Cindy's Life as She Knows It

My favorite day of the year is Christmas Eve.  I love the anticipation that it holds!  Here at our house we have dinner and then, with whomever drops in that year, we wait impatiently for the first sound of the firetruck slowly going up and down the neighborhood streets with Santa sitting high on top waving to everyone below.  This year we had my mother in law, my younger daughter, Keri, and her roommate and her roommate's little girl, my older daughter, Kris, very sick little granddaughter, Natalie and MomMom in addition to my sons, my husband and I.  Full house!  Around 7pm we heard the first strains of the siren and if we stood at the front door and looked across the neighborhood we could just see Santa about 4 streets over, slowly gliding by on the top of his truck.  Squeals were heard all around (from some much older than 4 and 7 lol).  We passed the time and then heard him again.  Back to the door!  More squeals!  Finely, around 9p...

December was a crazy month.  I am like everyone else, trying to squeeze it all in and never quite living up to my own expectations.  Dakota was on overdrive and I had a hard time dealing with that.  He was quite literally vibrating with excitement and just couldn't think of anything else.  Then, before Christmas ever arrived, he would burst into tears because he was going to miss Christmas when it was over!  It was a crazy couple of weeks.  In the middle of it all our baby granddaughter got sick.  Thursday, December 22nd she just wasn't acting right and by the time her mommy came to get her she was feverish and glassy eyed.  They took her to the emergency room that night when they couldn't get her fever down and she was diagnosed with RSV, a virus that attacks the lungs of very small children.  It can be spread to anyone, but those over two or three usually just have a cough and cold.  Natalie got very sick very quickly.  Christmas ...

From the moment my then six year old son laid eyes on his brand new baby niece it has been love at first sight.  He was able to come into the delivery room within minutes of her birth and see her on the warming table and kiss her head as his big sister held her daughter for the first time.  He cried as he left the room, so moved by the emotions that he was feeling. That evening, when we went back to the hospital after going home to change, Dakota got to hold Natalie for the first time and that tiny little girl opened up her eyes and gazed at her uncle and he was hooked, right there, forever.  From that day forward she has been his focus.  It was hard on him when, for the first two months of her life, she lived in North Carolina, but from the day she moved home in late July 2011, she has been his princess and he has been her brave and fearless knight.  He has held her, rocked her and sang to her.  He has fed her and whispered sweet nothings in her ear....

This week we are doing some schoolwork, but it's been laid back, starting at 10:30, taking an hour for lunch and finishing up by 2:00.  Daddy is working nights so he sleeps til noon, but then he's here in the afternoon so Dakota wants to have his attention.  We are talking about the constitution, Ben Franklin and Paul Revere in History so that we can start in on the War of 1812 and the Civil War after the holiday.  We haven't been doing any science/health at all because I just have no desire to start a new unit at this point.  We have been reading another Magic Tree House, Christmas In Camelot, but doing painting and projects with it instead of written work.  Workbooks for Language Arts.  Regular studies for math and spelling.  Crafts and Christmas music for art and music.   Wrestling for PE.  This Friday will be our last day for the year.  I am hoping to start 2012 off with lots of prepared lessons and...

Yesterday we made our second trip in about four years to Chesapeake Beach to cut down our Christmas tree.  In years past we had always just gone to the local tree stand and bought one, but about three or four years ago we decided we wanted to cut down our own.  This year we went a little earlier than we normally get our tree, but it was a free afternoon and evening so we jumped on it.  My husband, two sons and my older son's best friend hopped in the truck around 3:00 and headed out.  We plugged in my teenager's Ipod and all sand loudly to a variety of songs as we headed south on a clear, chilly day.  We arrived at the farm around 4:00 and headed out to find the perfect tree.  We had only been walking a few minutes when the perfect one jumped right out and called my name!  There it was, perfectly shaped and ready to be taken home!  We cut it down, wrapped it up and piled it into the back of the truck.  ...

Today we had a great homeschooling day.  Natalie arrived late so I had time to get my materials and ideas together.  Koda asked to do his new USA puzzle around 10 and I said yes.  When he finished, I gave him the large USA floor puzzle to do.  Then we layed out our "flashcards" of the states that I got at the dollar store and matched the capitals with them.  It was a simple idea that Dakota took to right away and he loved matching them up and learning ones we didn't know.  Next up was reading and he went in on my bed and asked me to bring the baby in so he could read to her.  She happily played with her toys and her toes and he felt important being able to read aloud to her.  We moved out to the livingroom and got into the recliner with ...If You Lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern (love anything by her).  We got through the first 32 pages and laughed together at the foods they ate, the things they had to do at school and the "medicines...

Today is December 1st, the first day of the Christmas season in my mind.  I have vowed, as I always do, to try to do one Christmas based activity a day this month.  Today was very hectic for me.  I had work to do this morning and I spent too much time on the phone with my mom and my friend :-)  By the time we got around to schoolwork it was 1:00.  We finished our Thanksgiving on Thurday Magic Tree House book and watched the next segment of the Liberty's Kids series.  I got constantly interrupted by phone calls and the baby and decided that I just was going to let it go.  For our Christmas activity we got down all the Christmas decorations from the attic and, after dinner, made our first batch of chocolate chip cookies.  We have already been watching movies together lately and tonight we watched Mickey's Christmas Carol and part of Winnie the Pooh before interest was lost and I was left to myself.  Taking this opportunity for the gem that it w...