In a way the second half of our summer has officially begun. I say that because the first part was more events and traveling - we had graduation, my parents visiting, open house, ISU preview, and our trip east. Now we settle down into more general "stuff" - Samantha doing swim lessons, art and zoo classes, Katrina resuming ice skating lessons and doing a drama class and volleyball camp, Ethan working at Panera, Bryan teaching guitar and doing other odd jobs (one of which is helping Dave with his wind energy conference), and Dave working on a more regular basis.
One of my goals for the summer is to get Samantha a little further along in learning to read. She actually likes working on it with me if I catch her at the right time. I keep it low key and she seems to like figuring out a few words on her own but mostly prefers to read aloud with me. I pretend like I'm sounding out the words myself and she joins in. It's like a game. I also have her pick words out of a sentence. At this point she's still really a pre-reader, not a reader. So we've got a lot of work to do.
Another thing we've got on our plate is finishing the girls' bedrooms. I plan to help Katrina get started removing her border tomorrow. Samantha wants hers removed as well, even though it's perfectly fine, so I've decided we'll do it since she's been complaining about it for several months. I got another cheap one to replace it that suits her better; it may not work as well but she'll be happy. We didn't find a border for Katrina, so we're going to try to paint a border - a solid background with stencil style additions.
Now this is going to seem really random because it is, and yet it isn't; you'll see where I'm going w/ it in a minute. There's a scene in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" where the narrator describes how one person's interruption in their routine leads to all sorts of subsequent events that would not have otherwise happened if the first one didn't. It's sort of like that with our bedroom scenario. Ethan got sick, and Katrina had to fend for herself and help out more at home than if I had been here full time. She also had to school herself more or less for a year. It complicated things even further when I got sick and was running to Carle Clinic about twice a week and limping around the house or resting a lot. Because of all that, Katrina became increasingly discontent with sharing a bedroom with Samantha after having to babysit her so much (no wonder), and also expressed interest in attending Cornerstone a year early, which was the long-term plan for her anyway. At the same time, Ethan was responding to treatment, got through the worst of the side effects, and was able to pursue college. He had already claimed space in the basement for his Make-a-Wish studio, so it made sense to turn that into his at-home dorm room since treatment would be ongoing thru the middle of his sophomore year.
The bedroom scenario might have happened either way in the end, but I'm pretty sure at least the timing would have been different. So here we are, finishing the girls' rooms this summer after separating them last winter.
And I'm at the end of saying nothing really profound at all.
(These pictures added after the rooms were done)
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