Family Time!

We locked ourselves in as a family this Thanksgiving.  It was the first time since Tim started the fall semester that we’ve been home as a family over the weekend.  Between church, studying, and just over all life we have been so busy.  But this past weekend we were able to have some great family time and just be us.

I wanted to post some pictures I took during the weekend.

 Tim giving me a hint at it being nap time!  The boys weren’t buying into it though.

 Johnston learning to make a fire!

 Jameson enjoying the warmth!

  Thanksgiving Day at Grandma Jean’s!

 Johnston made a bed on the couch so he could snug with Jameson in front of the fire!

 Johnston and Jameson playing with the train set from Papoo!

I’m so looking forward to the week we have together between Christmas and New Years!  Plus the bonus of picking up Tim’s sister and her family at the airport at midnight on New Years day!  What fun!

Snowy crafts and counting rocks!

Yesterday was full!  Johnston finished up two of his subjects for the month.  He was very excited to see the books put away.  Only two more to go! 

After school we got out construction paper and did snowy scenes.  Johnston made a snowman, tree with a star and a house.  It was a simple craft, but a first for him and he loved it!  It was something I remember doing in school at his age.  All you need is construction paper, glue and salt!  Try it!

Here are some pictures of Jameson doing his "school" work!

 Lacing shapes!

 Counting Sticks and putting them in a cup!

Counting stones!

A visit with Daddy & paper airplanes

Tim was able to meet us last night after church for dinner at Golden Corral.  It was so nice seeing him midweek.  Even though the boys were tired beyond belief they were excited to see daddy.  We ate and talked, talked and ate until finally Jameson was in silent tears from being tired and Johnston had made himself a pillow out of napkins.

Even though it was hard to let Tim return to Georgia Tech after dinner I reminded myself that this semester is over in 4 weeks.  It seems like years ago that we started this college journey, yet it’s only been three semesters.  I’m so proud of him for having the courage to return to school 20 years later and the sacrifice of being away from us each week.  We are all going to cherish the days when he is out of school and with us each day!
Before we pulled out last night Tim took a few minutes to teach Johnston how to make paper airplanes.  Johnston was over the moon.  He had been trying to make them for days.  What fun we had this morning having airplane races before school.  We are going to try racing them from over the half wall upstairs tonight.  Johnston’s creative juices are definitely flowing now!

Good news: Tim’s sister Kristin and her family are going to be in Georgia for the month of January.  They realized a summer visit would be out of the question due to the cost of tickets from China to the States during the Olympics.  We are excited beyond words.  Johnston can’t wait to play with his Hannah and Jameson and John will be old enough to be great buddies this year!

We started lapbooking yesterday!   I have been looking into it and reading everything I can for the past few months and we finally just did it.  Our topic is Amphibians!  I can’t wait to see the end result.  I’ve already got a list of ideas for future lapbook topics!  I might be enjoying it more then the boys, but hopefully my enthusiasm will be contagious! 

Last night I finally made it to the Tyson plant.  You go into this room that has enough room for two people to stand.  There is a dry erase board on the wall with what they have in stock for the night.  Cash only!  They didn’t have the boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I wanted so I got 33 pounds of leg quarters for $10.00 and 20 pounds of boneless,skinless chicken breasts for $25.00.  I am hooked! 

Pencil Sharpeners are not needed

I think we have a pencil sharpener eating monster in our house.  As soon as I buy one it disappears…forever…never to be seen again.  I haven’t been able to get to the store to buy yet another one, so Johnston’s pencils have gotten duller and duller as the week has progressed.  He doesn’t seem to mind…he figures that once the pencil is useless I will not make him do paperwork anymore.  Wrong!

So this morning as I laid out our first course of school Johnston brought his pencil to me.  It was useless….what was I going to do….frustration overcame me….thoughts in my mind start circling like a tornado.  I sit there wondering why oh why can’t my wonderful son put things back where they belong…why must his erasers become tanks, his pencils become robots and yes the wonderful pencil sharpener be a dinosaur.  Now on a any other day I love his imagination and the fact that it doesn’t take more than a stick and grass to get him playing something wonderful…but that was lost in the moment. 

As I sat there Johnston brings me back to reality and the reason we love homeschooling.  He looks at the useless pencil and simple wonders aloud if using a knife to sharpen it would work.  I truly believe there were angels singing at that moment.  Off to the kitchen he ran and we did a quick study of how a knife can safely sharpen our pencils.  You gotta love it!

 Johnston practicing sharpening skills!

 Johnston was so proud of his new skill!

Getting ready for a school break!

It’s officially the last week of school before our month break.  We decided since Tim will be out of Georgia Tech for three weeks in December to take advantage of every second with him.  This break will consist of no book/paper work.  So this week we are focusing on finishing up everything so there won’t be any lose ends hanging around for a month.  Johnston is very excited….we will be doing a lot of crafts/reading/cooking!  So much fun!

Johnston’s volcano!

Jameson rolling out his pizza crust for the pizza he was making us for lunch!

Johnston and I went to the library yesterday.  He picked up his weekly load of 5 books.  4 train books and 1 dinosaur book.  I never know what he’s going to end up with.  I grabbed up 40 books to read to the boys and a couple for great grandma to read.  We read a lot…and even more so when we don’t have "school" work to do.

I was up early enough to get breakfast made before leaving for grandma’s house.  I made our current favorite….cinnamon/raisin oatmeal.  We didn’t get to eat at home, but it tastes the same where ever we eat it!  Johnston has requested his old favorite next time…cinnamon/granny smith apple oatmeal. Jameson’s favorite meal is food!  Just put it in front of him and he’s happy!

Tim has only three weeks left until this third semester is finished!  This will be his toughest one.  He has to finish up all his assignments/projects and turn them in this week.  To add stress to this ever stressful time someone in his materials class gave out one of the tests to another class that was taking the same test later in the day.  So his entire class has to turn in a two page essay on cheating.  Not the most thrilling assignment to be added this week.

Tonight is Johnston’s weekly date night with me. We will make smoothies and popcorn then crawl into bed and watch Frosty the Snowman!  I can’t wait!