2007

I got this from Kelli at There is no place like home. Check out her site for others doing the same year-end review.

Thanks, dcrmom, for the referral! This was a lot of fun, and I was surprised how many highlights the first sentence of each month hit! :)

The directions are:

Post the first sentence of your first blog post of each month. You can also add a favorite picture from each month.

January
I've been wanting to start a blog for awhile now - mostly for family and friends who are far away.

(Ah, the very beginning.)

February
The Mint was fascinating

How my Little Man feels about airplanes.

March

My grandma is healing nicely still. There is some talk that she might even be able to go home tomorrow!Frosty Time

April
No April Fool's! My baby is 3

Easter picture

May
I'm a believer in kids having chores, and one of my kids' daily chores is to set the table.

My dad with an 8 month old Punkin.

June
We are finally home after an extended trip to see family.

July
While playing in the sandbox:
Punkin: (running) AHHHHH! Big spider!
SnugBug: Where is it, sister? I want to see the big spider!

That's my boy!

August

Have I mentioned that I have the "try-to-do-it-all" syndrome, frequently combined with the "all-at-the-same-time" syndrome?Enjoying the last days of summer.

September
Punkin started her enrichment program this week.

Punkin learning to ride without training wheels!

October
I think my Punkin got hold of my camera..... Isn't her finger beautiful?

October snow storm

November
Halloween is not my favorite holiday.

Halloween

December
Gosh, life has gotten away from me!

Punkin hanging an ornament during our church's Christmas program.

I feel better now

Today, I caught my 6 year old standing in the kitchen with the refrigerator door open because she forgot what she was looking for.

Maybe I'm not so old!!

Christmas Program

Last week, the kids had their Christmas program at church. The preschoolers, which included Little Man, got to dress as one of the people from the Christmas Story. I'm not sure if he was supposed to a wise man or a shepherd, but he thought his "thingy that went around his neck" was very special. They sang 4 of the 8 songs. Punkin had lines, and, boy, was she excited! I helped her read them enough that she could figure it out on her own, and she worked very hard to memorize them.

Her lines were about how God came to save the whole world,
and she got to hang a globe on the Christmas tree.
She did an amazing job (in my completely unbiased opinion. :) She has such a great time that she actually cried at the end because it was over.

Grandparent Trip

Well, I've been a little scarce! Thanks to those who missed me - it's nice to be missed. :)

The kids and I went on a trip to visit grandparents. I told WeaverDad that I'm not quite sure what it says about my life that it was relaxing to travel 8 days with 2 kids by myself - but it was. The grandparents and cousins absorbed some of their energy, and I didn't have to cook, clean, work or homeschool the entire time we were away. Even with the travel, it was relaxing!

It's been almost a year since we flew back to the South. As hope to those of you with younger kids - wow, does it get easier!! No diapers, no strollers, no car seats on the plane - they traveled liked pros. And, can I just mention that I LOVE Frontier? The little TVs with Direct TV are right up there with Post-it notes in my opinion.

So, here are the pictures:

First, we went to my side of the family, where the kids had fun running with Grandpa and their greyhound, Oreo:And drawing (A LOT!):

And seeing one of my best high school friends and her children. It's pretty amazing to see the next generation together.

It makes a girl sleepy:
And a boy so tuckered out he has to sleep on his shoes with the dog on the dog bed:
Here they are with my Grandma. Doesn't she look great?

Next, we traveled to WeaverDad's side of the family. Both of WeaverDad's sisters have 2 kids, so there are COUSINS. And cousins are SO MUCH FUN! It was a little more active, so I didn't do as well remembering to take pictures, but here are a few:

The Cousin Crew

One of his sisters and his mom arranged for all of us to go to a production of Annie. It was wonderful. I have a drama minor and haven't been to a play in a long time, so it was as much a treat for me as for Punkin. Punkin thought it was great and she wanted to stay and meet the little girl that played Annie, so we did.

Little Man wasn't as thrilled. Thankfully, here he is during the 1st act:
After the final number when the actors came out and took their bows, Little Man said, "Is it over?" I said "yes". He said with a hugh sigh, "I'm SO glad that it's over!"

And, here they are with Gram and Granddaddy!

Update

Gosh, life has gotten away from me! It's been busy! One day this week I had 63 posts in my reader to catch up on!

So, since I use my blog to keep up with family as well as a "history" for myself to look back at - I'll try to hit some highlights of what we've been up to:

Thanksgiving was wonderful! It was just the four of us, but we had a turkey and all the "fixin's" of sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, Sister Schube*rt rolls - um, um, good! I've been watching too much Food Channel again, and tried an Alton Brown recipe that included brining the turkey. I've never done that, but I was really pleased with the results and I'm sure I'll do it again. Yummy! It was a relaxing weekend. WeaverDad and I both took 4 entire days off and we had some great family time.

WeaverDad loves pecan pie - which I evidentially have not made for him since we moved to Colorado 7 years ago!! (I know, what a bad wife I am!) Because... when I made it, it boiled in the oven, bubbled over, and never set. After some internet research (seriously, what DID people do before the internet), I discovered that since the boiling temperature is lower at high-altitude, you cannot add as much sugar to the recipe or you get the results I did. But, there was time to try the new, high-altitude recipe I found online, and my husband loved it! So much, in fact, that he asked me to make it again this Sunday. Ah, success!

Since Thanksgiving, I've gotten 2 new clients. So, I've been running a little crazy!

And Christmas shopping. And making 45 Sand Art Brownie Jars for WeaverDad's co-workers and our neighbors.

And, oh yeah - I'm supposed to be homeschooling!
I agree with so many of the articles I read when investigating the concept of homeschooling. In answer to the "socialization" question, many homeschoolers shared that instead of enough socialization being an issue, the bigger issue for them was the discipline to stop socializing so much and actually get some schooling in! Oh, can I relate.

I'm struggling, but when I added up my days and checked where we are in our curriculum, I was pleased to discover I'm only 3 days behind, and I only need to finish one more chapter before Christmas. So, hopefully we can finish that up and start fresh in the new year with a new determination to be a little more consistent!

We are studying Moses right now. This chapter is about Godly leadership and, in addition to Moses, we are studying the leaders from the beginning of the United States - George Washington, Thomas Edison and Ben Franklin. Punkin is surprising me with a high level of interest in these men and what their lives were like, so I'm hopeful it will be a fun unit.

The last chapter was about inventors. We discussed how all things come from God, and Punkin made a beautiful "flipbook" about The Wright Brothers and their plane. She was fascinated with how they went from bicycles to planes. Did you know the Wright Brothers had a sister? She was part of their original plane company - so involved, in fact, that her signature is on their stock certificates. One of the brothers said that the plane would have never happened without her. The three promised each other as teenagers they would never marry and would always live together. The boys kept their promise, but the sister broke it and did marry and have children. :) These are the things I never learned in school, and I find it so fascinating to learn these things with my Punkin.

Little Man is learning his letters. He has been watching lots of Letter Factory while Punkin and I talk about inventors and George Washington. (He's a little young to care about these things yet!) So, he has now learned to recognize all the letters and knows the sounds as well. He wants to read so badly so he can be like his big sister.

I've decided that the math curriculum we have been using does not have enough structure for me as the teacher. So, I've ordered a new one called Singapore Math, and it should be here soon. I hope it is successful for us and we can get back on track.

So, there's the news. Interesting, huh? ha!

I'm taking another short blogging break until December 12th or 13th - it's just that crazy time of year! Hope all of your Christmas preparations are coming along well!