August is Almost Over

Summer has quickly wound itself to a close. Granny went home today and we are all feeling the way it looks outside here: cloudy. We sure did love having Granny visit, and I will now only call her every once in awhile instead of every. single. day. She spends a lot of time on the phone and texting with five kids! 

Most of you know, some of you could care less :), that Brian and I have decided to homeschool Galina this year. Neither of us can imagine dropping her off at a public school (yes, I know it's only a five minute walk from my house) so, this is the path we're taking this year. It's not going to be easy, not everyone agrees, but it's ultimately our choice and I'm trying to do it right...well, the right way for us. 

I will admit, though, that I get a twinge of sadness when I see all of my friends posting 'First Day of School' pics for their little kindergarteners. I get a little misty eyed when I think of the shopping we will miss, the homework, the teachers, the recess and school lunch, etc. I know! I know that she is going to miss out on a lot of things...but I also know that she will learn with us, and that we can talk about things like The Book of Mormon all day, and we can go walk the Minute Man trail when we want to talk about leaves, or history. We can go to the playground when we are having a hard time ignoring the sunshine, and we can dance just about any time we feel like it. And Johnny will be with us too. I know it is the right choice for us right now (even when my Mom says things like, "Oh! Wouldn't she do well in school!") and I'm grateful for all of the support from my sisters - even if it is a little unwillingly given *cough*cough*Kerriann*cough*cough*

Anyhow, school doesn't start until September here, and I had tossed around starting in August with Galina, but then life happened in the form of a miscarriage. So - we compromised. We started our 'Morning Meetings' and Galina loves them (both of them that we've had...). She is really enjoying our scripture stories. I'm on the hunt for the Animated Book of Mormon VHS tapes (the DVDs are like $400 - wait, what?!)  so that we can watch them in the a.m. instead of cartoons, although I will miss Johnny saying, "Tooodoooo!" with Micky Mouse Clubhouse...so maybe on weekends we'll give the videos a break...or a little more often.

I'll keep things updated and am going to try to remember to do a 'First Day of School' picture of our very own :) For now, enjoy some pictures of our fun with Granny!

 Micozzi Beach in Billerica. It was a playdate for Church and we liked it. The water was a little brown, and there were some interesting bugs, but the kids had a blast and Mom enjoyed talking with the ladies from Church - hey, I saw that rolling of the eyes there, I'm working on it! I did manage to get my legs sunburn a little bit - which is nice since I was whiter than the whitest white thing you can think of out there. 

Walden Pond became our (and by our I mean my) favorite spot while Granny was here. $5 to park, and the water, while cold to begin with, was warm once you got in and was super clear. The beach gets a little tight in some places, but in the water you're hardly ever near anyone else. It was neat to watch people get in and literally just swim across the thing and back, then they'd leave. I guess $5 to park (or possibly being dropped off) is cheaper than any gym membership and what a workout! I want to learn to swim - although I'd never swim across because, let's face it, we don't know if Loch Ness really exists or not and I don't want to find out if Walden Pond has its own version...

 Galina is a fish. The girl just jumps in, doesn't matter how cold. She goes under instantly and pops back up and then spends the rest of the time kind of floundering in the water and loving it. She reminds me of Elaine dancing on Seinfeld, except it's Galina and she's in the water. Love it! Love her!

Johnny, while he does enjoy being in the pool, he also really enjoys eating and "Walden Pond" is synonymous with "snacks" in his world :) So he and I got to do some sunning. 

 I didn't do too well at all taking pictures this time. Sorry Granny. One day I will, but it seems like when my Mom is here all I want to do is be around her and talk and be talked to. No time for taking pictures! Although I did manage to take this one because Bing looked enormous next to Mom. 

Well, it's Tuesday. Mom should be in Charlotte now with a ridiculous three hour layover. We dropped her at the airport and went to an urgent care clinic so that I could get a prescription for Duke's Magic Mouthwash because after the antibiotics from the surgery on August 1st, I now have thrush. Thank you. Thank you. It's talent. I've never been to the doctor so much in one year. Funny how Massachusetts will bring back memories of hospitals and doctor's offices...and blizzards...