A Photo-Less Update

Dad: Working hard every day. Had an appointment today with the Virginia Unemployment Agency that was relatively painless, especially for being a governmental office. No further leads on jobs.

Mom: 85 degree weather freaked me out and I had a fit of spring cleaning yesterday. Nate took the boys to the lake for a few hours and Tenley played while I did all the laundry, organized my kitchen and cleaned everything I could while the 2yr old monster was not here to destroy my work. It actually looked nice for about 30 minutes.

Shea: Progressing nicely in math, up to the 9's in multiplication and has begun working on division. In science he has completed unit studies on plants, pond/river habitat, symbiosis and just finished up gems and minerals today. Another trip to the FREE Smithsonian is in the works for this weekend or next probably to see the Blue Hope Diamond and the Star Ruby. He made a nice diorama of a pond/river scene that I need to take pictures of and post. Really neat! And his writing project is a book that has a chapter on each of his unit studies. I'm hoping to get it bound in some way to keep it for him. Aunt Holly is sending us a catalog from a teacher materials store and I will be getting a laminated world and US map. Shea also used his birthday/Christmas money to buy a nice microscope which he's been using a lot this week. So he's off and running with the homeschooling, he complains there aren't enough hours in a day for him to learn what he wants. I guess that's a good thing!

Tenley: Doing well in school and also has been homeschooling some. She is a mini-me who learns well by repetition and worksheets. She's also my crafty one who needs lots of projects to keep her interested. Today she had her Spring pictures where they let the kids hold baby bunnies so now she's convinced we need a bunny. She has a new haircut for summer which is short, above the shoulders. Her friend Katie got her hair cut short this week and last night Tenley begged me to cut her hair. I added some bangs to disguise the bald spot she's still sporting from the ringworm and the cut works well on her.

Devan: Speaking like a teenager. Giving everyone pointers on how to behave and letting the animals know that he is one rung higher than they are! But oh, the sweetness of this child is just too much to bear. He is so polite, so funny, so quick to hug and kiss everyone. He's really into learning his shapes and colors right now. He told Tenley's teacher "Miss Yori" (Lori) that he "wikes my wombus" (likes my rhombus) the best. So cute. He's going to have a great time this summer if we get to find him a horsey to ride. He loves anything "barm" (farm) related.

So, when people ask how we are doing, well, we're doing great for the situation we are in. We are waiting on some legal news soon and hopefully the job market will pick up after the first quarter. We have expanded our search to include California so we'll see if that changes anything next week. We probably would not be able to live together out there and we'd have to make other arrangements somehow. But, you know what, we have to do what we can to make money. I think people are just now starting to get that this economy thing is not a passing deal, it is here to stay. I'm really grateful to be further along in the process than most, but honestly this is going to be a new life for us. We will have to be content with and make do with less money. It's math, not magic!