Time Flies

Time has flown by and we are well into our first year of home education! We are enjoying it thus far. The boys think that it should be more fun than it is. And, it should not be as hard as it is. I am trying to push them further in math, especially. I like the flexibility to be able to visit family members and do different things. We are doing lots of art projects during the Christmas season - mosaics! I will post pictures later.

Oh, The Fun We Will Have

Thus far, we are mostly enjoying the homeschool experience! :) For me, the mom, I have to get up pretty early to feel I have a good start on the day, and I spend a lot of it in prayer to help arrange my priorities. There are lots of plans to come up with and also to think about new activities for fun.

Doesn't Aaron look really interested?

The boys, at first, thought that school at home would be easy (or easier than school). But, they are not finding that right now. Language arts is review right now, but their math curriculum is quite fast-paced and challenging. The history and literature curriculum is really neat. Lots of geography, interesting stories, and interesting people in history. Music is something that is important; Ethan is taking guitar and violin lessons and Aaron is taking piano. Through the history program, the kids do art too. Science also is favorite (because they do it with Dad!). Right now they are also observing harvester ants and journaling their observations.

Ethan working hard at his journaling.

Here are some pictures of the harvester ants.

Another of the kids doing an art project.

At the family reunion, my uncle told me that I must be very rich to have continued to be in Disney for a year! I assure you that we made only one trip! It was a good one, and I felt that there was nothing else to say! The surgery was over. Aaron was doing well. But, I guess in all blogging, there is always something to say. And, at least my uncle in Japan will read this and know what is going on with my dear family. :)

It has been a year. The kids have finished another year of school. I went back to work for the first time in several years. I truly enjoyed being an aide in Kindergarten.

This fall, we will be starting a new adventure, however. We will be homeschooling. We are doing this for several reasons, but I am really looking forward to having more time with my children. While I really enjoyed working, I really missed the kids. I also wanted to be able to have the joy of teaching them. I loved to see the Kindergartener's faces when they learned something, and I enjoyed trying to figure out how to explain something that they didn't understand.

So, we have started already - the first of August to get a head start. It is with great excitement and humilty that we start this journey.

Disney

This is one of the army guys from Toy Story.

They were funny!

This is from our character breakfast.

Aaron loved the monorail!

Nice pic of the Coppeta men.

In jail after the Toy Story ride.

On the plane ready to go! (it was the first flight for the boys) Ears popping.

We had a wonderful time at Disney. It was certainly HOT! We brought Aaron's wheelchair, and we definitely needed it. Just 2 weeks prior to going to Disney, I fell and hurt my knee! Jon was worried that we would need 2 wheelchairs. I made a quick recovery and was able to literally "walk off" my injury while there.

Here are some pics!

Keeping Up the Hard Work

Aaron continues to work very hard at PT. He continues to get stronger every day. Ethan is busy with gymnastics. He goes 3 nights per week for 3 hours! It has been a hard adjustment, but Ethan really likes it. We are deciding whether to continue during the school year. So many decisions!

Ethan was a little cold!

We continue to have a great summer. We have been busy seeing plays, going to beaches, going to doctor's appointments, seeing family, having playdates, etc. I put some pictures of the boys taken at a friend's pool.

Look at those muscles!

This week Aaron had some adjustments to his brace which make it a lot more comfortable. His PTs also noted that he is getting stronger and doing really well. Ten more days until Disney! Hopefully, we will all be up for the trip!

Summer is Great

Aaron and Ethan striking a pose. They are completely filthy here!

Aaron and Ethan working hard carrying some water. Aaron needed to wear his brace at the beach for a while. He was a trooper! It must have been very uncomfortable to get sand and water in there!

Aaron outside at MDI Labs.

This was a picture from our trip to Maine at the MDI Laboratory. (June 09)

We are all enjoying our summer. The boys got out of school at the end of June and we have been having fun going to the beach. We are so very thankful that Aaron has his fixator off so that he can enjoy the beach. Aaron is busy with PT and getting his leg stronger. It will be a long road, but we will take it one day at a time.

We went to Bar Harbor at the end of June for our first vacation. The weather was not great, but we had a couple of good biking trips. Aaron did great on a tag-a-long behind Jonathan. We have gone a couple more times here at home on the bike trail. He does well biking along behind us.


Aaron cannot walk for too long because his muscles are still weak and his knee is not in great shape. We are encouraging him to strengthen his muscles with lots of exercises. It is frustrating for Aaron because he really wants to keep up with everyone.


At the end of August we will be going to Disney! Yeah! This is the celebration for our family after this tough year. We will be leaving in just a few short weeks.

Pictures

Here are some pictures that I have been meaning to upload!

This is the kids Lego table. They have been busy building (I even get to build some of them!), playing, and then setting them carefully back on the table.

This is from Aaron's birthday party. He kept blowing out the candles as I lit them. Finally, he let me keep one lit so that we could sing to him!

Aaron is opening some gifts!

A cute Ethan and Aaron!

All the handsome Coppeta men.