Catch-up

Well, I would like to say that I have been working on limiting my time on the internet. While it is true my time on Facebook and here on my blog have been limited, I must confess that my internet usage is as strong as ever. I do feel however, that it is time for some catch-up here.

Let's see. Paul got a job. Yay!!! The only problem is that it is MD, as in MARYLAND. They just received a record snowfall this year - over 73" of snow, as in over 6 FEET of snow. The good thing is that Paul is not up there yet - the bad thing is the snow is still coming down. Of course, the boys would love to be up there playing in it. Even I have to admit that it would be an experience. Having lived in GA all my life, I have rarely seen more than a couple of inches, barely enough to make a sad looking snowman. But still, 6 feet might be a bit much.

I have started to connect with some homeschoolers there, and I have been informed that this is definitely not the norm. Apparently they do not usually get very much, no more than 6" or so per normal winters. Depending on how things play out, we may be finding out for ourselves.

It is Valentines Day this weekend and at co-op the kids all got to exchange cards and candies. Austin took one to his friend. Oh me! These tween years are becoming challenging. Some days I have to look at him and it is so hard to remember the little toddler and boy that he was. He is so fast becoming independent and just more grown up. Still, there are the emotional roller coasters. One minute all cool and too old for kid stuff, the next running thru the house on his knees playing games. One minute he has a crush on a little girl, and the next he says he is not ready for a girlfriend (which is fine by me). I do think that he likes the girl, however I am glad that he is not too caught up with it. A nice, innocent, distant crush is fine with me. It might soon be a very distant crush. :-(

Onto other things. For co-op this session we are teaching a team building class. It is really a lot of fun. Also somewhat surprising. Our 4th-5th graders are divided into 3 teams of 5. The first week we had one team that was having some problems, they are all pretty strong-willed. We thought oh no, this could be a problem - surprise to us, they are in 1st place and have been since the 2nd week. Each week we have challenges; one week they had to build marshmallow towers. Another week they had to guide a blindfolded team member thru an obstacle course. This past week they had to build 20" bridges between cans using straws and paper clips. As I said, it is a lot of fun and we have seen several of the children improve. Here are a few pictures from one of the challenges.