In case you were wondering....
...Why I haven't updated the blog, "I" was wondering how long it would take for s-o-m-e-o-n-e to call or email and ask WHY I haven't updated. Sometimes I wonder if a-n-y-o-n-e out there actually reads this thing ;-) or if it's worth my time to keep updating ;-) The winner is my college chum, Karen, who lives in Metairie, LA. Karen emailed me today wondering if I had had "Elvis" early and was too busy to update :-0

Rest Assured...I AM STILL QUITE PREGNANT. Less than 3 weeks to the due date...which we all know is a joke when it comes to these Armstrong babies. My dr has assured ME that she won't let me go more than 1 week past the original due date. So, no later than 8/18.

So what has been going on here:

FINALLY stopped school last week. Have a few loose ends to button up, primarily a 4-week radish-growing study the kids are doing w/Doug. After almost a year of school, we are ALL ready for a nice long break. Not planning to start back up formally until October. Want the time to plan Ellie's 7th bday party, have a baby, pack and travel to NY for Megon's wedding, then come back to get used to having FIVE children...and all the activities of the older 3 (ballet, Nutcracker, running, AWANA).

FINALLY received Emma's standardized test scores. After 5 years of homeschooling, we decided to have Emma take a test to see how she's learning (but more to see how her MOM is doing as a teacher...grin). She did REALLY well on the test - her first actual test ever. Language Arts, Math, Social Studies (NOT history knowledge, "Which of these people is celebrating Kwanzaa?" no kidding), Geography, Science, and Reference Materials. Essentially, I was affirmed as teacher to my children. Emma scored well above her 4th grade level in just about every subject and right on grade level with a couple. The most outrageous score, though was her vocabulary...10th grade level...must have something to do with the 1000s of pages of books Emma has read over the years (another bibliovore in the family to join Aunt Buffy and Grandma Maureen LOL). Anyhow, it just helped me to see where I need to concentrate in the coming year and affirmed what I already knew about Emma's abilities.

Doug offered to coach a jr high boys basketball team this year for our homeschool association. He's really looking forward to doing this, Erik is h-e-a-r-t-b-r-o-k-e-n that he's not old enough to play. Doug has assured him that he can be the Ball Boy LOL.

Everyone is still running. Haven't been going to practices. They are at 7:30am and this old pregnant momma can't seem to get it together to make it out the door that early ;-)

Emma and her father made a deal regarding running: to prove her dedication to ballet, she could be excused from running IF she practiced ballet for 1 hour each day. The first day, she woke at 5:30am...and did her workout. We told her we appreciated her committment, but a 5:30am workout was unnecessary ;-) But she is still working out. AND she asked if she could still run in races...but run with Ellie, Everson, or a friend who is just starting out and much slower. So she ran with Ellie this past Saturday and the coach commended her for running with her sister.

Erik is trying to break a 7 minute mile. This past weekend, he ran 7:09...so he's getting painfully close. The painful part is mostly on Doug, though...Doug runs with Erik and sets the pace for Erik to get these times...

Friends from church had a baby shower for me and "Elvis" yesterday. It was very fun for the girls to go. I was overwhelmed at the # of ladies there. And overwhelmed at the volume of diapers we now have ;-)

Kids have Music Camp at church this week. They'll perform the musical Sunday night. Emma has a leading role, Erik has a small part and will sing in the choir, as well as Ellie. So this week will be a lot of Mommy-Everson time. He has GREAT plans for the week. I'm hoping for some naps ;-) We'll do some baby shopping, though. Everson really wants to give his baby brother his Lambie...I think we'll get something different.

Not much more to update. I'll post some pictures this week as well. Feel free to let us know how you and your family is doing...