Taking tattling to a whole new level

Rhys just came to me and asked for an envelope. He had written a letter to Santa, telling him that Avery refused to play Chess with him today. Apparently I hadn't acted on the issue like I was supposed to, so he was taking it to a higher authority. So, the question is: Is not succumbing to your little brother's every whim enough to earn a spot on the Naughty List? Seems unlikely.

Movin' on up...

We got a letter in the mail today inviting Avery to join the Level 4 girls gymnastics team. She is beside herself with excitement. We're very proud of her and excited too, although we might have to sell off one of her little brothers to pay for it....

My favorite part of homeschooling...

...has very little to do with schooling. My favorite part of homeschooling is the close relationship my kids are able to have. I've noticed a lot recently how different my children's relationship is from the traditional sibling relationship. Sure, they bicker sometimes, but they aren't competitive, they aren't mean to each other, and they truly, genuinely enjoy being together. Not only that, but I've noticed how well older homeschooled children relate to younger ones. They treat them with such respect and try hard to help and include them. That kind of patience and kindness is more important than any academic lesson I could teach them.

Last night Avery had a couple of friends spend the night, and I was reminded of this again. The girls were so sweet to Rhys; they worried when he was bored when they were ice skating and they didn't mind a bit when he huddled with them on their blankets to watch a movie.

Happy birthday Avery Simone!

I can hardly believe that my baby girl is 8! It seems like it was just yesterday that she was the goofy baby in the floppy yellow hat. And now she's grown into such a smart, wonderful girl. Happy birthday, girlie!

The Bug Guy

Today our Nature Club had a presentation given by Jungle Jim, aka The Bug Guy. He brought a seemingly endless supply of spiders, scorpions, snakes, and lizards, as well as several huge display cases full of mounted insects. His collection was quite impressive, and I just might have nightmares about those giant cockroaches. *shudder* It seems that Griffin might have agreed with me, since he very loudly said, "Ewwwwwwwwww!" as he pointed at every creature he saw.

Christmas crafting

I've been on quite the crafting spree lately! Not only have I been frantically sewing some Christmas gifts for the kids, but I've been crafting some new Christmas decorations. I'm not finished yet with all my projects, but here is a peek at a couple of finished projects.

First, our new Christmas stockings. I embroidered the little elves with a free pattern so generously supplied by Wee Wonderfuls, then I constructed the stockings and sewed on some cute vintage reproduction fabrics. Now, I just have to come up with something for Bill's stocking and mine too!



Also, I made stocking advent garland. There are 24 stockings, one for each day in December leading up to Christmas. Every morning, either Bill or I put a note in that day's stocking, notifying the children of a Christmas craft or activity we'll do that day. They've ranged from watching a Christmas movie and drinking hot chocolate to going to a Christmas party to making Christmas ornaments. It's a fun challenge to come up with a new activity every day, and the kids really look forward to each day's special event.

Bookclub holiday party

This week we had a holiday party at Book Club. After doing the normal book discussion, the kids had a feast of cookies, brownies, and fudge, then played several fun holiday games. They also all got to open gifts of (what else?) NEW BOOKS! Yahooo!



Book Club is one of the kids' very favorite activities. Rhys is in the younger group, aptly named "The Crazy Readers". They read picture books or short chapter books, discuss them, and do a craft. The older group, to which Avery belongs, is called "The Fantasy Worms" (think: book "worms"). They read novels and the girls discuss the book and take turns making up a game to go with the book. This week was Avery's turn, and she spent quite a bit of time creating a shell-shaped game board and tons of trivia questions to go along with the book The Tail of Emily Windsnap.

The best part for me is that we do a mini grown up book club! We select a book to read each month (alternating fiction and nonfiction), and we try to grab a few minutes here and there to discuss it. This month we're reading Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women. It's so nice to have such a great, smart group of women to help me broaden my horizons!

Tree trimming

Our Christmas tree has been up for about a week, and we've had a few ornament casualties. Griffin was very interested in the tree at first, and enjoyed throwing the "balls" (aka ornaments) on the tile floor. It didn't take long before we realized that we needed to move the ornaments out of reach. So our tree is naked until about halfway up, but at least we should have a few ornaments left for next year!

Austin Toros

Last week, the Show Team performed at the Austin Toros halftime show. The Toros lost, but we had a fun time. Rhys jumped and pretended to shoot baskets the whole game, while Avery goofed around with her gymnastics friends in the stands.

Christmas card picture attempt

In this year's Christmas card photo shoot, I managed to get some really cute pictures of Avery and Rhys. Unfortunately, most pictures had Griffin streaking by in the foreground as he rushed to get out of the posed shot. Or, even better, him throwing a tantrum when we tried to hold him in the picture. I did manage to get this really great one of the bigger two. Maybe I can draw Griffin in?

Chuy's Parade

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Avery performed at the annual Chuy's Children Giving to Children Parade. We go every year, but it was very special for Avery to actually be in it. It's such a fun parade; there are huge balloons, marching bands, and much, much more. Griffin was especially impressed with all the firetrucks that were included in the procession.

Soccer season ends

In mid-November, Rhys had his last soccer game. He really started coming around toward the end of the season, and started to really "get it". Of course, he only focused on the game for 20 second intervals, and the rest of the time he spent running and playing with his buddies on the field. He did enjoy the season, but he plans to try T-ball in the spring. Ever since soccer ended, he's been asking me if every other activity he does will eventually come to an end. He was ok with soccer ending, but apparently he plans to do book club and gymnastics "FOREVER!!!!"

Washington-on-the-Brazos

A couple of days after Halloween, we went with friends on a field trip to Washington-on-the-Brazos. We visited a museum and a living history farm. The kids especially enjoyed the living history farm, and Avery insists that she would *love* to do laundry if she could do it the pioneer way!

Too much cuteness

Today Avery and Rhys were playing Hide & Seek, and suddenly Griffin jumped up, went to the middle room, covered his eyes with his little hands, and started counting, "Two, two, two..." Then he uncovered his eyes and went running, looking for the kids in their hiding places. Sooooo cute.

Then we were out looking at Christmas lights, and we saw a house that was really decked out with tons of lights, wreaths, candy canes, etc. Rhys sighed, "Oooooooh. Does Santa live here?"