Is it December Already?!?

Where does the time go? December has been a fun month. Brought to you in part by the beauty of homeschooling. Here's a little of what we've been up to...

New haircuts
While I was attending the Marcy Cook math conference, Auntie-A took them to Sharon for new haircuts. Its funny because not only did we grow up knowing Sharon, but hubby also used to go to her to have his hair cut while he was in college. And we didn't find that out until waaaay after college. I guess what they say about 6 degrees of seperation is true.





Lifeline's Mother-Daughter Tea
This is a tea that Lifeline Pregnancy Center hosted for area gals. One of my best friends, JA (and no that does not stand for what you think!!! - who also can be referred to as "miss pretty hair and smile" or "MPH&S") and I helped with it.
It was a very positive mother-daughter experience that emphasized the importance of communication, honesty, and generally having a good relationship between mothers (parents) and daughters. All good stuff. Nancy, from Lifeline who came up with the whole idea and orchestrated the event beautifully, is a supersweet gal. These girls are all homeschooled and good friends. We feel so fortunate to call them our dear friends. God answers prayers.


I was in charge of the craft and this is what the girls made. It was not my idea - I just took and it and ran. They are paperwhite bulbs. It was a very easy (read mess-free) craft that symbolizes our faith and growing with God (the bulb/roots in the rocks - remember the wise man?) with resulting purity (the white flower). The verse that we taped to the cup reads, "Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him" -Colossians 2:17
Photo-op
We finally got our Christmas Card photos done. These are some funny out-takes. What hams.


What is she about to do with that lightbulb? Aaaaaaallllllllllvvvviiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!




While Visions of Sugarplums Danced in Their Heads
Or maybe on the topiary form. I had this gumdrop topiary that I did back in 2004 while we were still in Charlotte and due to moving (which took the course of 2 years) and then our temporary lapse in sanity last year with hubby taking a job ACROSS THE COUNTRY, I haven't done it since. It is a fun time in our lives now because the girls can take something like this and do it themselves. They had fun but since I hadn't let the gum drops thaw (yes, I stored them in the freezer since 2004) they were cold and sticky on their fingers. They asked for the little gloves. Honest. I'm not THAT anal! But the gloves didn't come without their own problems. Wonder when Dollar Tree is going to start carrying junior plastic gloves?!? Heehee







Disney on Ice & Girl Scouts
We also went to see Disney on Ice with the girls' Girl Scout troop. We went early with Ms. England's family and ate together at the Cheesecake Factory. .


Oh how I miss CF. I got the Bang Bang Chicken and Shrimp, my old standard. When you find something you like I say don't deviate.Anyway, we didn't take any pix while at DOI but we did stay with Auntie-A and Uncle-Fun. Here's Miss Priss snuggled up on the couch with Uncle-Fun the next morning.

Later in the week we had a GS troop Christmas party and the girls earned their badges for the fall. Ms. Lauri is a great troop leader.






Intimate Mother-Daugher Tea
Well, I don't know if we should really call it a "Tea" since we didn't officially drink tea - rather punch and cider. It was a nice lunch with four generations of mothers and daughters. Thanks to Auntie-A and Meme too we had plenty-o tasty things to eat.




Farmer Santa?
You know some of the best things in life aren't planned. I have never really "pushed" sitting on Santa's lap to my girls. They never have much cared for it and sadly it always seemed like a lot of trouble. (Is that wrong?). So most (if not all) of the pictures we have of the girls with Santa were not planned events but happenstance. Anyway, it was the last day of the Farmer's Market for the year (until spring) just up from our house so I took the girls. And lo-and-behold who was there, none other than Old St. Nick himself. The girls didn't want to sit on his lap but I bribed them by pointing out the container of candy canes beside his chair (;-), Coll). When we walked away Miss Priss said, he was a crazy Santa. And Little-bit looks just thrilled, huh?!?




Dancing Angels
Whew...this is getting long and its only December 20th?!? The last event I have pictures of is the girls' homeschool dance class. Ms. Pam is a wonderful teacher - first class all the way. We're hoping to start acrobatics with her after the first of the year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Happy Halloweeeeeen!!!!!

And what a happy Halloween it was! This year was probably one of the best halloweens I've experienced in a looooong time. Everything was so fun and festive but with a healthy dose of "easy-going-ness" to it. It was one of the first and only years that I didn't stress over the girls' costumes (before, after, or during) and all-in-all it was a great night. Thanks to all of our great neighbors we had a wonderful spread of food and fellowship. Lee and Alicia, with one of their many toys, chauffered us in high country style (complete with hay and pumpkins) through the neighborhood all the way up to the "Movie Star's" house of "Pirate's Booty" (if you look closely you can see the sinking ship in the background of the last picture.)

Fall Stuff

This morning I ran across this little book. It was my dear Mom's when she was teaching. It has a ton of worksheets that are blank so you can fill them in with whatever you're covering. This way I can give Miss Priss and Lil Bit the same page but tailor it to their needs.

Also yesterday when we went out of our neighborhood we noticed a lot of cars and I told the girls I bet they were filming a movie or something. Well, just this morning I got an email about it from our neighborhood yahoo list. Apparently Will Ferrell's company is producing a show for HBO and they needed a typical suburban home. Isn't that speeecial?!? Attention neighborhood!!!! Weirdos a-little-too-close-for-comfort.

The girls have been taking an art class and she is basing her classes for the month of October on the book, The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. The girls have been doing watercolor paintings of a desert sky and with teepees and indians. We should know what desert sunsets look like. Well, today we made haystacks for them to take to their little class. She is such a sweet lady and so nice to the girls. Its a nice little break for Mommy too.



Lil Bit has been learning to stand on her head. It is bordering on obsession. She does it all the time. Even with her burned hand she was trying to stand on her head. I even caught her outside on the concrete doing it one day. Well, she has mastered it to say the least and she can hold it for a good long time now and even change-up her positions.



Going to go get ready to take the gals to art class and guess what Mommy gets to do? Clean!!! Woohoo!!!! Well, at least it won't get messed up as soon as I clean it - at least not until they're back from art class!!!

TTFN

So Much To Say

Today we went over long a and what makes the sound. I (with the help of PBS' Between The Lions) made up this little poster. (What is up with my scanning ability here?!?) Anyway...



I plan to post in the classroom and am going to make more for more vowel sounds. The "e" is the "magic e" hence the magician's wand and hat. I made him up myself. Can you just tell? The girls were so sweet and told me what a good artist I was. I think its called copying. Anyway, after a while Lil Bit brought me this:
She said she just copied mine. Well, now that sounds familiar. Huh?

After we got back from gymnastics this was where the girls spent their silent reading time today. Ah...the joys of homeschooling. What a beautiful fall day to spend outside reading.


And speaking of fall....Happy Fall y'all!