3/17/07 Full Week

Our life was very full this past week.

Saturday was the kids' last archery class. It was a 14 wk course. Jonah won a first place trophy!!

Hannah didn't place, but she was ok with it-she just went to have fun and her best friend was in the class, too.

Sunday we tapped trees.

Sunday-Monday: we realized some issues going on with Hannah. It was a spiritual battle type thing and Pat spent part of one night praying about it and the next morning. I prayed, too, and had a talk with Hannah about it-and it went excellent & she understood without any anger the changes Pat had decided needed to be made. It was really amazing & we are noticing a difference already (very positive)

Jonah cut his hand on Tuesday with a pocket knife-but didn't need hospital attention.

We had beautiful weather Monday--Wednesday and got excited for Spring (knowing our winter surely couldn't be done) and now we're in the middle of a snowstorm with expected accumulation of up to 18 inches.

Quarterly reports were due yesterday and I spent all week working on them. Doing the reports is always stressful for me and takes up a lot of time. And this time for the first time, I lost Hannah's QR 3 times before I finally got it done & saved-once because the computer got turned off while it was open (my fault for leaving it up). Twice because of a game disc that got left in the driver and when I went to save, it wouldn't save. I also had no printer ink. The first time that happened, I didn't know what to do, so just hoped it got saved anyway. It didn't.

The next time, I copied & pasted it and put it in an email. Thank God I did because the saving process didn't work again.

Also, this week, my dh has come home early 3 times to work on window trim. All the windows downstairs now have their trim and it looks beautiful! Boy, did it make a mess, though.

Friday was Jonah's birthday-he turned 9. I always want their day to be special and didn't feel up to the task this time. But, it ended up going well.

The day before I kept telling him I was canceling his b-day so he would stay 8. LOL I got a picture of him in his bunk bed that night with his rabbit and will call it, Jonah's last day of being 8 yrs old.

I declared a holiday from schooling, took the kids (& the guide dog) to Duncan Donuts for whatever donut they wanted and hot chocolate. We went to the store so Jonah could pick out his cake, frosting & ice cream. (all year I make home-made, but on birthdays, they want box cakes or ice cream cakes).

He picked spaghetti & meatballs for his birthday dinner. He got several phone calls.

He got to make his cake with my help. People always comment on that when the kids tell them this (you had to make your own cake?? But, that's what they want to do!) Susanna got a headfull of batter as she really got into licking the bowl-literally.

We had family coming for the dinner, but with the snow storm, they couldn't make it.

He loved his presents and we watched a movie in the evening that he picked.

We had a bit of a clamor when it came time to eat the cake & ice cream. Apparently, Susanna (2.5) went on a stealth mission and pretty much ate most of the frosting off the cake & 3 fistfuls of cake were missing. LOL.

Jonah was a bit upset until I told him he did this to every cake he could get his hands on when he was a toddler and he STILL sneaks a lick from the sides of them.

I feel really bad that I didn't take a pic of the cake after he frosted it and put some cars on it. But, here's a pic of it after Susanna's finishing touches:

3/13/07 Got Our Trees Tapped

We weren't going to tap trees this year, but Pat changed his mind last minute. I'm so thrilled! He's in the background with a red jacket, if you can see in this pic.

Now, we check buckets every evening.

3/17/07 Library Nightmares & Spring Dreams

I had a bad dream. I woke up last night thinking my dh was going to kill me because in my dream I had late fees at the library that totalled $75.00!!

This morning I went to my library account online to check and I owe 13 dollars. I could just kick myself. I think the problem is I order books thru internet library loan and they never all come in at the same time, so I have several different due dates to keep track of-and I don't keep track of it very well. Arghhhh.

Here's Susanna helping me make french toast this morning. She follows me constantly now saying, "help you, mom! help you!"

I love having her help and she does pretty well (unlike Jonah at that age), but sometimes, I feel like I'm a secret agent in a "mission impossible" assignment -trying to make or do something undetected just so I can get it done quickly. LOL

We got more snow the other day-about 7 inches, but with the wind, the drifts in our driveway went over the truck. We all rode with Pat while he plowed our driveway, a neighbor's and then for a friend that lives 15 mins away. We ended up being in the truck for about 2 hours. But, it was fun talking. Pat is my captive audience when we're in a vehicle-LOL. It was fun talking about current events and our plans for the Spring and camping trips for the summer.

Even though we are buried in white and it's 20 below zero with wind chill factor, I am dreaming of getting into my garden. I am so itching to plant things again and see how my garlic & asparagus is. I have new goals for this planting season. I need to re-do my compost bin as the old one was left in the new cow pasture-and they demolished it.

I want to replant raspberry bushes for the same reason-they were in the area we had to use to enlarge the cow pasture.

My mil has raspberry shoots for me every year.

Another friend has rhubarb that we can have so I need to plant a new rhubarb bed (the old one was also in that cow area)

Our big goal is to line the side of the driveway with apple & pear trees. I don't know much about fruit trees, but will have to learn.

I think we're also getting 6 new chicks, too. A friend is ordering chicks and will add my order onto hers. I think we'll get 3 more barred rocks and 3 more buff orpingtons. We've decided not to butcher roosters this year much to my relief.

I don't know if we're going to be able to do our own maple syrup this Spring. The wood stove we use to boil the sap has a cracked door. I hope we can(and we'll have to decide very soon), because boiling sap make me feel like Spring is just around the corner. Plus, the kids & I love checking the buckets for sap and it's fun sitting around the stove chatting while it boils.

We're also planning to put in a big pond this Spring. My dh is going to demo a track-ho for a friend of his that owns a lumber company and we can demo it here, so we can dig the pond for free! ( My dh used to be a heavy equipment operator)

Ahh....Spring Dreams.

3/1/07

This week has been pretty uneventful. I wasn't feeling good for a couple days. We did manage to get most of our schoolwork done, though. School actually went pretty well.

The house doesn't look too good, though. LOL

The other night I woke up at midnight alert and wide-eyed. I wasn't even dreaming, but I woke up feeling panicked. The school year is more than half over and we haven't done as much as I planned for us to do.

For one thing, it is taking us forever to do the American Revolution unit-mostly because we are loving the topic so much. And because the book list to read is quite extensive and many of the books are long and my voice gets hoarse from reading out loud. I have Hannah take turns with me.

But, also it seems life gets in the way and my planning isn't always the best, nor my diligence in sticking to the plan.

So, I feel like I need to kick things up a notch.

In other news:

Jonah has taken up coin collecting. One of his uncles is into it big time and has given Jonah some coins and even dollar bills. Yesterday, Jonah ransacked the coin jar looking for as many coins from different states as he could. He found quite a bit and I even had a dollar coin with Sacagawea on it.

His looking for coins turned into a bit of history review. The Sacagawea coin got them talking about Lewis & Clark, the North Carolina coin got him all worked up about the Wright brothers and the kids remembered when we did the flight & airplane unit(about 4 yrs ago). It was so funny to see how excited and animated he got. His eyes get amazingly large. LOL

And then he started yelling when he found the New Jersey coin. "MOM!! They have a picture of the Continental Army crossing the Delaware river into Trenton!!!" (actually, they crossed the river, then marched 9 miles to get to Trenton)

I looked at it and asked him how he knew what river and city it was. He said because it was Continental soldiers crossing a river and Trenton is in New Jersey. LOL I thought that was pretty good reasoning.

Here's a pic of him on a snowbank wearing his camo coveralls about to snowboard down.

Hannah this week has been into painting beautiful backgrounds on poster boards because she and a friend of hers are having some kind of American Girl doll Gala.

I've also been having her cook more, much to her pleasure.

I want to get a blank recipe book and as she cooks new things, put the recipes in it for her to keep.

This week she has made banana-blueberry muffins, ginger bars, porcupine meatballs with sauce (it's beef) and quesadillas.

Susanna has been her usual silly, affectionate, dancing, naked self. Her new thing is that she loves to tickle people so they will tickle her back. She likes to play "timber" with Pat now, too. He holds her hands, she climbs up his body and when she says "timby!" he lets her fall backwards and catches her. He's usually sitting when he does this, but sometimes he stands-which makes me a nervous wreck and I can't watch.

I love it that she so snuggly and often tells me, "love you,mom."

Here's a pic of her having her first ride on a carousel: Hannah is standing next to her.

She has become quite the playdoh girl. I can barely keep her in playdoh-she goes thru it so fast.

Yesterday, Hannah showed her how to make balls. Susanna spent the day carrying around a dog dish full of playdoh balls and treating them like they were babies. She'd gently pick one up, saying it was cute, then kiss it and put it gently back. It was so funny.

She does the same thing with playdoh snakes, but to see her carrying around a dog dish of playdoh balls all day was just too hysterical.

Today the kids had gym class-which I love! I have so much fun visiting with the other moms. It turns out that on March 22 there's going to be Mother's Night out with a speaker or movie or something, tea, coffee and desserts. I think it sounds like fun and am looking forward to it.

Hannah found a home movie of her and Jonah when she was almost 3 and he was 8 months old. Oh my goodness-I laughed and cried. It was so sweet and heart-breaking at the same time. I know that doesn't make any sense. But, as I was watching Jonah trying to crawl and grab toys on the movie, I just longed to pick up that little baby boy. But, he's almost 9 now. And Hannah is 11. It was so funny watching her on the movie-she was a wild, sassy little thing-I don't remember that so much-I mostly remember her sweet, helpful self. I finally had to stop watching the movie-I was crying too much and getting all stuffed up. Isn't that wierd? I'm so glad Susanna is still little enough to pick up and carry around.

I feel so torn-I don't want my days of having babies to be done, but on the other hand, I don't want to be pregnant again. But, I'm almost 37 and I feel like time is running out and that we need to decide soon what to do. My dh isn't sure about having another one-and I'm not either. But, some days I long for it so much. And other days I remember how hard it was to get school done when Susanna was 4-18 months. I know we need to pray about it more.

Tomorrow Hannah is going to be gone all day. She is going to my MIL's to help out. It was her idea as she felt that with Bumpa being so sick, Grammy could use help with dusting, vacuuming and laundry. My FIL's prostate cancer has come back and migrated somewhere else and he has aspiration pneumonia.

Well, I need to go. Hannah wants to make her banana blueberry muffins with her friend Danielle to take to Grammy's house tomorrow and she can't find the recipe.

2/25/07 So Thankful

Susanna & I had a day to ourselves this week-and what a blessing it was! Pat took Thursday off from work to take Hannah & Jonah skiing for the whole day.

So, little miss & I went to the post office. She loved hopping on the steps and waving to everyone when we left. We went to JoAnn Fabrics and I got her some new watercolor paints. We went to P&C and I let her pick out a donut to eat while she sat in the shopping cart. That's not usual, so she took quite some time to pick one and then sat staring at it for awhile before eating it-LOL! She picked one with white frosting and colorful sprinkles.

She helped put the items on the conveyor belt and was friendly with the cashier who gave her stickers.

At home, I made us some soup for lunch, we painted, then played with playdoh. Then we got cozy in a chair, read her favorite books and she went down for a nap. And so did I.

I got up before she did, did the dishes, cut out some fabric, etc.

When she got up, we went outside for a walk down the driveway to get the mail-I pulled her in the sled. I was trying to get her to catch snowflakes with her tongue, but they kept landing on her eye lashes and making her laugh with her saying, "snow tickle me!"

I wish I could convey with words how I felt all that day enjoying all the simple things in life that bring so much joy to a toddler. I loved having this special day with her and giving her my full attention.

I especially had so much fun putting my head back and catching snowflakes with my tongue. I can't remember the last time I did that.

The weather outside reminded me of my favorite poem by Robert Frost.

"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep."

"But, I have miles to go before I sleep. Miles to go before I sleep."

On our way back up the driveway, I got this pic of our house.

This scene just made my heart fill up with thankfullness for all the blessings in my life. I stood there for awhile just looking at it.

We worked on making a snowman once we got to the top of the driveway and then Pat and the kids came back. They decided to pick us up and take us to dinner at the local fish fry place-that was a lot of fun, too. The huge hit there is their big fish tank along with their great food.

It was great to hear the skiing stories-the kids did great and Pat has decided that next year we'll get season passes because they had so much fun. I was so thrilled to see the camraderie the 3 of them had together after this shared experience. ( Pat loved it so much, he took them again the next day-he got off work early and surprised the kids.) I've noticed that the glue that holds us together is shared work and shared play along with lots of prayer!

It was a wonderful, wonderful day. And I'm so thankful.

2/20/07 Wonderful Family Time

We had such a fun family weekend! The kids had archery class and here's a pic of Jonah shooting with a few of his friends. Jonah is in the beige shirt-he already shot his bow. They were playing tic-tac-toe with their shots. Other things they do are hitting balloons, shooting at dollar bills, etc.

Pat and the kids went snowmobiling later that afternoon and some of the neighbors ended up coming for rides. Here's Hannah driving the snowmobile with someone riding.

Here's a pic of Susanna all suited up so she could ride with my dh. She loves the snowmobile!

Sunday was even better. Pat and I got up early and prayed together in bed. I wish we were able to do this every morning.

We had more snow during the night, so Pat plowed and then he and Jonah fixed the brakes on my vehicle. He let Jonah do as much of it as he could. That was one of things we prayed about-that Pat would have patience, that it would be a bonding experience-a heart string tying kind of thing. And it was!

I made bread and cookies and got caught up on things in the house. Susanna played with playdoh for 2 hours! She figured out how to use the press thing and made a whole ton of "snakes" that she hugged and kissed. LOL

Then we went bowling with friends of ours and had so much fun!! It's not something we do much and Susanna had never been. We've decided that our 2 families need to do this more often. We really enjoyed ourselves. Here's a pic of Susanna watching her ball roll s-l-o-w-l-y down the lane with Hannah. Thank goodness for bowling bumpers. She got so excited every time her turn came.

We all went to Friendly's after that. Then we parted ways and our family went home and watched a family movie and hung out.

2/17/07 Diamonds are beautiful to some.....

But chicken broth is beautiful to others. LOL!!

I made some broth this morning from 2 chicken carcasses. We raised these chickens. They are a bit on the anorexic side, but they're ok and they make a GREAT broth!

I doctored it up with every veggie I had in the house, added celtic sea salt, peppercorns, garlic cloves, etc.

When it was done, it was a thick and dark golden. I got enough to freeze 8 cups of it and with the other 8 cups I'm making Italian Wedding soup-Jonah's favorite soup.

Anyway, I was showing my beautiful broth to Pat and he said, "diamonds are beautiful to some, but broth is beautiful to you. Strange-but I'm glad!"

I also made bread this morning. A friend of ours just had surgery, so I brought her one of the loaves with a card. Two of her boys are here now playing with Jonah in the mountains of snow we have.

The kids had archery today and Pat ended up not having to go to work, so he took the girls with him to do some errands and the boys are all outside.

I have the whole house to myself!! It's so deliciously quiet.

http://countryheartdesigns.com/graphics.html

2/16/07 Beautiful Snow!

Boy, have we had a lot of snow!! We had a Nor' Easter and were supposed to get 3 ft, but we got a little more than 2 ft, I think.

Here's a little bit of the driveway this morning(looking out the back door)

We've been having fun riding in the truck with Daddy while he plows, though. The next 2 pics are this afternoon after it finally stopped snowing:

This the view from the front porch:

The kids & I have not gone anywhere for the last 3 days! These pictures don't do the snow justice-I'm taking these from the doorways-I'm not stepping out yet. LOL The kids sure are having fun sledding, snow-boarding and making forts and tunnels.

http://countryheartdesigns.com/graphics.html

2/11/07 our life this week

It's been awhile since I've posted! This past week has been ok. We got a lot of schoolwork done, including lots of Konos. The kids are really learning a lot about the American Revolution.

They made a battlefield and painted it and we are re-enacting each battle we learn about. It is a great way to remember!

For Lexington, they fired "the shot heard round the world", with 8 colonists dead and 9 wounded and they said Captain Jonas Parker's famous words, "Stand your ground, men. Don't fire unless fired upon. But, if they mean to have war, let it begin here."

Then, for Concord, the British burned the town because they couldn't find the munnitions. The colonists defended their town the best they could and the British got scared and retreated. In fact, 6 British soldiers went up to an old woman who was weeding near a pond and surrendered to her.

After that, a popular saying was, "If an old woman can capture 6 redcoats, how many will England need to send to conquer all the colonies?"

The kids and I took turns pretending to be the British retreating and the colonists attacking the British while hiding in the woods. We talked about how the British fought-in formation and they were bewildered at the way the colonists fought. They'd hide and ambush. Plus, the British felt it wasn't the way gentleman should fight.

So, some of us marched in formation while being picked off by the "colonists" and then we switched. It was definitely more fun to hide around the house and shoot at the "British." We used Jonah's nerf dart guns.

They also re-enacted the battle of Trenton and Washington's troops crossing the Delaware.

Jonah told Hannah when they do Bunker Hill, she can be the British army because his colonists are going to "whoop her butt."

LOL.

Our reading this week has been from books about Ben Franklin, Nathaneal Greene & John Paul Jones.

We did a fun thing I've never heard of before. It's called a character sketch. We took a piece of paper and I found a graphic of Ben Franklin and centered it on the paper in Microsoft Word. Printed it off and we then did our "sketch' of Franklin. I started doing the writing, but then Hannah asked to take over. They just recalled everything they knew about Franklin and for each thing, we wrote it in different color pencils all over the paper. Each bit of info was written in a different angle-kind of like a patchwork. With all they knew about him, they quickly filled the paper up. Next time, we'll use bigger paper. Then, we talked about how easy it would be to write a report based on what we had written and then adding more to each fact to expound on it.

Aside from the Revolution, this week has been packed full. We only left the house for piano lessons and gym class during the weekdays, but our days were so full of doing school and trying to keep up with the house and cooking, etc.

We're also listening to a book on tape called Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. What a wonderful, beautiful book. I highly recommend it. Here's a little excerpt:

(she was telling Betsy how many houses still have sundials etched into their windows-it was just a deep scratch at the place where the sun was highest for noon time)

" Let's see if I can come anywhere near the time now. She looked at it hard and said, I guess it's half-past four. She glanced back into the kitchen at the clock and said, Oh pshaw! It's ten minutes past five! Now my grandmother could have told that within five minutes, just by the place of the shadow. I declare! Sometimes it seems to me that every time a new piece of machinery comes into the door some of our wits fly out at the window!"

2/1/07 Treadmill-Prayer Session saved the day

We had a really good school day yesterday!

I didn't really feel like doing school to begin with. I got up early and felt kind of hum drum and bored with routine. I made myself go do the treadmill and made myself pray. Once I got started, I really got on a roll. I prayed about Pat & I seeking God's kingdom before all else. I prayed about us turning our hearts more fully toward our family. I prayed for patience and kindess to be the law of my mouth. I prayed the school day would be run by the Lord. He knows what they'll be and what they need to know.

Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed with all the things I want the kids to learn, but it doesn't ever seem there's enough time to teach it all. It is impossible to teach it all! And even more impossible to retain it all. I have to remind myself that every person has gaps in their education-wether they went to private school, public school or homeschool.

I prayed the Lord would instill the kids with a love of learning--that they will have the tools to fill in gaps when they need to and that His grace would also fill them.

He reminded me that every time I've come to a point where I needed to be more educated, I got it. Wether by more college, on the job training or my favorite mode--self education.

I was so encouraged after my treadmill-prayer session. God, thank you for filling my cup to over flowing!

Susanna(2) & I didn't do as much together one-on-one as I would have liked, but she and I did have fun making shakes and she put ham in the scrambled eggs for breakfast. We made breakfast while the other kids were feeding animals outside. I have to consciously remember to let her do things that she thinks is fun, but makes things take longer to get done. She did really well with short mommy sessions spread throughout the day. She's gotten to be such a little snugglebug, that she is getting better about just sitting on my lap while we do school and then she's happy to run off and play by herself for a bit.

Here's a run down of what we did yesterday:

1. Bible and memory verses

2. copywork from George Washington's Rules of Civility

3. drill of our greek & latin root words

4. math lessons

5. Easy Grammar lessons, Daily Grams, ETC(for Jonah)

6. We read from Patrick Henry : Firebrand of the Revolution

7. Did some research on the Liberty Bell--learned that Leviticus 25:10 is inscribed inside it. We added that verse to our memory verse box to work on today.

Learned that the Liberty Bell was given this name because of the liberty from Britian our country was striving for, but also the anti-slavery society had a hand in it's name to help support their cause.

8. We discussed what unalienable rights are, why they are so important and learned who did not have them when our country started. Learned that many of the founding fathers disagreed with slavery and that they planned to work to remedy it after the revolution was won.

Also learned that Britian started the slave trade here.

9.Worked on our "History Scribe" notebook. Hannah(11) did a page on Paul Revere and illustrated it. Jonah(8) narrated a page about the MinuteMen and illustrated it. I wrote his narration down for him. He's more much descriptive if I write and he can talk without having to concentrate on writing. Plus, he did a lot of writing during phonics, grammar & math.

10. Learned about some of Ben Franklin's inventions and made some. This was so much fun!! We made a thermometer with a plastic water bottle with narrow neck, a clear straw, playdoh, alcohol, water & food coloring. Pur equal parts water & alcohol into bottle, fill to about 1/8 of the way up. Add couple drops color. Insert straw, but don't let it touch the bottom. Hold the straw in with playdog-keep the top of the straw open to air. Now, hold the upper part of the bottle with your hand (don't squeeze). The heat from your hand causes the alcohol in the water to expand and the only way for it to go is up the straw. It worked and it was so neat!!

We also made a lemon battery-which sort of worked, but not that great. Maybe we needed a fresher lemon.

And we made bottle pipes-skinny glass jars with different amounts of water. We used Susanna's xylophone to make a series of notes that matched and then we played "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with the bottle pipes. Each jar has to be same size-preferable tall, thin with narrow neck. This was really fun! Jonah had a hard time getting air to make sound over the bottles, but he did get some notes in and didn't get frustrated. He's been getting frustrated a lot lately, which isn't normal for him. It's something that's been troubling me and we're trying to work thru it.

11. Hannah did some reading in her assigned book for this week, Calico Bush.

12. We also watched "The Patriot", but we had to fast forward most of the battle scenes. We still got the idea seeing it in fast motion, but it was easier to handle. The story was excellent, although there was so much sadness and heartbreak in it. The more I learn about the Revolution, the more in awe I am of the people who lived (and died)thru that.

Oh, we so take what we have for granted.

Well with such a busy day,I didn't get much house cleaning done and our meals were all left-overs, but that's ok. We did some quick tidy-ups and the left-overs were good.

1/30/07 7 Wierd Things About Me

Canadagirl tagged me with this topic: 7 wierd things about me.

I've read some really funny ones, but mine aren't that funny-they're just plain wierd! LOL.

1. Often, when I'm thinking to myself, my fingers are typing the words that I'm thinking.

2. I twirl my hair and pull out a little of it to do that.

3. When I wash my hair in the shower, I save the hair that comes out in my hands-this way I can twirl it later and not pull my hair out. My dh calls these little pieces of hair dreadlocks. See? Very weird.

4. I cry more at the end of happy movies than I do at the end of sad ones.

5. I can't stand to look at certain patterns-like 3 dimensional small patterns-they make me feel extremely repulsed-especially if bugs are involved-like bee larvae inside the cells of a hive. But, even the pattern of lentils in lentil soup makes me feel sick-and I love lentil soup!!

6. I don't like brushing my teeth and am extremely relieved when it's done.

7. When I look at ants I imagine very strange things-I personify them and think of me being a giant watching them. Then I start to imagine I look like an ant to someone else and they're a giant watching me.

I warned my dh before we married that I was very strange and he said he didn't care. So, every time he teases me about something wierd I remind him that he was warned ahead of time. He says the good thing about me is that I still keep him laughing.

1/29/07 Last Week

Here's an update to my previous post. Last week I did lots of de-cluttering and cleaning in our house. I wasn't sure how to declutter my thoughts, so I just prayed while I cleaned. While I washed windows, I prayed the Lord would wash me and help me to see clearly and keep me focused on Him.

As I cleaned out cabinets and got rid of stuff, I prayed the Lord would get rid of the stuff that I don't need pinging around in my head that distracts me. As I get rid of stuff, I feel "free-er."

I taught the kids the song, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus" the other morning and as I sang it, I felt the Lord tell me that the many things of this world are making it harder for me to keep my eyes upon Him, but keep my eyes on Him, I must-and get rid of the things that He leads me to.

I'm reading a book called Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver. WOW-this book has touched on some things I need help with!

I've been very distracted by the "dos" in my life rather than "seeking the better part" at Jesus' feet. This is what she says about distraction:

..."distraction is where Satan usually begins. He knows if we're overly worried and bogged down by duties, chances are good our hearts will not hear the Saviour's call to come. While distraction may not win the battle for our soul, getting our eyes off of what is important will certainly make us more vulnerable to attack."

School last week was fantastic. Hannah said she doesn't want the American Revolution unit to end.

Here's a few things from the school week:

--Continued reading the Patrick Henry bio-what an amazing man!! He was a wild boy, too-his school was glad when his dad let him quit in elementary school! LOL We discussed how his oratory (and others) and the written words of Thomas Paine were often catalysts for the action of the Revolution. Used this info to understand the statement, "the pen is mightier than the sword."

We also learned that Sam Adams & Paul Revere used a bit or propaganda to get the colonists on board with breaking away from England. The Boston Massacre didn't happen the way we all learned it. Check it out-very interesting!!

P. Henry even led a military attack against the Virginia governor for stealing gun powder from Williamsburg. We discussed how people willingly followed him and how we can influence people with our words and actions or be influenced.

--The kids memorized part of Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" speech. They wrote some of Thomas Paine's words on paper we aged by crumpling it and wiping wet tea bags on it and then I burned the corners of the paper a bit. They wrote with "wood-nibs" that they made and used ink wells and blotters. We learned a lot of vocab just from one paragraph of Common Sense and identified the metaphors and similes. They used an awful lot of metaphors back them!! LOL

--Learned a lot from an awesome book called Picture Book of the Continental Army by C. Keith Wilbur.

--read bios of John Paul Jones, Benedict Arnold, Peggy Shippen Arnold, The Bonhomme Richard (a ship), Nathan Hale (and memorized his last words)

--learned about Marquis de Lafayette-another amazing man! Did you know that when he died and was buried in France, his grave was covered with American soil?

We did a little review on the French & Indian War, French Revolution and the Reign of Terror during this bio.

--The Crossing of the Deleware & Battle of Trenton. This story is absolutely mind-boggling. It gave us a new respect & admiration for the men who fought in the revolution.

Colonel John Glover (one of our new heros) was a fisherman from Marblehead, Massachusettes. All the men under him were also fishermen-and they were armed with fish picks. These men were in charge of getting the rest of them (and the horses and cannons) across the Delaware-it took all night. Washington gave Glover total control of the army for the crossing. They were all freezing, hungry and exhausted and there were only a few small boats to get about a 1,000 men over. Then, when they were finally all over, they marched 9 miles to Trenton, New Jersey and beat the Hessians (German mercenaries hired by the British to fight here). G. Washington planned it like this because it was the day after Christmas and at daybreak when they marched in the Hessians were all sleeping off hangovers. I think there were about 2000 Hessians.

After learning about this, the kids made shadow boxes depicting this event. They also filled the tub with cold water and ice cubes and floatet boats "across the Delaware."

Hannah wrote a paper comparing the positive & negative considerations about this battle. Jonah narrated his.

--another fun thing the kids did was pretend to be minutemen. They had their muskets (nerf dart guns) with them and ready for an entire day and every time I yelled out "call to arms," they ran to me as fast as possible. We also talked about being ready for God's "call to arms" and responding immediately to that.

We also did all the sit down stuff we normally do. Here's a fun thing from FamilyFun magazine we did. Even Susanna helped.

Put fruits and nuts in a container, add water and a rope at one end. Freeze and hang outside for the birds. The woodpeckers and the tufted titmice are really loving this!

Yesterday we had 2 families with kids over. Pat made pizzas and the kids went sledding. I turned on the Christmas lights on the porch for them. Pat and another Dad pulled the kids behind the 4-wheeler and gave them rides on the snowmobile, too. They had a great time!

1/24/17 Longing for Quiet Thoughts

Lately, I've been waking up with churning thoughts that are pinging around crazily. I think if it was possible for them to get out, the force of their movement would break things.

It is impossible to go back to sleep, so I get up and get going.

When I get on the computer, I get tons of great ideas, which adds to it. I walk the treadmill and read a book while on it and leave the treadmill with more ideas and thoughts pinging around.

I feel so restless and don't know how to calm my thinking.

I feel like I somehow need to simplify my life. But, the more I read about that, the more ideas I get and want to put into practice-it's like a vicious cycle.

I wonder if I have too many ways to get information-too many choices I can make-and they all seem great. But, I can't do them all.

I think I do this to the kids as well. I get them started on something and then before they finish, I tell them other things they need to do.

For example. I asked Hannah to bring down the laundry. While she was up there, I asked her to bring down a book from the loft, too. Then, I yelled up the stairs--"did you already make your bed? Oh, and see if my glasses are on the bathroom counter please?"

A little bit later she was sitting at the counter eating breakfast and I realized the washing machine wasn't running. I said, "didn't I ask you to bring down the laundry?"

She totally forgot because she was looking for my glasses and getting the book I asked for! I can't think that this is good for them- I am setting up my children to be like me. I am whirling around so much starting things and forgetting to finish some of it-I feel like a madwoman sometimes.

I talked to my dh about it. He's commented on it before telling me to let the kids finish a thing before starting them on another.

And then I read this in a book I'm reading called Home Grown Kids by Raymond & Dorothy Moore. It says, (I'm paraphrasing)

"do not break a child's concentration if they are absorbed in something. This distracts the child and could cause them to form the habit of being easily distracted, and hyperactive-jumping from one thing to another."

I don't do this all the time, but I do it too much. Somehow I need to clean house inside my mind and also this house. I feel like if there was less stuff here, I'd feel less distracted. Do you know I can't sit down and read a book to the kids if the room isn't picked up? I don't mind dust-but I can't stand clutter.

And when people come over-forget it!! I like it when people show up without calling because then I have an excuse for things not being picked up. If I know they're coming, I can't stop cleaning until they get here.

Last week some friends came over. Later, my dh got home from work and asked how our day was. Hannah told him we cleaned the house before the friends came over and "a stressful time was had by all."

It was funny the way she said it, but it's sad, too!!

Also, my thoughts. I never ever thought I would say this, but I think it can be a bad thing to have so many books to read and so many awesome websites to look at and so many fantastic curriculums to use.

I have too many choices. I have to cut it all back somehow, but don't know how to do it. Really, I love learning new things-I love researching. But, I need to either scale it way back or stop.

What did people used to do? Look at all the amazing men and women in the history of our country.

Some of them never had books growing up-or they had one or two total. Patrick Henry quit school as a boy. He studied a law book for 6 weeks and then passed the bar exam with flying colors. His motto was: what better way to learn to be a lawyer than by doing it. Meanwhile, his friend Thomas Jefferson had been studying law for years and still wasn't a lawyer yet. (not that one way is better than another-it's just something that struck me as interesting.)

My dh & I were talking about all this yesterday and I told him I need God to show me what to change and what to do. I can't read any more of other people's great ideas and philosophies. I need to trust God to show me His perfect plan for my actions and thoughts.

I know this post doesn't make much sense--it's pretty hard to harness all these thoughts pinging around in my head to explain what I'm thinking & feeling. I can barely make sense of it myself.

Here's a quote that really hit me:

"The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists of shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in." C.S. Lewis

1/17/07 Some Things On My Heart

Something's been bothering me for awhile. I'm not sure if I can verbalize it in words very well-in fact I know I can't. I've had so many thoughts and feelings swirling around in my mind lately and can barely make sense of them. The other day I wrote in my journal to try to sort many things out. Anyway, lately I feel like I pour myself out for my family and have considered it wrong to want anything for myself. Like doing something for me could mean less for them. I am quite disgusted with the me-first society we live in, so that's not where I'm going with this.

I love taking care of my family-my husband and my children and our house. I consider it my ministry--it's an honor and a blessing that the Lord has trusted me with my precious family.

I got to thinking that there's many things I want to do and to learn about, but don't. You all know the schedule a HS mom keeps-so the reason why is obvious. I'd love violin lessons (I used to play and I do have a violin, but haven't played it in so many years that I don't remember anything) I don't get myself lessons because it's more important to me to pay for lessons for my kids. Hannah takes piano and Jonah wants to play guitar, so I need to find him a teacher and we need to get him a guitar. I'd rather they get to do this than me get to learn violin again.

But, if I wait until they're grown or we can afford it or I have the time, will I ever do it? I've been praying about this and asking God questions-like am I being selfish in wanting these things??

I believe He's led me to a very agreeable arrangement. One that will benefit me as well as my children! Isn't that neat? Hannah plays the piano and has for the last 5 yrs. I've always wanted to learn piano and LOVE to listen to her and often find myself wishing I could make beautiful sounds on it like she does. So, I asked her to teach me! She took it very seriously-got out all her piano books, put them in order of easiest to hardest and planned lessons. She is a very good teacher and patient, too! I've learned 3 songs so far and am trying to practise every day and she gives me a lesson a couple times per week. Not only is she learning to teach, but I'm learning to play for no cost and all the kids are seeing me learn something new. I hope this helps show them that it's good to learn new things all your life. And I'm having fun!

Another thing that's been bothering me is my weight. I need to lose about 30 lbs and it just isn't coming off. So, I've gone back on the South Beach Diet (modified it a bit) and I'm doing the treadmill every day-a mile to a mile and a half. I can read a book while walking, so it doesn't feel like wasted time) It's been a few days and I notice a difference already-my pants are more loose and I feel better with more energy. I've also noticed that I feel more amorous towards my dh since I am feeling better about my body.

The other day I had a hard time finding time to get on the treadmill. The majority of the schooling was done, Susanna was down for a nap and I needed to read a biography to the 2 older kids, fold laundry, get dinner started, and sew cloth diapers for a friend of mine. What I did was ask Hannah(11) to read the bio out loud to Jonah (he's 8 and reads well, but his eyes hurt if he reads for very long), explaining to them both that I really needed to get exercise and they'd be helping me out in this way. I never got to the diapers until the next day.

Anyway, after I finished walking and got back upstairs (treadmill is in the basement) I saw a scene that really made my heart swell. Hannah was reading to Jonah and then after a bit she said, "Now, Jonah, can you tell me about what we've just read?" And he told it to her in his own words. I asked Hannah about this and she said that every couple pages she asked Jonah to repeat to her what she read to make sure he was listening and understood it. I told her she was using a teaching technique called narration and I was so proud of the both of them-they took this reading so seriously and did it well without me there. I often use the narration technique with them and I'm so thrilled to see them put it into practice on their own!

I feel like the Lord has shown me that it's ok and even beneficial to others besides me to do some things for me! Isn't He so good?

Down the road a bit, I'm going to have Hannah teach me how to knit!! LOL

1/16/07What Non-Homeschoolers May Not Know

I thought this was a really good post from Preschoolers & Peace and wanted to pass it on.

What Non-Homeschoolers May Not Know

1/11/07 Learning All The Time

I'm reading this book I mention in the title and it is really interesting and I agree with much of it. I'm not an unschooler, but I love a lot of the philosophies of it and use some of it. It has encouraged me to stand back more in some areas so the kids can have more freedom to learn on their own and in their own time-frame. Here's something from the book that we are doing:

!n regards to the multiplication tables:

(these are his words and I'm paraphrasing some)

It's important to think in terms of "knowing" the tables, not "learning" them and the best way to know them is NOT to sit down and try to memorize them one at a time like words in a strange language, but to become familiar with them, see how they work and to USE them.

He says after awhile we find we know them without having consciously learned them-just like we know the thousands of words in our native language without having "learned" any of them.

Without becoming aware of the actual process, we have become friends with them.

Then he gives an example of a way to become "friends" with them by using a grid, which I set up for Jonah.

It's a 10 by 10 grid- 10 rows of squares across and down, 10 squares in each row. Number the top 1 thru 10 and number the side 1 thru 10. To fill out the grid, you put in each empty square the answer of the 2 numbers that meet at that square.

For example, 2 times 8-put 16 in that empty square where those 2 numbers meet.

But, here's the thing-you put the grid up somewhere visible (ours is on the fridge) and you leave it empty. The child fills it in whenever they want in whatever amount of time it takes-even months. When it's filled out, you put up another blank one.

There's no pressure, you don't allot time for it in the schedule to get done. (that part is a little hard for me not to do)

I explained it to Jonah and told him it was his chart to fill out whenever he wants. It's about half filled now(it's been 2 weeks since it went up).

And, he refers to it when he's doing his math lessons-which the books says to let them do.

John Holt also says not to correct the wrong answers. Have them write it in pencil and when they realize they wrote the wrong answer in one of the boxes, they'll fix it. As they become more familiar with the tables and the patterns they make, they'll see that something looks wrong, doesn't fit or there's a contradiction somewhere. They'll internally learn that numbers behave in an orderly and sensible way.

Even if the child gets the idea to use a calculator, let them-they'll still notice patterns.

Anyway, I thought this was very interesting and don't know how well it works actually, but thought I'd try this grid out. So far it seems to be going along exactly the way he said in the book.

Jonah already has noticed mistakes he made and fixed them. I had to tell Pat not to mention the mistakes, though, because he asked me what kind of times tables were these here?

Here's a few links my friend, Tracy, sent as I was making grids by hand (silly me):

http://www.donnayoung.org/math/charts.htm

http://math.about.com/library/multiplicationchart.pdf

http://math.about.com//od/worksheets/a/chart.htm

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/mult/mult.html (this is an online game)

http://www.gomath.com/htdocs/ToGoSheet/Algebra/multiplication_table_practice.html

http://www.multiplication.com/cmptrgames/quickpractice.htm (game)

http://www.abcteach.com/Math/mult1.htm

And I'll end with two very thought-provoking quotes:

"What is most important and valuable about the home as a base for
children's growth into the world is not that it is a better school than the
schools, but that it isn't a school at all." -- John Holt

"To control and sort young people for the sake of institutional efficiency is to
crush the human spirit." ~~ Ron Miller

1/8/07 First Week of the Year

We started the week with the stomach bug. Susanna had it for more than a day(her first time throwing up), then Jonah had it for 6 hours. Hannah didn't get it, but had a cold for 2 days. I didn't get any of their illness somehow! Usually Hannah & I get sick and stay sick for almost a week or more. This time I was on the ball. As soon as I got an inkling (which was when a friend came over with sick children) we all started taking raw garlic, cinnamon, echinacea & grapefruit seed extract.

Here's a cute thing Susanna said a few mornings ago: The sky was beautiful-bright pinks and oranges with streaks of purple. I showed it to Susanna and she said, "oh pretty!" I said, "God painted such a beautiful sky for us today, didn't he?" She continued to look at the sky with a look of wonder and said, "oh, God...thankum." (thank you) I tell you-it made me get teary the way she said it.

Another thing she's been doing that is so sweet is patting my back when I'm holding her. Here's an older pic of her doing "schoolwork"-it was taken a couple months ago.

Our weekend was a busy one!

Pat borrowed our friend's tractor and gave everyone new round bales in their pasture feeders, he got milk from the farm, I ran it thru the pasteurizer, took eggs to a neighbor, the kids did animal chores, we all stacked firewood for a bit. Susanna stacked bark-LOL.

I made pancakes for brunch and when I cracked an egg into the batter, a tiny(3/4 inch long) partially formed chick (not alive) came out of the egg. That was gross, but educational. I threw that batter out and restarted. One of our hens is being a royal pain and thinks she needs to sit on eggs all the time-and then growls at the kids when they take her eggs. Maybe it's the warm weather. My garlic is also growing-anyone know if it'll be ok when we finally get some real snow? Will it die? Should I plant more? Advice please!

Hannah & Jonah had their first archery class for this season on Saturday. We brought Piper with us and he did great! He normally has a hard time seeing lots of kids and not playing with them(he whines), so we've been putting him in that situation as much as possible and he's finally getting it that if the vest is on he can't play. And he only whined once. Poor thing-I feel badly for him not letting him play-he just loves kids and other dogs and wants to play!

Several of the kids' friends are in the same class. They had a good time and did well. I had to be mother bear, though. Jonah was shooting at a target 2 targets away from where he was standing. It was also the longest shot target. I asked him why he was doing that and he said the 2 older (about 11) boys wouldn't let him share that space and they were mean to him. Jonah would let anyone shoot with him and share his arrow holder-in fact, he invites people to shoot next to him. So, I said to him-"you get right over there and you can be sure noone will be mean to you while I'm around."

So, Jonah asked him if he could shoot next to him and tried to put his arrows in the holder and the boy shoved him away. I was right behind him and he didn't see me. I leaned forward and said "I'm sure you don't mind sharing this arrow holder, do you?" He then said, no and made room for Jonah.

Makes my blood boil! This boy wasn't even shooting at the furthest target-he was shooting at the closer target 2 places over.

Pat went to work from there and I took kids and dog home. They all had a snack and watched a movie. I got to work on the upstairs. I came downstairs with 4 bags and a box of stuff to give away. Moved shelves and took big plastic shelves out of my room, put them in the loft and organized the toys into different tubs.

I "went shopping in our home" as Cindy's Porch suggests and found crates in the basement to put model horses in, wooden blocks in, big legos in. Also found a cute thing for hanging clothes on I forgot we had and I'm going to have Pat hang those in Hannah's room for her jackets & bathrobe.

She is starting to want her room to look different-not little girlish anymore. So, I'm trying to help her out with that without buying anything right now.

After the movie, Hannah & I worked on her room together and Jonah went thru his room and came out with toys he doesn't play with anymore to give away.

It felt so good to do this!! I have more to do, though.

This morning Jonah really made me proud. I woke up hearing all kinds of noise. Pat & I went downstairs to see what was going on. Apparently one of the older dogs had diarrhea and went all over the place-the kitchen, dining room and HS room (thank goodness not on the rugs) and guess what. Instead of waking us up, Jonah was cleaning it!!!

He used up 2 rolls of paper towels, but I didn't care. I was so proud of him for seeing something that needed to be taken care of (even though it was a very nasty job) and he took care of it and did a good job even.

We told him we'd finish it up for him, but he said, "no-I got it mom-you guys can go back to bed." I am open-mouthed in astonishment still. I did insist on helping him though-he was gagging. You should know this is the boy that frustrates me to no end most days and then some days, POW-he shocks me.

Here's something funny-he was reading his Bible the other day and I asked him what he read. He shrugged his shoulders and said he had no idea. I questioned him and he said, "well, first I was reading about a baptist and then all of a sudden it's going on and on about some guy and son of someone, son of someone, son of someone...." LOLROF!!! It was hysterical.

Sunday we ended up having church at home. Pat had gotten home from work at 3:00am.

After lunch Hannah's friend Danielle came over and Jonah's friends, Michael & Paulie(brothers) came over. They all had a great time and played so well together. The boys mostly played in a swampy area with little hills and valleys all over--just the right size for boys and dogs to leap around on--and said boys and dogs came back covered in mud, but happy!

1/2/07 A Full Week

It's been a fun week-we did do a couple days worth of school. We played blokus and pitch a lot(Pat taught the kids how to play), played outside in the snow while we had it (now it's gone), the kids had friends over and we did some de-cluttering and more baking. Here's a pic of Hannah with 2 of her friends:

I made granola bars for the first time from a recipe I got from a friend named Heather(HSMoms) which turned out fantastic! Even my dh loves them and they're not hard to make! Here they are:

And here's the recipe:

2 1/2 c rice krispies

2 c oats

1/2 c raisins

1/2 brown sugar

1/2 c light corn syrup (caro)

1/2 c natural peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 c wheat germ

1/8 c flax seeds

Mix krispies, oats, raisins, flax & wheat germ.

In small pan, mix brown sugar and corn syrup at medium high heat, stirring constantly until boiling. Remove from heat, stir in peanut butter and vanilla and mix until smooth.

Pour liquid over cereal mixture and mix well. I had to use my hands to get it all mixed in. Press mixture into greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Let sit until cool, cut into bars and wrap individually in saran wrap.

I also learned that you can freeze avocado. I love these and they were on sale 4 for 5 dollars. So, I cut them in half, took out the pit and peeled the green skin off each half. Then I put a little spoonful of sourcream into each hole, with lime juice and southwest salsa on top of that. I froze them for a bit in the freezer, took them out and put them in vacuum sealer bags. When I want guacomole, I just take out a bag, let it thaw and mush it while it's still in the bag. After mushed, cut open the bag and squeeze into a bowl!!

Sunday we had friends(Lisa & Jeff) over for dinner. They're dd(7) had a lot of fun gathering eggs, feeding apples to the horses and cows and riding a horse with Hannah. They also had a new baby that they didn't mind Hannah & I holding for a bit-oh, that was so fun! He's 2 months and is adorable. I asked her if she was sure it was ok because with all my babies, I couldn't stand letting others hold them for more than 10 mins. I actually got agitated when other people held them! Lisa said she's not like that at all and was glad to have free arms for awhile.

Monday Chip & Beth and their 3 dds came to visit. We had so much fun talking, eating and playing pitch. Hannah & 2 of their dds all went riding in the pasture and played with the horses all afternoon. One of them had a hard time steering, so Jonah spent most of his time leading her behind the other 2 horses. He was such a gentleman-as he trudged thru mud and snow. Most of the snow is gone now, replaced with lots of mud. Here's a pic I took the day we got a good amount of snow.

Jonah did a lot of snow-boarding down our hill and the kids did a lot of sledding, too. Jonah is really good about taking Susanna sledding down the hill and taking good care of her, too. Although, once they went farther than he planned and they went thru some bushes. She didn't cry at all, but pointed up the hill and said "again!" LOL

Last night I got Susanna to bed and everything seemed fine. 30 mins later she was crying, so I went up there and she had thrown up a huge amount and had it all over her face, in her hair, all over her pajamas, her baby and blanket. Pat took care of her bed, clothes, baby & blanket and I gave her a bath, changed and put clean sheets on her crib. Hannah got up and held her while I made her bed. She threw up 2 more times. So, I stayed up with her in my lap for half the night in the living room with her covered with drop cloths(towels) and a bucket. She finally stopped throwing up around 2:30 I think and wanted to get in her crib. She threw up once more, but I had her on a towel and it wasn't much, so changed that quick, washed her face and she went back to sleep.

This morning she is still throwing up a little. She's sitting on Hannah's lap right now watching a sign language video. I'm going to go take a shower in a minute and I think our school day will consist of just reading aloud from Patrick Henry: Firebrand of the Revolution.

I wonder who will be the next to get the stomach bug and at what hour of the night!

12/26/06 Very Merry Christmas!

This Christmas was a good one!!Saturday we had my dh's family Christmas at 4:30. I brought home-made applesauce and taco salad dip per request.

Before we went my MIL watched the kids for a couple hours so my dh and I could get stocking stuffers for the kids.

We did a name draw for Pat's family. His parents got us and my MIL made us a beautiful quilt!! Here it is:

I kind of had a meltdown Saturday morning. Hannah and I had a difference of opinion on how she should do her hair. Now that it's short, it has a lot of curl unless she plasters it down the sides of her head so it doesn't look "poofy." I can't stand it when she does that to her hair, so after she did that, I tried to fix it. That made her mad & hurt that I didn't respect her way of doing her hair and then I was mad & hurt because she wouldn't listen to my hair advice. She rolled her eyes at me and my dh saw that and then he got mad. But, he kept his cool and things were ok.

I went upstairs to take a shower and cried and cried and prayed in the shower. I knew I had made a big deal over her hair which shouldn't have been a big deal. I think what bothered me the most is that she didn't want my advice. Also, things have been so busy lately, it felt like we had a disconnect.

I worry so much about being close with my kids even after they grow up. It would break my heart if my kids didn't care if they saw me when they grow up. I want to be sure to tie heart-strings with them so they WANT to come back!

Pat came in and talked to me about it and said that we should go out for a mom-daughter date. The thing is, we're together every day-shouldn't we be good and connected already? Hannah came in my room while I was dressing and we talked some more. She was such a sweetheart-she was sorry that I was so upset, but I told her it wasn't her fault. Her opinion was that we need to take more time out together just to talk. We decided together that we would both pray about it respecting each other's ideas more and to pray for each other.

Because of that little episode, she and I had a wonderful time together this weekend!!

Sunday we went to a new church and it was fantastic!! I really was able to feel the joy of Christ's birth.

Back home, Hannah & I made pan rolls, apple pie and pumpkin pie while listening to Christmas music. I really enjoyed that. Susanna climbed up on a stool to help every so often. No, she wasn't really much help. LOL

Pat & Jonah did some things outside. We got the house tidied up, had dinner and then we gave the kids a present to open. They each got new pajamas, which they put on and then we all got in the car to drive around and look at Christmas lights while singing along with the Christmas music on the radio. Susanna is really into the lights this year. We also brought a tray of cookies to give to the Fire Dept and the Police Dept. We really really enjoyed doing that and they appreciated being thought of on Christmas Eve while most people are home with their families. The kids want to do it again next year and I think we'll give a cookie tray to the ER, too.

We do Santa Claus on a small scale, so the kids set out milk and cookies for him and they also sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn.

We read our Advent reading out of Tabitha's travels and we opened the 6th box of "What God Wants for Christmas" and did the reading with that.

Christmas morning was so nice. I got up before everyone else and enjoyed tea, the quiet, the lights on the tree and my own reflective thoughts. I also went outside to look at the sunrise as it was so beautiful. I always notice the sunrise on Christmas morning. This year we don't have snow, which is unusual.

I got our advent reading ready and a plate of pumpkin bread & cranberry-applesauce bread ready on the table. Susanna sleeps until almost 8:00, so when everyone else was up, we sat at the table and read out Advent readings with the candles lit. Jonah had a hard time waiting, but we were enthralled with the last readings of Tabitha's Travels. Last year we read Jotham's Journey. It was just as moving. The only hitch during that was the puppy had explosive diarrhea right behind the table (he even splattered the wall) and it smelled so bad that Hannah ran outside and threw up off the front porch. I opened the windows and was gagging myself.

Hannah & Jonah then watched a movie called "The Legend of the Candy Cane."

Susanna finally got up and the kids really liked what they got. It was a great day of hanging out, playing games, eating and watching "The Christmas Story."

We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, rolls and cranberry sauce for dinner with pies for dessert.