You gotta love a double meaning.

Although I frequently lament about life in the South and wish I lived elsewhere (oh, say, CHICAGO), I do find beauty around me that I savor and enjoy. Particularly on my evening runs. I have yet to run the same path twice, but one thing I love about living where I do is that there are lakes everywhere. I can actually see this one from my house. And it is so lovely in the autumn when the trees begin to change colors and reflect back from the glassy waters. It is enough to make me stop running and take a picture.

Truly glorious.

In other "exciting" news, I attempted to trim Dorien's and August's hair. I'm going for a shaggy, Crewcuts model kind of look. I'm not quite there yet. But Dorien's bangs were beginning to be dangerously sheepdog-ish. Not so much stylish as a nuisance to the poor kid. We're talking visual impairment. Give the boy a headband kind of thing. 

So last week, when Kyle was out of town, rather than watching my usual British mystery (more on that later), I watched several You-Tube videos, after which I determined I hadn't found any videos even remotely close to what I was hoping to find. There were lots on using clippers or giving traditional, short boy haircuts. What I'm really hoping to accomplish with my boys is something more messy, more longish, but most definitely not sheepdog... I'll keep working on it.

Post-nap, Dorien's hair is quite shaggy looking. Here he helps me pay bills online.

Almost quite helpful.

In other news, August suddenly had a breakthrough yesterday. He began reading!

I would like to say it's the result of hours of patient work on my part, but that would be an utter lie.

It's mostly because he's a sponge, he's super-smart and he listens to what goes on around him. He paid attention when B was learning to read last year, and he is read to or around continually. 

And thanks to LeapFrog's Letter Factory DVD, he's known his letters and their sounds for months.

Yesterday, as part of his copywork, I was supposed to help him sound out a few words before he traced and then copied them. 

Here's how it went:

Me: "Ok, August, look at this word. Can you make the sounds of the letters?"

August: "Mmmm...aaaaa....tttt....Mat."

Simple as that. He did it with three other words and then, was so thrilled, that he had me, Brooklyn and Kyle  line up word after word on the fridge with our letter magnets so he could sound them out and read them. He also started reading the little reader books that came with our curriculum today. And he's just barely 4! 

I know reading is not always easy, and I respect that. But for now, I'm very proud of August and his eagerness to learn. There are always battles and struggles, and for now, praise God this isn't one of them.