Sweet, Sweet Picasso

Ha! Even my mom thought the frog - and yes, it really is a urinal! - was in our house. This frog isn't in our house, but Handy Man did help design it. It was created by an artist in New Mexico and is in a house Handy Man designed that sits on a bluff high above the Mississippi River. So, if you had an extra $14 grand laying around, is that what you'd buy?

Me either.

So, we took the boys to see Wall-E. Einstein had been looking forward to this for weeks. Months maybe. He devoured the book and has since read it at least a dozen times. Picasso memorized the day it was coming to theaters and was doing a mental countdown since March. Trouble just wanted Skittles.

So - (Spoiler alert!) with only about 5 minutes left in the movie, our little robot hero malfunctions. Sitting next to me, I see my tender-hearted 6 year old curl up into the fetal position and start sobbing. He cried. And cried. He cried so hard he missed the (happy!) ending and never did see what happens. We had to carry him out of the theater, his little shoulders heaving, chest bouncing, eyes clamped shut, and big, wet tears running down his cheeks.

My obviously-much-more-boybaric 8- and 5-year-old beasts skip happily out of the theater. They watched Wall-E come "back to life" and now have happy, junk-filled bellies. They are happy as clams.

Picasso sobs all the way to the car. He won't open his eyes. He sobs as Handy Man drives out of the parking lot and he sobs all the way to the restaurant, where we spend 5 mintues debating on taking him home or trying to cheer him up. He was inconsolable. Handy Man carried him into the restaurant where 15 minutes later he finally opens a single eye to peek at the menu.

He still won't talk about the movie. If you ask him about it, he folds his arms across his chest, looks away and marches out of the room. I really think it was just too much for his little heart to bear.

So, to warn those of you with very tender-hearted children - for about 3 minutes in the movie, it looks like the old chap isn't going to make it. I really wish I would have known that before spending $60 to carry a devastated 6 year old out of the theaters.

Have you seen anything worthwhile at the theaters lately?

Of Rainbows and Robots, Legos and Pirates

Einstein came running in to find me. "I made a prism outside," he shouts. "Come look!" Only in the name of homeschool can you count both making prisms and landscaping chores as science. We've been doing a lot of "science" lately.




Can you believe all that green? Just when I thought the color would never return to the Arctic Tundra. It's baaaacccck! And so beautiful!

These are some of my favorite pics of the week. This is what boybarians do with Legos and extra boxes. I present... my robots and pirates.








And last but not least... this. This makes my heart pitter patter. It took every drop of will power not to scoop him up and love on him.

Some 5th Birthday Moments

Don't you wish you could freeze time, just for a little while and keep them all just as they are? With each passing milestone, each passing month, each passing moment... I just want to bottle them up and keep them little and timeless. Instead I just click, click, click and try and capture as many moments as possible.






Look at Picasso's face! It is not often that little Trouble has the upper hand over his big brothers. But all the boys have been wanting the new Lego sets. Mr. Trouble was definitely the "cool kid" of the moment with his Indiana Jones and Star Wars legos and minifigs.

Not Number 2

He's never done anything first.

He was middle born. Second child. Number 2 of 3. He walked second, talked second, grew up second. Then came "the new baby" and he wasn't even the littlest anymore. He was stuck between a louder, older child and a needier, younger child.



Until now.

Sweet Picasso is the first one to get big boy teeth. When he complained his middle teeth were hurting, imagine my surprise to find this.



I'm sure my mother is laughing now. You know how grown-ups always say, "Just wait 'til you have kids of your own...!". Picasso is all those things I was told as a child to 'wait for'. He is my motion sick child - my karma for being just like that as a child. He has my mouth - teeth that don't fall out on their own. He will soon be costing his daddy a bundle in dentist bills and orthodontics.

But gracious... isn't he cute? Just wait 'til he has his own kids!

Interview with a Boybarian

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Einstein: I really don't know. I mean, there are a LOT of choices, Mom. And I'm seven. Seven! How in the world is a seven-year old supposed to know what he wants to do for-EVER?! Well, I am almost eight. Perhaps an astronaut like Mars Mission? Maybe I could build houses like Dad. I just really don't know... (he keeps talking and talking and talking... so I go on to the next kid.)

Picasso: I like farms, Mom. I think I'll be a farmer! (as he stares longingly out the window at a HUGE tractor in a field.)

Me: That's great, Picasso. Farmers are out-standing in their field. Get it? Outstanding? Out standing?

He doesn't get it.

Einstein is still rambling on about the 33rd career choice he is considering, and is oblivious that everyone else has stopped listening somewhere around his 9th consideration.

Me: Trouble? What about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?

Trouble: Indiana Jones!

Six More Weeks of School!

I find this almost impossible to believe since it feels like we are just overcoming winter. Spring has sprung! I couldn't be more excited about the upcoming promise of warm weather... just could. not. be.

We are scheduled to finish our school year at the end of May. I can't believe that's so soon! We school mostly year round so we can take off for unexpected hospital visits, fighting burn out, days of nice weather, etc. We get so few warm outside months here in the Arctic Tundra Iowa, that we really need to enjoy those days when we get them. Either that or convince Handy Man to move us to North Carolina or Texas. ;)

So what have we accomplished in school this year?

Math: Einstein finished 2a, 2b and most of 3a. He also did Horizons Grade 2. He may even finish 3a yet this year. He is still just 7, so I'm not terribly excited about him starting 4th grade math while still 8 years old. I am so afraid of what will happen if he is ready for algebra in 5th grade. We took 8 weeks off doing his books (facts only) and he is still plowing through. Picasso dilly-dallied his way through 1a and most of 1b. He may or may not finish 1b by the end of May. I'm not terribly concerned, because if he were in public school he'd be a kindergartner. Again, I don't see any benefit of my 6 yo doing 2nd grade math. We will continue at his pace and pick up where we left off in 1b in July. I do not add Horizons for him because it takes him a long time just to complete his Singapore books. He is still working on pencil skills.

History: Gracious. The theme of history this year is TANGENT. We love love love Story of the World. It is a great launching pad into a billion other subjects. We are still in the times of knights and castles. But the boys are absolutely loving it! I won't hurry them along while they are still soaking and learning. I've abandoned the idea with will finish these books in a year. There's just too much and I'm not in a hurry. I love that they want to talk about catapults and defense systems, chivalry and feudalism. I asked them if they wanted to eat like a medieval family, then horrified them with what exactly that meant. We talked about the plague and rats. This led to talk about blood, DNA, dinosaurs, if Jurassic Park could really happen, and how diseases are spread. Again, tangent. We will pick up SOTW 2 where we left off and just plan to lolly-gag our way through next year, too. I don't see SOTW 3 getting any less interesting... so I plan for that to be 1.5-2 years, too. Fun!

Reading: I've been terrible about updating my sidebars, but we have really enjoyed our read alouds this year. The boys look forward to it as their favorite thing. Einstein has also taken a big leap this year in independent reading, doing Ralph Mouse series, the Hardy Boys (thanks Nanie!) and even few of the Narnia chapters. Picasso is also progressing well, preferring anything about Star Wars, or the Narnia readers. He is well beyond Dick & Jane and Nate the Great but not quite ready for bigger chapter books. That'll be the goal for the 2008-2009 school year.

Writing: *sigh* I think I mostly dropped the ball on this one. We were great about copywork until about February. And just when we should be upping the game, we abandoned it completely. I suppose I ought to use the last 6 weeks to reign in the last of it. Einstein is much more willing to take risks than he once was. He has also finished many of the Explode the Code books. We will pick up with ETC 7 and 8 after summer break. Picasso finished ETC 1 and 2. We will see how far he gets in ETC 3 before summer break. We'll continue the series. Explode the Code has been excellent for them. I can't remember why I ever stopped this series to begin with.

Science: Science started off as a trimester on birds, and then we mostly explored topics as they came up. We use Discovery Streaming Education. We've watched educational videos about habitats, animals, environments, animals, Australia, Oceans, the Polar regions, and the African Savannah. We also have several books they've read - of their own choosing - that definitely fall in the science category. Einstein made a book with bird illustrations, too. I can't wait to get it bound. He really wants a new digital camera for his birthday... so if he gets one... I'll let him add bird photos to his book before we bind it.

Preschool: Trouble, Trouble, Trouble. He is just his own little creature. I wish I had known about the Handwriting Without Tears preschool program when my other guys were little. It's so much more than writing. It's been a huge success for him. Through this I have learned that music gets through to him! I can get him to remember anything if we put it to song. I am now picturing him at 35 singing his phone number and social security number (eek!) but whatever works, right? He has taken great leaps and bounds. And while he cannot name any letters yet, he can match them 100% accurate, which proves he is paying attention to their details. He can also count/add with manipulatives, and repeat a 6-8 bead sequence. He still won't have anything to do with the playdough for the roll-a-dough letters... but slow and steady wins the race.

All in all it's been a great year. We've plowed through burn out, survived a week with Trouble in the hospital, and spent the entire month of March passing around germs. But regardless, we've grown up, explored great topics, made great strides and survived another long, cold winter inside. RSV season is over and it's time for the Boybarians to come out of hibernation and finish the rest of the school year with a bang. I love home education!

My Little Bag Man - A Reveal into Picasso

When I posted the Easter pics, I posted this one of Picasso hunting for eggs.



This picture of my sweet 6 year old soooo cracks me up. Look at what all he is carrying...



And this picture... oh my!... it is such a great capture of his personality. He collects and stores everything and carries it all around with him. That lock box is filled with Legos. He keeps an actual padlock on it! He is so concerned that his little destructo-brother is going to tamper, touch or just *look at* his Legos in the wrong way. He also carries a backpack - yes, in the house, and yes, at most times! In his backpack are other 6-year-old treasures: Star Wars guys, Lego mini-figs, Star Wars ships, and often his special blanket, "New Blue".

On this day, Picasso also carried a plastic bag and his Easter basket. He insisted on egg hunting with both, because he wanted to separate the eggs in "their right piles". Nevermind that this slowed the search immeasurably... it mattered to him that everything was placed into the right pile. Eggs containing chocolate belong in different pile than the ones with jelly beans or lego candies. Within the plastic bag is yet another bag... a ziploc bag meant to store the money he found.

And already I can imagine his future wife seeing this picture someday and agreeing, "Ahhhh... so he's always been like this!" Perhaps it's a middle child thing??? So few things are "just his"; he so often is bossed around by big brother or commandoed by baby brother. He is very serious about his things. He insists on carrying everything that belongs to him on his person at all times, even while he sleeps.

I think he gets his OCD organizational tendencies from his dad. I'm certainly not that particular about ordering everything. I would never insist that things be done that anal-retentively, even if it makes no sense time-wise. Right, Handy Man??? ;)

Long Overdue Easter Pics

"Boybarians" is not JUST a Moniker

I'm not sure why Handy Man wanted to photograph the boys while they were eating, but I saw this one and thought it captured their 3 little personalities so well.
Einstein sits, as the oldest boybarian, smiling obediently into the camera. On his plate sits only plain "chicken", cooked seperately from the other food (it's really pork, shhhh!). He takes a bite and drinks as quickly as he can. Such a picky eater.

Picasso, clueless that he's getting his picture taken, sits in the clothes he put on before bed so he'd be "ready in the morning." Not sure for what. He insists on wearing a polo shirt buttoned to the top. He's got Gap khakis on, too. He never looks at the camera. His "chicken" is really just a vehicle for all the BBQ sauce.

Trouble. Our little ham. In front of him is: a bowl of fruit loops from his afternoon snack, his second serving of rice, two different drinks, a cherry pie and a small pile of Legos. As soon as the camera comes out, he starts working for that Oscar. His tongue goes out, fingers go up, and out comes every goofy face the kid knows. He cracks himself up... see?


He cracks me up, too. 'Cept when he does this:

Playing with Picasso

Picasso has been blessed with such beautiful eyes. And those eyelashes? TDF!

Weekly Monthly Some Sort of Report

Has anyone else besides me completely lost track? Since we school mostly year-round, I have no idea what week we're on or when the last time I reported anything was. But this one is for Ms. Candy, our supervising teacher, who requested an update to what's going on here at Mill Creek Academy. It's a report of some sort! ;)

Einstein:
Einstein finished Ralph S. Mouse and is reading Mouse and the Motorcycle. Yep, we know it's out of order, but that's the order he started, so be it. He is also reading the first in the Hardy Boys series: The Tower Treasure. He is liking the mystery and the fact this series was read by his father, grandfathers and great-grandfathers since it was published in 1927. He also read an adapted version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. He loved the idea of a creepy "headless horseman". Such a boybarian!

He finished Explode the Code 5 and started book 4. Out of order seems to be the theme around here. It was advised on WTM boards to do the books out of order. Like much advice from that board, I wish I wouldn't have listened. My other boys will be doing the books in the order they were intended. It serves the child better to do 4 before 5. Einstein - my poor, poor guinea pig and my constant reminder to stop taking unsolicited advice. ;)

After taking the month of February "off" of math because of the wall we hit in long division, and the resulting effect on his self esteem, we are back to math. I wish I would have paced him even more in those early books when he was flying through the material. Now he is only 7 and struggling with long division. We are reviewing our factors, filling in the 12x12 times table grid LOTS for practice, and reviewing simple division (which he calls "easy division" because it's "multiplication backwards"). We also invested in the full version of Timez Attack, which is both less scary and more fun than the free trial version. They consider this a huge treat to have computer time that is fun and doesn't feel like school.

Picasso
He has been reading various books to Trouble. I can't think of all of them, but titles include: Runaway Bunny, Goodnight Moon, Are You My Mother?, and Cat in the Hat, among others. He read the Mickey Mouse version of Prince and the Pauper. Twaddle, perhaps, but independant so it counts for me. He is also reading and rereading the Star Wars readers, memorizing all the characters. He also has a Star Wars sticker book that he's been reading to Trouble, helping him learn all the names of character, planets and ships. Not exactly school-ish, but since he's still a young reader, any reading is beneficial.

He also is quite taken with Timez Attack as a fun supplement to Singapore 1b. He did 20 multiplication problems in about 4-5 minutes, proving he is ready to play Timez Attack and earning the full-fledged version. He can skip count all but 6,7,8 and 12 right now. We're drilling the others solidly before going on to those. He can also fill in a 12x12 multiplication grid.

He continues to work daily in Exlode the Code 1.5. It's all review for him, so I'm not sure he's really learning too much, but he is gaining spelling confidence and cementing those phonics rules. Can't complain there.

Both:
History is going swimmingly. We seem to love tangents. We started knights and castles and there is just way too much fun stuff out there. We played with the DK sticker book, we've read about Castles and Catherdrals from Macauley's books, among others. We are reading Mary Pope Osborne's Research Guide for Knights and Castles. I was hoping we'd be ready for Robin Hood, Prince and the Pauper or King Arthur at this point, but we're too enthralled with The Magician's Nephew just now. We read this versionof St. George and the Dragon, which has amazing illustrations!

Like previously stated, we are reading aloud The Magician's Nephew, which the older boys seem to like a lot. Picasso keeps waiting for Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy to appear in the story. Hopefully, the exciting story will keep him from being too disappointed. Einstein is old enough to grasp that Digory is Professor Kirke as a little boy, and "that's why he believed Lucy!". I love those moments where a connection is forged. It's so fun to get to be part of that as a teaching mom!

I am currently organizing all of Trouble's upcoming preK materials and plans. This is brand spankin' new territory for me. Everything I've known about teaching preschoolers has been abandoned and I'm learning all over again. He will be taking a very tacile, exploratory, sensory-rich, life-skills based, Montessori approach with advice from occupational therapy. Stay tuned for the plans!

Mill Creek Academy 2008-2009 Academic Year

A curriculum post again. Feel free to meander on to the next blog on your list if curriculum posts aren't your cuppa. ;)

I think I've nailed down our choices for the boys' next school year. Our school year runs from July 2008 until May 2009. We use short but frequent lessons, focus on read alouds, and try to keep lessons under 3 hours a day so we have plenty of time to be boybarians!

Einstein - 8 years old

Phonics, Spelling, Writing & Reading:
Explode the Code - finish this phonics series
Spelling Wisdom - a Simply Charlotte Mason product. It's spelling via immersion. Not rote lists, but rich language and prepared dictation using today's 6,000 most frequently used words.
Writing Tales 1 - A beginning writing program. Gentle but thorough. You can see samples here.
Lively Latin - Unlike some classical homeschoolers, my goals for Latin are for grammar and vocabulary. I hope a couple years of early Latin will open doors for modern language learning of their choosing. We won't start this until the ETC series is finished. I can only handle so many language programs at once.
Evan Moor's Daily Paragraph Editing - Despite its title, I plan to use this only 1 or 2 times a week to spot common errors in writing, if I feel we get enough of this in WT1 we might use it during breaks. They are pretty short, basic paragraphs; most of them are only 4-5 typed lines.
Reading choices - I won't lay out an exact plan, as I will let their interests dictate, but we will try to get through many of the choices at Ambleside Online Years 2 and 3 (except for Pilgrim's Progress. Blech. We won't be reading that.), Sonlight Core 3 readers, and some from the Caldecott/Newberry List.

Math:
No big changes here. We will continue on with Singapore Math, 3b and 4a. We will do Primary Math, Intensive Practice and Challenging Word Problems 3. I am considering dropping Horizons since he finally has a good pace without all the extras I was using to slow him down.
Primary Grade Challenge Math, by Zaccaro. We love love love this.

History, Geography:
Some of Story of the World 2 will carry over into the next academic year. Over spring break, I will begin working on customized go alongs for SOTW 3 that incorporate Catholic history, historical fiction from Sonlight Core 3, art and artist history and biographies, as well as notable architecture aligned both chronologically and geographically with SOTW 3. These will feature books suggested by Simply Charlotte mason, Ambleside Online and Sonlight, as well as the Magic Tree House books because my 6 year old loves them. For American History, the list from A Book in Time is an excellent resource.

Science:
We are doing Earth and Space Science. We will be using Discovery Education Streaming (formally "United Streaming") as well as several reading books. I will post them on my sidebars as we get to them. We're using everything from Dr. Suess to Magic Tree House research guide to big inflatable planets from Learning Resources.
We will also be using the Earth Science part of the curriculum put together by Jessica of Trivium Academy. It can be found here.

The rest of the stuff we will outsource: Einstein will continue art classes at the art museum. He will take religious ed at the church. His PE interests this year are swimming, karate and fencing (?). I haven't found a place that will teach him fencing yet. Not sure why anyone wouldn't want to teach an 8 year old how to use a sword. ;) Also, as an extra curricular, he is hoping to join the Junior Lego league.

Picasso - 6 years/7 years old

Phonics, Copywork, Writing, Reading:
Explode the Code - continue to work through this series at his own pace.
Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading -he will not be quite finished by May. I hope to finish this in Fall '08.
Copywork - Happy Scribe copywork, as well as this, which was written by two homeschool moms and published on Lulu.com.
Reading: same as big brother, above.

Math:
Singapore 2a and 2b. We'll also do Intensive Practice and CWP 1. Like big brother, he will participate in the Primary Grade Challenge Math problems up to whatever level he can.

History and Science will be done with Einstein, same plans as above.

As for extra-curricular, this is my shy one and at this point he is adamant he will not do anything outsourced. I'm going to try to get him to do swimming. He attended art camp last year and announced at the end of it, "That was fun mom. I'm never doing it again."

Trouble - 5 years old

Trouble's needs haven't been assessed. I will have a plan for him soon. He will be a preK specialneeds learner. His goals for 2008-2009 include:
recognition of letters and numbers
writing his name
basic math using math manipulatives
letter sounds

***UPDATE - Trouble's PreK learning materials can be found here.

Phew! Did you get all that? It should be an exciting year here at Mill Creek Academy!

Long Overdue Weekly Report

It's been awhile since I've done any sort of weekly report. I love hearing what other bloggers are up to, but one of my New Year's resolutions was to eliminate some of the things that may be fun but require a disproportionate amount of time for their value. All those fun videos fell into that category. I actually really enjoy seeing my past videos, so I do think I'll still do them occasionally. But here's where we are.

Einstein has finally had the long-awaited light bulb moment with reading. He has read Ralph S. Mouse, as well as three Magic Tree House books in the last two weeks. More importantly... he read the Treehouse books in one sitting! I was beaming. He's never been one for fiction up until this point. He would pour over an encyclopedia, or flip pages in his dictionary, but until the very recent past, had never picked up a story to read.

Even though he is nearly done with second grade academically, I wanted to spend some time reviewing and reinforcing phonics before we jump into 3rd grade stuff this summer. He started with Explode the Code (ETC) 5 and will finish the whole book in about 2 weeks. I plan to move him through the rest of the series at whatever pace is comfortable for him. Thankfully, it's all review from OPGTR. As a bonus, it's helping his writing confidence. I feel good about this getting him ready for Writing Tales and Lively Latin.

He is taking a math break. Not to say we're ignoring math, but the wall he encountered doing double- and triple - digit division in Singapore 3a was just a little too much for him right now. We are still doing math games, skip counting, doing kitchen and practical math, but I made the decision to set aside Singapore 3a until March. Stuff like this used to really freak me out... I am getting much more comfortable with the gentle ebb and flow, grow and plateau of learning. I am not at all worried about Einstein's math progression. Since he is ahead of grade here, it gives us some wiggle room.

We are wayyyy behind in history. This happens to us all the time. It took us 1 1/2 years to get through SOTW 1 and it looks like SOTW 2 is going that way, too. In the last two weeks we've talked about Spanish Muslim Moors, Charles Martel, Charlemagne, medieval France which launched us into learning a little about Paris. I think it's darling that my boys call the Eiffel Tower, Le Tour Eiffel, with a French pronunciation. It's almost as cute as the way they say "refrigerator". History is interesting, and I'd like to roughly stick with a 4-year rotation, but my boys have already done more history that I'd ever done... and i rather make it enjoyable and have fun with the tangents and interest-led side explorations than stick to some arbitrary schedule.

Prince Caspian has been so much fun. Einstein is always so disappointed when it's time to stop. Picasso has managed to sit through the story, too, because he is hoping to see the movie in May. When I told him it will be here on the 18th, he corrected me with a quick, "No Mom... Price Caspian arrives in theaters on May 16th!" Trouble has missed most of the fun, and will likely be very disappointed when he isn't invited to see the movie. I think it's going to be a little too intense for him.

Picasso is working his way thorugh ETC 1.5. I find myself questioning why I ever abandoned this series to begin with. He is really getting a lot out of it. He is still working his way through OPGTR, so this serves as reinforcement. So far so good. He started a couple weeks ago, and like Einstein will work through the first book in about 2 weeks.

He started multiplication in Singapore 1b in January. He claims he doesn't know how to multiply, but can now skip count: 2,3,4,5,9,10,11. We still have to learn 6,7,8 and 12. He still needs to skip count his way through his multiplication problems, but at six, I'm comfortable with that. We are looking into upgrading Timez Attack for reinforcement, speed and a fun way to earn productive screen time.

We have also just finished the Old Testament of Tomie dePaola's Bible Stories. We'll begin the New Testament on Monday.

Without getting too wordy and long, I can say I'm feeling more comfortable in my skin balancing the role of mom, teacher, employee, wife, etc. I think I've learned to loosen the reigns on school a little bit, and as a result I have much happier students and a much more laid back mom.

Happy Homeschooling

ps - I did 20 minutes on the elliptical yesterday. Yay me!

Warriors

Inspired by the Aborigenes and the Maori tribes from our Australia and New Zealand studies, the Men of Mill Creek Academy proudly present a series we'll call "Warriors." Brace yourselves.























After all this fun, maybe we can now catch up with History. After all, Clovis can't be this fun.

"The Better to Battle You With!"

My, what nice new glasses you have, little boybarians!

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

The holidays are in full force here! (Just ask my scale! ;) )

The boybarians have been very eager to get the tree up and decorations out. This is our first Christmas in our new home, although we did camp out here last year on Christmas Eve - with no furniture, no shower, and one working toilet. We moved in on December 31, 2006 and January 1, 2007. It was an exciting way to ring in the New Year.

May I have a drum roll please? Here is the reveal of the Boybarian Christmas card photos...






This year it was all Handy Man. I handed him two boxes of blank cards and ordered the photos. He did the rest - writing them, inserting the photos, addressing them, and topping them all with stamps. And? All before December first. I am so stinkin' impressed.

Here are a few pics of decorating today. The boybarians had a blast. Happy Holidays to one and all.








Boy, school is going to be so hard on Monday!

Bring On the Holidays!

If only someone could make smell travel through the internet! ;)

As I type this, I have a beautiful bird stuffed to the gill with my mom's recipe of homemade stuffing inside, a pot simmering with gizzards which will soon be magically whipped into my mom's gravy, and sweet potatoes baking. The potatoes for mashed potatoes are on deck. This house smells like childhood and family all rolled into one. Yum! I did a 24 hour brine this year for the first time, and made a cinnamon-apple-stock aromatic at the bottom of the dripping dish. It smells heavenly. I love this time of year!

Not only that but the Christmas shopping is done, minus a few last minute details. The Christmas photo is done, ordered and on its way. Cards are ready to go, waiting only for the photos.

The boybarians are off to the Chicago area for the week, spending 8 whole days with their beloved Nanie. Little else makes them so happy. Picasso is bouncing off the walls with stuff he's going to do with "my Nanie", and Einstein can't wait for me to leave. Trouble is abuzz with excitement and can't even pinpoint why.

My mom ("Nanie") will have a huge house-full on Thursday with all the extended family. Friday we're off to Chicago for more family visits. I'm heading back to NY on Sunday for a few days of work. Handy Man will return home, but the boys are staying in Illinois - without Mom or Dad. Just Nanie. I think I should be offended, but they can't wait to get rid of me.

Trouble appears to be done with the yuckies. We are watching for symptoms to return, and trust me - we won't miss them. Now that I know the signs of giardia, the symptoms are unmistakable.

And school? Well, this is why we school mostly year-round. We had intended to take December off, but with the craziness of November and recent travels and hospitalizations, we are on for all of December but Christmas week, but off this week and part of next for Thanksgiving and our travels.

We have lots of schoolwork that I'd love to throw in a Weekly Report, but there is turkey baking to be done, a pie still waiting to be filled, laundry to be folded, and 8 whole days of clothing for everyone to be packed.

Because the holidays make one nostalgic, here are some favorites from the past. The first is the very first picture of my three boybarians together, taken in the NICU. It was the first time Picasso ever met his baby brother. A magical moment of curiosity caught on film. The second is last year's Christmas picture, taken in our former house.

Weekly Report 14-16

I've been totally slacking in the Weekly Report department. But I'm up to date now, and Monday is a new week.

Stay tuned... Tuesday there will be a fabulous CONTEST!