SO sorry for wasting y'all's time every time you go onto my blog hoping that maybe, finally, there's something new to read. Things have been super busy around here lately! The biggest events were starting school, my sister Kristi's visit, and our long weekend in Nova Scotia, all of which I shall elaborate on forthwith.

I was really enthusiastic about teaching Jed at home this year. He is in first grade now and "official" with the state of NH, so we really got down to business. I had a great time perusing websites and catalogs researching the best curriculum for him. So I was rarin' to go on August 21 (we started extra early so we can take off the month of January after the baby is born). Jed was excited at first, but halfway into the morning he started to balk at all the work. Let's just say day 1 was not a walk in the park, but things have gotten a little better since then. Some days he declares he hates school and I have to push him every step of the way, others aren't quite so hard. Some days I wish he could spend a week at a "regular" school just to show him how good he has it!

For those of you who might happen to be curious, we are using Horizons reading and phonics (which actually has yet to come), A Beka math and Health, Safety, and Manners, Horizons penmanship, Heart of Dakota's Little Hearts for His Glory for Bible, history, and science, a book about animals, Veritas Press's geography, The Story of the Orchestra, and a simple program that teaches basic piano to 4- to 6-year olds. It does look a bit ambitious, but my mother-in-law, a retired schoolteacher and very wise woman, recommended that we do the basics--Bible, math, reading, and penmanship--every day, then assign a day of the week for the other subjects. So far that's working out well, though Jed is always ready to quit before we're done. Oh, well, he'll get used to it soon enough, I hope!

And the other recent event was having my sister Kristi visit for almost a week from Washington State. We had a lovely time together laughing, playing with the kids (who all adored her), watching movies, visiting our grandma, going to Strawbery Banke, and so on. So glad she could come out!

Last weekend we went up to Nova Scotia for a whirlwind trip to help Evan's parents wrap things up with their recent move. Lindsay and Mom and Dad put on a very successful yard sale on Saturday morning, and we were able to move the rest of their stuff from their old place to their new. Most of it had already been moved, but there was a bunch of stuff for storage that Evan was able to help them take care of. Evan loaded up their old piano, which they had bequeathed to Lindsay, as well as some of Lindsay's and Darren's stuff from storage into a U-Haul truck which we brought back down on Monday. But the time wasn't all about work. By 1:00 on Saturday afternoon we were home free, so we all (well, Evan and Dad made a detour to the dump) headed to the beach nearby. The weather and water were gloriously warm and we all had a fabulous time playing in the water. We had a chance to go to their church for the first time on Sunday and meet their wonderful pastor and other friends. The whole weekend was a really happy family time, and I was reminded once again that I have the best in-laws in the whole world!