Snow

There were angels in our back yard.



Lots of angels.



There was also some of this. Even though this shot is fuzzy, I love the look on the boy's face. He dished it out.



And he got it back.



Little man was contented pulling the sled.



And catching snow.





And I contented myself with taking artsy-fartsy pictures. Because, hey, who doesn't love a tangle of snowy branches...



A pitchfork covered in snow...



And what's left of the grasses covered in snow?

Three Days and Counting

Well, Sinatra has finally arrived: number four is potty trained! Can you see me doing a happy dance!?!!! Congratulate me!!! What a perfect Christmas present. Merry Christmas to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Believe me, it deserves that many exclamation points. Three days, no accidents. Hark, me thinks I hear angels singing. What relief (pun completely intended).

Clean Sweep

Today I am cleaning. I'm not teaching a stitch of school; we're done with that for the year. Often, I can't keep up with my house. It moves too much. It wiggles and skips and rolls down hills. When it does this all the things inside my house, especially toys, fly all over the place. I even find things like Legos in underwear drawers.

So, today I grounded my house--just nailed it down to its foundation, and I'm cleaning from top to bottom. I'm making nice neat piles of Legos, cars, game pieces, Go Fish cards, stray socks, and board books. They are all finding their homes today.

Tomorrow I will untether my house and maybe it will feel like it's all dressed up in Sunday's best and behave itself while I get some other things done.

I don't think that any child let loose for Christmas break could be any happier than I am that break has arrived. Maybe I'll wiggle, skip and roll down hills--nah, 'cause I would have to get the grass stains out.

Timmy Goes!

Yes, we have a potty song. We've sung it so many times that everyone joins in when he has a little triumph. He expects a celebration with presents and candles and cake. This time we only had ice cream. This is one small detriment from having "uped" the anti so many times over the last 7 months. But the party is no big deal to me. Believe me, I feel like celebrating much more than anyone else in the house when he does his business where he should. It was a lovely night for a party! Congratulations, Sinatra (and me).

Bah! Humbug!

Today I took Gem and Shakespeare to a matinee performance of A Christmas Carol, put on my the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. They did a wonderful rendition of Dickens' story and filled in the scenes with colorful musical numbers.

We went to the production with two other homeschool families. Shakespeare was dismayed to find that he was the only boy, but soon didn't care because he enjoyed the play so much. Here they are in front of the set during intermission.




It made me remember what fun it was to be involved in a production. In high school I was in The Sound of Music, South Pacific, and Oklahoma. What fun to dress up and pretend to be someone else, somewhere else. Being fitted for costumes, caking on makeup, navigating a crowded dressing room and laughing with friends was all part of enjoying back stage.

And under the lights everything came to life--the choreographed dances became just plain fun and the songs, complete with harmony, are stowed in a memory box in my head and pop out every so often in the shower. I'm sure I sound silly singing my harmony lines, but I don't care. I bellow them out for my kids to enjoy. Sometimes we dance around the kitchen to "My favorite things" or "Dites-moi"(fancy Frency lingo).

"The corn is as high as an elephant's eye!" Name that musical.

The play stirred up wonderful memories. I hope my young'uns will get to experience it too. Oops, been thinkin' 'bout those Sooner melodies.

"So long...farewell...auf wiedersehen, good ni--ight! I'm going...to bed...be-cause it's mi--id ni--ight!"

Decorating

We started off with the star on top.



And after a while I caught Popcorn doing my absolute favorite thing about Christmas trees--looking at the lights from under the tree. If you've never done that you haven't really experienced Christmas lights--if you are nearsighted take off your glasses--all the more fun!



Little Sugar watched her siblings enjoying the decorating.



She wanted in on the fun too. "Hey, what about this soft one on the bottom, Mom?"



She chewed on the buttons and mauled the edges, until ...



"What are they doing ... oh, oops! Mom! Maaaaaaahhhhhhh-m! Could you just reach... that..."



"Can al-most...alll-most..."



"Ah, yes! Never mind Mom."

...and Who's on First?

Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, And Nobody

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

House on Wheels

Yep. We did it. We've been thinking about it for years and we finally took the plunge. The kids knew nothing about it. Jon went to a conference in Phoenix then flew to Omaha to pick up our new house. When he drove into our driveway, then and only then, did our kids find out about it. It was as if Disney World had parked in front of our house. Take a look at the reactions:



Now we're actually going to Disney World--again. We're taking the 8mpg white beast south for the holidays and taking advantage of the wonderful world of homeschooling to get those off season rates that begin when everyone else goes back to school. When Jon suggested Disney again I rolled my eyes and begged for a new location. Disney is nice but two of our kids have gone five times. I thought that maybe we could go to a national park or historic site instead. Jon likes those things too--but he loves Disney. I hoped against hope. After politely listening to me argue my case he smirked and replied, "Well, why don't we just ask the kids which they would rather do." Booger head. (That's my way of cussing).

Anyway, we have a motor home. It sleeps six, but that doesn't stop us from fitting in seven. We're looking forward to lots of camping in the future--Griswold style--but hopefully with fewer snafus. We cleaned the thing from stem to stern. Jon spent two days polishing the outside and Gem and I spent an entire Saturday scrubbing every square inch inside. Now it feels like it's ours.

Many people have been very concerned about where we will park it. Don't worry friends, neighbors, moms--it's in the fenced in lot behind the maintenance shed at the college. I have a friend whose husband owns an office supply company. I told her that she gets all the free copying she wants--I get vehicle storage. What a perk--ha!

Little Princess

Took some pictures of my dressed-up sweetie this afternoon.

For Game Day

I have a hat too, Aunt Emily!