yesterday's weekly letter

Hi Everyone,
It is 6:16 PM (as I'm starting this).  Dinner is the the oven (parmesan tilapia and roasted vegetables), the boys are playing upstairs, and it is *cloudy* outside.  Yes, real life, actual clouds outside in the sky right now, and a 30% chance of scattered thunderstorms.  Yay!!  That still means a 70% chance of nothin', but still, I'll take it.  Ben and the boys got caught in a thunderstorm yesterday afternoon in south Austin on their way down to go on a bike ride along a bike trail down there (and nearly got in a car wreck-- after so many months with no rain all the oil builds up on the roadway, and then with any moisture at all, the road becomes extremely slick-- scary!), but there was nothing up here at all.  AND, the temperatures are not supposed to break 100 this week, at all, so things are looking up.  Maybe fall really will come.
This week has been good.  I'm very, very happy with how school is going so far.  Our days are very busy, but I'm spending very little time nagging and hovering to make sure schoolwork gets done.  This next week we will have another added bit of complexity as scouts start and Mosey starts speech up again on Tuesday afternoons (all the way down at UT, at 4:15 PM, which means we will have the joy of driving back home in the thick of Austin rush-hour.  Oh well.).  With that, I think all of our weekly activities are underway.  Here is how our extracurriculars go:
Mondays:
12:00 PM: Joseph and Mosey have Tae Kwon Do
4:15 PM: Joseph has flute (a little south of Ben's work, about 25 minutes away)
Tuesdays: 
3:30 PM: Joseph and Brigham have scouts (I'm assuming they'll get picked up again-- I really hope so, anyway)        
4:15 PM: Mosey has speech
Wednesdays:
12:00 PM: Joseph and Mosey have Tae Kwon Do
3:30-5:00 PM: all three boys have piano lessons
5:30 PM: Brigham has violin lessons
Thursdays:
2:15 PM Mosey has cello lessons
3:30-5:30 PM: Our art club meets
Fridays:
12:00 PM: Joseph and Mosey have Tae Kwon Do
1:00-4:00: Homeschool park day.  We haven't gone to this in more than a year, but I'd like to start going, as the weather cools enough for me to be able to be outside.
Saturdays:
12:00-1:30: Brigham has horseback riding

So, it is a little crazy, but manageable as long as we (I) can stay organized.

OK, so anything of note this week?  Let me think.
We solved the mystery of the missing science book!  On Tuesday, I finally caved and ordered a new book.  I just KNEW the old one would turn up sometime between then and when the new book arrived.  And I was sort of right.  :-)  On Wednesday, on my way out the door to take Joseph and Mosey to Tae Kwon Do, I reminded Brigham to put his clothes in the washer (he had brought his basket down that morning-- my deal with them is that they bring their clothes down, run the washer and dryer, then I will fold them and they take them upstairs and put them away).  My final words to him were, "As you put your clothes in the washer, make sure your socks are all unrolled!"  Well, after we got back from Tae Kwon Do, the washer had finished its cycle, so I told Brigham to put his clothes in the dryer.  So he went in the laundry room and opened the washer to make the transfer.  After a minute, he came back out to the kitchen with a puzzled look on his face.  "Mom, look what I found in the washing machine.  It's like a torn up clump of paper."  And he handed me the soggy, mostly-disintegrated spine of what clearly had been a book.  Yes, the missing science book went through the washing machine, and didn't survive.  The wet clothes were thoroughly mixed up with tiny shreds of paper.  I wasn't sure what to do.  I told Brigham to put the clothes in the dryer, and try to pull out as much of the big pieces of paper as he could.  When that first dryer cycle was finished, the lint trap was as full as I've ever seen it, with the fluffed up paper fibers.  The boys thought it was really cool.  They saved it and want to try to make recycled paper from it.  The clothes were still covered with bits of paper, so we had to wash them again.  After another drying cycle, the lint trap was almost as full, but the clothes looked clean.  So, anyway, the mystery of the missing science book was solved.  I was right-- it did turn up, just not in any remotely usable condition.   I went ahead and ordered another book.  Still, I cannot understand how Brigham could have missed dumping an entire BOOK into the laundry basket, especially after I told him to sort through his clothes to make sure his socks were unrolled!  (Clearly, he didn't do that).
Oh well, I guess there are plenty of other more expensive things that could have gone through the washing machine.  :-)  And at least now I know I definitely would have had to buy another book.

Let's see, what else.
I mentioned that Brigham's violin teacher is moving, right?  So I'm looking for a new teacher.  I've found a few that I'm interested in.  Would it be weird to schedule a trial lesson with each of them-- sort of "auditioning" the teachers to see who we like best?  Maybe we won't end up with many choices, depending on their schedule of available lessons.  Ugh.  It's stressing me out.

I gave all three boys haircuts this morning.  Is that a bad Sabbath Day activity?  Probably not that great.  But they look so cute!  Joseph and Mosey both decided they wanted short hair this time (the last couple of cuts they've both wanted me to keep it long on top).  So all three have the same haircut, and all look more like brothers now.  Joseph and Brigham are now both in a stage where they look *younger* with haircuts.  A few years ago, it seemed like every haircut made them look another year older.

Today in primary, Brigham and Mosey both got to play the primary song they're working on as prelude/postlude music.  Their teacher encourages them to do this a lot, and I think it's good.  It helps them get used to playing in public in less high-stakes situations than recitals.  Mosey is getting really good on the piano.  He's reached the point where he can sight-read a lot of the music in his books, and he likes to flip forward and play the new songs.  It's fun to watch the boys make these kinds of leaps in music and in schoolwork.

OK, it's now after dinner, after bedtime, 9:30 PM (never did get any rain), and I need to finish this terribly disjointed letter.  I'll finish with a few more random things:
Here are two good, really easy things I've eaten this week:
A cucumber sandwich with whole wheat bread, both sides spread with roasted red pepper hummus, and sliced, peeled cucumber slices.  My new favorite sandwich!
Roasted vegetables (had this tonight-- everyone ate it up!): 
1 large zuchini, several fingerling potatoes (I'm sure you could use any potatoes), a whole bunch of baby carrots, and half an onion.  Cut all the vegetables into bite sized chunks.  Toss with italian dressing (not too much, just enough to lightly coat the vegetables), and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet, and bake at 425 for 30-40 minutes (stir once halfway through) until the vegetables are cooked through, and slightly browned. 

Have a great week, everyone!

Love,
Gabrielle