"Hello...It's Me..."

It's been awhile, I've had guilt over not blogging, and then I allowed myself to just "Let It Go".  Seems we are on a musical theme tonight, Adele's lyrics for the title and all.

I needed a respite, and that was what I got...thankfully.  After my last post I was able to go spend a week and a half with my best friend in Massachusetts, and there we shared more adult conversation than I have had in months as we explored Cape Cod and downtown Boston, as well as spent time just hanging out with no real agenda.  It did my soul good in all kinds of ways, and I was very grateful to Dominick for helping make that happen and being so supportive of my need for a break.  I returned feeling relaxed and ready to tackle anything.

This was one of the most moving things I think I have ever seen.  There is a Holocaust Memorial downtown where several large glass towers were etched with the actual numbers of every victim.  Thousands upon thousands of numbers.  Visualizing it in this way helped me grasp the vast loss of life as I never had before.

There was more that has filled me up since my return, as we spent time with friends, both as a family and by myself, and the kids each had some successes that bolstered all of us.  While I was gone, the kids completed their US History major final projects, with time lines and two longer essays.  Each did a fine job, put so much effort into it, and seeing how their writing take a step in the right direction was a boost for me.

We celebrated Dominick's birthday at  breakfast with Miss Jane and Mr. Steve, whose birthday is one day after Dominick's.

Josh participated in his shooting club's competition and we are still waiting for results.  When he left he was in line for 2nd Place, but there were several more kids who were left to compete and he very well may have been nudged out of placing.  However, what excited him was that he shot his highest score ever, and improved on his prior scores, so even if he doesn't place, he left feeling good about himself.

Lot's of Bull's Eye's!

We were equally proud of Olesya, who not only spoke up in church recently, but is speaking up a LOT more at home, sharing her opinions, beginning to explore another leap in confidence.  She is still camera shy, but every once in awhile I sneak in getting a picture of her.  Nothing this time, though I am working on it :-)

Matthew finally got his 3D printer working successfully, and we all were excited for him!  It culminated a year of effort to design it, purchase parts, purchase parts a second and third time as they failed or he messed them up, re-design it, learn 3 software programs needed to work with it, and finally produce a real product.  Here is the video of it creating a little boat:

This was a happy day for all of us, and we can't wait for him to produce something awesome!  Here was his little first item:

While there were a ton of other deeper, more meaningful posts to share in my mind, they will have to wait.  I have been writing for a homeschool magazine and a couple of other projects, and my brain is totally fried!  

So it is time to head off to sleep, but I just had to share the picture below...7 Loved Ones all in a row!