because coming up with a title annoys me every time... this one is "all the things"

I have the urge to write these days, but very little motivation. I'm not sure if that's an oxy moron but it makes total sense in my head. {also, side note: spell check just suggested I wanted to say "oxy Mormon" -- bahahaha!} 
This year in school we've been doing more reading and writing than we've ever done. I suppose its normal when there's a 4th grader around. Ethan has shocked us with his writing abilities. He reads A LOT so I should've known he'd be a good writer, but I guess because getting the words ON paper takes him f o r e v e r -and-a-day, I just figured he didn't have much to say.
We use the Excellence in Writing program at home and for his Essentials class at Classical Conversations. Its a program I can't recommend enough. I love it. And I love the way Andrew Pudewa teaches parents/teachers how to guide children. Its totally changed the way I view homeschooling, for the better, I hope ;-)
So we ordered the books for Rachel and she and I do them here at home. She's the one I thought would love it and take to it right away. She didn't. She actually groans when I tell her its time to her writing work. Funny how they surprise us like that, huh?
She will sit around and make up random stories {most of them make NO sense at all, but they make total sense to her} and she loves to create characters and tells me all about their abilities and characteristics. Ethan is the opposite. Give him something actually concrete write about and he's good. Tell him to go make up something random and he struggles big time.
For me its such an "a-ha!" moment in my day where God shows me my kids are each very different from one another and forcing them to be the same or as close to the same as possible is a huge mistake.

anyway...

I'm going to be a rebel and say that Spring is here. Who ever waits for a calendar to tell them these things anyway?
Its 65 degrees here today and in other places on the West Coast its in the 80's. And even though people try to act like its something new, it happens every year. I can remember back in the early 90's we were at our friends house, swimming in their NON heated pool on February 22nd when we got that call that our other friend's mom had her baby. And we didn't think it was weird. So, yeah.
Leaves are returning to our trees, daffodils are popping up everywhere {because in Washington, plants like daffodils and blackberry bushes are literally wild flowers and grow everywhere}
I need to figure out how to prune our apple and plum trees, so if anyone reading this has any tips or can send me to a website with good tips, please do! Also, we have 3 maple trees that will need pruning and I'm clueless there as well. Lets just get it said: You know 'green thumb'? Mine is black. The end.

The kids and I are reading through the Bible together. Ethan and I trade off reading each morning and today we landed on Matthew 4. Its a passage I've read what feels like one million times and yet when I read the bible aloud to my kids, I see it in a whole new light. I stop and realize there's so much to explain and talk about. So many sentences we typically just breeze right by and don't think much of them. I think mostly for me its because I was raised in a home where we read the bible. Its so very familiar to me and sometimes with familiarity comes boredom. Not obvious boredom, but just this sort of "yeah, I've read that; I can even tell you what's coming next" attitude.
So we were reading Matthew 4 today and came to the spot where it says Jesus spent 40 days and nights in the desert (with NO food, mind you) and Satan came to tempt him.
Rachel stops me. "Wait! This has always confused me. I thought Jesus was sinless. If Satan tempted him, how can he be sinless?" Perfect opportunity to talk about the fact that being tempted isn't sinning. Because we can use the strength God gives and say no and resist temptation and chose not to sin. Walking IN to temptation = sin. {I refuse to use the word "falling" because I think 99.9% of the time we walk into temptation with our eyes wide open.}
It ended up being a fun conversation to talk about other areas in the bible where people were tempted and sinned and some resisted and God blessed them in amazing ways.

- I have a 6 year old refusing to eat her soup I made for her {she spotted bok choy and has decided its my ploy to kill her} so I need to run.