Yes, Auntie Cheryl, I'm still alive!

I hope your Christmas has been merry and bright!

I am so grateful for the full 12 days in which to celebrate and rest (and catch up on a little blogging!) As odd as it was for our local schools to be in session all the way up to Christmas Eve, it sure is nice that Scott doesn't have to go back to work until after Epiphany. I've been pretty sick this month, but expecting to be back to health by the New Year!

Joyfully anticipating Christ's arrival...

This was my kitchen the week before Christmas. Oven and sink installation are on hold due to a back-ordered part -- but we're making progress, folks!

Not much baking this month, but we did make "Rice Christmas Trees" with M&M "ornaments," and shared with our neighbors!

And then Mema arrived! This was the first Christmas in three years that Scott's mom was able to fly out from South Dakota to be with us. We took her to our favorite local burger and ice cream place, and then to see the Christmas lights at our local zoo.

 

It was so fun to watch Littlest that night. We didn't go last year, and he barely remembered it from the year before, so everything was new and exciting. We had to ride the carousel twice, of course.

That's all for tonight. I'll save Christmas weekend for another post. This Mama needs some rest.


I hope you're also finding time to rest in Christ after the busy-ness of Christmas preparations and celebrations!

January days gone by...

Oh my goodness, I swear I did not give up blogging as a New Year's Resolution! How did it get to be the 16th of January with no new posts for 2011?! Is anyone even still here?

Apparently, we've been keeping busy.

After a full month away from anything that smelled like schoolwork, we Mommy needed a few days a week to transition back into our usual routine. I was also trying to figure out what Littlest meant when he requested to "start kindergarten" right after Christmas.

I went ahead and bought the My Father's World kindergarten curriculum I'd been looking at forever. Of course, I'm not using it exactly as it says, because I don't like following directions. And yes, I wondered through the first two weeks whether I should have ordered something different, or written my own curriculum, because I'm picky, cheap and indecisive.

But, so far, it's working out.
 
I do think it's more of a preschool curriculum, as they take the entire school year to introduce the first 26 letter sounds, but that's fine because he's only four anyway. The science is pretty basic, too, but I'm attempting to expand on it by coordinating the themes with the older boys' science. And I really like the Bible/character lessons that go with each week's theme.

Other things that kept us busy...

Fake snow that came in the boys' stockings.

The big boys took up their knitting again. (The gloomy cold outside was inspirational.) And Littlest learned to cast-on.

Lots and lots of reading, thanks to new books and gift cards for Christmas!

A little Celtic crafting with our history lesson.

Escapes into the sporadic sunshine, and visits to the park after too many days indoors.

The ever-changing, ever-present fort, and Nerf war.

And yes, even a little baking (the kids' fruitcake recipe from our new Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook)...

And somehow we managed to get all the Christmas decorations put away, too.