Weekly Wrap-Up (the one with the snow, the birthday, and the fortune cookie)

Brrr…what a cold week!








We finally got some snow which was fun for the kids.

I don’t know how they handled playing in it for so long because I think it was only like 15 degrees out that day. Saul kept us warm with a nice fire through the evening.  I made up a batch of Caramel Corn for part of our 25 Days of Christmas and the kids watched Charlie Brown’s Christmas.





We are still working through all of our activities on my list, though we’ve gotten a few days behind on our Scripture chain…




Monday was Elaina’s birthday. 

My beautiful girl is six now! 

My favorite part of birthday’s is re-telling the kids’ birth stories.  I’m sure in a few more years, the kids will outgrow their interest in hearing them, but for now they humor me and listen intently as Saul and I re-live the details of each of these very special days.  Weird as it may sound, I especially love reminiscing about my labor and delivery with Elaina, because for so long I didn’t believe I would ever get to experience it. 





She’s been dropping (not so subtle) hints for months now that she’d really like some spy gadgets for her birthday.  I personally think she is the most adorable spy eva!






I can’t even believe it.  Six candles on her cake.  How did that happen?

She said her birthday was awesome.  Too bad she ended up being sick that night…



Tuesday ended up being full of errands.  Saul took over the schooling, which was a really nice break for me.  And I got to do a little Christmas shopping with my momma and visit my bestie.  


Wednesday Olivia and I hung out.  And I cleaned.  A lot.  I’m not a neat freak by any means, but I do LOVE the way a clean and organized house feels.  I just wish it lasted longer around here…..








I’ve been teaching Olivia the nativity story and the vocabulary to go with it.  She’s working on it and will respond with a bit of a garbled tale about Baby Chesus, an Ang-oll, a Cheep and some Chep-hods.  Too sweet for words.









Thursday we had an electrician here all day trying to figure out why we don’t have power in our main living room.  Which meant we were stuck schooling in the dining room while the power was out through the house.  This scenario is usually extremely challenging, as all of the kids struggle with distractions and being able to stay on task when they are together.  We are very lucky in this house to have so many areas to spread out to do school, so one rough day isn’t so bad. 

I’m almost certain that we won’t end up doing school after this week for a while anyway.






Thursday night Saul picked up Chinese food for dinner, since the electrician was still here and power was off and on so cooking anything was impossible. That was fine by me though. After a week of cooking three meals a day and all of the extra baking I’ve been doing, I was ready for a break.



Isaac had this message in his fortune cookie. 

Which fueled an entire evening of questions from him.  I could tell he had his mind on a certain young woman who may be visiting this holiday season.  (Anna….are you reading this?)


This weekend I am hoping to finish up our Christmas shopping.  I also need to make up the menu for the next couple of weeks while we have my family visiting for Christmas.  I’m not too sure how to plan…is cooking for 12 just like doubling what we normally eat?




I am so excited for this special family time and for being able to meet our new niece!  The house will probably be noisy and messy the whole time.    I am hoping that my camera will live long enough to be able to make it through to the end of the month so that I can capture all the fun.  Lately it’s been acting up since a certain little two year old was found messing with it…