Archive for » December, 2010 «

Merry Christmas!

30 Dec 2010 by

Half way through the Christmas season, we are having a wonderful relaxing time. We have a school break until next week. Adam is working from home and the kids are enjoying their new set of wheels sans training wheels.  We enjoyed Christmas Eve with great friends and food and sweet baby boys. Our Goddaughter, Lindsey, is in town for a couple of weeks from Germany and she has come for a few visits. We had a nice couple of days with my side of the family and the greatest gift is that my sibling, nieces and nephews went with us to Mass on the Feast of the Holy Family.

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O Christmas Tree

22 Dec 2010 by

The kids’ tree finally came together today. Early this month we made cookie dough ornament using my awesome pie crust stamps. The kids painted them. And today I finally strung them up. With Therese and Fulton outside riding bikes and bossing–I mean playing–with some neighborhood kids, Muffin and decorated the little tree I got for our school room. The big kids came in for a short while and helped string some popcorn and cranberries to make  garland for it. It’s all very sweet because it’s all very much them.

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The Nutcracker

21 Dec 2010 by

In my former life, I loved to go to the ballets, plays,  operas, and broadway performances at our local performing arts center. Now that my big girl is old enough I want her to experience some of the arts as well. So I went on a date with my Therese to the Nutcracker. We had a great time. She loved it and her eyes were glued to the dancers during the whole performance.

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CCSA

21 Dec 2010 by

This semester Therese chose to do choir. So with many great recommendations from friends, we enrolled her in the Christian Choral Society of Austin.  I must say I am VERY impressed with the choir director, Mrs. Hargis. She is wonderful and a very talented teacher. The teaches pre-K through highschool and mostly homeschool children. The kids had their formal concert on Thursday of last week. (Here’s hoping my beloved husband can get a video up here.) Still very new to the stage, she was the only one still waving to her parents between songs. Fulton however is an aspiring young performer–singing along in the seat next to us. He’ll be signed up for next semester with Therese.

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Ocean Animals and Bears

21 Dec 2010 by

Last week was SUPER busy and I’m just now recovering and getting to posting some fun pictures of good times. Wednesday we had our field trip to the zoo again. This time Therese and Fulton were learning about ocean animals and did a scavenger hunt at the aquarium. Muffin finally got to go to a class–Beary Special Holiday. I had to accompany Gianna. The kids learned about what bears eat and afterward they made snacks for Molly and Shatsa’s (the bears’) stocking. We enjoyed lunch with my sister again and explored a new part of the zoo–the Discovery House.

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Fulton’s Birthday

12 Dec 2010 by

Fulton’s Birthday was yesterday. We had a great time. The size of our family is a party in and of itself. So we took the kids to some fun spots. Our day started with Mass and it turned out that we had a bilingual celebration for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. After that we came home, had a small breakfast and cake. We took the kids to Kiddie Acres–a local amusement park for littler kids. It was a hit. Then back home for pizza and off to Main Street Bethlehem in Burnet with our friend the Politos. The kids were wiped out by the drive home and all crashed!

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Castles and Rovers

12 Dec 2010 by

Our homeschool projects have been tasty this month!

We are studying castles and knights in history. So we made this castle with a keep, bailey, and castle wall:

In our astronomy study of Mars, we made a Mars rover out of graham crackers:

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First Reconciliation

01 Dec 2010 by

Therese made her First Reconciliation tonight. (Can you see the post Sacrament glow on her?)

Adam and I took on 16 spiritual children this year teaching her class at our parish. We have been working with them since mid-September to prepare them for this day. It was so awesome to see the kids just beaming and glowing in God’s grace, love and mercy. Next we start working on First Communion.

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Olympus Mons

01 Dec 2010 by

Have I mentioned how much I love our astronomy curriculum? Love it! (Apologia Astronomy)

This week Therese built a model of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system located on Mars. The whole volcano experience with vinegar and baking soda is probably old news to lots of 2nd graders, but not in our home school.

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Belated Birthday

01 Dec 2010 by

My beloved turned 34 a couple of weeks ago on November 20.  I did wish him a happy birthday the day of, but with a bazillion things going on that day I never made it around to posting it on our blog. He had a great celebration. This year’s theme: City by the Bay. We made 38 sour dough bread bowls and 10 quarts of clam chowder. He and Mr. Polito brewed some amazing beer. And of course we had a great poetry slam. We have some pretty creative friends.

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