Football Season

School has been in session for a few weeks now and I am still amazed at what Ryan did with the school room. 

I casually mentioned painting the school room next summer, next thing I know Ryan is hunting down paint chips from Home Depot, Lowe's, and Walmart.  After pasting them on the wall for a few days, we finally narrow down the color and get the room painted.  It's an aqua blue color - would be GREAT for a beach house - and is so invigorating and refreshing - I absolutely LOVE it!

After the paint dried, he spent an entire weekend rearranging the room - making it more organized than before - carving out space for each child and each subject/topic.  He spent days creating and printing wall art to hang up.  One of my favorite's is the "Weekly Schedule" wipe off sheet that lists the days of the week and what to look forward to for that day.  The kids look at it every Sunday night and get SO excited for the week to come.

He also has "Question of the Week", "Number of the week" (for Buddy Boy), and "Book of the Week" sheets that keep the kids minds churning all week long.

Ryan is SUCH a creative man and is really putting it all in this year with the kids.  It's paid off too, the kids have looked forward to school almost every day this year.  There has been an occasional "I don't want to do anything today" attitude, but after someone missed out playing an awesome new board game after lessons were finished - the attitude was nipped in the bud.

Lulu has started soccer practice (or football as some call it) and says she has the BEST team ever this year.  It's hard believe that this will be her third year playing.   She spent a lot of time playing soccer with her siblings this summer and I was surprised at her aggressiveness and drive.  I'm hoping they carry over to the soccer field with her teammates - 11 girls and 2 boys. We shall see.

Since my last post, we said goodbye to a wonderful woman - my grandmother.  We saw her in April for my grandparent's 70th wedding anniversary and she was doing fabulously.  Shortly thereafter she found out that she had jaw cancer.  The cancer was successfully removed, but unfortunately the surgery took it's toll on her 89 year old heart and she just didn't make.  After spending just over 2 months in the hospital, she passed away on August 16th - one month ago today.  She was an amazing woman, always loving, always giving.  She epitomized what it was to be a Christian woman, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother, great grandmother, and great-great grandmother.  I only hope I can be 1/10 of the woman that she was.