Tuesday 25
Yay! Opening presents!
Wednesday 26
It was quiet. So I checked on Julie and she had her dolly at the dining room table and she was getting food for it! How cute is that?
Thursday 27
No picture.
Friday 28
I caught Julie on Jax's lap watching Barney!
Saturday 29
No picture.
Sunday 30
Jax drew this picture of an Angry Bird. I absolutely LOVE how he wrote "Angry Birds" all by himself from memory! That's pretty impressive.
Monday 1
No picture.
Personal
Read Life of the Beloved by Henri J. M. Nouwen (I finished it.)
School
Finish Letter Yy (Nope.)
Plan Letter Zz
Home Management
Enjoy Christmas (Sure did!)
Find homes for all the new toys (I have Jaxson's room clean and organized. Just need to work on Julianne's.)
Now onto this week's goals:
Personal
Read The Anxious Christian by Rhett Smith
School
Finish Letter Yy
Plan Letter Zz
Home Management
Start journaling on my Project Life album 2012. I'm behind 3 months and need to get this finished so I can start 2013!
Organize Julie's room
Take a load of stuff to the thrift store that's just sitting in my laundry room.
I'm linking to Money Saving Mom!
We're missing our tv remote. I blame Julie or jax. And we've look in so many places. Under the couch, in the couch cushions toy box etc. this has resulted in us watching tv back in the 60 s. we have to actually get up to change the channels. Which has resulted in us not even bothering with he tv. Ate we lazy? Yes I believe so
Jax is way excited for Christmas. And so am I. But last night we went to kmart and I purposely skipped a toy aisle knowing it had the Andy bird stuff animals. Well thanks to a random person who did not put back a angry bird in the Barbie aisle jax clotted or. And he proudly carried ur around while I picked up hast minute things. At one point he asked me why ange bird is so angry and then made a angry face to demonstrate. So funnyI thought it might be time to do a little update...just to see how on track I am on my 2012 goals. Here is my update for December:
Financial
Start putting money into savings. (No.)
Starting a Christmas fund. (Used it up!)
Vacation fund (None right now.)
School
Plan out the year with Tot School. (Update: The rest of the year is planned for Jaxson. Julie will start with us in January 2013.)
Home Management
Make a cleaning schedule and stick to it weekly. (Update: My own cleaning list was too ambitious. So now I am trying a modified cleaning list from Little Green Notebook. It is working great!)
Personal
Books
Here is the list I want to read. Again, I'm shooting under the table because if I finish this list, I can ADD MORE.
The Hole in the Gospel by Richard Sterns (Finished in April. I felt that the Part 1, 2, and 3 were too long. And Parts 4 and 5 were too short! But overall a good read. Some great principles and ideas discussed in here.)
Real Marriage by Mark Driscoll (Finished in February. It took me almost all month to read this. It was not interesting.)
Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson (Finished in August. It had some great advice in some places, in other places it dragged. I give it a B.)
The Hunger Games by Suzane Collins (Finished in July. Oh my. That was a fun read. Looking forward to the DVD release in August so I can watch it!
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Finished in January. Fantastic book! But after reading the book, the movie was very disappointing.)
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Finished in February. Love, love, love it! I watched the movie and loved it! I think I had lowered my expectations of books turned into books after watching The Help.)
The Choice by Suzanne Woods Fisher (Finished in August. Also didn't realize that this was book 1 in a series. Guess I'll have to add more books onto my list! I liked it a lot.)
More Lost Than Found by Jared Herd (Finished in July. Eh. It was ok. I couldn't figure out who the author was writing to. Is it for Christians that have left the church and want to come back? Is it for Christians who want to bring back Christians who left? I'm honestly not sure.)
Kisses from Katie by Katie J. Davis (Finished in January. A great read about an amazing young lady following Jesus to Africa. Highly reccomend!)
Radical by David Platt (Very good read!)
Book read with YA Book Club at church:
1000 Gifts by Ann Voskmap (Finished in March. Highly recommend!)
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton (Finished June. Hardest book I ever read. Period. But I'm so glad I read it. Lots of great things to think about.)
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (Finished in August. Eh. I'm still not sure what I thought about it. It wasn't bad, but maybe wasn't my type of book.)
To Heaven and Back: A Doctor's Extraordinary account of her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again: A True Story by Mary C. Neal MD (This was a really encouraging book. I recommend it!)
Books I've added on:
Bossypants by Tina Fey (Finished in August. I thought it would be more about show business and also funnier. The beginning dragged, but the ending left you wanting more.)
Too Small to Ignore: Why the Least of These Matter the Most by Dr. Wess Stafford (Finished in July. LOVED this book! It wasn't what I expected to be which I loved. Highly recommend!)
Radical Together by David Platt (Finished in July. It was a short read, but basically was a condensed version of the original book, Radical. I thought there would be some new stuff in there, but there wasn't.)
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Finished in August. Out of the three books, I thought this one was the best. It was so unpredictable.)
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Finished in August. Loved this series!)
7 by Jen Hatmaker (Finished in August. Love this book. Highly recommend!)
Bible Study time
Memorize the book of James (Memorized to verse 3:13. I memorized 1 verse this month! Again. Clearly I am the over-acheiver!)
Mercy Triumphs by Beth Moore (Finished. So good!)
Study Ephesians with Good Morning Girls. (Done!)
31 Days to Pray for your Children from Keep it Personal (Done.)
Proverbs 31 Woman from Good Morning Girls. (Finished this in August.)
Bible in 90 Days This Sunday (9th) is the end of reading plan. I finished Revelation today!
Advent Study with Good Morning Girls. (Finished!)
Whew...in just a month, I've accomplished a lot!
My to do list is crazy long. I can't seem to make any headway on it.
The kids are both at tough ages. Jaxson is testing me on everything. Julianne us just plain into everything. It seems that someone is always needing me for some sort of urgent request. Where's the legis! I'm hungry! More chocolate milk.
And it's alway seems like a public spectie going out in public. I really needed to finish my Christmas shopping this week and get everything mailed. I procrastinated a but only because I dreaded taking the kids. And u kept waiting for a better time that never actually came. So here I was shopping and it seemed if I got one kid to be occupied the other one needed.
Here's a snippet of our pleasant mall experience
Jax sees the stupid candy machine and needs candy. Usually we let him and he sticks it in his pocket and is quiet. However. This candy machine upped their prices 50# cause now it costs 2 quarters! Highway robbery. And i didn't have a second quarter because who would have guessed 4 m and m's cost 50 cents? Jax wasn't happy but then quickly moved onto the idea of pushing Julie in her stroller with momma no helping. So he's pushing her down the mall and running into everything that's not even in his way.
Julie decides she's had enough and cries. I'm thinking the whiplash has gotten to her.
Anyways. Jax is mad cause he wants to push her. Julie is made because she doesn't like being a crash rest dummy. I'm annoyed because we haven't even made it to one store yet and already the kids have had enough of the mall.
That's when I start devising a plan of the most important stores and what I can buy on the internet
It is the happiest time of the year.
If you liked crowded malls, long lines, temper tantrums, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Tuesday (18)
Working hard at Tot School!
Wednesday (19)
No picture.
Thursday (20)
No picture.
Friday (21)
No picture.
Saturday (22)
Julie found herself a little place to sit! Good thing it's not a breakable present!
Sunday (23)
The fourth candle is lit...JOY!
Monday (24)
I love this picture of the three of us. We were trying to get a picture of us in our new pajamas but one kid was always looking away or being distracting. And one point we were just all laughing. I guess one day they will learn to look at the camera!
I expected Jax to be up at the crack of dawn to look at his stocking and open presents. So imagine my surprise when he finally wakes up at 8am! That's sleeping in for him! I couldn't believe it. As he went into the dining room to check out his stocking he was so surprised! It was finally filled! He had been checking them every morning just in case Santa came early.
Once we got everyone up and moving, I tried to get a picture of the kids before they opened their presents.
It's hard to believe, but Julie actually started making the funny face this time and Jax copied her! She is so silly.
I'm not sure which camera face I'd prefer?
Anyways, onto presents! Today, Julie understood what to do with the presents and didn't need any help from Jax! In fact, she understood so well, that she started opening up Jax's presents as well! Oops.
And Jax was surprised at some presents:
I love it. The kids received some great presents and we all dove right in to play!
I've played Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Angry Birds Death Star, and played tea party with Julie's new set a lot today.
What a fun Christmas!
It's finally Christmas Eve!
And then we all got into our new pajamas!
We put the kids to bed, but Jax had a hard time sleeping because he wanted to hear Santa say, "Ho ho ho." He also wanted to come out and say hi to Santa. We convinced him that Santa's not coming til he is asleep and eventually he did fall asleep.
Thanks goodness because Santa was getting tired of waiting!
Now onto Christmas morning!
Bible
Our Bible verse this week was: Except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 18:3 Jax is measuring the Bible verse to his height. It was almost as tall as him!
Math
Jax is very interested in clocks, so we put one together from Telling Time.
Jax has been very interested in Hanakkah and since it was this week, ee used this pattern worksheet from 3 Dinosaurs.
Sight Words
Our sight words this week were: we, all, do, little. To introduce these words, we used the mats from YCR and used play-doh to make the letters.
Science
We put together a skeleton puzzle from ESkeletons.org. You can find that here. He thought this was so much fun!
Theme
We also put together a tiny skeleton. I used this printable from DZ Doodles.
Book
We read, If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Joffe Numeroff . It was really cute. I found this idea from Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas. Basically, this is a Pancake Memory game with his sight words. But when you use spatulas, it makes it extra special. This was the hit of the week!
I'm linking up with Homeschool Creations!
Personal
Read the daily Advent Devotional with Good Morning Girls.
Read Touching Wonder by John Blase (I wasn't a fan of this book so I quit after the first chapter. Maybe I'll try it again.)
Read Life of the Beloved by Henri J. M. Nouwen (I'm halfway done with it.)
School
Letter Xx
Plan letter Yy (We started Letter Yy, but with us all being sick, we didn't finish it. We will after Christmas.)
Home Management
Wrap Christmas presents
Mail Christmas boxes
And onto this week's goals:
Personal
Read Life of the Beloved by Henri J. M. Nouwen
School
Finish Letter Yy
Plan Letter Zz
Home Management
Enjoy Christmas
Find homes for all the new toys
I'm linking to Money Saving Mom!
Tuesday 11
No picture.
Wednesday 12
Check out that mic that Julie is singing into. Something about Barney just makes them break out their instruments and SING! Elmo guitar + Julie singing+ Barney= lots of noise!
Thursday 13
During Tot School, Jax put together a skeleton puzzle. He loved it.
Friday 14
No picture.
Saturday 15
I made Cuga! (German-Russian dessert) It's a family recipe that's been handed down for generations! It took a long time, but was well worth it!
Sunday 16
We lit the 3rd candle in our advent wreath..the candle of love. It's good to know that Spiderman is been with us with all the candle lighting so far.
Monday 17
Our book club read Orthodoxy, but G. K. Chesterton. And while there was some great nuggets in that book, it was hard to understand and basically over my head! Imagine my surprise when I go to the book store and find this little devotion of G. K. Chesteron's works. I can't imagine reading his works for 365 days...
Bible
This week our Bible verse was: We loved him because, He first loved us. 1 John 4:19. Jax is cutting out his Bible verse here from RRSP.
Math
Jax did some graphing with 2 Teaching Mommies Winter Theme.
Jax also used the counting cards from Over the Moon and used a whole puncher to mark the correct number.
Science
For our science lesson, we used 2 Teaching Mommies Snow observation sheet. Instead of snow, (since we have been in the 70's!) we used iced and it still worked great.
Book
We read There Was on Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell by Lucille Colandro. After we had read the story we put the item in order according to what she "swallowed" first. I found this printable from The Organized Classroom Blog.
I'm linking to Homeschool Creations!
Did I just witness Jax and Julie in their own language?
This is what happened yesterday:
Jaxson: {Sneezed}
Julie: Ba Ba
Jaxson: Thanks Doolie.
Julie: Da.
Did I just witness a conversation where Julie told Jax "bless you" after he sneezed? Nah. But then it happened again today. Which is way more than a coincidence, in my opinion.
Later on, Julie came up to me and was whining about something. I had no idea what she wanted. Jax acted a little exasperated and said, "She wants a toy Mama." So I asked Julie if she wanted a toy and indeed that is what she was trying to tell me.
I guess Jaxson understands Julianne's language.
Julie is very lucky to have her own personal translator.
Jax is 4 1/2 years old.
Bible
Our Bible verse this week was, "Verily, Verily, I say to you he that believeth in me hath everlasting life." John 6:47 We taped the Bible verse together and then completed a craft from RRSP.
Sight Words
I had Jaxson finger paint his sight words. We used YCR #7 word mat.
Science
I found this science experiment from Lesson in Grossology. Basically, we learned how about how important our sense of touch is. I put an object in the brown bag and Jax put a sock on his hand. And then he had to guess what it was! He loved this activity and we did this for quite a while.
Letter
Jaxson sounded out letter using RRSK's Phonic's worksheet.
Book
We read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff. And then I found a counting activity over at Making Learning Fun.
I'm linking up to Homeschool Creations!
Tuesday 4
Jax and Julie were having a tea party!
Wednesday 5
A box came in the mail today. Which made their afternoon tea party even more fun!
Thursday 6
I finished the Bible in 90 Days!
Friday 7
The Elf on the Shelf has forgotten to come to our house until now. Oops. So tonight he jumped into our kitchen cabinet and was eating some candy. Jax thought that was pretty funny.
Saturday 8
Julie got a hold of my phone and I had 96 self portraits of this little girl. So funny. I love her toothy grin.
Sunday 9
Jax was an angel in the Christmas Pageant. And a mighty cute angle at that!
Monday 10
No picture.
