My first blog post

So folks, here it is. My first blog entry. I don't know how far this will go but I will try to update as much as I can. Our summer has been filled with building the goat fence, going to CT, and swimming. Someplace in all that Zachary lost his first tooth and the boys passed their karate test and have gotten their new belts! We had a summer "gamer's" party which we entertained/met in person about 17 people from all over between our house and Tyler/Pamela's house. And overall have tried to keep out of the heat.

We started school this week and we are trying (for a month) a new on line curriculum called time for learning. http://www.time4learning.com/ I have enjoyed, thus far, the week of getting used to not hearing them complain about doing their schoolwork and being able to see their progress right away. They still have to do spelling in their note books and have passed their first tests. The time4learning program has work sheets that they can do if they need help in a specific area. The transition from bookwork to on-line has been a little bumpy but we are getting more comfortable with it and I think it might be something that really works well for us. The only issue thus far is figuring out where they both should start (grade lvl that is) and we have Quentin doing both 3rd and 4th grade work and Zachary doing mostly all 2nd grade work. Cost will be an issue once the month is up but I am hoping to be able to supplement some of the cost by writing/submitting reviews for and about the company.

Master's Academy will begin after Labor Day weekend and both boys are so excited about seeing their old friends from there. Zachary will have a new teacher this year and I am thrilled about her because she had Quentin in her class his first year and we love her!

I am still working out/running every day (have not run in a while because of the heat but am doing a lot in the pool) and even though I am stuck and frustrated, I am not going to give up. I look forward to fall when I can tie up my sneakers and put on my head phones and go back to running every day.

We have started back our home school group and got together for a pre-planning meeting and look forward to a busy year with them. The boys have decided to start Boy Scouts and I am overjoyed that they are so jazzed about doing it. (of course, being a girl scout all my life, I have nothing but fond memories of scouts and hope that they get as much out of it as I did)

They have been signed up for soccer and that will start the end of August. We have to take a trip to get them both cleats; Zachary no longer can use Quentin's hand-me-downs. I can't wait for their season to actually start.

Scott is working crazy hours and enjoys coming home and taking a dip in the pool with the boys and then hanging out on the puter for a while; the heat taking a lot out of us all. Hopefully things will calm down for him at work now that there will be a switch in management.

We are enjoying having our friends Tyler and Pamela living down the road and it does not seem like they have been in their own house just over a year! Thursday nights are still our family night and we all make time to get together then and of course when ever else we can meet up we do, but talk on the phone all the time. We plan on celebrating Scott and Tyler's birthdays on Tuesday. (they share the same birthday.) Tyler is starting back his Sunday lessons with the boys and I think that the three of them are getting a lot of it.

I started writing short stories several weeks ago and have completed two that are actually too long to be called short stories and fall more in the Novelette category. I have two more that I am working on. They are fiction type romance (which is kinda funny because I have never read much along the lines of romance) and I am having a great time writing. My friend Betty is my biggest supporter and I love how she gets excited when I send her parts of a story. I have showed them to several people and everyone has had good comments so I hope that it is something that I can keep up with. I have also started a Non-Fiction piece that is going to take a while but seems to have good direction and when finished, will be something that I can be very proud of. The change of pace is nice from the fiction to the non-fiction and it helps that I am passionate about the subject. (look for more as I go along)

Lastly, our family has met a new home school family and (as Kati said to me this morning) our families are "eerily" similar. Both families are thrilled to have found each other and it is nice to share a lot of the same interests, ideas, morals, and outlooks. They also have two boys who share similar interests and parents. The four boys get along very well and even though their youngest is just turning 3, the other boys include him in whatever they are doing. We got them to start playing WOW and I have been enjoying leveling another toon with them and they are really enjoying the game. I could go on and on, gush, rave, and bore you to death so I will stop now but I'm sure you will hear about them as this blog progresses. So, when you hear Walter, Kati, Bailey, and Braeden, you know who I am talking about.