august.

Hi there! So, I’ve had a bookshelf post in the works for a couple of weeks now, but the truth is, between school and trip prep, my brain is mush.

I love writing Bookshelf posts, but there’s a good change this one will never, ever be finished. So how about this: Can I tell you about our month in photos, and then pretty please, just give you a list of books I read at the end? It feels like a cop-out. But it’s better than nothing, right?

Despite the craziness of starting school and planning a long road trip, and just normal life with a family of six, August has been a great month.

 

We had a good summer for tomatoes, kale, and carrots, an decent summer for cucumbers. Zucchini and squash never materialized. Mysteriously, our bell peppers are just now ready! The garden is currently looking a bit wilted in this heat, but David’s already starting his fall crops of spinach, kale, brussels sprouts and broccoli.

 

Our homeschool field trip group had a Back to School swim party. Complete with cake to celebrate James’ birthday!

 

Our boys’ birth mom, Christi, came over one Friday evening. We played card games, ordered pizza, and introduced the kids to the original Jurassic Park. So much fun!

 

We started Classical Conversations and are happily adjusting to new friends, tutors, and a familiar routine. Yesterday, Noah gave his class presentation on an assortment of bugs in his bug catcher. Somehow, we even managed to keep all the bugs inside the bug catcher.

 

Typically, Linda will pick Gabe and Noah up and take them home on Wednesday afternoons while I stay with Judah and Amie for their classes. She’s out of town right now, and the boys sat right here for close to two hours while my friend Beth and I took turns checking on them. Thank you, Big Hero 6.

 

I continued to do a lot of this until my eyes glazed over — ordering various and sundry items for the trip. We’re almost there, folks! I’ve wrapped up the shopping and have now turned my attention to packing (which for now means organizing things into piles).

We found some great house-sitters, and are also very thankful to have Steve and Linda in the neighborhood to help with our chickens and plants. Pretty much best gift in the world is when your father-in-law says, “Make sure to leave me a list of house projects to do while you’re away.”

 

I read on a blog that when it comes to taking a family on a long trip, having not one, but several packing lists is essential. I’ve kept these lists on Evernote for awhile (which I love because it syncs phone and laptop), and finally printed them out so we can work from the hard copies.

 

A few last surprises for the kids, to be given at various points of the trip. We borrowed the Grand Canyon book from the library first to make sure it’s worth purchasing, and it is!! Both of the picture books on top are full of information about wildlife and terrain in the places we’re visiting. I bought a plastic crate from Target for car activities and just a few school books, which fits perfectly in the van.

 

I’m trying to be diligent about running three times a week, and it’s helped me have energy for our very full life. Last week I ran at the river, and look what I found!!!

 

When running fails to alleviate stress, a bowl of chocolate chips usually does the trick.

 

David took a little trip to NC this month, and I got a fun bunkmate while he was away. The kids and I watched Fiddler on the Roof and enjoyed a few dance parties (how can you not dance to that soundtrack?).

 

We studied Hammurabi’s Code for history, and had a lively discussion about which of the laws were fair and which were a bit excessive. We decided to come up with a Gentino Code.

 

This was Gabe’s submission

 

Noah surprised us all by starting to read last week. Who knew!?

 

Speaking of things we learned, Gabe learned how to play Monopoly. Poor guy can rarely get anyone to play with him though, because Monopoly lasts forever. The Gentino’s like quick games (this probably says something about our overall patience levels as a family).

 

Judah has been saving his money for quite some time. Besides his allowance, he and Amie pet-sat twice this summer for our neighbors. This week, I took him to Target and he bought the LEGO Hogwarts Hall. All of us are very impressed (and frankly, a little jealous).

 

And finally, I had the grand idea of beating the heat by filled up the kiddie pool so we could sit and chat and soak our feet. Gabe and Noah, however, had the grand idea of turning the kiddie pool into a swamp for their bugs. So somehow I ended up sitting outside in the blazing sun without a single part of me touching the water.

 

Thank you for being patient. I love you all. Here are books that I read and enjoyed this summer. My favorites are starred:

 

Jacob Have I Loved, Katherine Paterson

Kisses From Katie: A Story of Relentless Love & Redemption, Katie Majors Davis

Daring to Hope: Finding God’s Goodness in the Broken & the Beautiful, Katie Majors Davis

Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel

100 Cupboards, N.D. Wilson

Johnny Tremain, Esther Forbes

The Trumpet of the Swan*, E.B. White

Chains*, Forge,* Ashes* (Seeds of America trilogy), Laurie Halse Anderson

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War 2, Denise Kiernan

Mere Motherhood: Morning Times, Nursery Rhymes, & My Journey Towards Sanctification*, Cindy Rollins

Fever 1793, Laurie Halse Anderson

Hamilton: The Revolution*, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter

Notes From the Tilt-A-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder at God’s Spoken World, N.D. Wilson

The Invention of Wings*, Sue Monk Kidd (If you’re only going to choose one book from this list, please, please pick this one. It was my favorite of the summer. Chains is second).

 

Happy reading!