Busy, Busy Week!

My apologies for not posting to this blog all week; we've been extraordinarily busy, and then our down-time has not been computer-oriented.

This week the boys have been helping me with some gardening projects; we've transformed a nasty, foxtail-infested corner of our yard into a (currently) weedless flower bed. The boys weeded and hoed, moved out a rotten piece of fencing, then added potting soil and dug the soil deeply. T pulled out the faded irises which is no small task considering the network of bulbous rhisomes to be dug out by hand. Then T helped me to plant the honeysuckle that Miss Sandy gave us in San Antonio last fall, and we added four plants that Judith donated. T also formed a walkway from the front gate, lining it with rocks we dug up when Keith laid the foundation for his garage. We finished up the bed with a layer of fine compost from a downed tree.

I took the kids to Balboa Park for our last Free Tuesday outing; we visited the Aerospace and Automotive Museums, as well as the Botanical Garden and Timken Art Gallery. T and J did some fine sketching in and around the Botanical Building.

On Wednesday we drove down the hill for a swim day with the Lake Murray crew, then headed for Grossmont Mall for a free sneak preview of Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille. Because it was a free screening with tickets everywhere, we arrived two hours before the showing and found ourselves about halfway back in the line; the tickets were all gone a mere twenty minutes later. So E played the new Harry Potterw game on her Nintendo DS; I read a book, and the boys played quietly with some action figures. Keith brought us some corn dogs and fries for dinner in line. It all ended up being very worthwhile; the movie was endearing, wonderful, funny, and a triumph in every way. And it was rated "G."

On Thursday we did more work in the garden, and the boys had afternoon piano lessons. Friday morning I headed alone to Alpine Anglican for the weekly healing service, then on to see both of my doctors. And Dr. Adema is ready to have me start weaning off the fentanyl patches I wear for pain relief! I hate those things, so I'm very excited about working with a different pain reliever and getting off the strong narcotics with all their nasty side effects. Yippee! Thanks be to God for answered prayer!

I also computed, filled out, and mailed in the kids' report cards to Heritage Christian yesterday, so we're officially done with our tenth year of homeschooling. Yay! The kids all did well; E received two B's on her high school report card, but with the 5-point A system for her Honors courses (English and Latin), she still ended up with a 4.0 GPA. A year done, and done fairly well. The only thing we didn't finish completely was California History, but we did cover the most interesting material, and we're hoping for a trip to Northern California fairly soon, so we can cover more state history then. They certainly know Southern California history well as they're sixth-generation San Diegans and get showed all sorts of family sites and history on a continual basis.

Last night I drove back down the hill for our final Esther study party where we watched One Night with the King (based on the book of Esther) while eating "hidden" foods like stuffed grape leaves, stuffed pasta, enchiladas, Chinese dumplings, and the traditional Purim delicacy of "Haman's Pockets" which Kim picked up at DZ Akin's, the local Kosher diner. While I can't recommend the movie (very confusing and choppy -- hard to follow), the food and the company were superb.

Today the boys and I finished up the gardening project mentioned above, and E cleaned out the kitchen pantry. The kids also watched the TNT Librarian films, which are kinda a cross between the Indiana Jones movies and National Treasure.

So I'm still here,and I will try to post more often, but it has been a very busy week. So much for a relaxing summer!