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interview with amelie: bethel camp 2018.
What did you feel like on Sunday when we dropped you off? I was nervous, and then I didn’t feel so nervous and I was I guess a little excited What helped you not feel so nervous? Our new cabins What were they like? They had a big bathroom and they had bunk beds and little twinkle lights. Who was your bunk mate? Hannah Tell me about your counselors I like Miss Emma because she is kind and sweet, and so is Miss Darby. What were some of your favorite parts of the week? I loved the zipline! I liked to swim and do canteen and I liked carpet-ball What…
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this week.
We’ve spent a lovely, very quiet week without our two big kids. Gabe and Noah went to half-day CIU soccer camp, and had a great time. It gave me some much-needed quiet mornings to do things like run errands, deep clean the refrigerator, take my mom out for a birthday breakfast, and order school curriculum. I was astonished by how productive I can be when I’m all alone. David and I got a date night too. I spent the afternoons with our two boys which felt surreal. The biggest thing I noticed is that I just plain enjoyed each of them more, without the constant clamor for mom’s attention from…
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the master bedroom is finished and reflections on our house addition.
I’m very, very thankful to report that our master bedroom is finished! The addition itself was completed a year ago in May. Actually we moved in on our 13th anniversary! We furnished our room with the bare essentials and called it a day. I was itching to have it feel finished but also completely exhausted and experiencing major decision fatigue from the entire project. We needed to just be in our new space and rest for awhile. Here’s a little trip down memory lane: February, 2017: March, 2017: April, 2017: May, 2017: End of May,…
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camp drop off 2018.
Can you believe it’s been a whole year since we sent our oldest away to camp for the first time!? Boy, was that emotional for me. This summer our nearly-9-year-old wanted to join in the fun. It’s funny how things go with kids. They get to have the same experiences progressively younger, don’t they? So Amelie is a whole year younger than when Judah was for his first time. He forged the way and showed us all how wonderful it is and made her want to go. Don’t we love our oldest “experiment kids”!? I’m speaking as an oldest experiment kid, of course. This year we took along some good…
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fifth year of homeschooling: the details.
Thanks so much for your kind feedback about my post on homeschooling with depression. It’s always good to know we aren’t alone, isn’t it? But I know that if you’re a homeschooling friend you may be thinking, “Julie, I’m very glad you made it through a year with depression, but, um, I need some details. How did school go? Did you like your curriculum? How was your year without Classical Conversations? What will you do differently next year?” These are the burning questions in the minds of homeschooling mothers (and sometimes fathers too), and it makes me laugh that we must ask them of one another. We’ve got an…
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home-from-vacation gratitude.
For dropping the suitcases and bags of sandy swimsuits at the door, and choosing to waste time roaming in the backyard first. For the sunflowers our next-door neighbor gave us. For the teeming garden and salads with lettuce, kale, carrots, cucumbers and radishes, all grown by my husband, who works outside every day in order to create something useful and lovely. For learning to use a sprinkler to keep everything watered. For butterfly bushes, which I pruned down to two-feet in February, now nearly as tall as I am. For butterflies in our backyard. For slugs and cockroaches and mosquitoes. For a living yard, even with…
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new smyrna beach 2018: part 2.
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new smyrna beach 2018: part 1.
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14th anniversary gratitude.
For fourteen years of learning to compromise, so we both do things we want to on anniversary trips. For a man who pushes me so much in life on hikes I cry and fume because: it’s hard. For a man who knows I can do more than I think I can. When I was an overly timid, young child, spending a white-night-scary sleepover at a friend’s house, missing my parents and my safe, comfortable bed terribly, I caught a glimpse of a wall calendar lit up by a swathe of moonlight: “Security is basically a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” (Helen Keller) I saw…
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gabe’s jedi vs. ninja birthday party.
Thanks to my mom for the awesome and delicious Ninjago cake! me to David: Wow, those pool noodle nunchucks are great. Did you find the idea on Pinterest? David: Babe. Are you kidding!? Every man has thought up a plan to make nunchucks, just in case the need arises.
