THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful that Naomi noticed through the window that my hands were cold as I raked leaves yesterday and brought gloves out to me. What's one thing that you're thankful for?

SONLIGHT GUEST BLOGGER - DECEMBER 2019

My time as a guest blogger with Sonlight came to an end in the spring, but I had one post that was held over for this Christmas season. It went live on Sonlight's blog at the start of the month, but I forgot to link it here until now. Better late than never, right?

Christmas School: Adding Holiday Cheer to Homeschool Academics

There are only a few days left until Christmas, but hopefully that's enough time to put an idea or two from the post to use. If not, save some for next year!

Disclosure - I was invited to be a guest blogger with Sonlight for one year in exchange for some free curriculum. All post topics and opinions are my own. If you are a first time Sonlight customer, click this link and use referral code BW20197051 to get $5.00 off your purchase of $50.00 or more. That referral code is totally separate from my role as a guest blogger and will give me credit toward my own purchases. The referral code can also be found on the sidebar of my blog.

SUNDAY FUN

Sunday was a good day. That morning I saw two people walk onto the platform from backstage just before church started. I recognized Ben and Noelle Kilgore instantly and smiled. Our church frequently sings two of their songs, both of which usually make me cry, so I assumed they were there to lead worship. Sure enough, along with some Christmas songs, they led us in singing Grace, Grace and He Made Me, He Loves Me, both of which they sing on A Resting Place. The lyrics aren't any more meaningful when the people who penned them lead the singing than when folks from our church do or when I sing them on my own at home, but it was neat to have them join our congregation for the weekend.

With the exception of Silas, our family only attends the first Sunday service, but Tim was asked to help at the second one. That allowed Devon and Naomi to sit in for the second service, as they volunteered during the first, and Tyler went to class two services in a row. I, on the other hand, took advantage of having to stay extra long by hunkering down in my car to get through a few more chapters of The Ragamuffin Gospel, a book I'm reading.

Once church was done, Naomi and I got to stay and join a group of people on some Christmas projects. Candles were prepped for Christmas Eve services and decorations were made for the kids' classrooms.

By decorations, I mean I did a craft. Picture proof that I stretched my comfort zone.

And here's picture proof of why inviting me to do crafts is a little bit risky. Evidently making everything point the same way is too challenging. 

I had fun despite my ineptitude, though! The group split to work on these three different 3D snowflakes, which turned out really cute.

Later in the evening our family all met up at church again for An Athey Creek Christmas, our church's Christmas concert and cookie extravaganza, and snapped a picture of the 6 Ws and Kit, one of the bonus Ws, before we headed home.

Less than six hours of sleep, fourteen hours at church, a doughnut for breakfast because I forgot to grab real food as I left for church, pizza for lunch while all made snowflakes, cookies for dinner because I'd never left church, frustrated by one W and hurt by another (made worse by being tired, I'm sure) meant I was pretty fried by the time I got home. I walked straight to my room, got ready for bed without even saying goodnight to anyone, and fell asleep immediately, which never happens. Such a long day. But such a fun day!

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GLIMPSES OF OUR DAY

The endcaps spent several hours at home together, starting with making breakfast as the rest of us left and finishing with school work for Silas and library movies for Tyler.

Tim found his happy place while he and I were at Costco.

Christmas shopping and brunch at Biscuits Cafe wore the middle-aged adults out. We finished early, then reclined our seats and rested in our church parking lot for 30 minutes before picking up some little Ws. And by "rested" I mean Tim fell asleep immediately and I tried to relax while my brain continued its 100 mph pace. This is the story of our lives.

The middles had a blast at a junior high Christmas party at church, Naomi as a junior high participant and Devon as a high school helper.

BRACES ON FACES - 4TH SET

Remember that goal I set a while back to pay for #BracesOnFaces at the pace of one set per year? And remember how the second and third sets went on faster than that? Well, today we headed to Senestraro Family Orthodontics and the fourth set went on!!

Tyler is the last little W to get orthodontia and is now sporting braces and an expander, the latter of which he's the first of the sibs to get. We, of course, had to take our now traditional picture of the newest patient, excited mom, filled pie chart, and awesome orthodontist.

Isn't this pie chart amazing? Our portion of the total cost was less than the other kids because he'll have two phases of orthodontia instead of one, and the first phase, which this chart represents, costs much less than what the single round costs for each of the bigs. That's a huge part of why his chart filled so quickly, as well as an insurance change that's provided some reimbursement for the big boys' braces that we paid for totally in cash. However, it's still amazing that his pie chart filled up in about five weeks and his braces were on less than three months after Naomi's. 

He's pretty pleased with his red and black rubber bands! As for me, my role as a mom has just had a new task added to it. Expander adjuster extraordinaire. Well, given my test run in the office, the "extraordinaire" part might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I'm sure I'll be a pro in no time flat.

The fifth pie chart is already filled in to the 50% mark, which is phenomenal, and I'll be the next one to get #BracesOnFaces. I'm so very grateful for how this whole adventure has gone! 

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for the amazing double rainbow that was just outside my living room window. What's one thing you're thankful for?

TYLER'S BIRTHDAY - 2019

Tyler's officially another year older. He celebrated his birthday earlier this week by spending some time at Get Air with a Alex and Isaac. Dad and I visited on the sidelines while the boys swung, hung, and jumped for a couple hours.

Tim wasn't going to be home for the traditional "doughnut date with Dad" in the morning, so they went a day early. Miranda's Bakery for the sprinkles win!

His actual birthday started off with a picture of his cute face.

It also included lots of Facebook birthday greetings, a phone call, some of his favorite foods, presents, and the donning of the birthday outfit. I told him to look manly and this is what I got. Goofball.

This kid's growing up fast!