Vacation is here!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

We made it to vacation time. I am relearning how to relax, and the kids are enjoying the dry weather by playing outside. Paul gets to work until midday on Christmas Eve. We have had little time for making goodies, but we did manage to make some chocolate covered pretzels. Yum! Yes that is chocolate on their faces.

Here what our tree used to look like. It is has been thoroughly attacked by Ella the cat now. All the decorations have been knocked off. The lights are still on, but that is only because they are wrapped around the tree.

Eliza went wild decorating. She did the front and back side of her bedroom door, cut a piece of hedge from our neighbor's yard, placed it in her room for a Christmas tree and decorated it, and created a faux fireplace with several stockings.

How a field trip saved my education

Two hours ago I turned in my last assignment for my child and adolescent development class. I have to say I truly didn't think I was going to make it through that class. I wanted to quit school at least once a week throughout it, and one night I nearly did. Luckily for me, Luke had a field trip the next day. I decided to blow off my paper due that day and enjoy the day with my son instead. I even went to the Trunk or Treat at church that night. Although my stress was not gone, I felt much better after that and managed to get my paper written the next day.

Feeling stressed? Go on a field trip and discover the world again through the eyes of a four-year-old.

Hazel and Dan's Birthday

Papa Dan turned 90 a few days ago, and Grandma Hazel will turn 87 later this week. They are a joy to us! We celebrated their birthdays today. Grandma's mind was doing well enough that we all enjoyed the day. What a blessing!

Luke helping with the candles.

Paul and his sister, Jennifer.

My mother-in-law, Jane with Grandma Hazel

Halloween

My children had a great Halloween. Eliza spent the evening with a friend handing candy out at the home of one of our local millionaires. No, I'm not kidding. She came home with lots of goodies. When Luke got home, he promptly sorted his candies into three piles.

The hard candies, the melty candies and the chewy candies.

Leah was a fairy, Sarah a vampire, and Luke was "SUPER LUKE!"

New kitten

After crying several days in a row, I decided to go to the Humane Society and adopt a kitten. After playing with several cute kittens, we chose this three-month-old. She was very playful but didn't mind being cuddled. We named her Sassy Ella. The name was the best compromise we could come up with. She is adjusting well and so are we.

By the way, thank you for all the cat offers, but we are good with the one :)

A very sad day

Yesterday we lost our sweet kitty cat, Serafina. She was hit by a car up on the big road. The older kids saw her remains on the way to school but hoped all day that it was some other cat. I cried all day missing my buddy around the house, worrying about the kids and stressing out about telling them the sad news.

Serafina is and will continue to be sorely missed. She was a member of our family, and it is our hope that when we are in heaven she will be with us too.

Here are some of our favorite pictures of her.

Update

1. My class is going great so far. There is a lot to learn about the program itself. That is what we are focusing on right now. I feel like I am making it okay so far. I have been assigned to a Learning Team, and one of my peers lives in Japan! How cool is that!

2. Eliza had a bike accident today. She got scraped up a little, and she hit her head on the pavement. She had a massive headache at first. It got better throughout the day, but she went to bed with it still aching. No, I don't think she had a concussion. Her stomach never felt sick, and she didn't get dizzy or anything.

3. Luke told me yesterday, "Mom . . . I LOVE SCHOOL! Today we had Cheetos for snack." This week Luke learned to identify cylinders, spheres, cubes, cones and rectangular prisms. A couple of his older sisters couldn't identify the shapes as such, but Luke could. Watch out sisters!

4. Leah remembered which way to write her letter P on her spelling test, and she made a 100!

5. Friday the kids dressed up for spirit day at school. Since the school is small, even the elementary kids participate in school spirit stuff and pep rallies. This week the theme was "Accident Prone." My girls got really into it. They borrowed crutches, a sling and a wrist brace from my mother-in-law. The mother of one of Sarah's friends said that Sarah's fake bruises were pretty convincing. Sarah's grade won the spirit stick at the pep rally.

6. Paul continues to work hard. His employer has increased production! This is wonderful considering that in the last year half of the employees were laid off. They have also begun hiring people back. Paul also continues to play guitar everyday.