a few more

 Dannell took these on the ride home--three tired little boys.

And now it's Tuesday and the last week of May.

Onward to June.  We are ready.  love, Val

tubing

 And that water is SOO cold still. How warm could Wisconsin water ever be?

 Little Jay had to go around the lake so many times--including an extra time to take Julia.  He must have been about frozen, but he didn't complain.

The end.  love, Val

flying kites

Click on the picture and enjoy.  I snapped it in a moment, but it's very gorgeous.

love, Val

the big toad

 Wow.

 He liked it, but look how he's tucked his hands behind his back.  Sam's even impressed.

 He doesn't know what the heck that was.

 Men, unimpressed by toads.

These two are in their bathing suits and ready for action.

This weekend was just absolutely zingy with bouncy energy flowing every which way.

Today seems a little quiet.   love you kids, Mom, aka Grandma

you girls

Yeah, good night.  love, Mom

a little guy takes a bath in a bowl

When I'm called upon to do this, I get to it.

Over the course of the years, I've accumulated a body of expertise that's of little use to most people most of the time.

But once in a while, it comes in handy.

 I'm good at bathing tiny babies without freaking them out overly much.

 It's mostly about not over chilling, and keeping the flailing limbs contained so they don't feel scared.

 The bowl is perfect--enough water to get cleaned up, but the bowl keeps everything steady.

 Awww, little beautiful guy,

You know what?  Thanks for being our bebe.    love you so, Grandma

fishing on the dock

Click on that one to see Julia's smile.

love, Val

hugging babies

 There was plenty of that this weekend.

This picture was snapped over my shoulder behind the chair, not even looking.

Very nice.

 Okay, these two goofballs jumped in the empty tub without even any water.

Okay, it was a great weekend.  love, Val

being big

We had so much fun this weekend, and there were so many fun moments. 

This picture made me laugh right out loud.

That's John on my lap.  

See here's the thing:  Even though I am at most a medium sized woman, I don't feel any smaller than the men in my life.  I feel big--their same size.

It's pictures that catch me by surprise.

But what's not to love about your kid on your lap on a cooler in the kitchen?

Good night, Kids.  I love you all so, Mom

hunh? sentence fragments?

 a strange blurry pic found on my camera:  my sister and julia

Pam came on Tuesday and spent the day helping me babysit. 

God Bless Her.  That's lucky old me with the sister who is helpful.  And kind.

I haven't posted a thing about homeschool in a while.

Just because we're in some transitional state doesn't mean we've turned in our homeschool cards.

Now and then when I'm bored, at loose ends, I tune in to a homeschool list I used to enjoy.

They're non-religious  homeschoolers.

That's us too. We're Garrison Keillor old liberal Lutherans.  There are no homeschool groups for us. Other conservative homeschoolers told us Lutherans aren't real Christians because they don't have any rules.

I'm still so stumped by that--by the rejection and the assumption.

Love your neighbor as yourself sounds so direct and simple, and yet it's sooo hard to do.  I don't love all my neighbors. Some just straight up irritate me. Some are so baffling and mysterious I don't know what to think.

I sort of wish Jesus hadn't said that.

Why do I have to aspire to that?

Can't I just love people who make sense to me?  

We're liberals who also believe Jesus was a fairly big rule breaker.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

So this is my response to a person who was worried about her child's reading curriculum: "Regardless of the target age group, [sentence] fragments are unacceptable.  Anything that is introduced serves as a model..."

Okay, I get really frustrated by moms who try to stuff their kids and themselves into curriculum that doesn't work for them.   Curriculum is a tool in your hand like a screwdriver, or a remote, or a pen.   It's not the boss of anything, especially not your family or your home, your poor kid, nothing.

My response:

"Believe me, it DOESN'T MATTER.

Dyslexic people probably rule the world.

LOL. My opinion is that NOTHING matters as long as they get launched into reading.

The whole world opens before readers.

I care nothing about rules, only results.

Dyslexics think differently, discern in their own ways. As a mother of five
dyslexic children and one husband, dyslexic people have too much to offer the
world to waste time on tasks that can be easily assigned to an editor or a
proofreader, which none of them aspire to be.

kisses

In the future--after they can read--we fill in the blanks, talk about quotation
marks and apostrophes, but there is a time and place for everything.

Do not put the cart before the horse.

Commas mean NOTHING to a person who is struggling to read.

Let go of rules if they create barriers of any kind. I talk in fragments all
the time. Write in them. Fear not. Life is good. The kids are fine.

It should be fun. Comfortable. Suit your rhythms. (fragments, I realize.)

If it doesn't, keep looking until you find your spot.

It's your homeschool, and it should be easy and happy. We started in 1989 and it
took us years to figure this out: We had the right to be us. And we're a very
good us.

You are too.

love, Val"

p.s. Pam thank your lending your baby wrangling skills to the loving of my rowdy grandchildren. I love you so, v.