EIGHT YEARS ALREADY?!

Today marks our eight year wedding anniversary.  I simply cannot believe how time has flown!


I want to take a minute away from homeschool and mom-stuff to ponder a while on our marriage.  But a minute is about all I'll get, as time and life do not slow down.  Rob leaves for a 2.5 week road trip tomorrow, and it's a Tuesday, and his computer got a virus so he was up all night fixing it last night and is sleep-deprived, and he needs to pack, which means I have to be sure I'm caught up on laundry...  So we're not going to celebrate in a big fancy way tonight.

And after seeing this picture, who wants a big fancy meal?  Who ARE these skinny people?

Although I think big special days are important to celebrate, there's also something to be said for celebrating every day in such a way that big days aren't necessary.  Now, I'm not saying we do that.  We've had our ups and downs, our times of closeness and of drifting apart, and we're certainly not a poster couple for the Perfect Marriage.  But we try.  And we try together.  That says a lot in this day and age.  


And things have often been hard.  We had two kids really quickly (surprise!) and didn't figure out how to be a couple until we were also trying to learn how to be parents.  We've also had four pretty traumatic, second or third trimester miscarriages.  And those are just the things that I can talk about in terms of my emotional health.  Rob has his own.  Mine have taken me through depression, and on the way back out, and Rob and the kids have been dragged on that ride with me.


And he's stuck by me.  And fought for me.  No, not fought me, but fought FOR me.  I will love him forever for that.  Even when he doesn't put his socks in the hamper.

He also "drags" us on road trips, like to the Space Needle in Seattle, where now pictures are taken from the waist up.

So here's to you, my loving husband, Rob.  Thanks for loving me more than I deserve.  Thanks for being an amazing father.  I strive to be as wonderful a wife and mother to try to meet you at least partway.  Here's to eight more years, no decades, of the best journey ever.


(You can tell I'm not slowing down too much, as I've actually taken these two pictures from posts other people put on my Facebook wall.  I cannot even take the time out to go look for my own pictures!  I have science to teach and dinner to cook...  Anywhoodle, thanks to Laurel and Rob for the pics!)

Restarting the Journey

I cannot believe it's been 2.5 years since I last blogged anything...  Guess perhaps I've been busy.


I decided to start up again because we're hitting a new place in our lives: "Real School."  Okay, so it's not really "Real School" because we're still homeschooling.  But the kids have finished up their kindergarten work and we're beginning First Grade.  That's right, I capitalize First Grade because Gabrielle says it this way.  She is quite excited to tell anyone and everyone that she is now in First Grade.  Grade levels are, of course, completely arbitrary in our homeschooling environment, but I'm not going to be the one to dampen her enthusiasm. 


I hate to add my voice to the already thousands out there clamoring and trumpeting their homeschooling blogs.  So I'll try not to make this a big ol' curriculum review site or personal brag site.  But I am a mom who homeschools full time.  So there's going to be a bit of that mentioned here. 


I do hope to keep this about our lives, too.  Our adventures, our stories, our mis-adventures, our nightmares...  It shouldn't be too hard to keep it wacky.


I'd also like a better way of documenting all that we do.  Sure, we do notebooks and pictures.  But I am not the scrap-booking kind of girl.  Craftiness is not in my bones.  So maybe someday the kids will look back on this and appreciate having it all out here.  Or maybe they'll hate me and try to make me pay for their therapy bills.  Since I'm planning on paying those bills anyway, because of all the other trauma I'll probably inflict on them, I'll take the chance on the blog.


And, at the very least, I will hope to have an outlet to pretend like I'm speaking to the outside world every once in a while.