I say “Part 1” because I know Bryce has more pictures on his phone–of pumpkins and Easton and trick-or-treating. So, there will be more. But until then, here are a couple cute shots of Snow White and the other member of the royal family. He couldn’t decide if he was a prince or a king.

Look at Calder--"What is she doing?" I think she's trying to curtsy. Cute, if not especially graceful.

Happy Halloween!

Once upon a time, we did great family costumes. Remember these?

Snow White, the poisoned apple, the raven, and the dwarf.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Munchkin

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. (I was there, too, as Wendy, but we don't have a good picture of all of us.)

That flame just doesn’t burn for me anymore. I admit it–I’ve lost all motivation. So, the past couple of years we’ve kept things simple and, so far, no one has complained.

And, yes, every one of those pictures in the Halloween Hall of Fame was taken either outside of, or inside of, Mark and Beth Ann’s house. We should call them the “1631 Series”.

Surprise! We’re homeschooling! I’ve been drawn to homeschooling for a long time now, but we thought we’d give this charter school a chance. The school was lovely and Amelie’s teacher was very nice, but the time it was taking us to drive her down, drive home, drive back down to pick her up, drive back home, and get ready for each of those trips (shoes and socks and jackets and car seat buckles)–well, it was just too much. Almost 2 hours a day! Just to get her there and back! I knew that we could have kindergarten school work done in that amount of time and have the rest of the day to play, relax, explore, shop. And I kept finding myself watching my homeschooling friends with wistful eyes. I wanted to be doing that, too. It was tugging at my heart. So, Bryce and I talked about it and decided that we would give it a try. I ordered a boxed curriculum this year since we were getting started a little late in the school year and a couple days later, I got our big box of books, science experiment supplies, and my Instructor’s Guide that breaks things down day-to-day for me. This is so beneficial, especially since I didn’t have time to put together my own scope and sequence for the year.

And I think we’re loving it! I say, “think,” because I can’t officially speak for Amelie, but I think she’s enjoying it, too. I feel like a burden has been lifted. Which is odd, in a sense, since I’m actually taking on quite a bit of responsibility with this new choice. I am loving learning alongside the children, sharing wonderful literature with them, working on experiments together, and having time left over to go out to the playground or on a field trip. If you looked around our house at this moment, you’d see a “Welcome Home!” sign written in hieroglyphics that we made for Bryce, a big calendar with room for recording the weather, a forest of trees done in fingerpaints, and a homemade weather vane on our porch. In other words: So far, so good.

Right after I opened our box of materials, Amelie grabbed this book of science experiments and eagerly looked through it. She is really enjoying science.

Calder is enjoying all of the fun books we get to read together.

Our school materials. Just looking at our little shelf makes me happy. Recent additions to our shelf: a magnet wand and a prism. Both very popular with the young scholars.

See what I mean? And I think it's so great that school goes with us wherever we go. You want to bring the prism to the playground and see if you can make some rainbows? Sure thing!

We are doing lots and lots of reading. We're way ahead of schedule on the chapter books we're reading together because Amelie always begs for more. So far, in the 3 weeks we've been doing this, we've read The Boxcar Children and are just about done with My Father's Dragon. I think Dr. Doolittle might be coming up soon--so excited!

I've set up some Montessori-like work for Calder in our white cabinet, but so far he hasn't been particularly drawn to it unless I work with him. Which is fine. I'll keep working on it.

I hesitate to say more because I don’t want this to come across as “I’m homeschooling and so should you!” Everyone has to do what is right for their family. But I had to share the news.

Wish us luck!

Easton can now add “Sits” to his resume of abilities (right above, “Rolls,” “Laughs”, and “Melts Mommy’s Heart”). He just seems like such a big boy now. The day a baby starts to sit, they are on the fast track to toddlerhood. Hopefully not too soon, though. I’m just loving Easton in all of his baby-ness.

Well, hello there!

Come again?

Oh, you think so?

Why, yes, I agree!

You know, I think every mother has that moment before they meet their newest little one: “Will I love this one as much as the other one/two/three…?” And isn’t it amazing how our hearts just grow and expand along with our bellies until there’s more than enough room for more love? I adore this baby.