"Insta"-replay #98, a thankful heart is a happy heart

Last week was Thanksgiving break so no school and LOTS of cousins!

They had fun playing board games.

Braved the cold for a chance to play outside.

And spent a reasonable amount of time at Target so their moms could get much needed coffee.

They even joined up with cousins from the other side of the family for fun, food, and crafting.

Charry felt extra special since she was Aunt Katie's sous chef for Thanksgiving  dinner.  They made almost the entire meal (aunt Abbie made the fabulous mashed potatoes.)

We ended the week celebrating Jon's birthday.  He can no longer make fun of me for being "older" because we are now the same age.

November is officially coming to a close as we start Advent sand Christmas traditions.  We have had much to be thankful for and many reasons to be happy!

"Insta"-replay #97, fall fun

Middle November, that short time between birthdays and holidays.

Charry has been working hard.  She starts school during breakfast so she can be done before her evening activities. This way we keep the 4 days a week schedule.

Merry has also been working hard. She works better with an audience.

Charry and I have been learning clogging.  It's fun exercise and I think she's better that I am.

Dress rehearsal week was surprisingly simple with all our rehearsals on the same day.

Charry surprised me by looking a bit more grown-up with her hair up.

Sunday was full of music.  First boom whacking during church thanks to a missionary visitor.

Then Hayden's "the Creation."  Despite the bored looks they assured me later that they actually really enjoyed it.

School, dancing, and music, it was a full week.  We are looking forward to family and fun in the weeks to come, let the holidays commence!

"Insta"-replay #96,

This last week seemed long!  I had tests in both of my classes as well as the normal weeks assignments.  So I spent most of my free time on school, but thank goodness for the weekend!  

Legos have been out every morning.  They come up with some crazy stories, everything from blowing up decoy death stars to opening brand new malls.

Starbucks has their buy one get one free holiday drinks, so I dragged Jon to coffee.  Free coffee is the best!

We started the weekend at the Peanuts movie with my inlaws.  It was a cute movie full of nods to the original comics.  I even liked the stylized animation.

November is halfway done, the holiday season is up and running!

"Insta"-replay #95, birthday week!

Happy Birthday to me!

My sister's birthday is just a few days before mine, so we tend to celebrate together, luckily we get along pretty well now that we're adults.

I'm the same age as strawberry shortcake, and I had this doll way back in the day.

Charry spent a lot of time in the kitchen this week.  She cleaned ours, even mopped.

And she helped aunt Katie make me a birthday meal.  I was pretty impressed that she knows how to separate eggs!

Now that birthdays are done it is time to start the holiday season! 

"Insta"-replay #94, happy Halloween

I did much better taking pictures this week!  But mostly of school time.

Girls worked together on Oregon history. They are learning about early missionaries and how difficult is was to even get to Oregon before the Oregon trail.

 They worked together on science experiments also.  The first was an experiment for Charry's science.  She's learning about simple machines and this experiment showed how levers work.

The second experiment went with Merry's astronomy lesson.  They poked pipe cleaners through tissue to "see" what the inside of the box looked like, and learned how radar works.

We spent time with cousins, mostly at Target.

And had fun partying withToby on his birthday.  The lego themed party was awesome, of course.

 We finished October handing out candy at our church's first annual trunk-or-treat.  It was our first time decorating a trunk and it turned out to be lots of fun!

It was a good week, busy like always but good.

"Insta"-replay #93, should have taken more pictures

So, I didn't post many pictures this week.  We stayed busy but we also stayed home and to be honest my home is not looking its best so I've been avoiding taking pictures.

We have been getting school done each day.  This year with only four days of school each week it is more important that we don't get behind.  Merry has been using "Headventure Land," a Latin games website.  It is a payed subscription that goes with her Latin curriculum.  She thought it was hilarious that "sonic screwdriver" was an option.  As fellow whovians the reference was much appreciated.

Last week's schedule was a bit different because my husband was away for a few days.  So both girls had to come with me places.  As a result they spent more time sitting and waiting than normal.  Good thing they are such good readers, I didn't hear any complaints.

Having a scrawny blog post should inspire me to take more pictures this week, and maybe even clean house...maybe.

"Insta"-replay #92, I think it's finally fall!

Summer seemed to last extra long this year but drizzly skies and cooler weather is finally making an appearance. Autumn happens to be a favorite season of mine so I am glad it has arrived.

Waking up to fog is delightfully dreary and when my mood is low it seems like all of nature is being sympathetic.  The last two weeks were long and I needed that sympathy.

Girls have been working hard on school.  We decided to try a four day schedule this year but shorter weeks do mean longer days.

To get it done has meant school in the car.

And school while getting a treat at McDs.  You can see from the smiles that they don't mind too much.

Besides school we also had some fun.  Star Wars Reads Day had their third annual national event day.  I may or may not have bought a book just to take this picture.  I think I'm hilarious.

Our local library had a Star Wars event this year.  It was fun to dress up and of course pose whenever possible.

We finished up the week with art with aunt Abbie, it was a fun sparkly project that wasn't as much of a mess as I thought it would be.

So that's what we've been up to, at least what I've taken pictures of.  Happy Autumn.