The Month in Review -- December

I promised you last month that we would have a more homeschool-ish month, this.  At the time I was thinking about the "school" part of that word, but actually it is the "home" part which we really enjoy, and which is really more noteworthy!  And after all, our best lessons are from life itself.

In December:

We got up with the sun.  It rained that afternoon.

Red sky at night
Sailor's delight
Red sky at morning
Sailors take warning

 

We visited our local cram-packed craft shop.  Crafty Booklover is into drawing, making cards, making wee felt dolls, and making something else I can't mention here because someone's birthday is coming up, and she wouldn't want her friend to know what she is getting.

Emily made a clock, all by herself!

We preached (not me, my DH) and sang at the nursing home.

When she discovered her new unit in Rod and Staff's geography was about Japan, Carrotlover (who, with her sister, Booklover, Hates textbook reading and questions) cried with frustration and disinterest.  But the stealthy mother quietly tossed some good library picture books with Japanese settings into the living room book basket. At lunch time Carrotlover arranged a private Japanese dining room scene for herself, complete with low table, cushion to kneel on,  a set of make-shift chopsticks, and some green "tea".  I, of course, being the great mom that I am, contributed a couple of rice balls and a slice of bacon served on a banana leaf platter, and an authentic oriental tea pot and cup. Well, nothing that fun could stay private for long.  She ended up sharing her table (and her rice) with her sister.  

Booklover demonstrated what she learned in Robert Krampf's science class.

We baked our best ever, most favorite cookies, Chocolate Peppermint Cremes. As you can see, they don't last long!

After working up to 70 wpm on the qwerty keyboard, Alizona decided to learn the Dvorak keyboard.  She is up to 30 wpm on Dvorak, and her brain is now entirely scrambled, lol.  Dvorak is faster, and it drives her crazy that it was not set as the standard.  But no one uses it, so what is a girl to do?

Two of our resident artists were busy at work:

Go here for more art by Amy.

We helped our elderly friend get her groceries.

And we celebrated yet ANOTHER birthday! Carrotlover turned nine. I am suffering the mother's aging-children syndrome.  One more in January, then we will be done with kid birthdays around here until next October.

We enjoyed a bit of snow -- from a distance.

We spent some time on a small farm, with some little, adorable, one-day-old goat kids.  I discovered that although NOTHING will grow on our lot except cactus, it IS possible for some people to grow all manner of veggies here.  Especially those who are on higher elevations. At this time of year, this hobby farm produces broccoli, onions, winter squash, collards, carrots, and many different fruit trees, plus alfalfa to feed some of the farm-y animals who live on the one acre: sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, pheasants,  bees, two BIG dogs, and five barn cats. That was a blast!  For the full story and photos, see here, at Alizona's blog. 

The six of us consumed twenty-one POUNDS of sweet clementines!   Well?  They're better for us than fudge!!  When I saw them priced at $2.50 for a three-pound bag, I grabbed up a couple of arm loads. They have been soooo good this year!

What month would be complete without a trip or two or three, or more, to the library?  Amy, this is the little kids' section!

AND, congratulate Monocogman for making his goal of 4000 on- and off-road cycling miles this year! Whoohoo!! (Due to his injury his goal was reduced this year, but he is still very manly, and he is still my hero!)   Will he go for 4600 next year?  100 miles for each year of his life.  I can't wait to see what he is going to do when he is eighty-seven, LOL.

We only have a few hours of December left to go.  If anything exciting happens, I'll let you know next month!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Thou crownest the year with thy goodness;
Psalm 65:11

 

New Year's Eve Treats

THIS RECIPE HAS BEEN UPDATED!  **See below.

Come on, now, don't start that diet just yet.  There are too many goodies to consume before the year's out!  Our little family is going to stay up til midnight Wednesday, in a test to see if we all still like each other that late at night.   We have a big Monopoly tourny planned, as well as reading aloud from the Terrestria Chronicles (Ed Dunlop) and maybe some of The Home Ranch (Ralph Moody), watching an S.M.Davis DVD, other activities to be announced, and eating some good stuff.  We'll start out with pizza, then maybe some chocolatey sort of something, and DEFINITELY some of this super yummy, super easy, home-made microwave caramel-corn!  A friend of mine introduced me to this many years ago, and I kind of forgot about it.  Today I looked up the recipe and gave it a try. Oh my.  This is so good.  You just gotta try it.  Here's what was left of my trial batch after five minutes:

It's a good thing I have a family, or else I would have consumed the entire batch myself.  Here's the recipe, from allrecipes.com:

Microwave Caramel Corn

2 bags of popped microwave popcorn (Act II is great)
1 C brown sugar
1/2 C margarine or butter (butter is better, of course)
1/4 C light corn syrup or honey
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda

Place the popped porcorn into a large bowl and set aside.  In a 2 qt. heat-proof glass dish, combine the brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, salt and vanilla.  Heat for 2 minutes in the micro*, then take out and stir well.  Put it back in and cook for another 1 1/2 minutes.  Remove from micro and stir in the baking soda. (Don't skip this step!)

Pour the syrup over the popcorn and mix well.  Spray a brown paper bag with non-stick spray, and pour the popcorn mixture in.  Turn the top down a couple of times to close the bag. (I did this in a regular sized grocery bag but I cut off the top and had to crumple it to make it fit the turntable in the microwave.) Place in micro and cook for one minute.  Remove, shake, flip the bag over, and return it to the micro.  Cook one minute more. Dump the popcorn out onto waxed paper to cool untl the caramel is set.  Store in an airtight container, if you get that far.

You can half this recipe easily and use just one bag of popcorn, but why would you want to?  And you could add pecans and drizzle the finished product with chocolate...   For more super easy, wonderful-good treats, visit Cooking With the Preacher's Wife.

*1500 watt microwave
**  I forgot to tell you that I made only half the batch in that big bag!

How Shall We Order the Child? ~ Part One

In Judges 13 begins the story of Samson.  Like many other new parents, Samson’s mother and father desired to have the Lord tell them exactly how they were to raise this child.  “God, what is your will? How shall we diaper him, Lord? Cloth or disposable?  How should we spank correctly? Private school or public school, Lord? How can I teach him to respect and obey me?  And, Lord, how shall I teach him to respect and obey YOU?”

The response the Lord gave to Manoah and his wife was, I am certain, not the kind of answer they were expecting to hear. Here is their conversation, in short, in Judges 13:12-14:

“How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him? And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe.”

The answer to the question, how shall we order the child was, in essence, that the mother was to keep herself holy and separated and obedient unto the Lord!  The diapering method and the child’s training and discipline were not going to be nearly as important in the life of that child as the influence of a godly mother was going to be!

To me, this is a sobering truth. No amount of correcting, training, reading aloud, giving of advice, counseling, yelling, spoiling, caressing, or reasoning with my child will have a greater influence in his/her life than will my example as a mother who is wholly given to the Lord.  How will my child know that I love the Lord who gave him to me?  He will know when he sees me committed to reading (and obeying) my Bible.  He will know when I consistently fall to my knees in prayer, rather than worrying or fretting.  He will know when he sees that I am committed to learning and memorizing and acting upon God’s word.  He will know when he sees that I am repentant –not making excuses-- when I do wrong.  He will know when I bundle him up and take him and his siblings to church on a cold, sleepy morning.  He will know when I accept a difficult situation as if it is from the Lord, and thank him for it.  He will know when he hears me break out into singing God’s praises.  He will know, because in my consecration to the Lord I draw my child to the Lord.

A six-foot shelf full of child-training books will not teach me to raise my children the way living a godly life will.  “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” Proverbs 4:19.   The closer I get to the Lord, the more I obey his Word and seek his face, the clearer will be God’s will for my child’s upbringing.

Rather than fretting over whether God wants my girls to have music lessons, or how to get them to apply themselves to their schoolwork, or when is a decent hour for bed-time for my children, I am resolved instead to keep fellowship with God.  His working in MY heart and in MY life is the answer to all my questions concerning the children he has blessed me with!

Cat Patrol

In consideration of those of you who adore cats, I will warn you that you may not want to read this post.  We live in a town that has the largest number of cats and little kicker dogs than I have ever seen in one place in America.  The constant yipping and yowling gets on one's nerves, particularly when that yipping or yowling is going on right under the bedroom window at 4:30 a.m.  There is no solution to the yipping, that I am aware of, except for chocolate.  But I do not poison people's pets, regardless of how rude those pet owners are, to ignore the incessant noise that is coming from their own animal.

For the yowling, however, there are solutions.  Some options:
1. Shoot the offending cat.
2. Install a sprinkler system and keep it running.
3. Plant Coleus canina, known by most as Scaredy Cat, around the perimeter of the house.
4. Install an cat-repelling electronic device.
5. Set a cat trap.
None of these options are going to work here.  So we devised our own method:

After three nights in a row of having our sweet sleep interrupted by the neighbors' screaming, wailing,  yowling felines, Mr. Cat-Hater, here,  is prepared for war.  Wearing a headlamp (because we forgot to do this in the daytime) and wielding a spray bottle filled with ammonia, he is headed for the front lines.  He will not be spraying ammonia on the cats but around the perimeter of our lot. This will work for quite a while, maybe even until the next rain (which we don't plan to see around here for some time).  Tonight those rotten cats will be hosting their nocturnal forays on someone else's property.

12/17 UPDATE:  It worked! No more yowling cats!

Fatal Decision

 

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Anybody else have a non-stop talking five year old?  My, oh my.  I love her dearly, but my ears get so tired!  I have been trying to tell her lately that if she would only talk when she really has something to say, we all would be more interested in hearing her speak. 

Well, for some reason Emily has been afraid to go outside by herself, because "bad guys" might get her.  (Remember the bad guys in bathing suits? This is related, wait and see.)  I don't know where she got this idea.   But  she has figured out how not to be kidnapped: "Mom, if bad guys tried to kidnap me, I would tell them, 'You don't want to kidnap me, I talk ALL THE TIME!' " LOL!  Good strategy. 

Photo for the Day

Hee Hee

My daughter asked me early this morning, "Mom, why are all the roofs in the neighborhood bluish white?  Where did all the brown roofs go?" At the moment I was preoccupied and thought she was dreaming things.  Later, after the sun had been out for a bit, she looked out the window again and said, "What is all that wet stuff??"  I looked where she was pointing and I burst out laughing, "That's FROST!!"  LOL  We have true desert kids.  I am reminded of Emily two years ago stating, "I hate trees!"  Poor little souls! ...But just about the time I want to be rescued from this hot desolation, I remember the finer points about living in the desert.  Being unfamiliar with frost is one of them!

We're Outta Here

This just in from the National Weather Service:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 131 PM PST WED DEC 17 2008 .

A STRONG PACIFIC STORM WILL MOVE INLAND ACROSS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND INTO ARIZONA THROUGH TONIGHT. THIS WILL PRODUCE A RARE SNOWSTORM WHICH WILL LEAVE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS ON THE LOWER VALLEYS AND DESERT ACROSS MUCH OF THE MOJAVE DESERT REGION.

LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...LAUGHLIN...BULLHEAD CITY...HOOVER DAM 131 PM PST WED DEC 17 2008 /231 PM MST WED DEC 17 2008/

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 AM PST /5 AM MST/ THURSDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAS VEGAS HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW FOR THE LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA FOR ELEVATIONS ABOVE 1500 FEET...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 AM PST /5 AM MST/ THURSDAY.

SNOW WILL FALL THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT ACROSS THE LAKE MEAD AREA DOWN TO THE 1500 FOOT LEVEL. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 8 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED ABOVE 1500 FEET.


Looks like the snow may come within 1000 feet of us, but you never know.  (One year Needles, CA got dumped with 14", and they are not far enough away from here!) 

So we are evacuating. 
St. Thomas/Virigin Islands, anyone? Tahiti? Bahamas?

We're Freezing!

This post is purely for entertainment value, especially for those of you who are reading from cold climates. We are currently at 42° and dropping, with blustery wind and pouring rain.  Inside the house we are at 72°, but elderly King David, our resident superhero, cyclist, preacher, and handy-man is wearing four layers, including a wool sweater, heavy chamois shirt, and long underwear.  I think that I myself am a bit more reasonable, with only a cotton sweater on, and tank top under.  I will admit my feet are cold, though.  Don't you feel sorry for us?

When we first moved here to Arizona, my DH said he was here to retire.  He still says that, that we are not moving anywhere ever again.  He'd have to retire here now.  Where could we live, where he would not be frozen solid in the winter time?  God forbid we should be sent to northern Minnesota or Wisconsin, or horrors, Havre, Montana... or even Kingman.  It's snowing just 25 miles from us... we're praying for the rapture.

Hymn From the Heart - My Hope Is in the Lord

One of the reasons why I love the old songs so much is that most of them were written for congregational singing, NOT for performance or entertainment. That means that even I can sing them!  Most of the oldies have simple chords and meaningful, memorable lyrics that give testimony to who Jesus is and what he has done.  Just about 100% of contemporary Christian music is written for entertainment or performance.  Besides the fact that much of it sounds like carnal love ballads (who is "he"?), or has lyrics that center on the singer or his/her feelings, the music by itself is plain worldly.  Most of that stuff, if it were played in stores, would blend right in with the garbage that we are already made to endure while we are out and about, and no one would know the difference.  I know you all don't agree with my estimation, but that's okay.  Love me anyway.

 ___________________________________________________ 

My Hope Is in the Lord

HOPE, n.   1. A desire of some good, accompanied with at least a slight expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable. Hope differs from wish and desire in this, that it implies some expectation of obtaining the good desired, or the possibility of possessing it. Hope therefore always gives pleasure or joy; whereas wish and desire may produce or be accompanied with pain and anxiety.
2. Confidence in a future event; the highest degree of well founded expectation of good; as a hope founded on God's gracious promises; a scriptural sense.

Are you going to heaven when you die?  The answer many people give is this, "I hope so."  Hope is a funny word.  It's one of those words which has changed over the years with the English language.  As Noah Webster pointed out in his first definition of the word, "hope" is more than just a wish or a desire. Hope is accompanied by a well-founded expectation, and in the case of a hope of going to heaven, it is founded on the promise of God. 
 

In Titus 1:2, the apostle Paul said of himself that he was "in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began."   See that?  Paul's hope was in the promise of God.  That is where my hope lies, also.  I don't just hope I am going to heaven.  I know I am, because God keeps his word!  I am resting and secure, not on my own faith, but in HIM!

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 1 Corinthians 15:3,4

 [...] if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, [then] thou shalt be saved. Romans 10:9

God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Numbers 23:19

My hope is in the Lord
Who gave Himself for me
And paid the price of all my sin
At Calvary.

Refrain:
For me He died;
For me He lives,
And everlasting life and light
He freely gives.

No merit of my own
His anger to suppress,
My only hope is found in Jesus’
Righteousness.

And now for me He stands
Before the Father’s throne;
He shows His wounded hands and names me
As His own. (Refrain)

His grace has planned it all,
‘Tis mine but to believe
And recognize His work of love
And Christ receive.

For me He died;
For me He lives,
And everlasting life and light
He freely gives!

by Noman J. Clayton

The Good-O-Meter

I don't really think Jesus is this casual a guy, after all, he is HOLY! But I sure am glad he's with me!

 

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6

Two Peas at Opposite Ends of the Same Pod

Homeschooling is wonderful for many reasons. One of them is the ability we  parents have to free our children from cookie-cutter education.  While a school teacher is pretty much limited to treating a classroom of thirty-five students as one body, a homeschooler has the distinct advantage of molding the schedule, the curriculum, and the surroundings around each of her children's particular physical, emotional, and educational needs.  We have been doing this officially for nine years, and I am just starting to figure it out.  Does that mean the previous years were wasted because I didn't know what I was doing?  No, I don't think so.  It means that the differences in my kids' personalities are just now beginning to really show. 

My first two daughters' personalities are at opposite poles.   Alizona is afflicted with perfectionism.  At night, Alizona pulls her covers neatly and smoothly up to her chin.  No wrinkles.  She makes her bed perfectly first thing in the morning, and she can't stand to have her things out of place.  She is the cook who most definitely needs a recipe, and it had better NOT be one of those that only lists the ingredients.  She wants to know what kind of bowl to use, which ingredients are mixed when, and exactly how big you are supposed to make your cookie dough scoops.  She crocheted an afghan for herself last year, and it is beautiful -- completely square and even, with not a visible mistake.  Her goal is a perfect end-product or a 100% grade.

Booklover, on the other hand, is no perfectionist.  She doesn't even have her covers tucked in at the foot of her bed.  At bedtime she flops the blanket over herself, and nevermind if her arms and legs are sticking out.    In the morning Booklover rolls her blanket up into a ball and stuffs it into the corner at the head of the bed, along with her pile of pillows.  The bed looks neat because only the fitted sheet is showing, but it is NOT made according to Hoyle!  And as for the rest of her stuff, well, it is half-way organized chaos.  And she would be sooo happy if I would let her loose in the kitchen.  Once she experimented by mixing rice, pencil shavings, flour, food coloring, pepper, a bit of water, and a variety of herbs and spices, and cooking it for a bit.  It didn't magically turn into anything edible, but it was fun. Who needs a recipe?!  For Booklover, the process and the goal are one.  She would have a ball learning to sew something for herself without using a pattern.

So you can imagine, can't you, which of these girls likes the objective orderliness of math, and which one can't stand to be locked into one method of solving a problem?  Which one just can't stand to have to answer a question beginning with "why", and which one loves to answer the same question with a very out-of-the-box response?  Which one enjoys experimenting in the kitchen? And which one wants install more RAM in her computer? Which one is creating little felt people, and which one is organizing and re-organizing the music on her iPod? Which one studies quietly at her desk, and which one stands at the ironing board with her math book, a bottle of glue, a pair of scissors, and a little pile of fabric?

Alizona loves math.  Math has right answers that never change. There is only one right way to do it.  There are rules to follow, and no decisions to make.  She would benefit greatly from a boxed curriculum such as ACE.  With lessons being grouped in PACEs, she would be able to see her progress. She would know exactly what she must accomplish in school each day.  She would love the organization!   Give her all true-or-false, mulitple choice, or fill-in-the blank questions. She would love to have her own bedroom, a haven where she could shut out the noise of a large family, and concentrate on her work.  Alizona needs lists to survive, and, is this weird or what -- she envisions numbers and letters in different colors (for example, she'll say, "Five is yellow.") and they make orderly designs in her head. (If you don't understand this, you are not alone.)  She wakes up completely with the alarm, and she asks permission about EVERYTHING.

Booklover struggles with math.  It's too orderly.  She doesn't mind following rules if she understands why the rules are there.  (While it is important to understand the why's behind math, I admit there are some days when I just don't care if she gets the why's -- just follow the rule!  Subtract always means to add the opposite.  Period.)  And in order for her to remember the rule, she has to know why it works.  Since she can't get that subtraction rule right now, we are stuck in "undoing" algebraic problems that involve integers.  One of these days she is going to get it... but in a classroom the teacher wouldn't be able to wait for her.   Booklover flies by the seat of her pants skirt (like her mom), sleeps in,  and is haphazard about her chores and other responsibilities. Her philosophy regarding permission is basically do it and THEN ask if it's okay.

Since I have only four students, and not thirty-five, I don't see any point  OR any advantage, where their best interest is concerned, in making all of my children learn the same thing in the same way.  Alizona's school curriculum is currently made up of Rod and Staff science, Teaching Textbooks Algebra I (I quote, "I love Algebra! Teaching Textbooks is WONDERFUL, MARVELOUS, AND SUPER-DUPER GREAT!!!!!!"), What Ever Happened to Penny Candy?, Landmark's Bible Doctrines class, and some reading from The Annals of the World. (Bad choice, that word, "some".  She needs to know exactly how much!)  She is also writing a work of fiction, which I am counting for grammar and creative writing.  She feels very comfortable learning the same way most other kids do in a classroom.

Booklover, on the other hand, Hates (note the capital "H") reading from textbooks and answering questions.  She also does Teaching Textbooks for math, but she disdains the videos.  Her science lessons consists of watching Robert Krampf's Experiment of the Week, sometimes repeating it herself in my kitchen, and then writing a short report on what the experiment involved and what it demonstrated.  We started with some keyboarding software but she found it to be "soooo booooring".  I remedied that by volunteering her to type Word documents from the hand-written or typed stories that author Susan Marlow wrote in her childhood, so that "Suzy Scribbles" can post them on her blog.  Booklover is now having a blast with typing!  For history she is reading several chapters of either a book from the old Landmark History series or  the We Were There series. Her creative outlet is making something with her hands, whether it be food or fluff.  I tell you, she is having so much fun that I almost feel guilty calling this "school", but I am so happy to finally have found some ways for her to learn and enjoy herself at the same time!! 

I have two more girls coming up behind these opposites.  Hopefully they will both be somewhere in the middle, and I will not be thrown for a loop, trying to understand another extreme.  But if they do have their own extremes, I will be so thankful to have their education in my own hands.  After all, my goal is not to have them learn everything that some bureaucrat decided all kids must know, but to guide them in finding the talents and strengths that God gave each of them individually, and in the things HE wants each them to know. Sometimes that is not easy, but it's right.  (When was doing the right thing ever easy?)  I have the promise of God's guidance and his provision, and the peace of knowing I am doing the best thing for the children he loaned me.   

 

The Month in Review

I am being threatened with a call to the blog police for not posting anything original in I don't know how long.  Well, in my defense, as one of my favorite sayings goes, "It's better to keep quiet and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt," or something like that.  I had nothing profound to report.  Hence my lack of blogginess.  But now that we are past the first of the month I can at least report on our previous month.  Here goes. 

In November:

We did a couple of foam crafts from the Oriental Trading Company.  These are great, and sooo cheap. Once you sign up for their catalog you will be inundated with junk mail, but if you are ever looking for something for a birthday party or a kids' church club, they are a great resource!

We enjoyed lunch at our favorite, In-N-Out Burger.  Those of you living outside of CA, NV, and AZ, sorry, you are missing out on a treat.  Come visit us, and we'll take you out for the best fast-food burger in the country.  All fresh ingredients, nothing frozen.  Started in 1948 by a Christian couple, In-N-Out was always closed on Sundays.  Their burger wrappers and cups had Bible verses printed on them.  Now they only print the references Jn. 3:16 or Pr. 3:5 or Rev. 3:20, very small.  Do you think a lost person will see that and realize his need for Christ?  My guess is that he would think it is some sort of technical printer's code. lol.  Too bad.  But they still beat McDonalds and Burger King hands down!

The girls made a movie! (For the safety-conscious, yes, Elisabeth did unplug the toaster before sticking the tongs in there.)


We learned about inertia and transfer of energy.

We faithfully met for Ladies' Coffee Hour (but only on school days ).  This time (below) we had a few guests.  During today's Coffee Hour I read to the girls Jonathan Edwards'  "Thirteen Resolutions to Live By", and mentioned that he lived in the early 1700's.  I also mentioned his famous sermon, "Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God," and one of my daughters, who was NOT paying very close attention, asked me if I was there when he preached it. This was not the same one who thought the War of 1812 was still going on in 1918. LOL!  Are we blonde, or what??

We helped Grammy in the kitchen.

Some of us practiced being photogenic, LOL!

We had a great big picnic!  Thanksgiving is the only time of year when everyone in my family can get together, and being outside is such a nice arrangement for the hosts.  Lots of wild kids, you know.  So we had a delicious lasagna dinner at a park close to my parents' place. Note: Some of us were wearing short sleeves. This was so funny -- the two little black girls wanted to be in the photo, and they decided to join our family. Their mama said they make at least three new friends every single day. Hee hee!  I'll leave it up to you to figure out who's who. (My dad is missing.)

Okay, I'll give you a hint -- these two guys are my awesome brothers. Yes, I am the oldest sibling.  You don't have to tell me I look it!

We watched Jupiter and Venus cozy up to the moon:

And, we spent our own Thanksgiving right here in our own little home, after the fact. It was SUCH a lovely, sunny day!  Dad took the girls to the park in the morning for a rousing game of pitch and bat, then he took off on a long, exploratory bike ride.  I spent the day measuring, stirring, mixing, peeling, cooking, baking, and washing, and that evening we had our feast. 

Since we don't observe Christmas, we decided a while back to give gifts to the girls for Thanksgiving, something each of them could be truly thankful for: a new winter coat or nightie or something else needed.  Due to the Lord's blessing on our family, the girls really aren't desperate for anything this year, so instead we just bought a Monopoly game and the latest release in our favorite family read-aloud series, The Methuselah Chronicles. We're looking forward to some fun evenings together!

Several years ago we began a book of remembrance.  Every year on Thanksgiving , each of us names some thing(s) for which we thank God, and I write those things down in a journal.  For the memories' sake it is a lot of fun to go back and read the previous years' entries, and it's fun, too, to see how the girls have matured in their thankfulness.  For example, a daughter who, three years ago, said she was thankful for her nice warm bed now says she is thankful for missionaries like the D____'s and the T____'s, who are willing to take the gospel to China (closed to missionaries, hence the blanks, for their security) and Indonesia, places she doesn't want to go.  I chuckled and told her there are probably also some people who are thankful for people like us, who are willing to take the gospel to the desert. 

It kind of appears that we took the month off school, doesn't it?  We didn't!  We'll try to make our December Month in Review a bit more homeschool-ish.