Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

 

*pretty*

I just put some pretty fabric over the glass doors of our "homeschooling cabinet."  It has been a huge help to have a place to organize our homeschooling stuff (books, art supplies, manipulatives, paper, etc), but as you can see, we've amassed quite a collection in the past few weeks!  I love the fact that with a glass door cabinet, you can just switch out the fabric.  Maybe one of these days I'll be organized enough to keep the bookshelves perfectly tidy and beautiful, but for now this is the perfect solution.

 *happy*

A tea party with our little man of the house when his sisters are at ballet.  He is quite the earnest host, insisting that I pull up a chair, and carefully pouring water into the cup.  Given the fact that the vast majority of Hugo's time is spent in the company of me and his two sisters, it's always such a special treat to have a little time just with him.  And he adores it, soaking up every second.

*funny*

A little snippet from On to Candleford, which I'm currently reading.  "To the women, home was home in a special sense, for nine-tenths of their lives were spent indoors.  There they washed and cooked and cleaned and mended for their teeming families; there they enjoyed their precious half-hour's peace with a cup of tea before the firein the afternoon, and there they bore their troubles as best they could and cherished their few joys.  At times when things did not press too heavily upon them they found pleasure in re-arranging their few poor articles of furniture."  

I read this outloud to Ben last week when I was in the midst of sickness, and we both had such a good laugh.  Does this resonate with anyone else?  Largely, of course, being at home has been a function of being pregnant with twins, but there are times that this paragraph could have been written about me.  Especially the re-arranging furniture part.  I love re-arranging our furniture and do so a whim probably at least twice a month.  I'm glad to know there's a historical precedent for this behavior.

*real*

I've been getting creative with setting Hugo up with little Montessori style activities while I'm doing a formal lesson with Zosia.  It has actually been working quite nicely, but invariably Zosia herself is much more interested in his activity than her own.  It actually works out just fine, as her lessons are usually about 15 minutes long, and I can save the Montessori activity as a treat for the end.  Above: Zosia working on a lacing board.  

Oh, and if you look carefully at the second picture in the post, you can see our "morning board," which as of yesterday morning remained hopelessly un-updated.  I'm afraid amid travel and sickness and focusing on the bare minimums of homeschooling, it fell by the wayside.  On our first day back in the full swing of things, Zosia and I tackled the project of updating it.  It feels wonderful to be well again!

Linking up with Like Mother, Like Daughter this week!