Not Long Enough

Nancy and Ronnie, July 4, 2008 @ Mike & Joyce's house on the River, Calleo
Ronald Earl Brooks
BROOKS, Ronald Earl, 64, a beautiful light of God, was called home to receive his heavenly rewards on September 11, 2008. He is survived by his beloved and devoted wife, Nancy A. Brooks; his father, Fredrick F. Brooks; his brother, Fredrick M. Brooks; sister, Peggy Strong; daughters, Lisa B. Rick, Karen B. Nickolaou and Melissa B. Goodwin; and stepsons, Carlton L. Clark, David C. Clark and Jason A. Clark; ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild. A memorial service will be held on Friday, September 19, at 4 p.m. at Hunton Baptist Church located at 11660 Greenwood Road in Glen Allen.

Last week started off not so good and got worse by the end of the week. A week ago Sunday I stayed in bed most of the day with sinus problems and achiness. I have such a hard time staying still because I get so bored but just don't feel like doing anything. I really like to be doing something instead of just having idle time on my hands, not that I don't like to waste a few good moments every once and a while!

As the week went on I was feeling better but couldn't seem to get my energy up to what I am use to.

Then in the middle of the week my uncle went to the hospital...

The last two years my uncle has been trying to beat cancer. He lost his battle Thursday, Sept 11. This was not a shock but a disappointment. He was so kind and always had a nice compliment for me. I will never forget just in joking he did call me Aimless. He had kindness in his eyes, and you didn't have to look very far into them to see if it was genuine. He loved his wife and his last parting words to her were, "You were the best thing that has ever happened to me." I am so glad that he was conscious enough on Wednesday to say those last words to her. I know she will cherish those for the rest of her life. Life without him will be hard especially for my aunt. We always want our loved ones to live longer than they do but God has a plan and he knows when we have suffered enough. My uncle is in Heaven and that is a comfort to us left behind. Knowing we will see him again is in God's great plan.

As the bible verse says I have plans for you declares the LORD....Jerimiah 29:11

Science Museum

On Friday we met some friends at the science museum. The kids had so much fun. They played on the moon walk. When we went outside to see the trains and trolley the kids ran all over the place and even some places they should not have been. If mamma hen ain't watching then the little ones try new places to jump from. LOL All in all they had a great time and was sad when it was time to leave. We told them not to worry b/c we have a year membership and we can come back as many time as we want.

Abby and Clara head's on a platter of fruit.

Emily's head on a platter of fruit.

Kaityn is getting ready to walk on the moon.

Having Fun Surfing!!

Having Fun Before Bed

One night last week Kaitlyn decided to have a party for her squirmmel (sp). It is one of those fuzzy caterpillars that have an almost invisible string so it looks like it is moving by itself. She decided it was going to be beach party. By the way the party only lasted about 15 min because it was time for bed. Both the girls decided it was time to go surfing. I thought it was cute and they had music from the Beach Boys, Surfin' Safari. Me and Joel just kind of watched them and told them how well they knew how to surf!! It was fun and it is always interesting to watch the girls come up with their own ways to do things.

First Week of School

We started school last week. We only did three days. They went pretty good. It is a little overwhelming for me to do two children but I should get in a routine within a month or so. Emily likes school but is impatient at times and seems a little bored. I need to play around with her curriculum and see if I can't do a couple days at a time. She just needs a little more challenge! Kaitlyn started just fine. We started our read a loud from Sonlight and it is a bit slow but sometimes that is just how things are when you first start to read a book. We are hoping it gets better! I am glad to be back into more of a routine. I just feel we accomplish more during the day and things flow better. I am looking forward to a fun and exciting year.

Last Free Week

Well, this is our last free week before we start school next week. It has been quite busy this summer. Even though we won't go on vacation until November it has been a nice summer! We saw a lot of our friends, went swimming a couple of times and played at the park. This week has been pretty busy getting ready for our co-op to start. Tonight we have our meeting to sign up for co-op. I think we will lose a lot of the older members. We have several new families coming tonight. I am excited about this. The other two core members and I have planned a good year and are looking forward to it. New topics this year are sign language, earth science, the human body and a theatre course. Not sure how the theatre course will go, not quite ironed out all the details. We will be doing a latin course with a group at one of my friend's house. Kaitlyn is looking forward to this. I think she just likes hanging out with her friends. But that is typical for a child of any age!

We will hit the books hard next week to really get going. It will be interesting this year since I have two kiddos to teach. Emily is looking forward to it, at least she acts that way. I am hoping she will enjoy her first year. We have done math during summer and she has enjoyed doing her math book. We were able to complete about 1/3 of it this summer. I think we will slow down once we start the phonics and she has to learn the concept of adding. I am looking forward to this school year. Once we hit summer I felt kind of lost b/c we didn't have that much of a routine. It got better once we started doing things with our friends and it was nice when we didn't have anything to do some days! I think we all need days like this. It helps us appreciate the down time. Well, I will report back sometime next week to let you know how our first week of school went. Until then....