My Bookshelf

We started school this past week, which means that we have a new daily schedule!  With this new schedule, I was able to build in some reading time for myself.  YIPPEE!  I found that Matthew and Jonathan go to sleep faster and sleep longer if I sit in their room until they fall asleep for their nap.  (Of course, I do have to remind them to be quiet, lie down, and close their eyes!)  So, now I sit in their room and read to myself while the girls are reading in the living room.  It's a good thing because I have a huge backlog on my bookshelf.  This is what I am hoping to read in the coming months during my reading time:

A Letter to my Grandpa

My grandpa is turning 95 in just a few days. For the occasion, I sent him our most recent family photo along with this letter about our family. After reading it, my husband thought it was worthy of a post, so I really hope you enjoy reading it, too!

Dear Grandpa K,

Happy 95th birthday! Boy, 95 years sounds like a really long time! The girls and I put exactly 95 heart stickers inside the numerals. It took us a long time, so we concluded that 95 years is indeed a very long time!

We are really enjoying living in our new home in Orange County, California! Would you believe that we have lived here for more than a year and have not used the air conditioning once??? Although it does get hot during the day, we live close to the ocean so it is cools off considerably at night. There are also very few bugs here, which is, for us, a welcome change from mosquito-infested New Orleans. I do, however, miss the fall colors and the winter snows that you get to experience! Every time I fill up the gas tank, I find myself wondering if perhaps we should relocate!

David enjoys his job teaching and researching at UC Irvine. He will be applying for tenure this year, which is actually a year-long process. I really enjoy homeschooling the children, although I never imagined myself as a stay-at-home mom, let alone a homeschooler!

Mary is now seven and has so many interests I can’t keep up! She loves to play soccer, sew, knit, and read. Her favorite subject is history; her favorite games are chess and Scrabble. Right now, she aspires to be the first woman president!

Maggie will turn five in just a few weeks. She is such a bubbly little girl and wants more than anything to be a mom! She loves to play with her baby dolls and help me with the cooking and cleaning. Even though she’s only five, she does an excellent job folding laundry! She is also very excited about her first soccer season this fall.

Matthew and Jonathan are two years old and certainly keep me running. I often marvel at how you raised my dad and Uncle Jim because I now know what a handful they must have been. The twins like to speak to one another in their own language and get a bit frustrated with the rest of us to whom it remains a mystery. They are the best of friends and can get into a lot of trouble in a hurry. They have been known to raid the refrigerator early in the morning, unload their dresser drawers during naptime, and bail water from the toilet. Even so, they are a bundle of fun for which we are ever grateful!

Josiah is now five months old and is learning new tricks every single day. He smiles for just about anyone who crosses his path and is a pretty easy-going little guy, except that he still wakes up a LOT at night. He’s a toughy and doesn’t even cry for shots or nail trimmings! As the youngest of five, he also tolerates thousands of kisses and whacks!

We hope that you have a wonderful 95th birthday celebration surrounded by your loved ones who are close. Our family is celebrating this milestone with you from sunny California.

Much love,
David, Maura, Mary, Maggie, Matthew, Jonathan, and Josiah Mobley

Update on 2013 Goals

Just when I was feeling pretty accomplished in the goal achievement department, I fell behind!  My goal for July was to revamp our Christmas devotions.  It's now almost the end of August and my progress is still hovering at zero percent!  Why did I let this happen???  No good reason!

Lame Excuse #1: I was too busy deep-cleaning the house.

Lame Excuse #2: I was too busy shoveling road base and transporting retaining wall caps and pavers.

Lame Excuse #3: I was too busy feeding Josiah, who has yet to realize the benefits of sleeping at night.

Lame Excuse #4: I was too busy playing Scrabble with Mary.

Lame Excuse #5: I was too busy playing Imaginets with Maggie.

Lame Excuse #6: I was too busy cleaning up after my two tornadoes.

Lame Excuse #7: I was too busy planning our school year.

Lame Excuse #8: I was too busy watching Call the Midwife.

Lame Excuse #9: I was too busy comparing the Vitamix to the Blendtec.

Lame Excuse #10: I forgot.

My goal for August was to go through The Child's First Catechism with Mary and Maggie.  We started going through the questions and answers at the beginning of the summer but somehow ran out of steam.  I am ready to pick it up again this week!  

I was feeling pretty crummy about my progress, but then I noticed that my goal for September was to transfer Matthew and Jonathan to toddler beds.  YAY!  This goal, which I totally forgot about, has been completed for some time now!  The transition has not exactly been smooth sailing, but I think we finally have things figured out.  Nighttime usually goes really well, but naptime is tricky.  Left to themselves, the boys will talk to each other for a long time, like two hours, and then eventually fall asleep.  Then, they wake up groggy and famished and really, really grumpy!  So, I have found that it works best if I bring a book I am reading into their room and read silently until they fall asleep.  Whatever works, right?