In the process of cleaning and organizing
as we prep for the arrival
of my wee mother
next week,

a bucket of
popping corn
was accidentally umgestürzt,
providing,
in the recovery process,
an
unanticipated simple pleasure.

As the number of areas of my world where progress is measurable grows smaller, I find myself feeling unsettled, off balance, floundering, if you will... particularly as it relates to home schooling.  I function best with clear goals and standards by which to measure achievement.  However, it seems we are drifting into uncharted and unchart-able territory...

With two high schoolers now in Great Books Academy, and working on college level math and science with Paul, less teaching is required of me.  I'm more of a monitor at this stage.  That ought to translate to less stress, right? 

The younger two are at odd spots, with different needs and challenges both academically and emotionally; and with Jacob, his autism requires that I keep constantly re-evaluating methods and materials to provide content that stimulates his interest and intellect, and yet can be molded to his peculiar learning style.  Lately it has frankly been overwhelming.  And wearying.  And I vainly wish for the perfect "How To" manual. 

I'm not the first mum to want such a thing, and I shan't be the last!

But that's where I am at the moment.

Regardless of all that, what keeps me going, puts a song in my heart, and a giggle in my step, is this sort of sisters-braiding-each-other's-hair kind of thing:

Yeah.  Love that. 

On we go!

It's more fun to vote

if you do your research!!!

Know the candidates,

and do your civic duty in the primaries.

If you stay home,

you don't get to be

a decider.

Yesterday when I returned from karate,
I could not have been more rewarded for the
long,
hot
wait in the van with the girls,
(who came along with me primarily to help with shopping for the household comestibles,
which we had not been able to do
Thursday when we only picked up school supplies,
and for which
long
hot
wait
I was completely to blame,
having forgotten at home
the cash I planned to use for the aforementioned shopping)

by the arrival,
in my absence,
of the final shipment of my 7 boxes of books
from dad's library!!!

Now, if you'll excuse me,
I must go ponder where to store these treasures.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I wasn't entirely looking forward to back-to-school shopping at Wal-mart this evening, what with a) cross-town travel in the 108° heat, and b) the ankle thing. 

But hallelujah!  It was all good.  Staying off the foot most of the week, aggravating as that was, has paid off, and I was able to do the whole Wal-mart walkabout with nary a twinge to the ankle, and only a wee sore heel as we merged into the checkout line.  Furthermore, the hair-raising, wind-tunnel experience that driving in our van always is bothered me not a whit, for as we left the house, I clapped a black beret upon my noggin at a jaunty angle and strode forth victoriously, having, at least temporarily, banished dishevelment.

It's never completely successful to go on a major supply acquisition run with no list whatsoever, but despite my day-long headache and consequent lack of planning, I did manage to nail down the note books, folders, pencils, pens, teacher pens, glue (we NEVER have glue when we need it) and in the process brought forth a delightful uptick in motivation and preparation for tomorrow...

Always an encouraging sight with which to end a day.  (I will not comment on the mess *under* the table... we must choose our battles in this life, and be grateful when blessings like this present themselves, howsoever........ multifaceted? they may be.)

The other "Hallelujah!" of the week was a simply fantastic first day of theater for Geneva.  What a thrill it was when she came out after that first class, so excited she was quivering - and then proceeded to talk non-stop for at least 20 minutes.  You have to understand, this is my quiet, shy, timid, poetic, contemplative daughter... so it was patently obvious that a change was afoot!  She was absolutely thrilled to have been given the role, in "Snoopy, the Musical", of The Little Red Haired Girl - one that required no dialogue!   She was quite happy to be able to begin her performing career without a speaking role.  However, today I got an e-mail from the director suggesting that she would really like to give Geneva something more to do in the show, and that she'd decided to add another character, Frieda, the girl with Naturally Curly Hair, to the show, if Geneva would be interested in having a part with a bit more personality and some lines.  Well, with excitement and trepidation, she agreed to give it a try.  I'm so proud of my girl, I could squeal.  She is determined to overcome her shyness and grab hold of this opportunity, and I know she will have an incredible time learning what she is capable of.

I'll finish off this post with a series of pics I posted at FB, when, inspired by the woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer, a friend and fellow art teacher described how she envisioned coloring his Rhinoceros:

It's truly magnificent, isn't it?

And yet, some of us just can't help ourselves...
we have to go and mess with perfection...

This was Geneva's interpretation.
The red toenails give me perma-grin.

This was the Nettie version.
I want a whole coloring book full of these woodcuts now!

Starting the day off right...
a little reading from the Walter J. Holston Memorial Library Collection:

Jacob read from The Book of Virtues:

(friends of Walter will note it his unmistakable protective touch - the classic shower-curtain book covering)

Geneva read from John Steinbeck's retelling of the Arthurian legend,
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights:

Another "protected" Bennett volume, The Moral Compass,
occupied Laurent:

And Megan found herself deeply absorbed by Peter Ackroyd's biography of
Charles Dickens:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Following our morning read,
chores were plentiful.
Geneva took on the daunting task of cleaning out the fridge:

Megan helped Jacob in the daunting task of picking up legos:

Daunting!

Laurent split her time between the daunting task of laundry
and the fun task of
throwing together a gorgeous five-loaf batch of oatmeal/sesame/flax seed bread:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This afternoon we will finish off the school day with history for all.

And that is how we roll at the Happy Heidmann Hacienda.

It's been a great day of worship, family time, and kids making home movies; a long week of limping around grimacing, or sitting around resting my stupid sprained ankle; and a taking-it-easy-summer that is suddenly at an end, the realization of which is causing mild panic to set in.  And I haven't even gotten to that post about getting stranded at the ranch last weekend due to a major brake failure in the suburban that first manifested itself as I was driving between Show Low and Concho in a blinding downpour, or the flat rear passenger side tire we discovered when we drove into the parking lot at Wilbur's IGA in St. John's, or riding to town in the back of our neighbor's pickup truck Monday morning to meet Jon who drove us home in his beautiful minivan with air conditioning, and angelically put up with the antics of my children, who are much more decidedly giddy when cramped.

Indeed.  Too much to try to remember it all now.  Suffice to say, I am gathering my strength as I look ahead to tomorrow, and the coming year.  This will be the year we forget what family dinners are... Oh me, oh my, the schedule is only going to get scarier.  Karate, theater class, Religious Education, RCIA, youth group, and shooting practice, and if we have any time at all we might do some school. 

I do seem to recall a few years of nightmarish scheduling in my teen years as well... my parents had to juggle youth symphony rehearsals and performances, community symphony rehearsals and performances, viola lessons, cello lessons for two cellists, football practice, theater rehearsals and performances... I guess it comes with the territory at this stage of life.  I'd best tighten up my running shoes.

Photo Albums from our ranch trip last weekend:

Friday, August 6th

Saturday, August 7th

Sunday, August 8th

Monday, August 9th

Hopefully I will get an actual post together sometime in the next 24 hours,
but these pics should tide you over!

I need a bigger camera bag!  Something large enough to double as my purse... that way I can take my camera along with me whereeeeeeeever I go!   Thus, I am officially putting out a request for suggestions from my fellow photography fiends (I mean friends).  What do you recommend?  I just need something that will offer a compartment large enough to protect a mid-size camera, a pocket for batteries, and additional miscellaneous space for purse types of content.

I tried so hard to exit the domicile earlier today (that is, earlier than I in fact managed), but it turned out to be moot in the end since one of my first destinations (the parish office) did not open until 9am.  Still and all, I succeeded in checking everything off my to-do list -

• Stopped at the ATM, let #2 jump out and grab me some cash.

• At QT, buying gas for my nearly empty van, I let #1 pump, while #s2 & 3 went in to purchase cold drinks for the hot drive, and #4 and I stood around cooling our jets in the 100° breeze.
• At SSJ, #1 accompanied me in to the coolness of the office to take care of business, while #s2,3&4 inexplicably stayed in the hot van...
• On the way back to the parking lot, I decided to make a detour and visit the gift shop, so #1 went back to invite the others in as well.  We spent about 20-30 very refreshing minutes there, and each of us came out with a small something as well.
• I discovered during the gift shop stop that I may have erred in giving the boy his morning medication on an empty stomach. 
• Thus, the next stop was Jack in the Box for a wee something for the tummies.
• From there we made a beeline for Avondale and the Costco store we love to hate.  (Well, I don't mind it at all during weekdays, but it's pretty much torture for the rest of the clan.)
• Left there in good time to make it home before noon, and so fulfilled my primary goal of beating the 112° heat forecast for today.

The afternoon has been spent relaxing, doing laundry and packing for our Beat the Heat Weekend up north. 

And at 5pm today, the remaining 3 Heidmanns will go face the music at the Dentist, and then come home to an easy pizza dinner.  Then, after everyone else has finally doused the glims, I will probably do my own packing.  Paul has taken a few extra hours off, and will probably only work till 6am tomorrow, so we should get out of Dodge nice and early.

So thankful for the getaway... I'm ready!  Bring on the chill!!

Puttering along here, up at 6:23 this morning after a short night ...

Yesterday, 3 hours at the dentist yielded 3 healthy checkups (yayyyyy!).  I say 3 healthy checkups because there were no NEW cavities, although there were two minor fillings to take care of that were hold-overs from the last checkup.  On the way home I got a phone call from the orthodontist reminding me that Geneva had her apt. this morning at 8:30 -- so that inserted an appointment on the one day we had no appointments this week.

When Paul got home from work, instead of hitting the math as usual with the girls, he just seemed to be hanging around, chatting with me... highly unusual, though not unwelcome... and finally he said something about leaving around 4pm to run an errand before his lesson, and I said "What lesson?"  -- I had totally forgotten he had a shooting lesson scheduled for 5pm.! 

Right before I took off with Jacob (and Laurent) for karate, I instructed Megan on how to cook up the sausage, bacon, green and yellow bell peppers and onion, and what to add for a sauce, which were going to go in the enormous crock of beans I had been cooking for an hour or so.

Then we made our escape, and Laurent and I had a good time hanging out together during the class.  She even made a quick trip into Wal-mart, looking for a satchel to use for carrying miscellaneous books and drawing supplies to the ranch, and saw the perfect tan canvas bag as soon as she entered the purse dept.  (WIN!)  Unlike Megan, who has about 10 purses, Laurent is very frugal in that area.  She even asked me, before going in, "Do I really NEED another purse?" to which I replied that if she has a certain purpose in mind for which none of her purses will suffice, then yes, it is perfectly FINE to buy another purse.  Especially when it's only $12!

Arriving home, I found that Megan had put together a beautiful meaty barbecue sauce, so I added it to the enormous crock of beans and voila, supper was ready.

Then later, Jeff and Koos stopped by on their way to a late supper so Koos could borrow "Lie to Me" -- and after running over to IN-n-Out, came back with supper and ended up staying to watch the first two episodes.  That was a fun surprise, and one that prompted me to turn on the vacuum cleaner while they were gone... cuz sometimes you just don't realize how much crud you're stepping on until company walks in.

And that brings me to this morning, and now I have to get my crew going, in case they all want to come along and make a library trip out of it.