Live a Meaningful Life

I am sitting in a cushioned chair while a nice cool breeze is gently moving a few strands of my hair in front of my face. I toss my head to move them back where they belong, and I see the evidence of a nine year old boy's energy. The red chair is rocking rhythmically. From the back, the only evidence of a human is a small piece of elbow peeping from the side. Immediately, I am flooded with feelings. For a moment-a feeling of inadequacy. I mean-how in the the world is it that I am a mom--of 2 boys? How in the world can I expose and instill all that is necessary in what seems like just a few short years? "Are my expectations too high, and I too demanding, am I too lenient, am I congruent with my words and actions..." My thought process immediately stops as the chair whirls around and the boys jumps up, roller blades in circles in the floor in front of my feet as he stiffly throws out dance moves to the rhythm of Ice, Ice Baby.  How can I resist the smile that overtakes my...

An extended weekend-whoo hoo! On Friday evening we headed out to the Ocoee for a weekend of outdoor fun. When we hit the road, I sent a text to Roxe (the campground host we love) to let her know we were going to see her and Blaze in several hours. She responded a little later and said the campground was full but we could stay at the decommissioned site by her place. Whoo Hoo! After all the restroom, dinner, fuel, and coffee stops we ended up not arriving until about 12:30 a.m. Instead of taking the time to set all the hammocks and tarps up, the boys and I slept on the bed that Johnny built in the back of his truck, and he quickly wrapped his hammock around a tree at the rivers edge. The following morning, we set up our village. Can you find all four hammocks? (When we got back home I talked to my grandma (Memaw) on the phone and she asked me if we slept in a tent or our swings :) We were all along the river's edge. The morning coolness was refreshing, and it didn't tak...

We finally got started with 4th grade around here on August 6t h. So far, so good! Here is the schedule we have been following: We will be attending Healthworks Health & PE classes 2x/month and will be doing a group Biology class on Fridays  in September-ending with a frog dissection. Also, starting in September we will be partnering with 3-4 other families for math/writing classes. We are going to do some active math learning 2x/month with this small group for the year.  We will continue to try to strengthen writing mechanics. MWF we are creating a writing journal so that he can track his progress over the year.  He has the hard part down-the creativity and great story lines. The language mechanics, handwriting and spelling--well, it is tough for him. I read 2 books over the summer about dyslexia that helped me to understand more about the operation of his brain and thinking. I completely changed the methodology of the way we approach writing and he reall...