Coffee Chat - Happy July 2nd!

 

Happy July 2nd! Are you aware that July 2nd is the day that most of the founding fathers first voted to approve the Declaration of Independence?  The vote was repeated on July 4th, so that's the day we celebrate, but John Adams thought July 2nd was going to be the day to be marked.

"The second day of July 1776 will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more." 

-John Adams

When you come down to it, I suppose the whole month of July is a good time to celebrate America, since the Declaration wasn't even officially signed until August 2nd, but I especially love that this weekend falls right between July 2nd and 4th.  I have some patriotic books lined up to read, and I'm sporting a USA shirt as I drink my coffee and type this.  We did sparklers with the kids last night because we have way too many leftover sparkler boxes stuffed in the back of our cupboards from the last several years.  We're planning to watch fireworks someplace with my family, I bought TNT poppers, and also in the queue are hamburgers and The Sandlot movie (because a movie that includes baseball and fireworks - can't get much more American than that).

A Lackluster Two Weeks

July 4th feels like a major event this year, for a couple different reasons.  First, there weren't that many July 4th festivities last year, and it was a shame. We're making up for lost time.  And secondly, the last couple weeks have been fairly blah around here.  

The homeschool conference wrapped up right before Father's Day, and that was all good, but the next week was a bit disastrous.  I found myself very emotional (as in randomly crying every other day over minor stresses), and then four or five things we had planned to do were either cancelled or foiled. We had a weekend trip that had to be postponed, several playdates with friends had to be cancelled, we tried to go to the zoo on Saturday only to arrive and find out the zoo was closed for a charity event. As you can imagine, all these cancelled plans did not improve my emotional state.  Even church was cancelled because of a broken water main!  Thankfully we salvaged Sunday by hanging out at a park with our church friends, and then going over to my parents' house.  But then we locked the keys in the car, and my dad had to give Derek a ride back to our house to get the spare.  

Let's just say I was glad when that week was over.

This week has been better, and surprisingly cool for late June.  While the rest of the country is apparently having a heat wave, we had a cold front blow in.  Cooler weather isn't so bad if accompanied by rain, because it lessens the ever-present concern about forest fires.  We haven't had a burn ban yet this year, and we were able to enjoy a campfire on Wednesday night.  It's supposed to warm up in time for the 4th though!

(The light was so gloomy and pretty after the rain the other day.)

Weekend Reading And Curricula

One thing that did go well last week was that I read a ton of books.  I think I finished four books in one week?  Not too shabby.  The books I am planning on reading this week are Call Me American, Wait Till Next Year, The First Wave, and The Penderwicks At Pointe Mouette.  I'm also going to try out this podcast, which seems very appropriate for Independence Day weekend.

In other news, our homeschool curricula has started arriving in the mail and our school room is a disaster.  I've slowly been trying to get it organized, and wondering if I planned to do a little too much this year.  We are adding in a few extras, such as Spanish and a root word study, and we're changing up a couple of our regular subjects.  I'm hoping it is all still doable.  I wish I didn't feel like I need to re-learn how to homeschool each year, but with a fourth child arriving to school-age and adding in more challenging work for the older kids - I think this is just the way it goes.  (Also, p.s., Wyatt did great on his standardized testing, and actually scored above his grade level on the dreaded grammar, so I guess I'm not totally messing this education thing up.)

Planning And Movies

Tonight Derek and I intend to sit down and plan out the rest of the summer.  We usually make a list of all the summery things we'd like to do and then slot them into the calendar - if we don't, it's much too easy for the summer to pass us by.  This afternoon I will be editing pictures, and perhaps making my own summer activity schedule to do with the kids.  June was too busy for me to even think about this, but we finally have some space to fit in some crafts and nature activities.

After our planning session tonight, we'll probably watch Captain America.  Derek and I aren't big Marvel fans, but someone told us we need to try watching the Marvel movies in order of storyline, and we thought we'd give it a try.  Maybe these big Avengers movies with all the superheroes fighting crime (or something?) together will make more sense if we get the whole backstory.  Either that, or Marvel movies are just an excuse for unrealistic fight scenes. I will report back.

How was your June?  Do you have anything fun planned for this Independence Day weekend?