Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!

Tackle it Tuesday

My Tackle it Tuesday project turned into a 2 day event. It started yesterday with pulling all the decorations down, boxing them up, and hauling them to the garage.

Then I wanted to move a couple of things. This is normally the dining room, but it was the larger of the rooms and so we swapped. During Christmas the room kept getting smaller and more cluttered. I knew we need to really declutter when I took all the Christmas decorations down.


Here are the after, you can tell that the sun was out today. Please feel for me that we cannot paint the walls. Ignore the blond head, she is my helper. She loves to move things around and decorate. Occasionally, I lose her to the TV.


The sofa and chaired stayed, but we switched the desk and shelves and changed out the end table by the couch. That little table has been around forever, but the chairs broke and we got rid of them.

We Love Christmas

This year, since we moved so far away, I offered to do the shopping for the grandparents. We do not open any presents early. That glorious filled look will only last for a little while. I like to have a memory of it.

My sweet boy is developing a personality that is separate from the rest of us,

but a little bit of all of us.

Oh the drama, her heart is great big and she enjoys seeing joy in other people. She is also quick tempered and more emotional that I care for right now.

Picture time

This is what it looks like tring to get J to stand still for a picture. He makes me sweat. I thought you would want to see what I am up againt. Thank goodness for my girl who loves the camera.

These are from my Dad and Stepmom's house. Please ignore the blurriness I was trying to grab the picture before the presents were unwrapped and I almost waited to long. It was so warm and we had been outside all morning.

So what now?

Christmas is all over. The tree is coming down today. The kids are spending a few days with the grandparents. So what now?

Life still moves on and we have to move with it. For many year, I have felt a big let down at the end of the holiday season and I am determined not to let that happen this year. We will move forward with the rest of the world. I think that it will help that the kids and I have a few days apart from each other. That never happens in this military family so we are blessed to be close enough that they can stay with their grandparents.

While they are gone I will:

• clean out their rooms
• organize garage
• take down Christmas decorations
• NOT watch toons
• eat what I want, when I want
• start planning a garage (you can do that in the south)
• play Wii without them HA!
• get ready for a few more months of homeschool

I miss my kids when they are away from me, but I am glad for a few days to recharge. Daddy is still working crazy hours so I have had lots of time to myself. So what would you do if faced with a few days to yourself and you did not have to leave the house?

Have a great week. Amanda

Lost In December

I am feeling a wee bit lost amongst all the posts for homeschool reviews. I am forever thankful that I was chosen to represent The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and Store. The amount of material that we have been able to review is staggering and I did not get chosen to review every item. There are some good folks out there who are reviewing more than me. Bless their hearts. I will be even more thankful come summer and I am not buying as much because of all that I was given. Thank you God!

December is almost over and we have been trying to enjoy it. We had to say no to several invitations because the stress was getting overwhelming. We have seen plenty of Christmas lights, visited Santa, shopped, made gifts for others, sent Christmas cards, attended a children's Christmas party, and laid low as a family.

So much has been happening since R's homecoming back in October that we just had to put a stop to a lot of things. Mostly the running around. We felt like chickens with their heads cut off. We had no direction because we were trying to please everyone and do for everyone. I know that we have hurt some feeling by not attending Thanksgiving and Christmas with other family members but it just was not right for us.

I never realized how much war changes a person. R is not the same person that he was when he left. We are not dealing with major changes just some stress induced moodiness. Thankfully some of that subsided when we moved closer to his work and we decided that the holidays would be spent here this year. I can see the mark that this has left on him and I pray that we can learn to live with the changes. The kids are not sure when to ask him something, because his first response is to say no. I am not sure why, but I was really looking forward to having the kids go to him for some things, but that has proved useless and tear full. SO more patience is needed as we move through this.

To say that we have been busy would be an understatement. Just the fact that R has been home 2 months today and we have moved into a whole new house and town is enough to make my pressure crawl back up. We are settled now and we like where we are. There are new kids across the street and we are relaxing some.

So Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope that you will continue to check in with us. I promise life is happening amongst all the homeschooling.
Amanda

Jesse Tree with Links

OK, we have never done a Jesse Tree and I am not sure that this will become a family tradition, but it is something that I have wanted to try. With a 7 year old and a 4 year old, there is no time like the present.
I originally read about the Jesse Tree last year over at Rocks in My Dryer, but did not have the time nor the peace of mind to create it. We have more time this year and I have already gotten started.
Here are some of the links that we have used, as well as, the Bible. My kids are half listening but are enjoying creating the tree.

The Story - http://www.cresourcei.org/jesse.html


Scripture - http://www.shalfleet.net/advent/makeajessetree.htm (look towards the bottom).


Ornaments - http://www.eriercd.org/jessetree.htm , http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/jesse-tree-ornaments-available-for-download/ This site has a link to two different size ornaments. I liked these because they looked the same and not to ornate. Hopefully one of these links will work for you. I could not open it with the first link, but used the second link just fine.

Hope this helps you feel that the Jesse Tree is doable for your family as well. You might learn something new from the Bible in the process.

Have a great day!
Amanda

My little man was exhausted last night after playing all afternoon with the little boy next door. The little boy next door spent a lot of time dumping all the toys out of their containers onto the floor. I realized that J does not do this and realized how thankful I am for it. C spilled everything on the floor while she was playing at that age, but I did not realize that J does not do that until yesterday. Thank you little man.

Christmas is almost here and I am still not done with my list and it was not a very long list this year. Way behind, have a great day.