Back to School

We officially went back to school this past Monday. I (thought I) was thoroughly prepared. I spent hours making lesson plans, making copies, organizing papers, etc . . . Well, God certainly used Monday to humble me! I was so excited when I woke up b/c I had actually gotten a good night's sleep (I was previously having a hard time getting myself back into a normal sleep schedule) . . . and then it was just one thing after another. Due to our previously mentioned warm weather, we all slept with our windows open. Well, we live near railroad tracks (which we are used to) but apparently since Ali's window was open, the 5:00am train woke her up. She did eventually go back to sleep, but I definitely had a cranky girl on my hands. She has always been so sleep needy, and it showed! Then, there were books that I couldn't find, shoes that I couldn't find, lots of bickering . . . let's just say it was a mess.
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Thankfully, these past two days have gone really great. We actually started doing school in the kitchen this semester (we were previously in the basement). It's been nice b/c now I can get little things done during the little bits of down time that I have. I also gave the girls each a daily lesson plan sheet for them to check off on their own. So far that has been awesome! It has really helped them take responsibilty for what they need to do without always having to be told.
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Julie is LOVING coloring time!
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Meg is doing a good job with it, but would rather be playing : )
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The big girls, hard at work!

Meet Julie's New Friend

Yes, Julie made a new friend. She met him in a book. His name is "Poop." I didn't even correct her - I just laughed. It's a good thing he's fictional, otherwise I'd feel sorry for him!

Summer Days?

Okay, maybe not quite summer . . . but we are definitely experiencing some spring like weather here in STL! The past few nights we have been sleeping with all of our windows open and the girls are complaining that they are hot in their winter jammies. On one hand, it's nice . . . we get to air out the house, the girls get to play outside, neighbors are outside again, no hassle with coats, hats, gloves, etc . . . But on the other hand, it just doesn't seem right . . . 76 degrees, in January?

Big, Fat Bummer!

Pun fully intended. I got a letter in the mail on December 31st, notifying me that the gym that I use was shutting down on December 31st. Nothing like some advanced notice . . . : ) So, now here I am, thrown in with all of the "New Year's Resolution" people . . . trying to find another place. I'm bummed b/c I REALLY liked the place I was at, and now I'm on the hunt again. I guess the treadmill will have to do in the mean time!

A Mild Case of Spain Brain

That's what my college friends called it . . . and it still hits me every now and then. Here lately my brain has been wandering through the streets of Sevilla, and I'm missing it dearly. SO here I go, reminiscing . . . this could be a very long post!

Most of you know that I was a Spanish major in college. Even before I started college I was part of a 2 week long, school organized, spring break trip to Spain. From the moment I set foot in Madrid I was hooked . . . a little piece of me stayed behind. During that trip, we toured the country for a week, then did a "family stay" for a week. Looking back at those pictures is very sweet to me. I remember great times with my American friends (who are pretty much the only high school friends that I still keep in touch with) and sweet new friendships that were built with Spaniards while we were there. I kept every scrap of paper that I ever touched while I was there . . . every receipt, every address, every brochure, every note. That has all been hidden away in a photo album for a while now, but when I took it out, it was amazing how fresh it all became. I even found a piece of paper that my friend (Enrique) and I scribbled on, explaining to each other how our grading systems work in school. It's so funny for me to look back at that. I remember my friend Ami (who spoke very little Spanish) teaching our friend Agustin (who spoke very little English) to say "I'm fine and I know it." What a riot! I remember Isabel, Laura and Matt dancing Sevillanas in the streets. I remember being on the bus as we were pulling into Madridejos (the town where we did our family stay). You could have heard a pin drop. Everyone was SO nervous! Here we were getting ready to spend a week with people we had never met. I can still remember the butterflies in my stomach. Then I look at the pictures of us from the morning we left Madridejos. What a pathetic group we were. We all gathered in a plaza, waiting for the bus to arrive (and when I say all, I mean all - I think every Spanish teenager from the town was there.) I look at pictures of my friend Lidia - she was the first in tears, and looking at the picture of her still makes me feel like I need to cry. We took many different group shots, last minute gifts were exchanged, then it was time to go . . . and everyone was crying. What a mess. I managed to hold off the tears until I sat in my seat, and then the floodgates opened . . . so dramatic : )

Then, my sophomore year in college I went back. This time for a study abroad. I actually went in July (planning to visit various friends). I did see some of them, but other plans fell through. I ended up heading to Sevilla (the city where I lived) early. I had several weeks pretty much by myself. I lived in the infamous Barrio de Santa Cruz (historical Jewish quarter in the heart of Sevilla). The key to my house was a good 5 inches long and looked like it would open a castle : ) The streets are so narrow that cars can't drive on them. In the gap between my house and the next one stood three Roman pillars (Pictured to the right) that are thought to have been part of a temple to the Goddess Diana. To think that they've been there since the times of the Roman Empire. That was just life in Sevilla. I had many major attractions right in my back yard . . . literally, I walked past them every day on my way to school (or wherever). The Cathedral, The Guadalquivir River, The Alcazar, The Maestranza Bullring, The Plaza de Espana, The Parque de Maria Luisa. I could go on and on, and they are all within easy walking distance. Here is a site that I have enjoyed in my reminiscing. Whether you've been there or not, I recommend it.

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Like I said . . .I could go on forever . . . but I won't. I've lost touch with all of my friends from Spain and my Spanish has deteriorated quite a bit. (Though I'm still managing to teach my kids, who think I'm a Spanish genius!) I guess if no one else ever reads this, I've at least enjoyed my trip down memory lane. Maybe someday I can take Aaron back with me . . . I would love to share it all with him!

Christmas Day

Christmas day actually started out slow for us. We had a lazy morning and then had to be at Aaron's Grandma's house at 11:00. We did lunch and then presents (for the kids only). I was the big idiot who completely for got my camera! It was nice to see everyone. Unfortunately, the kids opened their presents and then it was time to run. Our goal was to get to my parents' house (after stopping home for the camera, of course) before Julie fell asleep in the car . . . and we actually managed to do that!

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Christmas with my parents is actually a rather drawn out affair. My grandparents (my mom's parents) drive down from Wisconsin, usually getting there b/w 6:00 and 7:oo in the evening, and then stay for 3 days. It's the only time that we see them during the year, so we basically spend those 3 days at my parents house. It's always a treat to see them, but by the end of those 3 days I'm ready to get back to normal life!

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I made up for all of my slack picture taking over Christmas while at my mom's house. Of course, having Grandma and Grandpa in town means several rounds of posed pictures . . . Just the great-grandkids, then the Great Great grandparents with all the littles, then the 4 generation pictures . . . and the list goes on . . . At times like this, it's wonderful to have the super speed camera, where I can take 30 pictures in a minute or so. And when you take that many pictures, you have to figure that you'll get at least one that looks good! : ) Unfortunatley, I filled up my 1G memory card and had to borrow a card from my mom! Sad, I know.

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I love this one of the girls with their cousins (My sister's boys)

(L-R, Emma (6), Julie (20 mos), Ali (7), Austin (9), Kevin (3) and Megan (3)

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Christmas dinner was actually awesome this year. B/c my grandparents were getting in so late we did presents with my mom & dad early, then fed the kids dinner at about 5:00. So when Grandma and Grandpa got their (about 6:30) we did presents with them, and then I put the kids to bed. So we got to have dinner with no children . . . very nice! Kevin and Austin watched a movie and the adults enjoyed adult conversation!

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This time I actually managed to get a picture of Aaron with the girls! Amazing! : ) (These are the previously mentioned cute jammies!

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The girls got several gifts that they were excited about. Ali and Emma got tea dresses for their American Girl dolls. Emma loves her new Magic kit (I think she's feeling a bit disillusioned to learn that she's not actually doing magic - but she likes trying to fool her sisters . . . Meg makes a great audience). Meg got an Island Princess Barbie and a Donkey plush toy. Julie got her Bitty Baby (now named Baby Anna) and sleeps with her nightly. Another of Julie's favorites was one that wasn't even given to her - One of Emma's books. (Sidenote - Yes those are hives you see on Julie . . . I guess it was from a virus b/c they're gone now.)

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Over the next three days we enjoyed lots of chat time, played loads of Cribbage (and other games), went out to Fortel's for pizza and saw lots of dog barf! (I know, sounds yummy! My grandparents have 2 little lap dogs and one of them got into Richard's chocolate - what a mess!)

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Now we are back at home and trying to get back to some type of normal. The Christmas Tree came down on the morning of the 26th (I asked the girls if they would mind me taking it down on the evening og the 24th - they weren't especially crazy about the idea!) We're trying to clean up and find places for everything. I also have a quarter's worth of school that I'm trying to plan. Tonight we have our annual New Year's Eve festivities (pictures coming soon - assuming that I don't forget, of course). Aaron heads back to work on Wednesday, we start back to school on Monday.

My Favorite . . .

Of all of the Christmas celebrations that we are a part of, my favorite by far is our family Christmas at home. It's so wonderful to have a relaxing day at home!!

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We actually do our family celebration on Christmas Eve . . . that is one of the best decisions we ever made! No opening presents and then running off to see other family. We have an entire day to ourselves, and I love it!

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The night before we let the kids open one present (which is the same thing every year - Jammies! Ali and Emma have finally caught on to that pattern!) So the next morning they are all in their new cute jammies - it makes for great pictures! : )

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Usually we do cupcakes for breakfast (healthy, I know) and we sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. This year I just didn't have the stamina or the time to bake cupcakes, but the girls were happy to settle for Barbie Pop Tarts : ) After breakfast we all move to the living room where Aaron reads the Christmas Story from the Bible. It's fun to listen to the kids discussing, asking questions and commenting. It's a great time to sit and focus, stepping away from all of the chaos. Then, we move on to presents.

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My picture taking was (as previously mentioned) quite pathetic. I didn't even take a group picture of the girls . . . oh well! The "Big" gift this year was the Game Cube from Aaron and I. The girls haven't had much gaming experience, but they have played Mario Kart on the Alligood's Game Cube, and wanted it badly.

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The girls do all of their Christmas shopping for each other at the Dollar Store . . . so they had many little cheapy gifts to open. Some of them didn't even make it through the day, but it was fun while it lasted. In fact, one of Julie's favorites was a toy cell phone. She walked around all day talking on that thing!

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As mentioned previously, I did manage to take 2 naps on Christmas Eve . . . ahhh bliss!! After nap time we did actually get everyone dressed (we had thus far spent the entire day in our jammies!) and headed over to the Alligood's for an hour or so. Amber's parents came in town late the previous night and were only staying for two days, so we wanted to get over to visit a bit. It was great to see "Grammy and Papa" (as my kids call them). We came back home to dinner, ready in the crock pot. We played some games, and called it an early night!

Still Going . . .

Yes, more Christmas to celebrate!

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On Sunday (12/23) the girls had their long awaited handbell performance. They have been practicing for this for months and this was the big day. They performed 2 songs (Angels We Have Heard on High and The First Noel). Ali was one of 7 or 8 kids who played the melody part (the rest played chords). She has actually had to practice at home daily (for those of you who know how musically bankrupt I am, you can just imagine how helpful I was in that endeavor!) It's a miracle that she ever learned her parts!! They both did a great job. Grandma Klarner even made it to church to see them. After bells, all of the children, third grade and under did their Christmas presentation. I always love watching this. Ali and Emma are old enough now that they aren't the little ones standing in the front row showing off their panties, but these kids really are hilarious.

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After church on Sunday we headed to the Alligoods house for the annual Patton/Alligood Christmas party. That is always a treat for us. The kids had a great time, and the adults stayed up until the wee hours playing games (sidenote: you know you're getting old when you consider 11:00 to be "the wee hours").
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What a great looking bunch of kids!

Kicking Off Our Crazy Christmas!

Christmas was crazy for us this year, as usual! Every year I swear that next year something has got to change. My husband is off of work for an entire week, and I come away feeling more exhausted than I was when he was working!!
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Well, We kicked off the Christmas festivities with the Patton side of the family this year. On Saturday (12/22) we did Christmas with them. it was really nice to do it early and have a laid back kind of a day. I even fell asleep on their couch at one point!
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The girls got all kinds of things that they are thrilled about. One thing that I loved was the nice collection of hairbows that we got (thanks Aunt Lydia and Grandma Patton!) Those things get expensive fast, so it was a great Christmas idea! Julie managed to model several of them (until they got to be too heavy and started falling out!)

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At one point, Aaron ended up taking Baby Bailey so that Grandma could open a present (I know, poor Aaron). Well, the bummer is that Julie did a lot of unsupervised wandering! Yes, she wandered right into a marker, which obviously jumped right into her mouth and just spread from there! Yes, all because Aaron was busy holding the baby . . . so I blame Lydia! Thanks a lot Lyd! : ) And of course, I couldn't help but to grab the camera!

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Here we have one of Meg and Julie's favorites. Grandma Patton made them a Veggie Tales pillow . . . it was just begging to be used (hence that little nap on the couch)! Julie kept coming to me and saying "Way down, go fweep" (Read: Lay down, go sleep)

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This might be Ali's all time favorite gift for this Christmas. Grandma Patton got her an old-fashioned Wizard of Oz lunchbox and a set of four Wizard of Oz "Christmas Ornaments." Really they are little dolls with hangers on them so they can be hung up. Well, Ali quickly asked me if we could cut the hangers off and just let them be dolls. Fine by me . . . I wasn't about to torture her be packing them away with the Christmas ornaments for the next 11 months. So, way to go Grandma! The dolls were a hit!

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One thing that I discovered while at the Pattons was that I am not used to sitting around all day long. I was SO exhausted and I kept wondering why, since I had gotten enough sleep the night before . . . then it dawned on me that I never stay in one place for that long!! I had the same experience with every Christmas celebration (Excepting our family Christmas - I took two naps that day!). . . I was very tired. Also, I did a pretty rotten job taking pictures (the one exception to that is yet to come). Mostly I just forgot . . . I know . . . Pathetic!

Christmas Party!

We did finally wrap up our semester with a "school" Christmas Party. Amber came over with the kids on Friday (12/21). They Decorated cut-out brownies for their Daddies, made Christmas Ornaments, watched Mickey's Christmas Carol, gave their Pilgrim Presentations (which they did a great job with) and sung Christmas Carols. In between times, they just played together, while Amber and I chilled out on the couch - both of us exhausted and ready to be done with school for a few weeks!

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As a special treat, we hired sitters and went out for the evening (Jason, Amber, Aaron and myself). We enjoyed Longhorn for dinner and National Treasure 2 on opening night . . . What a treat!!

Baby Bookworm

I've mentioned before how all of my girls love to read. Well, Julie has really amazed me here lately. For her age, it's really amazing to me how much she loves books. I had to share this story.

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My kids have roomtime every day. They play by themselves in their room (or another room in the house where they can be isolated) and they love it. With four little girls in the house, it's great for them to have some time to play by themselves, imagine whatever they want, and not have to share anything. Roomtime lasts for one hour. On this particular day, I told Julie it was time for roomtime. She asked to have some books on her bed, so I gave her some. She climbed up and started "reading." I also got out a box of toys for her to play with. When I came back, an hour later, to get her out, this is what I found. The toys were untouched, and she was still looking at her books. She greeted me with this huge laughing smile, as if to say, "Has it been an hour already?" I love it!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy!

Well, the man of the house officially turned 29 today! Happy Birthday to a wonderful Hubby, Daddy, and friend.

The celebration has been rather drawn out . . . beginning with a birthday date night on Monday, then an early family birthday dinner at Fortel's last night, and finally a yummy birthday dessert tonight. Unfortunately, tonight is youth group night, and as it's Jason and Amber's last night in youth ministry and the white elephant Christmas party, he didn't want to miss it.

DONE!

Well, our second quarter has come to a close. On Friday we're having a Christmas party, and the kids will be giving presentations on the Pilgrims (which I will need to give grades for) . . . but other than that, we're done!! Hours have been logged, grades have been tabulated, books have been put away. It's a wonderful feeling!

I managed to make it through an entire semester of homeschooling, and I only spontaneously canceled school once due to sheer exhaustion. I must say, I'm impressed. I'm now realizing that I need to do a school supply check so that we're thoroughly supplied to start back in January. Now I can kick back, put my feet up and enjoy Christmas! (Yeah, right!!) I guess I should say that I need to get my butt in gear, clean my house, finish wrapping presents, baking, sewing, etc . . . Oh well . . . at least school is done for the year!

Haircuts

Actually, all four girls got haircuts this week. Ali and Emma actually went to my friend Jessica (who runs a salon in Pacific) to get cleaned up a little. You really don't notice much of a difference in length, but it was pathetic to see the split ends on Emma!!

Meg and Julie got Mommy haircuts. Meg needed a real cut, and she looks adorable. For Julie it was just a trim of the bangs (I had been debating growing out her bangs, but I gave that up for now). But now, she has a horrible mullet (major pet peeve of mine) so she's going to Jessica tomorrow to take care of that!! More pictures to come!

Paper Chain

One of our Christmas traditions is that every year I make a paper chain for the kids. Each link has a special activity written on it that we do together (read a book, watch a movie, bake something, sing Christmas Carols, etc . . . ) Well, we've been rather slack with the paper chain this year (i.e. yesterday we pulled off 3 links, and now have some catching up to do!) I also haven't taken many pictures . . . but here's one. This is on Gingerbread House day (another tradition). It's been fun this year, b/c Meg is participating more. Poor little Jules just got to watch from afar!