Three Birthdays!

And a cute pretend meerkat

She's still in our sun room after being fixed. She has a bare belly from the operation and it is CRAZY cold outside.

Father-Daughter Bonding

And...our dishwasher is acting up.  Like, a lot.  Ugh.

But on the positive side, Kevin and Rose had some good father daughter bonding as they looked at the dishwasher.

Kevin has ordered a part and is hopeful it will make the dishwasher work normally. Right now, Kevin has to beat on it periodically to make the water flow. Which isn't ideal.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Break

We're officially off from school until early January. Kevin has a lot of 'use or lose' leave from work (he can only carry over so much every year) so he's off a lot this month.

I find being off schedule rather challenging.  It's good, no doubt about it, but I thrive on routine so I have to keep reminding myself that being off routine is a fine thing.

The children are, of course, enjoying it. They still read books from the library and Isaac is watching copious quantities of Sherlock Holmes on Amazon.  They are really well done and educational, from my perspective.

Naomi and Lydia are both sleeping a lot. We've had an illness, a cold, and of course that wipes us out. But they are teens and need sleep anyway.  And actually, amazing as it is, even Isaac is sleeping in a bit these days.  He used to pop up at 7 a.m. every single morning, for years and years on end.  (This was because we made the kids wait until 7 a.m. to get up.)  But in the last couple of weeks, he's slept in until 7:30 a.m. more than once!

Isaac is now 6 ft. 1 inches.  That boy is TALL. And probably not done growing.

I have been sick too, which is tedious, but I'm slowly getting over it.

Four of the children participated in our church's Christmas musical this weekend at two services. They did well.  I don't have pictures, unfortunately, as I forgot my camera.  And really, it was hard to see anyway with so many people in the pews. We were near the back.

Our kitten, Mocha, goes in to be fixed today.  There is a wonderful organization locally called Tenth Life which provides lost cost neuters and spays for cats.  Such a blessing.

Naomi is 18 in the next week. EIGHTEEN!  I still remember when she was born, when she held Kevin's finger with one tiny hand, when she nestled in the crook of my arm. And now she's almost all grown up.  It is wonderful, and it is challenging.

And then of course, our caboose is 3 years old.  We've got lots of time with Littles.  Time with Bigs is awesome as well, but this season of maturity and letting go isn't necessarily easy.

A very Merry and Blessed Christmas to you all.  The Savior was born in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago, and we are saved through his death and resurrection. Hallelujah!

Pearl Harbor Day

A date which will live in infamy.

Ok, that's my history for the day.  Strange to think that it has been 76 years since the lives of U. S. Citizens changed so abruptly as our country entered World War II.

So how are we doing? Well, as is all too common in winter, we are enduring an illness.  Some coughing, lots of drainage, and Rose threw up all over Kevin yesterday.

He mostly laughed about it.  That's the advantage of being a super experienced parent.  We've been there and done that.  Who cares about vomit?  Or poop even?  I mean yes, lots of cleaning and all, but we're pretty mellow.

We had a few very warm days this December and kids played outside a lot. But now it is reasonably cold.

The kids decorated the tree for me, which was awesome.  I'm not at all OCD about ornaments. I'm very much "whatever" about their placement. This year, with Rose being 3, we have had better luck with fragile ornaments down low.

Our kitten Mocha has grown a lot.  She found this lovely warm spot on the deck to hang out.  Our new deck is a warm spot as it is south facing.  We often have a conglomeration of cats out there.

Lydia is out driving with a certified instructor right now.  That's a legal requirement in Ohio if a teen wants to get her license before age 18.  So she is 16, and we are hoping she'll get her license soon.  In my day, driver's ed was taught by the schools but nowadays it is private and rather expensive.

Like a total of $450 or so.

It isn't a huge problem for us, but I'm sure for some parents it is rather onerous.  Of course, a teen can wait until age 18.  The thing I DO like is that the requirements for driver's licenses are much tighter than when I was a teen.  Lydia has to do 50 hours of driving with either me or Kevin, and 10 of those hours have to be at night. Then she also has this 8 hours of driving with a certified instructor.  I was thrown out onto the roads with only a couple of hours of practice.  My dad worked with me after I got my license, and I was super grateful for that as I wasn't a good enough driver at 16. 

Naomi will be full time at Clark State next semester and Lydia will be taking a 3 credit class at Clark State as well. If Lydia can drive herself, life will be easier.

Of course there are nerves but Lydia is a good driver and a careful one.  And I pray for her and Naomi.

So, the Christmas season.  I've scaled back on Christmas through the years.  I'm not someone who really enjoys decorating and going all out.  And with a large family and homeschooling, I choose not to spend a ton of time on it.  But we do have a tree, and decorations, and presents, and a nativity set that is truly precious to me.

We don't do Santa and never have.  This is a topic that shows up on Facebook Christian mom boards fairly often.  Is Santa good?  OK?  Bad?

I'm with the 'bad' camp since telling your kids that Santa is real is, bluntly, a lie.  But then other people have said it was a precious and fun time of childhood. Obviously everyone is different. I've always been a very black and white person and I love truth. So I'm glad my parents never did Santa or the tooth fairy or the Easter Bunny.

Some kids loved that stuff and grew up and never had a problem with the stories.  So yes, children are have different personalities and feelings about such things,  which is cool.

But I literally told our babies in the WOMB that Santa was pretend :-).