August is usually the most anti-climactic month of the year.  No major holidays to spice things up, inferno-hot, tempers snippy, not to mention booooring….

But this August was different.  Definite good things happened this August.  Here are the top ten, no order:

10.  Discovered Netflix has 73 episodes of Phineas & Ferb, most of which are double episodes, which we can watch 14 hours a day, 7 days a week.  (I had to set a limit on the hours somewhere.)

9.  Chesapeake Beach began school a week earlier than our town, so the beaches were nearly empty the day we collected all these awesome shark teeth.  The chunky bits are ray teeth.

8.  I saw my first SIX jelly fish not in an aquarium.  (And kept my distance.)

7.  There was an EARTHQUAKE on my birthday!!  Magnitude of 5.9, felt all along the East Coast, and apparently (according to the news), Virginia majorly suffered, even though nothing fell off my walls (guess I have good decoration-hanging skills).  We also had Hurricane Irene come through that weekend with minimal damage.  Our vanilla-scented LED candles and donuts helped us to suffer comfortably.

6.  My sister (forget -in-law, so much easier to say sister since she is) sent me a pair of Craghoppers trousers for my birthday, which if you don’t know what those are, Bear Grylls of Man vs. Wild wears them.  They are light, well-made, insect-repellant (the NosiLife ones are), and they even have a waterproof pouch in the thigh for keeping valuables dry when you jump off a thirty-foot waterfall.  I am so doing that the next time I find one.

5.  Mentioning the birthday a lot but since that always happens in August, it doesn’t count.  The family making it the BEST, though, definitely does.  Thanks for the love, you guys!

4.  The school books for the year came pouring in through the mail.  Seriously Christmas in August.  History, science, language… (sigh of major contentment).  YES we are learning Latin, and YES we are learning to be spies.

3.  Found the book that saved my life from the terrors of homeschooling!  It’s The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise.  It’s given me:

: A long-term perspective on the education I’m offering my kids, regardless of whether I homeschool them or not

: An understanding of how childrens’ minds develop through the years (different as they are), and what tools to give them so they can funnel their own love of learning

: Structures, schedules and multiple curricula for every subject from K -12th grade, and explanations of how to teach them if I choose, to all four of my children at once (ages 12, 10, 6 and 18 months)

Yeah, no more doing it from scratch.  No more questioning whether I’m giving them what they need or falling short.  I have incredible peace of mind knowing they’ll be bright, contributing adults to society in whatever forms they desire to give with.

And what’s even cooler is I get to do it at the same time as the kids, so we’re all in it together.  Love in the family, baby.  Somehow.

2.  Enjoyed a fabulous week with my artist little sister, Lisa, who has so much talent it radiates like the sun.  If anyone wants to hire someone to paint gorgeous murals, let me know and I’ll connect you to her.

1.  Dum da da dum… TOTAL words written this month: 12711 or so, of which 7K was worldbuilding and a couple of rough scenes for my book, another 1K was a picture book, and the rest was journaling.  I also printed out all my notes over the last couple months for my WIP (about an entire manuscript’s worth) so I can put them into order in my World Book, because seriously, how is a person supposed to keep track of all the ever-changing details??

So there is my most awesome month this year.  Life just keeps on getting better :).