Jonathan did the Tough Mudder with some buddies for the second year last weekend. This year's obstacles and terrain were a lot more challenging, but he had a great time. He's such a tough dude. He barely seemed sore the next day. 

I've been doing workout playdates with the other moms that we are doing the Warrior Dash with in hopes of keeping up with him. Other than that, we've been sharing some dinners with friends, going to the park, reading, I've been doing some bookkeeping and sewing, and my mom visited. 

I had an epiphany today about my attempts at education with Quinn. The whole Montessori at home idea appealed to me because I like having clear checklists and quantitative goals. I loved reading the book and getting her activity cupboard ready. The goal is to have a set routine for accessing the activities and they are not supposed to be viewed as toys, but learning materials. She went along with it for a while, but the girl's imagination and creativity are just so powerful and...I love it. The ideas she comes up with using sorting pasta, pipe cleaners, and beads are wild. Everything is mixed up and overlapping with her toys and I'm not going to stop her. She's gentle and respectful with everything, toy or otherwise. So, I'm ditching the structure and letting her follow her curiosities. Besides, the things she wants to know about astound me. She asked me why some lines on the street are yellow and some are white (which I don't think I noticed until I was studying for my driver's license). She wants to read the Voice of the Martyrs newsletters we receive and then be shown where the places are on the map. Which led to her asking where Heaven is on a map. She knows almost all the states from her US Map puzzle. She picked out a book about presidents at the library and wants to know what the leaders of other countries are called. She asked me today why elephants are called elephants. She also asked me today what stamps are for and how letters get to people. I just can't predict this stuff. I'll keep her activities cupboard stocked with new little goodies, but for now I think just being fully available for conversations is the best education I can offer.