Crazy Train

December is probably our busiest month of the entire year, and truthfully, a stressful month for me.  Add holiday decorating, music recitals, Christmas get togethers/parties, church happenings, Christmas play recitals and performances, shopping and wrapping, birthdays and birthday parties, extra treats (in the form of junk food), and our routine being off kilter...and it just feels too crazy.  I wound up making a December Calendar to keep on the table next to my lesson plan book because there was too much for me to keep track of and remember even with our regular family calendar.  

I have been attempting to get our school back on track since Thanksgiving vacation and experienced 2 weeks of frustration (in which I may or may not have hollered and then kicked a plastic stool across the room.....and then had to apologize for my bad behavior).  I guess the holiday madness is too much to expect normal school.  I didn't figure that out until Thursday night of the second week.  Next week, we do have a regular school week but I am not going to attempt "normal" school.  Not with a party after science class, not with a special music class, not with a piano recital to practice for, not with an early Men's group breakfast that Phil will take the boys on, not with a Christmas concert at Phil's school, not with a birthday party and Christmas play to look forward to...

So, I checked out a bunch of books from the library on Hanukkah, Saint Nicholas, and Christmas in the Colonial/early American History time (which is our current history study) and planned a week of learning and activities about the history of the holiday in addition to our Advent study.  Thanksgiving plans pulled together so easily and there are a ton of materials but it took me 5 hours to put together a rather choppy Holiday unit.  It isn't my best theme unit but it will have to do!


Hmmm, violence toward the toothfairy (aka, Dad).  (Bucks, "Bugcs", oh dyslexia...)

Evi is my most sensitive child...but also with a little twisted sense of humor at times.  (Here bear is being roasted.)

Fun with haircuts...also he looks like the bad guy in the latest Star Wars movies (Adam Driver).

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Oh my gosh, even the peach fuzz above the lip LOL, I am dying!

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"Sawyer!!!!!  Stay away from the Darkside!!!

So, I completely forgot to get pictures of Thanksgiving.  My parents hosted and invited a few people over besides us.  We cooked one of the turkeys on our barbecue.  Here it is, riding in the car next to the ball hitch and donkey halter.

We went quick and easy for getting a Christmas tree.  We found a u-cut place 15 minutes away.  I wasn't wild about the trees or the price but we needed convenience.  We got a Turkish fir, something we haven't had before.  The needles are very thick and green and the tree is a little more dense than our normal Noble firs. 




 
Church parking lot in the rain.  

Dissection lab, pig kidney












Working on writing homework

A wintery morning


 We have a house duck!  This is Runt.  She was one of the last ducks to hatch from our 6 week long hatching so she was smaller than everyone else and she ended up getting stepped on and hurt her leg.  We had to keep her confined and I was worried that she would have to be culled.  She healed up and has been running with the big ducks ever since but she has remained small.  Jubilee noticed that she was limping so we brought her inside to discover that her toe was swollen.  In my research, I learned that she had bumblefoot, an infection.  We tried to heal her up with Epson salt soaks, special spray, and bandages but Phil ended up have to lance and remove the infection.  She has 2-3 baths a day and stays in a box in the bathroom.  She has seemed perfectly happy with this arrangement except for today, I think she is ready to go back out with the other ducks.  


Hide and go Seek



We found it quite funny that on a Friday night, our quality time is bathing our duck.  We also have played hide and seek and since we are watching the Star Wars series before we see the finale in the theatres, we have Quacked her the star wars theme song.

Evi's birthday gets lost in the shuffle.  I took her out last weekend for shopping and burgers before play practice.  Her upcoming birthday day includes play practice dress rehearsal, a cookie decorating party with friends, and a chili dinner (I may not be able to pull all this off!)

Michelle and all 13 Johnsons stopped by for a couple of hours on Saturday on their way up to Washington.  I am kicking myself for once again forgetting to get pictures.  Sigh.....

Michelle sent me a skype picture as they headed out on the road.  I, in turn, took pictures of what the Kelly's were doing during that time...



This picture LOL!  The above is the bottom half of Michelle's picture (which I don't know how to get transfer to this blog).  I enlarged it so Glorielle could see the picture.  It showed the picture plus smaller thumbnail pictures underneath of the pictures that we skype back and forth.  The screen underneath is pinterest.  So, the thumbnail duck looks like it is wearing a dress.  Hillarious!!

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