Friday, September 5, 2008

One week down and lots more excitement to come.

Well, the first week of school is over. Praise the Lord it went better than I thought it would. Sophia did a great job. Elijah loved doing MathUSee with us. After Math he said, "Mommy, this is my school!". It appears he may have the math bug passed down from his Father before him. And me, I was just so glad that Sophia remembered how to write her numbers and sentences. Perhaps I'm silly, but I am just so amazed that she can even write at all. To me, it's a miracle because I don't feel qualified or confident to be her teacher. Some teachers worry about penmanship, I'm just wowed that she writes! :)

We also had impromptu music "classes" this week. Sophia and Elijah asked if I would get out "that guitar under my bed" - it's a violin - we're very cultured over at the Anderson Place. Well, I got out me ole violin and they wanted me to play something. I started with my trademark, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and I wowed my audience! I finished with several rousing renditions of Twinkle Twinkle (of course) and a flat and squeaky Amazing Grace. It was a grand re-entrance to my violin career! Sophia took to screeching, I mean playing the violin and Elijah was phenominal on the pitch pipe. Noah and did a duet on the piano and I cannot imagine what the neighbors would have thought had the windows been open. I'm glad the Bible says, "make a joyful noise".

We tried other new things this week. I put stickers on a few of the piano keys so Sophia could learn to play Mary Had a Little Lamb on the piano. She wasn't interested at first, but today she played it over and over and over and over. Did I mention that she has been "playing" the violin several times a day as well? Maybe this impromptu music was not such a good idea. :) My favorite memory of the week was playing some new, exciting tunes on me violin. Almost as soon as I got "that guitar from under my bed" out, they asked me to play some children's songs. Yes sirree, I had never heard of "Rolled Away" on the violin until this week. Another favorite was "Deep and Wide". Never has a violin sounded so graceful until it has squeaked out Deep and Wide!

Our annual Poconos vacation is coming up soon. I just remembered that we get to go here this year. Yes ma'am it's a happenin' place with aisles upon aisles of --- junk! The kids love it. Graeme loves it for about 20 minutes when he announces that we are leaving. I can never get through all the aisles of useless junk in just 20 minutes but we always end up coming home with useless contraptions and cheap toys. Did I mention that they have the Poconos' only Free Gift Bar? You get a free gift just for stopping by. The free junk, I mean gift is usually something incredibly useful like a paper mache trinket box with a cherub on top or a wooden doorhanger advertising the 1996 olympic team or something klassy like that. It's a real quality place...that's why we frequent it each and every year and it is looked forward to with great anticipation!

We also lurve this place. It has such a nice nature path...there's a suspension bridge and a stream and pond. It's very nice. We utilize the nature trail while I go into the pottery shop and look at all the pretties by myself. I can't imagine Noah aka Blaze in a store with stacks upon stacks of pottery and glassware. It would be a very dangerous thing. I usually never buy anything, but it's fun to look at it all.

We have some other places that we visit every year like the bakery where you can get a hot dog and apple pie for $1.50 - we're so cheap, The pretzel and chocolate factories, the bread bakery shop (Graeme's all time fav. stop), the outlets (I get to go sans kids, yippee), and a couple of restaurants where we get great coupons from this site. Why is food linked to a good vacation?! We don't do a whole lot each year because the Poconos is a very slow paced place and there's not that much to do, but it's fun. Fun to anticipate all of our favorite spots, fun to be together without the normal distractions.

Vacationing with little kids isn't completely relaxing, but it is refreshing because it's a break from the norm. After the day 3-4 I start to relax and get refreshed (by that I don't mean sleep refreshed :)) and the last days are filled with re-prioritizing, evaluating, and setting new goals for the days ahead. It's good to come apart once in a while. It helps me think about my values because I am removed from the normal routine.

But, before the vacation comes preparation, of which I have done next to none. I'd better get busy! Happy weekend all!

1 comment:

Dawn said...

That is really neat that you have favorite spots you visit yearly. Your right there is not a whole lot happening in the Poconos. :) I grew up in the Moscow/Gouldsboro area. Very quiet, but it does have it's beauty.