Six month check in

Wow...I realised I hadn't blogged for ages but it's been six months...

Notable mentions:

We have had 5 birthdays... I am officially nearer 40 than thirty, and J is straddling the middle line...A and C are now delicious 5 year olds...can't believe we have made it...and our lovely, rascally E is now three. We are out of the baby stage and almost out of nappies...yeeha.

We have completed the hallway and spare room of our house...I just have to hang the curtains and door of the spare room. Lounge is also completed, bar new carpet which we can't afford yet...and thought it prudent to wait until E is totally accident free in the toileting department.

Educating at home is a blessing for our family as the kids grow up together and learn together. O has been studying Ancient Egypt and knows waaay more than the rest of us about pharoahs and mummies and egyptian gods. He is a maths whizz and is persevering with spelling and writing, in between heaps of real life adventures and challenges. A and C are remaining at afternoon preschool two days a week with E for the remainder of the year. E is settling in well at preschool and is full of beans.

J and I are busy preparing for History exams in a month...and I still have an essay on the American civil war to prepare. Jamie now knows all about plagues and pestilence and my knowledge of world history is becoming more organised. Next year I am thinking of studying medieval history and Jamie is tossing up further History, English or Pscychology. I am studying purely for interest and to try and keep a wee bit ahead of O's voracious learning appetite, and J is working to complete his long neglected Arts degree.

I have joined the gym in an attempt to get more physical strength and stamina, have some me time and help maintain my mental health as marginally sane. I am really enjoying the weight training and combat, pumpo and balance classes...runningon the treadmill and the cross trainer...not so much fun.

I have been reading a strange mixture of books...including Chrysalis by Alan Jamieson, and The Shack by some guy...followed up with Why we Are Not Emergent...By Two guys Who Should Be...by two guys who should be. I am enjoying the continual rethink and stretching of my mind about religion and faith. I am one of those strange Christians who has a conservative theology but struggles with the evangelical church and its outworking of faith.

I highly recommend two autobiographies I have recently read. Twenty Chickens for a Saddle by Robyn Scott, and Kate Adie-The Autobiography-The Kindness of Strangers.

I would add some pictures...but to my horror it appears we haven't taken any for months either...must remedy that.