Happy New Year!

We've been busy!  Christmas is always busy.  But somehow this season seems busier than others.  Maybe it's because my kids are getting older.  I don't know. 

But, in the midst of the busyness, we've been having fun and learning! Austin is outside on the swings right now yelling, "Woo hoo!  Look how high I can go!"  He finally truly figured out how to swing and can now swing as high as the sky.  :)

Austin got two hot wheels track sets for Christmas.  He's learning cause and effect when he puts them together in different ways.  He's learning physics when they do what he "THINKS" it will do versus what it really does.  He's learning how much force is needed for the car to make a double loopdy loop versus just one.  Or if he can do the doulbe right after a curve, etc.

Austin also decided to make a seasons calendar for our house.  You know you need one.  He make 4 pages with pictures on each page signifying the seasons.  Then he made a grid for the dates.  Then he wrote the names of each season on the right page!  I did not ask him to do this.  He just did.  Does it matter that he phonetically spelled the seasons?  Nope.  Does it matter that there aren't enough squares in each grid for each day?  Nope.  He did it all by himself.  Then he asked met to help him staple it and we found the perfect place to tape it up.  For three days now, he's writing in the numbers of the day for January.  He's getting it without me drilling it.  LOVE THIS.

It's SNOWING in my house!  I taught Austin, and Grandma, how to make coffee filter snowflakes yesterday.  I think I have over 50 of them all over my house now.  Especially after Audrey and Cody woke up from nap an then he taught them how to make them!  YES!  HE TAUGHT THEM!  He taught them how to fold them properly and how to not cut all the way across.  Seriously.  My kids woke up and asked to make more!  Please send tape.  They have gone through 1.5 rolls of scotch tape already putting them up everywhere.

And then I read this today.  http://livingunabridged.com/4-things-children-dont-need/  LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this.  I can't love it more!  THIS is what I'm doing.  It's what I'm aiming to do every day.  There are days, like yesterday, that my kids didn't watch a single TV show.  They haven't watched today either.  And yet they are still happy.  They are playing outside after making more snowflakes this morning and they are happy!  I"m actually going to skip signing them up for gymnastics this month.  I'm thinking every other month will be just fine for them.  I don't have a choice with Cody for Tiny Tots.  They changed the rules and you MUST be 4 now to be accepted.  So, he now how to wait for Fall for that again.  And that's okay.  He can learn side by side with his brother and sister.

On the 'official' learning end.  I signed up for Scholastic.  As a home school teacher there are some great and very inexpensive resources there.  I ordered some charts and other learning supplies to help us in our daily teaching routines.  If you are a homeschooling family, looking into scholastic.com and sign up.  It's free and you get deep discounts!

Lastly, we said Goodbye to Smokey on New Year's Day.  Smokey was a senior Great Dane that belonged to one of my oldest friends, Cheryl.  When she had to move to an apartment and couldn't take him, we took him in.  He was almost 11.  When we woke up on New Year's Day, we knew he didn't have long.  I called Cheryl and she came down right away.  She had an hour or so with him before he died right here at home.  We did not shield the kids from this.  They saw him.  They knew he was dying.  We explained what was happening and they could watch from the other side of the gate should they want to.  Audrey did watch.  To the very end.  She saw Cheryl and I crying our eyes out.  He had only been with us since July, but he was part of our family and we loved him!  He was protective of us and was a great guard dog who taught Blitz where his place was.  My kids have prayed for him and they understand he's in doggie heaven which is the same as chicken heaven and papa bunny heaven.   Blitz is missing him and more lovey and whiny but I know he'll be okay in the end.  RIP Smokey!  Fly high and wait for your families at the pearly gates!  Play with all the puppies up there in doggie heaven!