one year ago today...

...my son was 2" shorter than I am, we did NOT have a dog, and it was 80 degrees outside. Today my son is 5" taller than me, a little white ghost-of-a-dog follows us everywhere we go, and it's 54 degrees outside. What a difference a single year makes! Today we began a new schoolyear as well. I am officially the mom of a junior high-er now as my lil man entered 7th grade this morning. (DD is now a 4th grader and is ecstatic to be using the Prairie Primer along with additional curriculum in botany & math!) I still don't feel old enough to be the mom of a teenager, but I suppose that's the same with all moms. He calls me "short person," hugs me in public, and we share our favorite black licorice together. So while he may be a teen, I guess I'm still "cool enough" for him. I sure hope THAT hangs on a bit longer! Oh yes. Today also marks our one year anniversary of living without a television. One year ago today, we disconnected from satellite TV and realized that we had no reception whatsoever... and decided to see how we did without it for awhile. One year later, we ARE using Netflix to watch an average of 3 movies and 3-4 streamed documentaries per week... but that even includes what we use for school! We are NOT missing the commercials or the inappropriate language that we would catch while "surfing" for something "good" to watch. We are also NOT missing the "gimmies" and "gotta haves" that came WITH all of those commercials. We hang out together every night playing games, working on different projects, going somewhere fun or just reading together instead of staring at a box. We are happier, we are healthier, the kids are doing SO much better in school now, and we talk together more than ever. Yes, we are quite ready to go another year without the television.