Where has the last seven days gone?......

It can't be a whole week since I last got the chance to blog?!?.........but it has. I never thought I would understand my parents comments about 'time flying by'....as a child it always boggled my mind on how they could even allude to the fact that time went by fast, and now as a grown adult with four children, I actually think time is going by faster than my parents ever let on that it was.

I am coming to realize more and more that my leaving the public domain of the Internet is the best and healthiest thing for me. My heart gets heavy easily and my thoughts just don't seem to come across accurately through the typed word.

I have been very busy getting ready for Miss Emma Sage's IEP meeting. What is an IEP? Well, to me it is the worst experience of my life....it is something that is so very important, but it is also something I dread. I am completely prepared on my part......as a parent and as Emma Sage's home teacher....yes, we home school. I've home schooled all of my children right along with their attending public school. We expand on what is done in the class and I taught each one of my children to read before they entered Kindergarten, including Miss Emma Sage. While she is not at the levels her siblings were going into K, she is very darn close. She is mastering the first pre-primer sight word list by Dolch and her understanding of the alphabet and phonetical sounds is wonderful and improving every day. There is a very interesting article regarding 'Teaching Reading to Teach Talking' for children with Down syndrome and a philosophy that I am finding to be so true for Miss Emma Sage.

I've been out of sorts lately, [what is it about the gray, cool days of winter], so trying to chauffer four active, involved children around [Rick is away in the tropics and I'm flying solo] and a full, active, delightful, joyous house full of children during the day, on top of the chores [does the laundry basket ever stay empty?] and then pulling my back out, I have had a few moments where the tears just started flowing. When this happens, and it happened big time tonight reading an e-mail, it becomes clearer and clearer to me that I truly need to cocoon myself for a while and just breathe deep and let the river of life carry me down stream, without trying to paddle back up!

and of coarse,,,,,,when these moments happens, it is almost eerie that Little Miss just happens to reach out and touch my heart, with a kiss, a hug,,,,a smile, a laugh and all is right with my world.

Oh, and One more cool thing that happened today, Little Miss got the thrill of her life and got to ride bareback with Ms. Bonnie on a dapple-gray draft horse. She was just so excited and besides herself on how high up they were and that they were on the 'pretty gray' [as Emma Sage calls Buster]. I thought she would be afraid because Buster is a far cry from the pony she rides [like 15 hands taller...lol...ok maybe not 15, but close]. Of coarse I didn't have my camera with me,,,,,actually I did, but the batteries had died from earlier in the day but I didn't have time to recharge them. Next time I promise, as you know how I love to take pictures!

I hope you enjoy the pictures of the fun we had......and hopefully I'll be back before the end of seven days.