Back To School!!

We have been getting ready to go back to school! I admit, I have put off thinking about it. Surely it can't be time to go back to school already? I have mixed emotions. In some ways, it feels like summer just started! We love our beach days and summer projects, reading and having our schedule free (I have a love/hate relationship with schedules). However, I also crave the routine and order of school days and usually, by the end of summer, I'm ready to get back to school. Actually, by the end of each season, I'm usually ready for the next one to start. The next couple of weeks are going to be very busy so we wanted to get everything ready now so we aren't rushing around at the last minute like, ahem, has happened in the past. But I digress.

Back to school supplies!!

The younger children love the pencil boxes we do for them for the first day back to school.

It might just be my peculiar love of all things stationary, but there is something special about new pencils and erasers and stickers that gets you excited about the new school year! This was always my favourite part of back to school, even more than getting new clothes. I know, I'm odd! 

Pulling out some of our books and DVD's! 

Getting ready to learn about our country.

Learning to read and write is fun and so far, I've had the special privilege of teaching my children to do both! Lydia is starting Kindergarten so I get to do it again soon. It really never gets old. 

Music lessons will start up again in September too. Life will get busy.

Before the busyness of school, now is the time for summer sewing projects. Hannah is making these cute little jumpers. She loves sewing and the little girls are reaping the benefits!!

Now on to the house. 

It's time to install the upper windows.

One of the downfalls to not having the ridge cap on. The wasps have moved in. 

Is it just me or does someone need a haircut?

                                       

Just getting started and so did the rain.

These guys were having too much fun for this to be "work".

Now for the other side.

We will leave our bedroom window out until the dry wall is delivered. It is much easier to get it up there through a window.

An interesting view. I'm standing at the bottom of where the stairs will be in the basement looking up into the kitchen.

Phil is framing in the basement bathroom. After all this time with only one bathroom, did I mention I am really looking forward to having four?? Until it comes time to clean them, that is.

Framing the basement has been a priority so we can get the other trades back to do their work.

It's messy work sometimes!

This is the entrance to the basement. We didn't wrap the porch completely around the house so we could have this walk out basement. I hope we don't regret it.

I must have been getting hungry because the clouds were starting to look like donuts!!

 Well, it's not a donut but it sure tastes yummy! Yay for summer treats.

Break time!

Lydia is inspecting daddy's work.

So sweet!! 

The driveway still looks pretty green but if you look closely...

...can you believe the trees are starting to change colour already?

This is the earliest I can remember the leaves changing colour. We have had a hot, dry summer and I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to the cooler temperatures and the rain!

So as we get ready to kick into high gear, we are enjoying the last, lazy days of summer. We have a few more beach days planned, more sewing projects, finishing up the garden, and some of us are heading to Alberta for my nephew's wedding. We are waiting for the siding to come (we are still waiting for the front door, ugh!) so that will be the next big project here as we push to get the exterior of the house finished before the weather changes. 

This week we have focused on getting ready to go back to school. We feel very strongly about our children having a thorough education although I find it interesting how the definition of "education" has changed over the years. So much of our language has changed. Sometimes, it isn't a bad thing but sometimes it can be dangerous. One year, I asked for a copy of the Webster's Dictionary from 1828 for my birthday. I know, I know, I also asked for the the 1611 version of the King James Bible. Now there is a challenging read!! But I love books and the older the better. Anyway, look at the definition of education from almost 200 years ago.

EDUCA'TION, noun [Latin educatio.] The bringing up, as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.

~The American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster 1828

Yes, change happens. But it's not always for the better.

Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Proverbs 9:9-10