Well Well Well… December… Christmas, New Years, hilariously enough writing this at the end of Karyn’s visit when she ALSO visited here in December last year. TIMELY…. And then I got even further behind when summer kicked my bum… so NOW I will get December up and hang my head in shame.

Of course there are the basic first to think of memories… Christmas, including Christmas pageant at the church…

Trinity as Mary

Gavin the shepherd

Echo the sheep

My 2 Kings

New Years (at home and quiet with Karyn)… Visiting Santa… fun in the snow… homeschooling, of course… but beyond that I really did have to go to the images. Funny how some months you are like YAH I remember that, and others I really do need visual cues to trigger memories.

At Santa

Skype calls with family…

We did not have nearly as much snow as the year previous to the kids’ great disgust. But every time there was any sort of snowfall they were out there mucking around in it. Thank goodness Echo is finally able to maneuver ALONE and UNASSISTED out there.

Now let’s see… we had a SECOND Santa visit at our local YMCA. We love it there (even more so after this summer where we basically spent most of our weekday mornings there). It was great fun to take a pictures as a family this time.

We also went with the Schwartz family down the road to a neigbourhood that enters (and it seems WINS) the Christmas decoration competition every year. This year there was one house where you could walk around back in the their yard and get close up to the display you could only see from the road otherwise. 

We had Christmas with the Schwartz family of course (yearly tradition!).

Not the best picture but it was great fun.

Trinity and I made a Trinity doll for Aunty Karyn to take home, she matched from the top of her head to the tip of her shoes. Not bad? My pattern was an amalgamation of Princess patterns by Kristen’s Kords.

We made pirogi with Nana and Baba. 

Went out for Indian food while Karyn was here.

Shopped at Mall of America (because we girls are gluttons for punishment).

Open presents…

Ate giant Reese peanut butter cups.

We snuck in some learning too… a few workbook completions and reading and the larger unit I linked to the resources for above.

And of course take a surplus of pictures! Enjoy my flash WAAAAAYY back!

Ok so NOT as long awaited as DECEMBER… which I WILL cover BEFORE this December comes about… I hope! But I figured before I shared my Mom and Step-dad’s visit I REALLY should cover Karyn and Lauralee’s. The intrepid duo drove from Red Deer, Alberta all the way down to the Grand Canyon and back again. With a stop off of a week at our house in sunny Minnesota – in the summer – when Karyn is NEVER here (for some reason MOST of her visits occur in the middle of winter… who goes from ALBERTA to MINNESOTA in the winter? Well one of the most amazing aunties ever of course!).

We made sure to show them a little bit of the state – our favourite beach of course.

Karyn and I ducked out for our usual extensive Mall of America shopping – sadly one of my favourite stores is gone now BUT we did manage to find some hidden gems, spend a little cash and walk ourselves into the ground. SO – good day!

Did NOT purchase

BUBBLE TEA

We 3 adults joined Ken for an adult lunch. And some MORE shopping (poor Lauralee).

On my birthday (June 24th) the ladies watched our kids so we could go out for a lovely dinner.

First flowers that are REAL since our wedding!

Karyn drove us to the YMCA a few times and spoiled us horribly. So workouts and playing did not falter. Seriously, this has to be the healthiest summer EVER for this family – 2 miles either way, lots to do while there. ALL GOOD!

Karyn brought us a marvelous car full of gear. Canadian stuff, stuff from her childhood. Which put Trinity right over the moon. (the shirts she brought for us are in our Canada Day pictures on the post for Canada Day of course.)

We checked out the Como Zoo – because really when we did a comparison the animals at the pay zoo were not enough to make the donation only zoo less impressive. PLUS they had BUTTERFLIES!!!!

Trinity snuck off with her god mommy and Lauralee for ice cream and Mommy snuck off with Karyn and Lauralee for frozen yogurt. So there was even some sneaking around! 

It was a wonderful visit, and as usual, not long enough. But then again, I doubt there could be a visit that we would feel was “long enough.” I am just so grateful they added us to their pilgrimage south. Now enjoy the rest of our pictures! I couldn’t resist adding more!

Even with illness off and on all month December was good to us. We had family and friends to enjoy, good food and amazing gifts. I cannot thank everyone enough for being a part of our world, of our story and of our future.

December has always been an important month for us. It is a chance for us to share our thanks to all of you with gifts and letters, phone calls and visits. These fingers worked over time and in all honesty are still working on a few belated gifts. I plan to share pictures of most of the items I have made this season in a later entry.

A sneak peek… some of my starched snowflakes

Of course we did a full Christmas unit only slightly hampered by illness this year. With our usual laundry list of education and entertaining books and links. A couple lapbooks to enter into our binder this year as more notebooking pages than anything and lots and lots of pictures. Most importantly, after not having an Activity Village Advent calendar last year we had one this year! A whole series of train cars! Even Echo had her set done…  larger sized and then hole punched and put into a duotang instead of cut out.

I am so proud of how the kids are managing to work on a balance of working independently and in small groups. We are still finding our stride with noise and close quarters, but I think that will be a continuing battle for as long as we homeschool. Sometimes personalities just clash! Or sing really loudly in the middle of class.

We had TWO concerts in December – our Christmas pageant AND the daycare one for Evan. Evan’s was all songs and very cute.

The choir director even threw a mini party on their last Wednesday practice before Christmas. Trinity was sick so the boys brought her back her very own treat from the party!

We spent a lot of our December with family story time. Emanuel and Trinity worked together to do an illustrated page for each and every story and we all enjoyed revisiting some old favourites and a couple new ones! Gammie sent us a new story that she recorded herself reading – this time Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Echo especially spent TONS of time sitting there listening to the story over and over again.

Don’t forget themed worksheets and stories about the season!

Of course we had Christmas with the Schwartz family and after Christmas Renee even took the twins out sledding. They had a blast with Nathan and Evan on the hill while Ken and I took the others to the dollar store.

We finished off our first set of swimming lessons with all 5 having them. No movement up to the next level for anyone but all 5 have learned new skills and enjoyed it enough to want to be registered in the new sessions that start up again in January. Thank you so much Nana and Baba for being the ones to instigate and continue these. One of the best gifts ever!

Christmas itself was a quieter occasion with the cousins in Florida but I think the kids had a blast and all their wishes seemed to be answered. You can see our Christmas Day HERE.

Christmas Eve Dinner

We even had snow! No where near as much as last year but with that minor disappointment for the kids was paired a lovely lacking of those lengthy freezing cold days we experienced the previous winter as well!

I always enjoy the creativity that comes immediately after Christmas with new presents and new eyes for the old ones.

I have to say now that December feels a distant memory. I am sure that if I HAD been on the ball this entry would go on and on but I have to admit, checking back months later.. thinking about events and people and checking through the pictures has given me a chance to relive a rather amazing month. I think 2015 is going to be a year of counting blessings as I reflect back on each month to share our experiences and joy with the world around us!

 PHOTO OVERFLOW…. HERE.