If I devoted as much time to my blog as I do to flicking my finger across my iPod screen playing Skeeball, I would already be at post #200 for this particular blog. It seems right now I'm at 182, which feels like a lot of posts, but considering what a long amount of time they have been over, it's not super for regular writing.

We're in a heavy reading mode lately. Yesterday Frances finished "Sarah, Plain and Tall," which she was reading to discuss with her friend Lainey. Now we are reading "Skylark," the sequel, though we're alternating who is reading. We also read Ursula LeGuin's "Catwings" today. It's a book that doesn't really float my boat; to tell the truth, I feel like nothing happens in the book. But whatever. It's a funny little concept. I have been reading Cynthia Lord's "Rules" with all three kids, and Ollie and I both finished it this afternoon. Walter and Frances have lower reading thresholds than we do, so they have about 40 more pages to go. I loved this book, as did Ollie. Walter, alas, is missing some of the point, which is sort of ironic since he himself is closest to being on the spectrum, but of course, he doesn't recognize any of himself in the character with autism. He just sees someone who is different. Walter, Ollie, and I also just finished reading A Midsummer Night's Dream together, and we are planning to see a filmed version of it tomorrow. Our next play will be Romeo and Juliet. I realizing that we need to allot about 2 weeks per play, and we'll probably do four this year. I have in mind The Merchant of Venice and Macbeth. We tend to do these simultaneously with novels, and next up is "The Pearl." We wrapped up "Caddie Woodlawn" yesterday, and though this is often typed as a "girl book," both of them loved it and begged for more. I had never read it, so it was a special event for me as well.

Sunday is always the hardest day of the week for me. I have to prepare for my classes, so I always spend hours making monotonous photocopies and breathing in the fumes of toner. I think I have it under control now, so I hope that it won't take as long as usual, and I have an easy week because I don't have to grade papers because there was no assignment over the break. I am excited about the move we've made into Unit III of the IEW program. This is getting us closer to the kind of analytical writing that I'd like the kids to get to soon. They now must ask their own questions and find their own answers before they begin writing, and then they put that into written words using the various stylistic elements they have learned. I had Walter and Ollie do a few keyword outlines this week, and the task is definitely getting much easier. Lucky me, I have a whole stack of Time for Kids magazines, and I think those are going to be a treasure trove of material for short writing assignments. Poor kids.

I am back on the Saving Dinner program for the week. It has been over a year since I've tried this, but I feel like we need to start saving some money on food. Saving Dinner is a cookbook with weekly menus and shopping lists, an offshoot of a popular website to which one can subscribe and get weekly menus. Almost everything in it is naturally gluten free, and if it isn't, it can usually easily be made so. And speaking of gluten free, in the past few days I've found a number of very exciting products. I am in love with the square chocolate cookies made by Jo-Sef. I also made a loaf of white bread that I think would be very good if I didn't make it in my bread machine. I don't know what went wrong, but the bread came out thick, doughy feeling, and with a powdery white floury residue all over it. I ate a lot of it anyway, and it tasted good, but it would be better if it was more breadlike and had a more appetizing appearance. This was a Schar brand mix, and while the price is a bit high ($6), if it makes something that gives us sandwiches back, I'm open to it. Tomorrow I plan to make buttermilk biscuits, and hopefully those will be more beautiful and will taste fairly normal. I have five other new kinds of cookies to try as well. I know that we don't always eat well or smart while we are GF, but I'm determined we're going to do a better job.

Walter and Ollie are off at a sleepover (as always, it seems), so it has been a quiet evening at home. We're back in swimming mode lately, though I didn't go in the pool tonight. Frances and Rutledge did a lot of diving and twisting jumps off the diving board, and I'm enjoying the fact that I don't always have to be in with them any more, since both of them can swim somewhere between reasonably and extremely well. Normally we get a bit burned out on the pool by the time fall comes, but after Christmas, we find ourselves swimming more and more often. Frances and Rutledge especially love to go, and I have two new bathing suits that I got for Christmas that I need to start using. Our pool currently has a challenge with prizes for miles that we swim. We can win a cap when we swim 25 miles, goggles for 50, and fins for 100. I think I'm going to go for that, but the first step is getting my shivering, out of shape body into the pool. I know, it's the skinny girl complaining, but I don't have much to keep me warm in the water, so even 83 degrees bothers me. And I'm afraid. And a bad swimmer. But 25 miles isn't the end of the world, and I know I can do it. I know I don't get enough exercise, and this is one thing that I could do with the kids that wouldn't be weather-impacted. I'd also like to get to a yoga class each week, but I'm trying to see which one would fit. It has to be a gentle flow yoga, since I haven't been in such a long time. I doubt I could stand on one leg without falling over.

The most amusing thing about having Frances sleep with me is how many stuffed animals come and crowd my bed. I drew the line at 3, but I'm about to go to bed with a bunny, a cow, and a giant monkey. And one sweet girl who has a long track record of barfing while she has a bed partner. I sure hope this habit is one that she outgrows before she is an adult; I can't imagine the guy who would stay with someone who creates such drama in the night!