Another thing I've been doing these past few weeks has been scrapbooking (okay, mainly the week Luke and Caleb were gone). I have an 8 1/2 x 11 scrapbook for each child (except Micah, LOL). The first page is about their birth, the next 2 pages are pictures of their extended family/good friends who are like family, and then there are 2 pages for their first year and 2 pages for the year they are one. After that, there are 4 pages for each year. It used to be a great way to use up pictures from a roll of film that didn't get into the big family scrapbook, but of course now we don't have rolls of film! This means that I have to actually go on snapfish and pick out pictures for each child and order them, and I'm just not always that good about doing that. The last time I put any new pages in the boys' scrapbooks was *cough* 2008. Yeah . . . a little behind, LOL.
I kept up a little better with the girls, but I was still behind. Now I can say I am totally caught up on the girls' scrapbooks!! (Waiting for a rousing round of applause . . .) I also did 2 more years in Jonathan's book, so instead of being stuck back at age 4, he is all the way up to age 6! I'm working on Caleb's, but I actually had to order some pictures for him, so I haven't finished another year for him--he still stuck at age 6. It's been so fun for me to actually do something hobby-like again. There is so much for me to do during the school year, and I always feel slightly guilty for doing something just for fun, because that means I am not doing something that really NEEDS to be done. So I never take the time to get involved in something like scrapbooking. I'm glad I took a break from school-related things for a few weeks so I could actually finish some pages!
Anyhow, as I was working on the girls' book, I was struck by how much traveling we used to do. All the time! Back to Ohio for sure, but a lot of other places as well. In 2009 from June to September, we went to Busch Gardens with Ann and Wally, visited Philadelphia with my college friend Phil and Sandra, went to Ohio and saw my brother's family, who were visiting from TX, went to Bob's family reunion in PA, went back to Ohio since my aunt was visiting from Utah, went to White Sulphur Springs for a weekend retreat, spent the next weekend up at Camp Greentop in MD, and then visited Williamsburg with Ann and Wally. Whoa! Were we crazy?! We only had one less child than we do now, but now that seems ridiculously impossible to even attempt so many trips! I guess our days of wild galivanting about are over--for awhile anyway. Bob and I were just talking a few days ago about how we'll have to travel all over the country to visit all our kids and their families! Maybe we'll get an RV. Driving the big van will be a small stepping stone of preparation, LOL.
But right now it seems that we are starting the phase of life where our kids do the traveling, and we ferry them, but then we come back home and hold down the fort while they are gone. I love planning trips, but I am getting too old and tired to do the packing! Also, even though we aren't tied to a traditional school schedule, homeschooling high school is definitely taking up so much more of my time, even during the summer. I never could have imagined! But I keep telling myself--eventually this will get easier, as I reteach the same classes, instead of having to always prep new classes. Next year I will teach chemistry, and that might be my last new class, except for some possible electives (I'm definitely going to teach a one-semester astronomy class, and I may teach a year long anatomy and physiology class sometime). By the time the girls are coming up on high school, I'll be an expert, Lord willing! Maybe we'll be able to plan and take some actual vacations then, LOL.
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