Look who's 3 today!

Doesn't Sam look too big for that high chair? Here's Sammy wearing his church clothes with his birthday balloons riding the rocket he received for his 2nd birthday! How can he be 3 already?

Not much to say?

I realized that it's been almost a month since I last updated my blog. I guess I haven't had much to say lately, but that's not true. I think I've just been lazy. Right now, I'm at home in a blissfully quiet house and I have the rare luxury of being able to focus completely on what I'm doing. Paul took the boys junkin' this morning. Yes, junkin'. That's what my husband calls going to garage sales. He looks forward all year to Junkin' season. I'm not invited because they know that most likely I will say no to most purchases. That's okay. I have a few rules though. They aren't allowed to bring any cheap plastic toys that will assault my senses (unless of course it's a plastic dinosaur). Somehow, Luke manages to find dinosaurs at almost every garage sale and I can't deny him a whole planet of dinosaurs. Although I've seen his interest in dinosaurs wane over the last year or two, he still buys them when he goes junkin'. Right now, he's into dragons which to me, are just fire-breathing dinosaurs!

Anyway, I've enjoyed the warmer weather over the last week. Last weekend, we took the boys to Clement Park to enjoy the sunshine and we couldn't help soaking it up ourselves. Spring just unfolds too slowly here in Colorado. I've resisted the urge to post pictures of the crazy April snowstorms and to wait patiently for a lovely day. Anyway, while we were at Clement park, I realized that I hadn't seen the Columbine Memorial. So, from the playground we walked over to the Memorial. I just happened to be there a day before the 9th anniversary of the Columbine shootings. It was a surreal experience because I remembered I was pregnant with Luke in April of 1999. I remember sitting at my desk at work and a co-worker had walked in to let us know what was happening in Colorado. (I lived in California at the time.) For some reason, I didn't take it seriously. I had gone to public high school and not once did I ever feel unsafe while I was there. So, I guess the thought that flickered through me at the time was that it wasn't a serious thing. It wasn't until later that day that I would see the footage of that horrible day and realize how horribly wrong I was. I would go on to read Rachel's Tears about the spiritual journey of one of the victims, Rachel Joy Scott and learn of the faith of the other victims. Some of these kids had a maturity about their faith that I didn't realize possible for their age. I was awed.

My little boy Sam turns three tomorrow. I can't believe how quickly time goes. I notice every day how my darling eight year old looks less and less like a little boy each day. He'll be 9 in September and I know I'm going to sound a little "glass is half empty" but I can't help thinking that half of my time with him is already gone (although he does mention that he wants me to homeschool college). Anyway, I've been trying to learn to crochet and I'm finding it pretty difficult, but I'm the perservering kind and so far, I have a head and couple of legs for a crocheted octopus for Sam. I'll post a picture when I'm done with it. I'm going to have to get a move on crocheting 6 more legs before tomorrow.

Overall, it's been quiet around here, but now that the weather has taken a turn for the better, we are all catching a serious case of Spring Fever. I realize we're in the homestretch for third grade and how are we doing? Well, we're on track to finish math and we're deep into division right now. Luke has declared Latin his favorite subject and I couldn't be happier with all the English grammar infused in his Latin program. We continue to read and listen to books constantly. We started the year all excited for art and drawing, but haven't done as much art in the winter months and it's really my only lament. I'm starting to think about next year and what we want to accomplish and at the same time I'm looking forward to the serenity and sweetness of the summer months. I'm always thinking of the delightful things out there to discover.

Speaking of delightful things, we watched a cute movie last night called The Waterhorse based on the novel by Dick King-Smith (of Babe the Pig fame). There's beautiful scenery of Scotland and castle ruins to behold and legends of the Loch Ness Monster. Anyway, we all really enjoyed it and Luke asked for the book. This was a rare occasion where we did not read the book before seeing the movie. He told me last night that he doesn't like seeing the movie before reading the book because then he pictures things like the movie. I readily agreed with him and told him that the movie kind of robs you of imagining things the way you would on your own and how the movie does all the imagining for you.

Well, I suppose that's enough for now. I'm back!!!!!