First Month of Home School

    September has been an eventful month for us.  After just two weeks we pulled Dante out of school, for reasons I really do not want to mention here, since if you cannot say something nice, you should not say anything at all. 

    I never thought I could home school Dante AND the triplets, but it is getting done.  In bits and pieces, and I am still trying to work out a routine and a schedule.  It has meant a lot of running for independent therapies for Dante, and I have to decide how much to keep and how much to do myself so I am home more.  One of Dante's therapists, who has seen him for almost two years, commented that he seems to be thriving now that he is home, and is responding much better to therapy.  That was really, really good to hear during a time that I am doing nothing but second guessing every move I make.

   We have also had some nastiness going around-- Nikita had bronchitis, Sunny had "walking pneumonia", and even though I did not take any others to the doctor I know that Micah had an ear infection, Dante and Amelia have nasty colds, and two others probably are recovering from walking pneumonia as well.  Only Kimberly and I have not had anything more than a slight sniffle.  Interestingly, Kimberly and I are the only two that consume either raw goat's milk or yogurt every day.

   Right now the kids are outside for recess, and there were too many photo opportunities not to share!

Micah and Kimberly exploring the leaves in the warm sun

Sherlock, our year old stallion trying to figure out what the kids are doing in the sandbox.  Since he has not been gelded yet, he cannot be in with our mini-mare and is enjoying the yard instead of the paddock.

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 He is also trying to figure out Kimberly!  It is our hope that he will benefit the kids here, and he certainly is friendly and curious.

 Leif absolutely adores "his" Sherlock, and I think the feeling might be mutual.

   One month of the school year done, many many more to go!

"I can do all things through him who gives me strength."  Philippians 4:13

God is good!

She Crawled, She Climbed, She Conquered

I did not have the camera for the crawling part, because Kimberly has gotten fast.  No more dragging her belly along army crawl, she full out crawls.  And climbs.  And is clearly unrepentant.

A repeat offender, this girl is.

Now that Kimberly is more mobile and into everything she is starting to hear the word "no".

And clearly ignoring it.

We love our Kimberly!

Buddy Walk

Today was the First Annual Buddy Walk hosted by the MDSC in Uxbridge MA!  We have gone a few times to the Buddy Walk in Wakefield, but it is over an hour away and close to 3,000 people attend, which is a bit too crowded for me.  I was very happy to see a local walk, on a much smaller scale yet just as much fun.

I signed up Jamie and I, along with the 6 youngest kids.  It rained all last night and into today, so it was not looking good.  Sunny and Dante ended up staying home.  Sunny had pneumonia last week and is still a little off, and Dante has an awful cough that meant I did not want to risk him being out in the rain.

 Amelia, Micah, Jessi and I went to the Buddy Walk early to set up an Exhibitor's Table for Reece's Rainbow.  We got to talk about orphans and adoption for hours!

 Micah defected and went over to the MDSC informational table.  He is such a riot!

 Amelia insisted on carrying Kimberly over to the face painting table.  It was adorable seeing her hold her little sister, who turned 2 yesterday!!!

 Micah is a bit of a lazy bum and did not do the one mile walk, but we did check out the field games.

 Kimberly thoroughly enjoyed the music.

 Amelia handed out brochures and bracelets to anyone who  made eye contact.  She displayed some excellent social skills talking to people.

 Returning from the walk!

 Leif had a ton of fun, and loved poking the huge pumpkin.

The day was off to a rainy/drizzly start but by the time everyone arrived the sun was shining.  We were able to talk to so many people about the need for orphan/adoption support, and have fun at the same time.

God is good!

Art Class

When "The Original Three" (Jamie's term for our oldest three) were little, I bought the first three Draw Write Now books-- all there were at the time.  I found them recently in a box in the closet and decided to start the triplets using them.

They all loved it, and it required no actual artistic ability on my part!