in pursuit of wild things

I think I will go on strike if next December is as busy as this one…

Last Friday was my birthday…forty-two years. Our older three went to a program at church that evening leaving just Littlest with us. I almost had my husband to myself! He took Littlest and me out to a hibachi restaurant for dinner. Littlest was very entertained by all of the fire and theatrics of our chef!!! I enjoyed my birthday dinner out very much.

The weekend was busy and went by in a blur. On Saturday my husband took Oldest to observe a Lego Robotics competition with the technology club. They will be involved in the Lego Robotics League and competitions beginning in the spring. As soon as they returned home we headed to my husband’s workplace for a Christmas party for the kids. Mrs. Clause told Sparkles that Santa would prefer we leave out my homemade applesauce in place of cookies on Christmas Eve. Sparkles couldn’t believe she knew all about our vanilla applesauce. I get the feeling we’ll be doing this every year now. I also happen to know that Mrs. Clause makes some really tasty jams and jellies!  On Sunday we enjoyed the Christmas Cantata

at church and then I went to lunch with the ladies group. I was nervous going out with the group because I am not very good at small talk. I do not mind listening but participating is sometimes tiring. I admire people who have the skill to converse. Eventually someone asked about homeschooling and then I talked too much…because my kids are my passion. I love homeschooling them! (I’m also passionate about my husband, my faith, and green smoothies…that’s about it these days.) I try not to talk about homeschooling in-depth because I know most people are only superficially interested. Hopefully, I didn’t bore the ladies too much. I got home just in time for my husband to start making dinner. This week he finally perfected his fried chicken recipe. I thought he had accomplished it the previous week…but no.

We went caroling with our church family on Wednesday night (after I had fasted for most of the day for a doctor’s appointment). I really wasn’t in the mood to go at first but the older three really wanted (begged with sweet smiles and I just could not disappoint them) to participate. I’m glad we went. All that Christmas cheer dissipated my grumpiness. The last time I went caroling was twenty years ago at a hospital in Alton. We sang Silent Night in German…my ability to pronounce German is far worse than my singing voice. That is saying something y’all!!!

Today, we went to Littlest’s preschool Christmas party. He must be a bit of a cut-up in class. He made silly faces for all of the pictures and his teacher said she would not be surprised if he ended up on Saturday Night Live. We were also told he likes to hang upside down while watching programs. Nice…

In school this week we wrapped up our studies for break. We are not schooling much the next couple of weeks. The crew will be working on some art and writing projects. I will be evaluating the first half of the school year and planning out our year-long nature study of the back yard. I also decided to give Littlest a Kindergarten readiness exam. He thought the test was fun and wanted to do another. He scored an 82 (out of

100) and only needed 58 points to be considered ready for Kindergarten. I called the homeschool department at Christian Light Education to talk to an advisor. She asked me several questions about his abilities and discussed the readiness test results with me. She thought it best that he start Kindergarten right away instead of waiting until preschool let out. I was prepared to order their entire Kindergarten program but she said he didn’t need all the books based on what he already knows. Every time I talk to representatives of this company my respect grows. They were more concerned with providing what we needed than making a sale.

Linking up with: Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

lunch at Majestic

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Marshall County

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Majestic

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