Raizel Story

I took Raizel shopping with me after an afternoon when she had been supremely sweet and helpful.

Checker, to Raizel: I have a daughter about your age. How old are you?

Raizel, with all the pluck she could gather: Seventeen!

Everyone in line burst out laughing, because you could tell by the way she said it that she does indeed at times behave like a 17-year-old trapped in the body of a 7-year-old.

Then the checker said that she must be going into second grade. "No, third," I corrected her. "Oh, wait, yes, 2nd, no 3rd. Oh, no, 2nd. That's right." Real homeschool mom speak. Most of her books are third grade books, but I usually just respond with the age-appropriate grade. And I really have drifted very far away from thinking in terms of what grade they are in. They're just doing the next thing they are ready for, and I also know there are (BE"H) no areas that cause concern. So, I don't know what the checker thought of that, but hopefully she just chalked it up to mommy brain!

Summer

Summer is zooming by in a half-hearted garden, summer camp in Atlanta, heat and sweat, chemistry experiments, sign language, packing and unpacking and repacking, decluttering, teaching one kid to knit, Anne of Green Gables and of Avonlea, piles of weeds, quail and chicken eggs, Big Band music (Eli's new favorite), sea shanties (Amirah's favorite), hairdos (Raizel's favorite), playground acts of derringdo (Avi's favorite), rollerskating (Eli's least favorite), 2-1/2 noses buried in books, beach trips, loads of morning snuggles, fulltime hammock sleeping (mama's favorite), air force museum camp to come (Eli), making new friends (yay, P family!), camping to come (Vogel State Park), preparing a new learning year (hours poured into ancient history, especially), and sleeping! I just can't figure out why I still feel so busy doing 3-4 things a day instead of 20. The same jobs are still hard to get to. I guees what I love most comes first! And mazal tov to anyone who is actually reading this after months of neglect!

On the docket for tomorrow - breakfast, $1 movie, lunch, laundry put away, library, pick up DH at work, chicken for dinner, prepare for camping trip (w/o DH again... Hopefully next trip!), and SLEEP!