I am amazed that it has been a week and a half since I have written. I'm apologize to those who are faithful visitors.
I've been busy; like who hasn't been? We've moved my sister again. Tonight they are sleeping in their own home again; I'm guessing that my parents are having granddaughter withdrawls. I know they have thoroughly enjoyed having my niece around; she's 2 years old and a real sweetie!
Being the thoughtful and sharing family we are, my brother-in-law shared his 'cold/flu' with my parents, my his wife (my sister)—I think she got it too—and now my husband! Whoo hoo! How thrilling! This is one thing I wish we hadn't all felt the need to share. LOL! My children are all fighting it in various degrees, as well. Oh well, at least we don't have things we HAVE to do for the next few days.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We were thrilled to see the Green Bay Packers win their game!!! Whoo Hoo!!! We had a delicious meal, even though I did not stick to my diet as I had planned. We watched Santa Claus 3: The Escape Clause. And we took family pictures for my parents Christmas card.
When I was just 14, we moved from OH to VA. Finally one year we did NOT go back to OH for Thanksgiving and found ourselves bored!!! We decided that we needed to create some traditions of our own. That is when we decided to start putting up our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving night.
Throughout the years, we have stopped and re-started this tradition a few times. As the years have gone by the children have gotten in on the tradition as well. My parents have had an artificial tree for as long as I can remember. All the ones I remember had branches of varying lengths to be inserted into the center pole. When the children were small they helped sort the branches and brought them to my mom and I as we put them in the pole and 'fluffed' them out. Then after we put the lights on the children got to put on the ornaments.
As the children got even older, there were a few times they did not participate. I guess they felt they were getting too old. Last year Mom got one of those trees that have the branches already attached. I loved it . . . we got it up so quickly AND it didn't hurt. Well, my youngest, who is now 10, really missed helping with the branches. My mom, sister and I missed the fullness of the older tree, as this new one was skinny and taller than the older one.
Mom said we could put up the old tree if we could find a way to rearrange the living room furniture that wouldn't cramp everything and everyone. Well, my youngest sister was really motivated and did it. So back up to the attic went my mom to bring down the 3 boxes that held the tree BUT that meant we'd need the guys' help because of all the other boxes of Christmas decorations piled in the garage, in the way. They willingly participated (and then back to XBox Live they went).
We were met with one problem after another. The stand would NOT level out, bricks wouldn't stabilize it, and part of the light strand went off and on and off again (and then back on after we found the problem) to name a few. I asked if it was worth it several times and we kept plowing along. My niece and daughter enjoyed bringing the branches and my daughter even got to put some of them on the pole. Of course, we had to unstring the last strand of lights and put it on tighter so that we could get by with just the two large strands of lights. Then the children came in and put the ornaments on. My oldest, 16, helped my niece put them on. It is so neat to see them all interact.
After the ornaments, comes the plastic snow flakes, which I get to do! Sometimes I get to do more of the snowing than others; this year I shared and even my dd helped flock the tree.
Well, after all this, we decided to play an old favorite family game—Dutch Blitz. My children even played with us (my mom, sister, and me). Although we did not keep score, we had an absolute blast!!! We learned long ago that we could play this game without the 'official' cards by removing the jacks, queens, kings, and jokers from the deck and using the aces as 1's. We just make sure that we use decks that have backs that are unique—no Hoyle cards here.
Well, my husband lasted pretty long, considering he felt worse as the day progressed, and we left around 10 or so (we are having differing opinions as to what the actual time was, my sons and I). It was a day to be truly thankful! We even got to see my other sister and her family for a little while. I pray that God bless them and direct their steps; and provide a good working vehicle for them to get around in, very soon.
(Me and my dd, Tiffany on an easy to climb tree limb on vacation in VA in 2007.) These are my ramblings on homeschooling and whatever else comes to mind.
Counting Down
The Holidays are over and I'm not quite ready to start a new count down yet. Maybe I should start a counting up the number of days I've stayed on my "diet".
Tonight they are sleeping in their own home again; I'm guessing that my parents are having granddaughter withdrawls. 
I know they have thoroughly enjoyed having my niece around; she's 2 years old and a real sweetie! 
This is one thing I wish we hadn't all felt the need to share. LOL! My children are all fighting it in various degrees, as well. Oh well, at least we don't have things we HAVE to do for the next few days.
We watched Santa Claus 3: The Escape Clause. And we took family pictures for my parents Christmas card.
Sometimes I get to do more of the snowing than others; this year I shared and even my dd helped flock the tree. 