Day Seventy Two

Some happenings at our home...

Shawna participated in a storytelling concert last week, which was the end of a three month long storytelling club at the library.
Each child (there were six of them) picked their own story and each week they would work on being able to tell it from memory, using facial and body language, etc.
Shawna told her story, The Boy Who Sold the Butter, in front of 30-35 adults and children....an a stage, with a microphone...by memory.
After she was finished, my husband turned to me and said "She's shining up there." And she was. :-)

This, coming from a child that *truly* did not start to live her life until we took her out of school and out of therapy (speech, occupational, physical and mental health) a year after we adopted her. Shawna had always been,...facially expressionless is the best way I can describe it. I was questioned about it several times actually, by teachers and therapists. After a while though, I started noticing that when she read outloud to someone, she came alive and became the character! It was so unlike her. When I saw the sign for the storytelling club, I thought this would be something Shawna would enjoy.
She was so awesome! She got up on the stage like she owned it and was full of confidence. I'll post a few pictures here when I develop the film. :-)

Last night, my husband & Cimon went to Ocala Speedway for the Monster Truck Jam. Billy didn't tell him about it until he came home from work and Cimion was sp psyched to go!! :-) They also went with two of our friends, Chris & his son Lance. Lance was Cimions foster brother and as luck would have it, the family who adopted him live near us and we've become friends over the last couple of years. The boys (all four of them) had a great time and went out to eat afterwards. :-)

Today is my husband's 41st birthday. :-) I met him when he was 23. The kids chipped in and bought him a nascar wall clock shaped like a tire. It's really cute! He's going to either put it in his work shed or his office at his job.
They also got him a book called "My Dad, My Hero: Thought on Fatherhood". They each wrote down their definition of a hero on an index card. On the other side they wrote why their dad is their hero. We punched a hole in the corner of all the cards and tied a ribbon through it to use as a bookmark. I got him a magnetic poker game. It goes on the fridge and they actually have a whole line of these types of games. I thought it would be something fun for him. I also invited my mother, aunt Mary and cousin Maryanne came over for pizza and birthday cake.

Life is good. :-)

FYI sidenote: Mary Griffith, who wrote one of my favorite unschooling books, The Unschooling Handbook, started a new blog here. I love reading her book whenever I feel some cobwebs starting to form in my brain. It always helps. :-)