Gratitude and Mushrooms

Yesterday I anticipated a rough return to B's lessons after we spent 9 days at the beach.  And what a glorious 9 days they were!  *sigh*  But I was pleasantly surprised.  B was focused and attentive and we had a great time.  He reads to me from a chapter book everyday and yesterday it was from Riding The Pony Express by Clyde Robert Bulla.  He chose to lay down on the floor under one of the living room windows, between the sofa and his desk, so I laid down next to him.  There was just enough room for the two of us.  He's gotten so much better with his reading that I did not feel the need to read along with him and ensure he is saying the correct word, not skipping words nor adding words that are not there.  We seem to be just about out of that phase.  I can tell if there is a difficult word b/c of his hesitation and he will ask for help if need be.  So I just laid there with my eyes closed, enjoyed the story and was filled with such contentment and pride.

When he finished the chapter, I opened my eyes and turned to look at him at the same time he turned to look at me.  As he read the feelings in my eyes, a huge smile spread across his face and then he rolled on top of me and gave me a big hug.  That morning, the hubs and I had been talking about our finances since I recently quit my part-time job, and I was worried.  But that worry was wiped away and now I was so happy and grateful for this boy of mine and a husband who supported me and didn't doubt that we would be OK.  So, I said, "B, I am so grateful to God for you and your daddy.  We have so much to be thankful for that I want to thank Him right now.  Will you pray with me?"  He says, all perky, "Sure, Mama, I'll pray with you.  Go on with your pray!"  (Hehehe - he calls prayers, "prays", and the way he said it was like, "Go on witcha bad self!")  After giving thanks, we finished up with the rest of our lessons and then had lunch.  B could not believe we were done; he said lesson time went by fast.  I'm glad he felt that way because it was almost 4 hours.

After lunch we went for a nature walk.  I got the idea from another HSer in the group I belong to.  She shared with us what she did with her children and I loved the idea.  After all the walking we did at the beach, it was hard being inside for so many hours, so I thought a nature walk would be fun.  I had B take a pad of paper and a pencil in case he wanted to sketch anything he saw and I had the camera on my phone.  The theme of the outing quickly became "Mushrooms".  They were everywhere and all different kinds!  I don't know if the high amounts of water and cloudiness recently has bred them or if they've always been there and I never saw them.  But I took pictures of them and B drew them.   There was this one group of trees, under which, we could not find any mushrooms, but we found several small spots that had been dug up.  I said to B I wonder if someone or something has been digging up the mushrooms to eat.  It wasn't a dog, b/c the wholes were small and precise.  Finally we found a hole with half of a dug up mushroom left in  it.  Who is digging them up - a neighbor, a squirrel, a raccoon?  We were going to try and find out what the mushrooms were when we got home by comparing our pictures with those on the internet, but the hubs was already home when we got back to the house, so all that went out the window.  It was fun-daddy time!  When I put B to bed last night he said, "Mama?  I had a really fun time on our nature walk.  We should do it again sometime."

Here is a picture I took of him sketching a mushroom: