1/3 of August

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Here it is, the first third of August done.

I've kind of disappeared from the face of my blog, but it's not because I don't love you.  No, it's because I've been more wrapped up in things around going on outside the interwebs. This is good, because it's given me time to work on other stuff.

We're "officially" starting homeschooling this year, since Elizabeth is age-eligible for kindergarten.  I've been working on what our curriculum will be.  In a lot of ways, I'm still not settled on the exact path we shall take.  I'm draw to an out-of-the-box curriculum, since it is all planned out. I have a bunch (read: a 3 foot stack) of lesson, theme, activity, and workbooks for k-1, that I've picked up over the last few years. So it's not that I don't have the materials for the year.  I just lack a cohesive plan for proceeding through the materials.

I have been reassured that I need to relax a little for kindergarten, and stick with the basics. Explore with them. Read with them. Play with them.  I'm confident that this year will be a great year for us.  Elizabeth is a quick and enthusiastic learner.  My job? To encourage that, and not dampen it.

At the 1/3 of August mark, it's time for me to be putting round 2 of my container garden in to play.
What, you say?  I didn't post about my garden to start with?  Well.  Here's the short of it:

May - Garden shop. Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers, Sugar snap peas, Cilantro, Dill, Mint, Carrot seeds. Already had 2 pots of strawberries and chives. Tomatoes and carrot seeds in a 3.5'x3.5' square. Rest in pots.
June - Seeds died, tomatoes thrived. Cilantro died.
July - Cucumbers did well till we left on vacation, then 1 plant died, the other is hanging on. Peppers had blossom end rot, but I got some calcium and watered more evenly, and they appear to be doing better. Everything else is fine. Peas are done and pulled out.

So now that we're caught up to August, I'm planning to take some of my now-empty pots, and plant lettuce and spinach. I'd read that I might get some carrots to grow even at this point, so I'll probably give that shot in one of my deep pots.

1/3 of August.

That means we've been living in the Chicago area for almost 6 months. That means I'm really hoping that we don't have to move again in 6 months when our lease is up.  It also means that if we did have to move in 6 months, I'm totally not prepared to do that again. Too Much Stuff.

Last 2/3rds of August.  Plus September.

We still have some summer left in us.  I made a summer bucket list for the family back in June.  What?  Another thing I didn't get around to posting on the ol' blog? Oh well.

Done:
Train Store
Swimming
Beach at the lakefront
Bike ride
Make ice cream
Complete summer reading program
Go to an art festival
Go to a concert in the park
Go to a movie

To-do:
Camping
Train ride
Make our own bubble mix
Go to Toys R Us (totally E's idea)
Geocaching
Starved Rock State Park

Good thing we have plenty of summer left!