I thought I'd be writing more....

but no brilliant flashes of inspiration have come my way. We are just into the school groove, and it is feeling pretty good. Here was our first "official" day of school.

We are loving having the cousins back to do school (and life) with. Here is a picture of all of us in my classroom. I don't know how much longer those boys will want to wear matching shirts, but for now they still think it is pretty cool. I imagine the girls will be matching forever.

Seth and Cade don't actually have any classes together, but it is just fun for them all to be together.

Here these silly kids are doing their salt maps of the Nile River. Aren't they charming. Today we all went on a nature walk scavenger hunt and I wish I had a video camera to record how excited they were scrambling around looking under rocks and up in trees. One of the things that I love is that when these five kids get together they are always doing something that I count as school and they don't even know it. They produce plays and write letters to the president and their favorite authors. They walk around singing goofy educational songs that they have memorized. They play games and read and they have formed a club. They pray together and manage their own "issues." They like to learn. I think if I have one educational prayer for my children, it is that they don't ever lose that love of learning. It took me a while to get it back as an adult and I hope they don't lose the years that I lost.