Finally

We are back from vacation and I am finally able to blog again. I did not take my laptop this year, but used my K*ndal F*re HD. Google Chrome would not allow me to sign in as I was in a "foreign location". The only way to confirm that it was indeed me was to apply a secret code that they would give me over the phone... my home phone! Hmmmm. So, I have missed you all and was not able to do my days of thankfulness, but I am so thankful. This years vacation was by far the best family vacation ever!!

My mom, dad and brother went along with me and all 5 children this year. This was Joshua's first plane trip and family vacation and it was quite an adventure. Nassau was beautiful and although it rained more than it ever has in 20 years, it was still a wonderful and relaxing time.

Had to block out 2 ladies that were not very modestly dressed, but they were very sweet and fell in love with my children. 

School time

Homeschool is where the home is :)

Joshua watching the commercial fishing boats and cruise ships. 

A wonderful 4 weeks with family and friends.

Art

 Last weeks art project was using shipping paper and colorful fall leaves to celebrate the fall season. They went for a walk around the block to get lots of varieties and then glued them onto the picture of a tree. 












This week we went to get pumpkins and gourds. We used mini pumpkins, yarn and puff paint to make these cute little heads. We had school outside today, so it was a nice outside project.  

The First Of Many Years

After my last post, I went back to look at our class photos.

Changing.....

I forgot to write the year on the chalk board this time. I don't think I can convince them into a do-over. 

Return of the Googly Eyes

Our 2013/2014 Student Body

TXT W/ SKOOL

I was doing some grading on Jordan's laptop last night and many of the answers that I had to send back were open ended questions where she had to type out a whole answers. The reason for sending them back... she did not use real words. I ask her what was going on and she explained that since she texts so much with her friends that when she gets to typing in school, she slips into text talk.

Hmmm. Talk about wordless Wednesday. LOL!

They Know the Drill

I have an Ohio (or American) Sycamore tree in my yard that is 80+ feet tall. It is the same tree that my brother climbed 30 years ago. At that time, my brother etched his initials in the trunk. The great quest has always been to find those initials.

Today (Saturday) James was climbing the tree and I heard Jeanna say, "James, don't fall out of that tree 'cause Mommy does not want to have to take you to the E.R.!"

She got that right!!!

Busy

We have been so busy that I have had little time to post or document anything.

High school started last week and Pre-kindergarten started back with review and learning a new schedule. He will start his curriculum tomorrow (9/16/13).

We switched from R*setta St*ne Spanish to SOS Spanish due to needing a program that could be used on more than 1 computer at a time. Jordan will take high school Spanish and then she wants to take a half year of French. I think she is taking a photography class as an elective, but I am not sure.

I advertised, interviewed and hired a young lady from our homeschool group to come assist once a week with 1 of my *Twinkies as she is struggling to keep up in a few classes and seems to need just a bit more support. She can do a large majority of her lessons on her own, but once she gets stuck it is hard for her to get back on track. Many times if I let her sit up at my desk, she is confident enough to pull it back together. The problem is that it leaves the other 4 with less easy access to my support. We will try for a month to see how it goes.... should be interesting.

I am very much enjoying this year! I love seeing my kids learn new things and find info that makes them say, "Mommy, did you know......?" with excitement in their voice.

First Week = Success!

We had a very pleasant first week. A good start to what I hope to be a great year. We are still reviewing last years skills, but we did start a new music theory class as the plan is to learn the piano and recorder this year. They are all very excited.

Next week, Pre-K and 10th grade start (although she may be doing school on the fly as my dear friend may need some help. She is a brand new homeschooler this year!)

We don't have any big plans for the weekend, but we are looking forward to the 3 days.

Happy Weekend, All!

First Day 2013/2014

We had a great first day of school. We had a late start, but it's all good because we had some organizing to do which was nice way to start. This year we are doing "self grading" for the day and it was interesting what grade everyone gave to themselves. I am working on school i.d.'s and still don't have a student body picture as Jordan and Joshua don't start until after Labor Day.

Hope you had a good start for those that started.

Orientation & First Day

I am back up and running. Orientation cards will go out today in the "fake mail" :) We have Entertaining Angels tomorrow and then will have orientation on Thursday. My new laptop does not have some of the same programs that my old one did, so I will have to use something else for school i.d's and class schedules. I just this minute won a bid for 3rd grades curriculum! Yipee! The kids say they are excited and ready... in fact, last night Jackson and Jeanna got their school uniforms out and ready with socks and undies. LOL! 

First day of school for elementary minus pre-k is Monday, August 26th with High School and Pre-k starting after Labor Day.  

Traveling Teen and First Day Delay

Jordan came back from camp stating that she actually had a fantastic time! I guess after the initial homesickness things turned around. They went to a Christian Concert and she got a signed T-shirt and c.d. from the artist.

We decided to do a short road trip just for fun and drove 2 1/2 hours south. I had booked a suite at a H*liday Inn with a H*lidome and the kids were excited to swim and relax. The bonus surprise was that my brother was going to meet us there and introduce us to his new puppy, a beautiful Alaskan Husky with the most crystal blue eyes. Also, if you remember The Kidnapping, you know that Jordan had been surprised with trips with her uncle in the past. Well this was another planned "kidnapping" and she was again surprised. He took her out for a very nice dinner and then they had a great weekend with shopping, playing video games and then to Kings Island for the day. She had a BLAST! She is staying to go to the marathon this weekend in Cincinnati and will return on Sunday.

As seems to be the case...technology issues will delay school. My laptop has been dying for 6 months and I kept doing small repairs to try to keep it running, but now the processor died so it was cheaper to buy a new laptop. Due to my eyesight, I had to have a machine built to accommodate my vision needs so it will not be ready until this coming Friday. I will have about a few days to finalize schedules and we will start middle of next week. The kids say that they are ready. I am too.

Peace!

BBBBBoys With Multiple Bees

Last night the boys were on the back of the property watching James cut down some overgrown branches off of the fence when James hit a hive and boy oh boy did those bees swarm out. Jack got hit first with 3 stings. He came running and I was yelling for him to strip because I could see them on his backside. Then James starting yelling and running, followed by the baby (Joshua who will be 5 yrs old next week but will eternally be the baby :). I am yelling for Jordan to come help me and trying to get the bees and clothes off of the boys. The dog starts trying to help the boys as they are crying and ends of getting stung. I finally get them all in the house and into the tub where I start scrapping with a W*lm*rt gift card to remove stingers. Jordan starts dosing out the *B*nadryl and we start making ice packs. I was gonna load them all up to take to the E.R., but really most of the stings did not have stingers... I guess they were warning "taps". I ended having to call the after-hours vet as my modem died and I did not have "Dr. Google" to help me. LOL!

After a cool bath and loads of antihistamine, everyone slept well and woke up fine in the morning.

Summer Camp

Jordan is going away for summer camp for the very first time! She is so nervous. I am so excited for her. The thing that has her most upset... no cell phone, mp3 player or other electronics. How will she live!!!

*UPDATE*

She called tonight and reports that she wants to come home. Says she is not having any fun and misses us. She also admits that she loved horse back riding and the game room. Oh well... I think she will be fine. Praying she sticks it out until Saturday.

The Too Mini Mini Van

My mini-van was 13 1/2 years old. It was starting to cost more to keep it running than the blue book value of the van. It was also becoming increasingly crowded as my crew insist on growing long legs and big feet. LOL! So with much prayer and parental support, I was able to purchase a 12 passenger van. I am no longer a mini van mom..... now I am a people mover!

The Build Up and The Fall

Wishing You All A

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Sigh...

It's been a rough couple of weeks..... Prayers needed.

Good, "Clean" Fun

With all the rain we decided we needed some outside time.

Had to wash their feet just to get them into the  house to the tub.

My tub.... oh my goodness! but it was so much fun!

They clean up pretty good!

Back In Business

I got my computer back and It was a pretty cheap fix. I still need a new battery, but I can wait for that. My Regular school week this week. Also starting to shop pretty seriously for next year's curriculum.

Have a good week all.

Peace!

Man Down!

So when you use a computer based homeschool curriculum there are bound to be technical difficulties that prevent some facet of school. This year it is my computer... the Big Mamma! The one with everyone's curriculum, grades, schedules, attendance and important links. Since Jordan has finished school I am able to use her laptop. I have a 17.5 inch screen and this little 13.5 screen seems so tiny to my old eyes. LOL!

Grades to be entered....

Jackson:

5/24/13
Spelling  - 96%
5/28/13
Science self test 5 - 93%
Science book test unit 6 - 91%
5/29/13
Bible self test 3 - 96%
Bible book test unit 8 - 95%
Language arts self test 2 - 98%

Jeanna:

5/24/13
Spelling - 100% Yeah!
5/28/13
Science book test unit 5 - 95%

**Entered**

Our First Flex Week

This was a flex week for us and it went well. We had family here for mother's day weekend and enjoyed our time a great deal. Monday and Tuesday were great weather days and we enjoyed a camp fire and a lot of outdoors time. On Wednesday we had Entertaining Angels and had a nice crowd. They boys learned how to hang laundry on the line and James learned how to repair the mesh in the screen door.  We have watched a lot of Sch**l H*use R*ck and the kids like the songs that are some of my favorites too. It really brings back good memories.

Peace!

Happy Mother's Day

And She's Done!

Jordan completed the 9th grade last week! She was so excited and I am happy she made it as it was rough for a time there. The program we use has a great deal of essays, reports and projects. Almost one for every unit of every class with the exception of Algebra. So with New Testament, World Geography, English I, and Integrated Physics and Chemistry classes, each with 10 or more units, there was a huge amount of writing  Writing is not her strong suit. There was a lot of it that was repetitive, so I took quite a few off of her to do list.

James is coming along in 4th grade and is nearing the finish line. He is excited to be shopping for next years curriculum. Funny kid. My old G8way laptop finally started dying (it's over 10 years old) and so we had to switch to my HP Mini...he loved the small notebook, but I could not get his Bible class to transfer to it. He had to use the G8way for Bible class. He was always so amazed at how big a difference the screen size was as he switched back and forth. The mini is very convenient for taking school outside to enjoy the weather. Next year I will have 4 kids on laptops....I think mini's are the way we are leaning. Time to get on E-b*y!

Jackson is doing well, but is a bit behind. He works steadily, 2nd grade is just a big switch from 1st grade and the work load is heavy. He is a meticulousness worker and likes stuff to be just right, so he sometimes gets hung up on things that may not really matter to the lesson's requirements. I loaded some 3rd grade onto 1 of the laptops so that he could start practicing doing SOS and he really enjoys that. Switching from workbooks to laptops is a big change.

Jeanna is making progress. It is a very slow trek for her as she gets "stuck" often and needs loads of coaching to get back. When she first came she was on a very strict sensory diet that we had kinda worked down, but I am seeing a need to get back to it a bit more. Her dysregulation comes quickly, with me sometimes missing her triggers. She likes school and when she is on task, she does very well.

Joshua has completed Pre-K. He really mastered many skills during the year. He will continue this summer with large and small gross motor skills. I still have not decided about next year, but I am leaning to another modified pre-k. I just am not ready for him to do the Kindergarten curriculum yet.

Next week is a school week...the following week is a week off.

Happy May Day! & Belated Birthday Post

Happy May Day! As a child, my mother always cheerfully greeted me on May 1st with this. My mother greets everyone, everyday with a 'happy, it's-a-great/beautiful-day greeting', but she particularly likes May 1st. If I had planned ahead, we may have done a May Pole, but last night was rough.

I have not had internet since early Monday, so I missed doing a birthday post for Jackson. Monday, was his birthday.  He is 9 years old and the happiest boy...grinnin' and cheesin' from ear to ear for days! All he wanted was 1 matchb*x car for his birthday. He is the easiest kid to shop for because he is thrilled with anything you give him. Not only did he get 5 new matchb*x cars, but he got a much needed big boy bike! There is a lady at our church that shares a birth date with him. They call each other "Birthday Buddies". She is in her early 80's. He was telling her about a m*nster truck car that he wanted and asked her if she would like one too for her birthday. She told him that she didn't even know what that was. LOL!

So....


Happy Birthday, Kid!

The Walk

Jackson is studying the use of the 5 senses in his Science class and he had to write a short essay on what he sees on his way to school. Some of the things they suggested that he could look for were clouds, planes, squirrels and nature. Well, seeing that his walk to school usually consist of walking through the kitchen to the basement steps, there was no chance that he would see any of the suggestions. So this morning the kids decided to really walk to school. They were cracking up at the route that they would take. They walked out of the front door, down the walkway for about 3 1/2 meters, west about 4 meters on the sidewalk, north up the driveway for about 9 meters, to the side door..........



which was still locked!


Ha Ha!!!

But he did see a large truck, squirrels and the sky.

Middle of the Night and Laughing Alone

We had purchased an undergarment from the Mart of Wals for Jordan, but due to a miscommunication the wrong cup size was purchased. I had hung said undergarment back onto the hanger with plans to exchange it on Monday. I put it on the back of our love seat which sometimes becomes our catch-all. Okay...now I have to admit a truth... we let our dog on our furniture. I add to that the fact that I keep the furniture covered with sheets because of this. So the dog sleeps on the love seat.

I got up last night for a bathroom run and the dog jumped down from the love seat in a frantic way and followed me. I am half sleep and mumble for him to go get back on his chair and he just goes from bedroom door to bedroom door as if he is searching for his kids. I keep telling him to go back to bed. Now I am fully awake and go to the couch where the dog follows me and tries to get up with me. I am completely annoyed and just give in to letting him get on the couch (which is not usually allowed). He jumps up in my lap and is whimpering. I reach for him and feel in the dark the bra with the hanger still attached wrapped around his neck. I quickly pull it off and he is so relieved. I pet him and apologize for the attacking undergarment and then I burst out laughing, in the dark, by myself!

**no animals or undergarments were harmed in the participation of this event.

Monsoons Season and a Handful of Beans

We have had so much rain in the last 4 days that our backyard looks like a pond. The whole thing is wet. It will be a while until they can run back there... it tends to be a wet place anyway. I am hoping for the promised sunshine for this Sunday so that I can get back out to the fire pit. Over spring break I started out with daily trips to my favorite past time.

Yesterday, from the freezer we ate the last handful of string beans from our garden. We still have dehydrated onions, but the freezer storage is depleted. They still tasted just as fresh as they did off the vine. We have been talking about and planning for this years garden. Lots of ideas for our favorites.

School has become a bit of a drudge, so I am trying something new for us. For a time, we will school 3 weeks on and 1 week off. One of my FB friends talked about how this works for her family and we really need a change. So we will try this to see how we feel. I am pleased to have the opportunity to make changes and adjust things... we are not cemented to what we think we have to do, but free to try new things.

Peace!

Thank You

Yesterday was a great day for Jordan. I wanted to do something different for her so I sent out this email:

Hi all,

 

On April 1st, Jordan will have her 15th birthday! Jordan has always loved birthday cards and in fact, still has birthday cards that were given to her for her 2nd birthday ~Smile~

 

For her birthday this year, I thought it would be fun to get as many people as possible to send her a birthday card. If you are able to, would you please send a card to:

 

Jordan 

 

If you have other trusted friends that you know that are "card senders", please feel free to ask them as well. I appreciate it and wish you....

 

Peace,

:)De

It was wonderful. So many of our friends and family sent her cards and surprised her with gifts. She is such a girly girl so every sparkly, ribbony, glittery, dangly card or gift brought squeals of delight which had us all laughing. Thank you every one. I am so blessed to have good friends, near and far, that would do such a thoughtful thing for my kid.

Fifteen

No words!!!!

Happy Birthday, Kid!

Entertaining Angels

I wanted to show a video of what we start with on the days that we distribute for Entertaining Angels.

We usually have between 400 - 600 items on the table before we open the doors. For about 6 months in a row, the crowds were wrapped around the building and we were out of everything within 15 minutes of opening the door. This left us turning people away. I have talked to the financial person at the church and we have discussed a good plan for providing enough goods to service more people. Very exciting!

Entertaining Angels & An Emergency Roadtrip

We had a personal needs distribution today and as always it was fun! We love the people that we serve and have developed great friendships with them. We have 1 couple that comes every month and they try to take more that their share. We now get a kick out chanting, "just one!" to them and they in turn, smack their lips and roll their eyes in mock fashion. We have a guy that gives a different celebrity name every time he comes. As he was leaving today, he informed me that next month he would T*m Cru*se. Too funny. We offer feminine hygiene and 1 of the men got a big kick out of telling us with a dramatic hand wave that he did not need any of those products. Good Day with many served.

On another note, my very dear friend had to go to the ER tonight so 2 of my children and I drove to her town about an hour away to offer support if needed. She has 4 small children that call me Auntie De ~Smile~ Waiting...

Art

"stained glass" using tracing paper and colored pencils

The sun shining through

PT

When Joshua first came to our home he was eligible for PT due to low muscle tone and his severe lack of balance. After about a year, he no longer received services, but still had some delays. I think because he had made such progress they kinda felt like we would do the rest. We did, but just coincidentally as life went on. This year as part of his pre-k program, I had incorporated some physical therapy in...just little fun bits. During winter testing, he was still showing some major delays in large motor skill related to balancing, so this last week we did some PT every day. I wish I would have taken a base video to show the difference. These videos are from March 6, 2013.

Quadratic Formula What?!?!?!?

Yeah, it's that time again. 9th grade algebra with its quadratic formula and stuff. (Yes, "stuff" is the official term that has been assigned to this lesson). I did find this on YouTube which was very helpful this time around. It was so helpful that we only cried about algebra for 2 hours today. ~Smile~

Only 4 more times to teach 9th grade algebra!

The Passing of the Wings and Memories

I don't do many of the fictional or fantasy characters with my kids, i.e. Santa, Easter bunny and others. It's not that I did not want to... I really was looking forward to all of that stuff when I first became a parent. But I have a brother who does not believe in telling kids all of those things and I knew he would spill the beans, so I did not do them.....except the tooth fairy.

I loved being the tooth fairy and when my first born began losing teeth I was very seriously excited about the role. Once my daughter came along, I thought I had gotten it down pat, but never counted on the fact that she would be afraid of "something flying into her room at night and reaching under her pillow!" The tooth fairy changed to only leaving treats and money on the outside of the bedroom door.

Jackson lost a tooth on 2/19/13 and was excited about the tooth fairy coming to his room. After the boys went to bed, I asked Jordan if she would like to don the wings and be his tooth fairy. She was so happy. The transaction went smoothly and he came rushing out the next morning waving his dollar. I was happy 'cause at least I had the money this time...in the past the tooth fairy has been known to not have any small bills in the house and has had to leave a sugary treat in stead. :)

Wednesday 2/20/13 was Entertaining Angels. It was so very cold and windy that we did not expect too many people. We did end of still having a good crowd with 2 new families signing up. I am amazed that 3 years later this little ministry is still going and growing strong. My dear friend came to help us with distribution and brought her 4 little girls with her. She surprised us with spending the night so my house was running 9 kids deep! I call my little house elasti-house 'cause it seems to stretch to accommodate more and more so easily. I had learned a new recipe for chicken pot pie and made 2 jumbo pies for dinner and they were so good. They are switching from traditional school  to homeschooling for next year, so my friend asked if they could join us in school to get a feel of homeschooling. It was such a blast to have a room full of children. She took notes like crazy and we had good conversations about good fitting curriculum. When they left on Thursday, it was very sad as always.

Thursday 2/21/13 was James' 12th birthday! Usually the kids don't have to go to school on their birthdays but with having guest and us all being downstairs for school, he joined in with us. We had a great day and Jordan made "Whoopies" for his birthday.

Whoopies

1 box cake mix
frosting
sprinkles

Make the cake mix as directed. For these she used a gluetin free white cake. Using a griddle, make silver dollar sized (2 in diameter) little cakes, flipping and cooking on both sides like you would a pancake. Set them aside to cool. Each whoppie needs 2 little cakes so to make a dozen you will need 24 little cakes. Jordan used pre-made frosting, but you could make your own. Add a small dollop of frosting to 1 side of a little cake and add another cake to make a small sandwich. Now roll the edges of your little whoopies in sprinkles.   A very neat way to eat cake.

Friday 2/22/13 greeted us with a big snow storm. The boys shoveled for a while and then I had to run an errand. While out, I surprised the kids by taking them sledding. I took them to a pretty infamous hill in our city (it is huge and is on a very well used golf course in our town) that my parents used to take us to in the 70's and 80's when my brother and I were kids. Since it was still early in the day, the snow was still powdery and needed to be packed down before they got a few good runs in. It was funny because we were the only ones on the hill and then another homeschooling family showed up and the father ended up helping all of the kids with sledding. Very fun.

The weekend was spent providing respite and doing lots of laundry.

Virtual Regridgerator

Art has piled up and I just don't have the room to keep it all. So I am "hanging" it here on the virtual refrigerator for all time. ~Smile~

Snowmen made with paper towel rolls

And the hard copies are disposed. 

Spelling Bee A-No-Go

Today was supposed to be the spelling bee, but with the weather forecast, the coordinator sent out an e-mail saying that it may be cancelled if the storm was as bad as predicted. It was not, but some families, including ours, decided not to go out. Actually, the kids were not that disappointed. I think no one really wanted to go out. Next year.

On a sad note, the little girl that I have been doing emergency respite for is losing her placement. The foster parent has asked for her to be moved and this weekend, she was placed in a residential facility. She had only been in that home since just before Christmas and has spent 3-4 of those weekends at my home. My kids are upset and were crying that she could not stay here. I just don't have the room.  big sigh....

Tomorrow is the church Valentine party.

Saturday School

I mentioned that we were trying to do a bit of catch up. For the last 2 weekends, we have ended up having some school on Saturday. For the most part, the kids don't mind and if I am able to get some laundry or other business done while down there, I don't mind so much either.

I have been doing some respite care on the weekends since just after Christmas. The honeymoon is long over and we are in the midst of lots of redirection. It is so very hard for her because she goes from the foster home during the week to my house on the weekends and the rules and expectations are vastly different. Unfortunately we are not in a position to work together to make things more seamless.

The spelling bee is next week. Ready or not...here it comes.

Update

So much going on that I have been to busy to document.

Entertaining Angels is going strong and getting bigger and bigger. In January we served 30 families and had 6 or 7 new families sign up. We had to come use a new system of distribution this last month as it was just us working. It actually seemed to work pretty good as we did not use "runners" but just laid everything out on the table. We still ran out of things fairly quickly. By 12:17 pm we were down to just a few bars of soap and a couple of toothbrushes. It had been like that for 3 months.... running out of things within the first 15 minutes. I am in talks right now the treasurer of the church to see what kind of budget we can work with. We now have 397 people that have been serviced by this ministry!

We have been working hard to finish units this last month. There are 10 units per course and we still have a few children in their 3rd or 4th unit in 1 or more classes. We are fast approaching our mid-year mark and trying to increase their speed a bit. Mostly I like them to go a a slow pace to be sure that they understand what they are doing, but I think they are capable of going a bit faster. We have just gotten into the habit of snail pacing. Time to shift gears a bit.

Speaking of mid-year...it is time for progress reports cards. I think grades are due by Thursday. So much to do.

Jordan was invited to her first homecoming prom! OH MY GOODNESS!!!!  The search for a dress was on with me looking for a vintage, Victorian style with a high neck, long sleeves and a non-clinging bodice  LOL! let's just say that they don't sell those kind of dresses in the mall. Jordan tends to be modest....mostly, but the choices of clothes on the market now days makes it difficult not to compromise in some areas. The prom is being held at one of the private schools in this town that have the strictest dress code (i.e. girls only wear dresses and skirts, boys ties, no tennis shoes for anyone...) We finally found a dress that is perfect for her and purchased it off the rack, no alterations needed!  Next was shoes, pantyhose, and undergarments. She found the shoes...adorable. The rest is still in the works. The dress has to be approved before she can attend. We are taking the dress over to the school today (Tuesday). One of the other mothers told me that they will be taking a picture of the dress because in the past some girls have gotten a dress approved and then shown up in a different dress. Ha! kids....

The Valentine bowling party is coming up. We have not decided if we are going to be able to make it.

Funny story: We had a long day of running errands, shopping and other business. My mom was with me and we were trying to decide what to do about dinner as it was late and we had not planned very well. Jordan mentioned wanting a shake and my mom whispered to me:

The Nana: "Let's let them have ice cream for dinner."
Me: "Oh yea let's just let them have stomach aches!"
The Nana: "They don't mind having stomachs aches. They want one!"
Kids from back seat: "We want a stomach ache!"
Joshua, "I want a stomach ache!"

And so...they did!

Jeanna's Self Test

Jackson's Test

I haven't posted school work in a while so we are getting back to that. Anytime someone gets an 100% on a test, it will get posted on the blog (if mommy remembers and the scanner and computer are on speaking terms)

"Yes it's over...call it a day..."

Our extended Christmas break was WONDERFUL!!! We played games, slept in and ate great meals together. We had huge fires in the fire pit and laughed at the absurdness of sitting outside in boots and winter clothes, sweating around a campfire! We did an emergency respite that had all the kids praying for a bigger house so that we could adopt again. GASP! For about 3 nights, I pulled out the sleeper sofa in the living room and we all slept out there watching Christmas movies until very late at night. The kids really loved that and want to make that a regular activity. Maybe for special occasions.

We will start back to school on Monday, Jan. 7th. Most have said that they are not ready to go back to school yet. Jeanna says that she is ready, but the others say, "not yet" Today I asked the boys to straighten the school room and sharpen new pencils for everyone and I noticed that they were showing signs of a bit of excitement after being in there for a bit. My plan is to start kinda slow and break as soon as anyone shows any distress. At this point... I am the one in trouble as I have loved my naps and will find them hard to give up.

Hope you all had a great holiday and smooth transition into the new year.