Monday night Family Home Evenings – in which we recently test drove our emergency escape ladder for the first time:
Reading – Arwen has taken to pulling any and everything off the shelves in the upstairs bedrooms, Chad is deep into another R.A. Salvatore tome, I discussed Stolen Lives with my wonderful book club friends this past week, and Gavin (drum roll, please . . . ) finished the last volume of the Harry Potter series! It’s been a good week for reading in the Jones house.
School – the monthly meeting of the parent/caregiver + staff advisory committee at Gavin and Arwen’s school. Earlier in the week a handful of us parents kicked off a professional development day for the staff with our testimonials of how the school has impacted our families (recycled from the legislators’ breakfast a couple of weeks ago). It was a powerful experience and such a privilege to share our thanks with people who have made such a difference in our lives. It taught me all over again that gratitude is a gift that keeps on giving – as I contemplate on all we receive, I see more clearly the part I play in creating and maintaining that culture myself.No school –Monday (Columbus Day) and Tuesday (teacher development) Gavin and Arwen spent a good part of each day in beautiful, uninterrupted free play with friends. As much as I love the many educational and developmental experiences they have through school and sports, I often lament the dearth of opportunities these days for kids to forget everything else and just play. (I should interject that even when time for such fun materializes, any combination of moods may – and often does – interfere.) These two days were just what they needed, and it was great to watch them having so much fun with good friends.
More school – this week brought the fourth in a series of six colloquium lectures in the Psychology department, focused this time around on global mental health. Throughout this semester I have enjoyed so much being exposed to new ideas and having to stretch my mind around deep academic concepts. Now if I can just get through my semester research project . . . .
The Saturday morning scurry – Arwen got some good wind on the field while Gavin got his first karate uniform. Once we finished up with the sports, we joined Chad at the church Run for Food activity where he made a good showing in the 100-meter dash, 400-meter run, baseball throw, and long jump.
Fun with friends - yesterday afternoon we met up with Ms. Sarah and the families of Arwen's classmates for a potluck and playdate at a local park. It's so great to be getting to know the parents of the new kids in the class this early in the year, and cementing relationships with those we met through the course of last year.
Squeezing in time for fun – last night I left Chad to oversee showers and bedtime while I listened to some great live music featuring several friends from the kids’ school. Such a great feeling, good people, and beautiful sounds.
Overcoming fears – both kids did a fantastic job in our church’s annual children’s program in which the kids present the worship service to the congregation. Gavin was a particularly good singer, and Arwen overcame all her fears and stood right up to the podium and spoke loud and clear when it was time for her speaking part. She similarly showed no qualms about claiming her prize as soon as we arrived home from church – a peppermint ice cream sundae with homemade hot fudge!
2 comments:
a girl after my own heart- peppermint ice-cream is one of my favorites! I love that you have it in your freezer in October:). I've decided that playground pot-lucks are our family's new preferred means of socialization. It seems like it's all I can do to clean up after and feed my own children, without throwing other people and their kids into the mix.
Great ideas for family fun.
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