A New Year

This week has been all about new books, new schedules, and getting back in the groove of school. Hannah and Will have been waking up early and diving in to their lessons before I am even back from my morning run. I know this won't last, but for now it sure is nice. I wish I could bottle up that energy and bring it out in February.

my first grader

and my third grader

Getting Peter to and from preschool has added an interesting twist to our days, but with a great carpool starting up next week, I will thankfully only be driving a few times each week. Peter is out the door by 8:00 everyday and that is our hopeful start time at home. It's quiet not having him around, but good. He is loving all the time he gets to play with little friends at school. And I love that he is creating and playing and having books read to him... something I was finding less and less time for here.

Hannah and Will's school days are very morning heavy, which gives us more time for afternoon activities with Peter. In attempt to have a regular rhythm to our weeks and to guard time for the things we love to do, I have created sort of themes for our free afternoons.

Tuesday afternoons are outdoor afternoons - a day where we can leave our city-crammed neighborhood and explore, hike, visit a farm, sketch in our nature journals, enjoy creation and some big open space. The kids were thrilled to hear about this plan, and now have a big incentive to be extra diligent on Tuesday mornings.

This past Tuesday afternoon was super hot and there was a "Code Red Air Quality Alert," so we stayed close to home and only spent about and hour hiking. We all gathered around an marveled at a huge patch of Jewelweed... so very appropriately named.

(I'm loving this new site I just discovered...
The Natural Capital: Getting outside, inside the beltway.)

Wednesday afternoons are art afternoons. When we close our books for the day, we will pull out paper, paints, and pencils. I hope Hannah and I can spend some of those afternoons working on our scrapbooks (you know, the ones I was going to get so caught up on this summer). On those days I pray will be ok with the mess, ok with unfolded laundry, and sit down to create alongside them. I so miss having the time to do that.


Monday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons will be full of Latin classes, soccer practices, piano lessons, and year-round swimming.

So, off we go into another year of school...
clinging to God every. single. day.