do the work to avoid the rigamarole of grown-up life for as long as possible for the sake of an enchanted childhood for my kids. Call me ridiculous if you like.

Lucy received a "Li'l Fairy Door" from Santa last Christmas. It was intended to be a motivation to keep her room clean, or even more important to sleep through the night. A letter from a fairy who lives behind the fairy door would come when the desired behavior occurred. Well, in the hubbub of the holidays, somehow the fairy door experience got out of control. Without my full control, a fairy named Aria soon became Lucy's best friend. For 6 months, Aria's visits were prayed for, anticipated and celebrated. We bought a fairy mailbox for their letter exchanges. Aria left gifts, made jokes, answered questions. Lucy asked magical questions and signed every letter, "love your best friend Lucy". However, the level of creativity needed to continue the story of Aria, was increasingly complicated, due to Lucy's smarter and harder and hungrier questions. Tim had suggested that maybe Aria qualified for the Fairy Olympics, and was going to be on letter writing sabbatical for the summer.

Two nights ago Lucy asked me, with some angst in her voice,
"Is Aria real, or are you just writing me notes?" (Here's my chance. I can break free from the hostage of creating magic and excitement for my child. Or I can break her heart. Is this really a choice?)
"Why do you ask that?"
"I don't know, I just think maybe you write the notes, and that fairies aren't real."
"Well, even if I did write notes, that doesn't mean that fairies aren't real."
(increasing anxiety) "But do you write me notes, or does Aria?"
(pause....my good friend GinnyRae who has 3 delightful children older than mine, walked this journey and gave me great wisdom. She asked her youngest when he asked "the question" about Santa if he wanted to know "the truth" or not. He opted for not hearing the truth until the next year!) Using that template I asked Lucy "Do you want to know the truth or do you want to believe in magic?" (to me that already answers the question!!)
"I guess believe in Magic" (and the conversation ended).

Last night, after reading and lights out, Lucy says: "Mom, I think I'm about to Cross the Rubicon".
(pause...What 7 year old says that???? The only reason I've ever heard of that is from our "Story of the World" readings from Jim Weiss. Apparently, if you haven't heard that saying before, it means you're about to make a decision that there is no turning back from . Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon and started some kind of war.)
"Oh dear. Why are you about to cross the Rubicon?"
"Well, I'm not sure if I want to talk to you about it or not".
"Well I'm always here for you if you ever want to talk about anything. There is nothing off limits".
"Well I have a question that I'm afraid to ask."
"Ok. Well if you decide you want to ask me I'm all ears."
After 3 rounds of anxious eeny meeny miney mo, Lucy asks:
"Mom, are fairies real, or are you just writing me the notes."
(argh)"Oh, this again. Do you want to really know the truth, or Magic?"
"Truth?"
"Are you sure you want to know the truth?"
"yes...(not with confidence!)"
(long pause from mama, giving her a chance to change her mind.)
"Well, mom has had a fun time writing you notes from Aria."
(silence)
"Are you ok?"
"(squeeky fake happy voice) Yes"
"Are you sure you're ok?"
"Yes (squeekier still).
Then proceeded about 2 hours (starting at 10pm mind you) of questions about how I came up with her name, how I knew stuff about fairies, how I found the little basket of fairy mushrooms....and LOTS of SOBBING TEARS! oh my heart.

You can imagine what this creative, intelligent, passionate little girl was grieving by losing not just her best imaginary friend, but the dream of ever meeting a real fairy. I thought for sure it would be the end of all things magical and mysterious.
"I'm sorry I ever got that fairy door, if it's made you sad".
"You didn't, Santa did."
(that there's your problem.)
"Mom, how many days til Christmas?"
"Like 200. Why?"
"I'm going to ask Santa for a locket for Christmas".
mic drop.

The Magic Kingdom

We did what I promised we weren't going to do on our quick vacation to Orlando. We paid a whole lot of money for a day at the Magic Kingdom. I grew up in California and have been to Disneyland lots of times. I felt like I knew the magic of disney, and the pitfalls. I know it's hot and crowded and expensive and crazy - but a little bit fun! Everyone asked Lucy before we left if she were going to Disney, and apparently "everyone else" has been there but her. She really wanted to try going. My better judgement was against it, but here we are, and so lets go. For posterity, I have made a list of our memorable highs and lows from just one day at the Magic Kingdom!

Lucy's first ride: the Mad Hatter's Party Teacups. With dad!

Henry on his first ride: Dumbo The one and only roller coaster "Barnstormer"; Last we saw of Lucy's hat behind a wired fence
Souvenirs!
Happy on the Aladdin's magic carpet ride!

Highs:
*Lucy singing "It's a small world" long after we left Disney
*Henry interjecting the word "poop" after every line of Lucy's said singing of IASW. (all together now!)
*Lucy clutching her souvenir wand back at the hotel, saying "I can't believe I didn't dream it. I can only get this at Disneyworld so it couldn't have been a dream!"
*Dinner tasted really awesome in the Jungle Cruise restaurant-stuffed acorn squash was my dinner! henry was scared of all the tiki type decore though
*No one got sunburned. It was hot, and periods of intense sun, but some decent cloud coverage and breeze just when we thought we were near the brink.
*We made use of 3 fast passes, and hit about 80% of the rides we were hoping for.
*on our way out of the park we managed to find a great spot to stand and watch the entire magical electric light parade down main street. I confess, I got a little choked up as Lucy watched in awe and Cinderella waved to the crowd! (i'm a sucker for "enchantment"!)
*Henry had NO potty accidents! (He's only been using the potty away from home about a week!! He was awesome on the plane ride too!)
*We came away with 2 magic LED crazy sparkle night time star wands, a Lightning McQueen car dressed up as Luke Skywalker with a light saber, and a beautiful floral mouse ears headband with veil. and 1 plastic Mickey Mouse straw. And one reusable spray bottle with water and a fan that mists you and cools you way down!! Well worth the $20!!!
*Henry came alive at 9:45pm when we finally got to the quiet empty parking lot. He ran and laughed for the first time all day. I can safely say Henry is an introvert!
*"It's a Small World" is as sweet and wonderful as it ever was! that alone was worth the visit! The little mermaid was pretty good too, despite a few seconds of Ursula the Sea witch. Lucy laughed at the comic Jungle Cruise ride. Captain Amanda had a lot of (corny) jokes. Aladdins Magic Carpet ride, Dumbo and Mat hatter's teacups were equally exciting for her.
*Henry's favorites were riding the big Riverboat; climbing the Swiss Family Treehouse; and eating French Fries for lunch.
*The kids both fit in the rented double stroller. We would have lasted one hour if Lucy didn't fit in the limo.
*We saw Pooh and Tigger passing by! That was the only character sighting.

Lows: *Henry's tears at the start of the day caused by sweaty sunscreen drips in his eye. Not even in the park yet.
*Lucy's tears in the car ride home because she lost her favorite new gymboree hat on the one roller coaster we rode. No grown ups reminded her to take it off for the kidder coaster, and off it blew. :( that happened early on, but it took the exhaustion of the ride home to remember the sadness.
*as Henry finally was drifting off to sleep tonight he said "I never want to go to disney land again. I didn't even have a little bit of fun". I think he's not just saying that. He did not have fun as I predicted he wouldn't. He endured, but he didn't thrive. :( Only "Car wars" toy brought him any joy. (see above list of souvenirs).
*After the first few minutes of getting there, all the anxiety and dread I had in the back of my mind came flooding in, hating every single component of the disney experience. After about 3 hours, we finally settled in to a groove and I could enjoy the day. I think Tim might stay married to me. (that belongs in the highs!)
*Crowds. Crowds Crowds!!

So now that it's over, we can enjoy the rest of our vacation!!!

Birthday Blog

The kids and I each have our birthdays in May. Bam Bam Bam. Done. It seems like a good opportunity to have a yearly check in with highlights and low lights.

My birthday was yesterday. 43. Nothing Extraordinary, perhaps extra-ordinary. This Crazy clown lady showed up at my door with flowers and balloons while I was still in jammies! hehe.

Fran has been a good friend thru the years, and while our lives have taken a little diversion from the daily life (her kids are grown now), she has been faithful to fun!

The rest of the day was spent with my kids, interspersed with texts, calls, packages and Facebook messages from dear ones around the country! Thank you! The kids and I went and spent all their birthday money (ha!) on veggie starts for our garden. I plant in pots, just a few veggie choices for the summer. I bought 3x as many plants this year, hoping we could actually feed our family a salad. I often buy one or two plants, which have nice yield but only as a snack for one person! So after a shocking sticker price (gotta work on those math skills for mom!) we went out for Pizza, met up with a friend for a quick park play date, and then headed home to spend the next 2 hours cultivating those plants. Lucy worked hard to help me most of the time. Henry planted one plant and fussed the rest of the time. Then we went out for a fun dinner with a few friends and enjoyed our time aided by margaritas.

It took until 10pm til I was able to leave all the kids' rooms, and drag my tired self to bed. As I turned off the lights, Tim says "Well, I did get you a present". He is still learning how to celebrate birthdays!! He's a funny one that guy. I love his gift choices. They are cute, funny, quirky but usually sentimental in some way. This year's gift was a small statue of Michaelangelo's David. For real. We went to see the real thing in Italy, (I'm blanking on where it is...forgive me Art History buffs-but it's confusing because there are fake ones in practically every city, including Las Vegas where we also have a picture of us in front of a David). Whatever real museum has the real David, presents him in a jaw dropping, angels singing sort of experience. I think I gasped and perhaps heard angels wings flutter near by! He is magnificent. Anyway, Tim thought a mini statue of David would be sentimental of our most awesome trip ever to Italy, and a "homeschooling tool". It's odd and hilarious and sweet. To round it out, he got "me" a set of 100% copper mugs to drink his (ahem, "our") new favorite drink - a moscow mule. It's vodka and ginger beer and some other stuff like limes. We had a delicious one on the plane to Florida last month, and so now apparently it's our new thing. Enough to buy some special mugs to drink them out of when he makes them. That Tim, always thinking of others!!!!!

So Henry turned 4 last week. I actually feel like he should be 5. He's a giant. He's doing a lot better in life as far as social strength, less emotional meltdowns, advancing in milestones, and showing us his intellectual fortitude. Cutting straight lines and patterns with scissors, writing all of his letters (with a very awkward pen grasp), drawing intricate details on his space shuttles and pirate ships art work. He loves Planes, Planes Fire and Rescue, and Cars. The toys he has of those characters are his best friends. So he says.

We had a space/planet themed party, where I tried my hand at some fondant work. The black was store bought, but the planets were homemade fondant. Not at all like the picture I had as reference! But not exactly a pinterest fail either.

Love my little astronaut!!

Lucy turned 7 and is wrapping up "1st grade" at home. She's still reading a ton. Arts and crafts-queen. Free spirit AND strong willed! She completed a piano competition this month, where she earned 5 1st place ribbons for the 5 categories she entered. To earn a 1st place ribbon you must play correct notes as well as play them musically, considering phrasing, dynamics etc. I wasn't shocked at this, but we are so pleased and proud of her hard work. She has definitely dropped off the passion level about practicing piano. This is her trend. Everything she's tried (soccer, ballet, gymnastics, ice skating) she gets 2-5 sessions in, and decides she doesn't like it anymore. It's "boring". I think she means it gets harder, and she has to work at it, and like most of us we don't want to do that. We had a big talk about our gifts, and when we are given a gift (like an expensive doll) we need to take care of it. And sometimes that means brushing out the tangles, and keeping our room clean so we don't step on and break her accesories. You know the boring stuff, to be able to enjoy the full beauty of the gift. And no, you aren't quitting piano!!

When did she get this old?

Lucy had a Rainbow Magic Fairy birthday party. This picture sums up Lucy's leader personality!

Drama on Ice

Just thinking about the people that I've come across in the last 24 hours. I want to be a contributing member to society. Sometimes I am able to do that effectively. Other times I'm just a bystander that can only breathe a prayer of hope from a distance.

Yesterday while walking in an outdoor mall, I was just close enough to hear a woman, about my age, burst into heart wrenching sobs while on the phone. It was the cry I made when I thought Henry was smashed dead under the dresser he pulled on top of himself. It was clearly bad news on the other end of the phone. She was too far away for me to offer any other words of compassion, without dragging my kids to run after her. I watched her go into the medical center, so perhaps it was connected to that call. I'll never know. But my heart aches for her still wondering what the whole story is, and praying someone was able to bring comfort and good news.

This morning we had some drama at ice skating lessons. Early in the 30 minute lesson I heard a staff member tell another staff member to call "9-1-1, broken wrist". Quick check on the ice-no not my kid, nor the friend I was responsible for as well. Who was it? A mom was down on the ice. Her young daughter being helped by another mom out on the ice. Being a nurse, and hearing more than my fair share of "Code Blues" in my work life, my heart immediately starts racing with adrenaline and nausea. This certainly isn't life or death, but I start recalling my own physical pain when I broke my ankle, and then the extra bonus of mom empathy over the safety and well being of her daughter's emotions. I had Henry under my care as well, so I couldn't do much more than help bring this mom's boots to her, and carry her ice skates to the lobby where the paramedics met her. It took everything I had NOT to assert my own "helpful hands". Everyone was talking pleasantries, until they tried to take off her jacket, and the pain shot thru her body and her face. She was suddenly unresponsive. They were SO SLOW to get her to a laying down position. I knew it was just pain and a little shock. I knew the professionals knew that too. But oh I struggled to not jump in and ask if I could help get her horizontal. The mom came to, said she felt faint, and was collapsed over their shoulder, while they cut off her shirt. I had kept an eye on her daughter on the ice, and decided to walk out and just check on the status of everyone. I can't just stand there. I told her daughter a simple version of where her mom was, and I walked back to the freezing lobby where the woman is on the (cold) ground, stripped down to her bra. Ugh, where is a blanket for her. She was awake and asking for her daughter, so other moms rallied the troops and before our time was up mom and daughter were safely stretchered out to the ambulance, mom's arm in a splint, tears from daughter wiped away.

In the middle of that, my own daughter was brought off the ice, in tears. She had been practicing her "dips" and ran into the wall with her face! Blood on her gloves. Seriously??!! I'm trying to help out this other (none of my business) drama. "Gary, can I have an ice pack?!" Lucy hates blood and was hysterical about the mere taste of it. After a few minutes we could see that she had just bit her lip and it really was so mild. She calmed down, and got plenty of sympathy and jokes from every staff member there. Our friend we had driven to lessons, emerged from her lesson intact!

Heading out from there, we stopped to get gas, and pulled up next to a car facing the wrong direction with another car that just pulled up very close to her. I saw the driver shake her head, angry like, and I wondered if there was going to be an altercation! Instead I overheard her saying they were going to try and find jumper cables. Thanks to my nosy-ness I was able to ask "Did you say you needed a jump? I have some cables. I don't know how to use them though!" "Really?! Yes, that would be awesome!" While lazily pumping my own gas, they were able to start their car (she did know the other car that drove up), and they were so verbally thankful for the tools.

Part of me thought "Oh man, we just need to go hide away at home now, away from the drama of the world". The other part of me was like "Where else can we go in order to be a help to someone??!!"

I have been struggling for 3 years, with not using my "nursing" skills in a direct way. I am tempted by those heroic moments we face in the hospital, when we truly save a life, or catch a near miss. Nurses are the top trusted professions according to polls, even if they are treated poorly in the moment by some stressed out, very sick patients and families. We know this. I am tempted to miss the "glory" of saying I'm a nurse. There is certainly no name for the title I give myself of nosy listener. Most of the above are truly just effects of me being nosy. I had very little direct effect on some of them. Yet, I am finding that so much of my "small world" is so much bigger than just homeschooling my kids.

I easily drive right by the homeless people on the corner every time. I refuse to throw coins at them from my window as I speed by. We (as a family) continue to try and reconcile how to be the "Good Samaritan" when there are so many opportunities to do so. I'm curious as to how my fellow sojourners face these opportunities. Do we run home to our hot cocoa and library books? Do we stop the car in the middle of moving traffic in order to ask someone with a cardboard sign "What do you really need?" Do we hand out granola bars- only to have them thrown back at us with disdain? Do we smile at a scared litle girl and tell her "Your mom is going to be just fine...you get to go on an ambulance ride!"

"He didn't bring my friends"

In hindsight, I might have done more to prevent my kids from truly believing in Santa. Lucy had a somewhat upsetting experience a few years back, over a Santa mishap, and now Henry has had a misunderstanding!!

We had a Christmas party at our house, with old work friends and their kids. It's an annual thing, and each child brings a gift for someone else about their same age. It works out great, and surprisingly every one is happy at the end of the night. Unless you're Henry!

For the first few days of December, Henry would ask in the morning and at bedtime: "Is it Christmas?" "Is it still Christmas?" I kept explaining that advent season lasts a while, and it peaks on Christmas day. That we anticipate and celebrate all month long in our house. (In toddler talk of course!) Lucy fills in the gap about Santa, the requisite list writing and general kid expectations that I wouldn't have chosen to add, but I sort of passively follow along. So she "helped" Henry write a list for Santa. This included 4 of the "Planes" characters that he doesn't already have. Of late Henry has been lining up all his airplane toys he has (including the "Planes" characters that he does own) and saying they are his friends. My friends this, my friends that. The fact that he has personified these toys make it extra special that he has asked Santa for "his friends". (or I guess MORE s friends!)

So all day, while we were prepping for the Party, Henry was asking about his present. I told him the kids would exchange gifts tonight. I should have had better radar when he asked if Santa was bringing his present. I guess I didn't take the time to fully investigate, but just said, no, Santa's not coming tonight.

Fast forward to Present Exchange at said party. 2 year olds go first, then 3 & 4 year olds, then 6 & 8 year olds. The gift Henry picked (or was assigned) was wrapped in "Cars" paper. (That's almost "planes" right??!) While all the kids were yelling and excited to receive their gifts, Henry had "the look". He had opened his gifts, but wasn't happy. When I made eye contact, he stood up, told me they weren't his friends, and ran into the other room!! I finally got to him and with some pulling of teeth and mom wisdom, I realized he thought Santa had brought these gifts, and it made absolutely no sense to him that "Santa didn't bring my friends". He wasn't in full meltdown, but he was so sad. What he did get was a Mr and Mrs Potato-head, which is awesome because we've never had one of those, and a Christmas book, which is double thumbs up in our house!! Of course I re-explained and focused on the joy. Finally by bedtime he was willing to look at the toys, and by the next day he was carrying potato-head eyes and arms around as treasures.

I kind of don't like the whole Santa shenanigans, but Lucy started it with her absolute joy and wonder of all that is imaginary, and seriously, anyone who tries to tell me that I should have told her flat out years ago that it was all a farce....well, you do not know this child!! And so we do our best to keep Santa magical and mysterious while still keeping Jesus at the forefront of our Christmas Joys. But I'm telling you now. If we have one more "issue" regarding Santa, the fat guy is getting outed! PS please don't tell your kids to tell my kids any specific truths!

Summery Summary, in brief rambles

Labor Day is the unofficial end to summer. Seattle has had it's rain (finally) and now we're all hunkering down with thoughts of apples, school books and perhaps a few more rebound days of summer left before Fall truly kicks in. We've had a truly great summer. It feels like Lucy in particular learned several "grown up" activities that made it a particular fun summer. We spent countless hours at Matthews Beach/Lake Washington, a mere 5 min walk from our house. Lucy swam and swam in that mucky old lake. Henry spent many hours avoiding said lake, all because half way thru the summer there was a freak "sand storm" that lasted about 10 seconds, but was truly a little tornado that knocked everyone off their feet and blew sand in Henry's eyes, despite being out in the lake. Henry holds a grudge! But still we went. (Henry continued to complain about the potential sandstorm every single time we talked about going, and would take a good 45 minutes to get out of the stroller or my lap to dig in the sand). We had a couple of Bigger lake days, where Lucy learned how to Kayak! She kayaked alone in a kid's size kayak, and out with Dad in a 2 person boat. A trip to Oregon at the beginning of the summer ended with strep throat for 3 of us, but we had a great time in the extreme temps of foggy cold coastal temps and record breaking high temps inland to Portland. We ended our summer with a 3 day trip to Whistler, British Columbia. Plenty of outdoor fun to be had there, including more water activities, bungee trampolining, gondola rides and exploration on foot.

And how many trips to REI to find and purchase just the right bikes for the kids? Lucy mastered a 7 gear, hand brake bike. One moment she was in tears of fear. Somehow mom found just the right words of pep talk, and then within minutes she was riding alone around the paved circle, over and over, squealing with pride and laughter. I can hear her laugh in my mind's ear. Henry got a pedal bike with training wheels too. His stamina or desire doesn't get him going far, but he does like to ride his bike for short bursts in the driveway. Watch out next summer!!

Piano!! Oh my goodness. Lucy started piano lessons this summer. We have an awesome teacher, referred by an awesome pianist friend, and despite her angst at mommy during practice hours, she is really loving it. She prefers just memorizing the tunes, as opposed to working on technique. But she still has a good ear and is enjoying the praise from her teacher. Henry has a REALLY good ear. He doesn't have the attention yet for formal lessons, but he loves listening to Lucy's suzuki cd, and even trys to play some of her songs.

Henry has started attending Sunday School without complaint! Basically on his 3rd birthday he graduated to a different class, and there is a hot wheels racetrack in there that keeps him engaged and happy. Definite growth for Henry this summer. The downside of that is there are a couple of boys who really love their "swords and bad guys" games. Henry has now become a "normal boy" and shooting is part of his regular vocabulary. sigh. He still relates to his feminine side (perhaps the result of Lucy's influence), but he's giving the "rowdy testosterone" a little trial to see if it suits him. He really still loves planes, space and rockets. He also loves coming into my bed and kicking me all night, but that's another story!

We are ramping up our activities now for fall, and are almost at full throttle. Besides our home studies, the kids are both in Lil Kickers (soccer), and Lucy will continue with Piano lessons, ice skating lessons, and new this fall is "homezone" at the YMCA. It's a 2 hour class for homeschoolers with art, PE, swim lessons and free swim. Henry will hopefully attend the adventure zone area at the Y, while I exercise and/or work on my way behind shutterfly albums. I didn't get "school pictures" done yet this year. Posing in clean clothes with brushed hair is apparently over rated. But included is a tiny glimpse of homeschooling in pj's on vacation. ;) and Tim's 40th birthday seaplane ride.