A Hunting We Will Go!

It has been a long time Smith Family tradition to go hunting every August...

There have actually been very few deer caught (I'm told you don't catch deer but you shoot them), but the tradition continues nontheless.

I have many childhood memories playing in the woods & hunting with my dad.

So this year Stan (although not a hunter) decided to attend & take Xander along for the annual deer hunt. Grandpa Travis & Uncle Aaron led the hunt. Luckily, Xander wasn't lost in the woods (we were actually more worried about Stan), and everyone made it home safely.

Schools Back In!

With summer winding down & all the neighborhood kids boarding the school bus, we officially started school again. Although the summer break was short (a mere three weeks off the Olson Family School) I have been pleasantly surprised that Alexander remembered his reading skills & number placement in Math (its surprising how similar seventy & seventeen sound when you are six years old), and Perpetual Motion in D Major on violin (a song we have been practicing for most of the summer... well the entire summer).

Nikls & Anna are not quite as enthusiastic, when I offered (and began) to read a story to them, they decided they would much rather play with kinects.

For now school consists mostly of scripture study, reading (a lot of reading), math, violin, history (my favorite) and soccer (Xander's favorite). While learning can be a blast, Xander seems particularily motivated by soccer. And I have been found to threaten missing soccer practice if the more important things (to me) aren't complete. This motivation works best when it comes to practicing violin.

Our timeline comes in handy no matter what we learn about. I'm not sure if Xander gets it... but as time goes by I am sure he will.