Month: December 2003

Gearing Up

Less than one week of vacation, and it is ticking away fast. So far I have cleaned up the school room to a reasonable level, and organized some of my materials. It’s amazing how messed up things can get from daily use. I think I am going to have to revise our schedule a little bit. Working from 2-4 in the afternoon may be handy for running errands and such, but it was running into an awful lot of afternoon activities. Constant adjustment. I think that may be our homeschool motto.

I am feeling pretty glad that we went with the MODG lesson plans this year though. Now I know right where I can pick up and go on from. Having that to fall back on will make getting started again so much easier. I do need to sit down and review for myself where we are, but that should only take about an hour one night after the kids are in bed. (Wait, are they EVER in bed?)

What a Merry Christmas!

Wow. Never in all of our years have we experienced a Christmas like this one. Our times with Family were seamless, fun and relaxing. The gifts were plentiful and amazing. I am almost embarrassed sometimes at the degree of our blessing. Some people have so little, and we are blessed with so much.

The Holy Family had so little, not even a place to lay their heads.

Thank you Lord, for all of our blessings. May we be generous with all of them.
God Bless you all!

TIMMM-BERRRR

Ben and Posy were playing hide and go seek yesterday, when suddenly there was a loud *Crash!*. Oh boy, here we go, I thought as I headed down the stairs. Jay got there first and was already (loudly) asking Ben what the HECK he was thinking…

…Crawling behind the Christmas tree and under the presents to hide.

The whole tree lay on it’s side, ornaments everywhere, branches bent and falling off. Poor kid, he just had this look of horror on his face. He had no idea that it could just FALL like that.

Long story short… after a trip to Lowe’s and to Jay’s parents house, we found a base that could hold up the tree, so even though it looks a little more battered than before, it will be OK anyway.

Evil Twin

The EVIL TWIN is back.

It all started last week with some random whining, but yesterday when Tessa threw her head back and let out a scream that would make any banshee proud while leaving a toy store it became official.

We have a 2 year old.

Sure, she is only 21 months (as of this coming Saturday) but she has always been one step ahead of the game.

We had walked around a very pleasant little toy store for a while, and after a few warnings of imminent departure, I told he kids we were leaving. Now. Tessa responded by immediately trying to run from me, and when I picked her up she tried the “my body is too straight and slippery for you to hold” maneuver. When that didn’t work she let out a howl that I had no idea she was capable of. She cried the rest of the way to the car and half way home too.

Here we go…

Mid-Year Burn Out

Usually it takes until January, but this year it came for me early. The dreaded Mid-year Burnout. The Doldrums. The “Ugh, Why am I Doing This Again?” Blues.

Even our poor Jesse Tree sputtered and was nearly forgotten after only a few short days of Advent. And now with sick kids… I think Christmas vacation has officially begun in earnest. We will be spending our time reading a few novels. (Currently working on The Chronicles of Narnia) and some coloring, and math will be covered in our baking. Lots of fraction practice as we double or halve our recipes! There will be lots of time for hugs and for cuddling while watching an educational DVD or two. And for religion, we will try to resurrect our Jesse tree and work on Salvation history. You can find an awesome run-down of what a Jesse Tree is all about at The Domestic Church. Hopefully we can come back in January, ready to work hard.

Flu in the Groftzoo

It hit us this week. Two kids down with the flu. It appears to be the real thing, not just a 24 hour bug like I was hoping. James and Tessa went down with it on Thursday, right after I had spent all day Wednesday getting out all the toys for reorganization. So instead of organizing, I spent Thursday hold and nursing Tessa and fetching James more tylenol. Poor kids, they are so miserable. Friday seemed better and on Saturday, I had declared it over and just a 24 hour bug, but alas, it bit again. By Saturday afternoon, James was down again with a fever and a terrible sounding cough and Tessa had resumed her marathon nursing sessions.

Tessa still hasn’t come down with the rest of the symptoms, like the cough or stuffiness, which I attribute to her CONSTANT breastfeeding. Although she did say that her head hurt when she woke up this morning. So I will be watching her closely as the day goes on. I am praying that no one else in our family comes down with this, and that anyone reading this can stay well and warm and have a Merry Christmas!