Dear Author

Mr. Roy,
I like your A-Z Mystery books because they have big mysteries. I like Ruth Rose, Josh, and Dink because they figure out the mysteries! I listen to them every night. I love them! I listen to them in my top bunk bed with my little brother. I don’t know if he likes them. I know he likes Adventures in Odyssey.  

-Ryder Clay Mack (6 years old)

School Days have begun again in the Mini Mack house. Numbers are added and subtracted, graphed and carried. Thank you notes are drafted. The super powers of letters and their side-kick friends are reintroduced. Together the super letters make sounds that assemble words. Forming the mouth to make these silly blending sounds is funny to Rory, optional to Cody, and downright embarrassing to Ryder.

“T-H makes the sound ‘thhhhh’,” I say
Ryder looks at me with pleading eyes saying, “Please don’t make me put my tongue between my teeth and make that weird sound.”
Rory jumps right in, giggling at the wisps of air running between her teeth and tongue. Ryder senses the competition and joins in. Success!

Other days we forget the book work and we move Science Friday from Friday to Tuesday, because of the weather or whatever. The joy of homeschooling. We have learned about frog life cycles and animal cells.

 

Bird watching was another true success! Identifying birds by sight and sound, taking notes in their observation notebooks – cardinal, mourning dove, chickadee. Later they laughed when I asked how their CHICKEN nuggets were with Oma at lunch the other day. Rory got the hint right away, “‘CHICKEN!’ That’s another bird for the book! It tasted great!” Check! Another sense used!

Five hours wondering the gardens with the clouds dramatically swirling above. The gift shop umbrellas spoke loudly and birthday savings were thoughtfully used.

The tram bumped along the paved garden pathways bringing us back to the parking lot for a sleepy ride home.

Mr. Roy,
I love my new ipod speaker my Daddy got me tonight. We listen to your books in the car. The guy who reads them makes a funny girl voice for Ruth Rose, it sounds like a boy voice. I don’t really like it. I love Ruth Rose’s brothers who are twins talking, Brian and Bradley. (My brother is now telling me that’s Josh’s brothers and Ruth Rose’s is Nate. Whatever. I know they are twins.)

I just love the dog’s name, Pal. It is a great name.

That’s it! Thanks for your books!

-Aurora “Rory” Mack (4 years old)

The library has been utilized with gusto. Audio books are so good to the Mini Mack’s ears that they stayed in the car an extra 45 minutes to finish A-Z Mysteries by Ron Roy. Bliss! I came inside and had a moment to myself. God bless the local library collection! I suppose the only down side to my reprieve was Cody took it upon himself to utilize his new found potty training abilities by peeing in the neighbor’s yard. If the bushes at the gardens can handle a little organic PH balancing, why can’t the neighbors? Let’s just say my neighbor came over shortly after to let me know what was going on. Ah well.

We also took a few days before school started to visit my grandparents in North Carolina. Learning the legacy of my Grandpa’s shuffleboard, nature walks with Grandma, and dinners at the kitchen island where Ryder couldn’t get enough tacos:
“Why are these so much better than the ones at home?” he asks
“Because Grandpa toasts the taco shells.” I explain
“May I have a fourth?”

Cody slept on the kitchen floor too exhausted from a weekend in the country to make it to the table. Rory recounted the awesome experience of driving Grandpa’s 1991 Toyota truck through the neighboring field, “I even used my turn signal!” Ryder however thought the experience a bit like this one at home:

Life is good. Even a three hour wait for face painting this past weekend at a local park resulted in highest joys. Our outstanding children’s pastor said it was no problem to show up to church with their face-paints, its God’s creative artists at work! The Mini Macks, singing her praises that they didn’t have to wash off their new looks, went to bed with prayers that the makeup would not budge for Sunday morning. It did, but we creatively touched it up with some stuff I had on hand.

When Chris returned from a weekend camping in the mountains, Cody was the first to snag the coveted “arm-pit spot” and fell right to sleep. (I must have mentioned Chris’ magic left armpit. Tired? Snuggle in, you’ll be asleep in 3 minutes. Restless? Wedge between the hard back of the worn-out couch and Chris’ armpit, all your worries will fade away. This is the secret to my marriage. Romantic huh? An armpit. I’m telling you, if I could reproduce the effect I would be making millions. Cody is evidence of the effects.):

Happy fall friends. May you find the joys in the beautiful outdoors. Here’s to another year of learning, a special thank-you to the authors who inspire us through great books, and the family and friends who bring it all to life.