Getting back into the groove!

Okay, I've had my cake, and ate it too. And the turkey, bourbon sweet potatoes, roasted carrots and beets, mashed potatoes, gravy, and two pies. I didn't do it all myself--I did have help!

We had a nice Thanksgiving. It seems like it was ages ago. And now we're on to Advent! I even remembered to pick up some of those chocolate Advent Calendars (plus an extra one for Chris' roommate). And I remembered that today was December 1st. So Hannah had a little bit of chocolate for breakfast. And probably will again for the next 3+ weeks.

A week or two ago I reminded myself that I usually quit schooling about this time of year. Ahhh. It was such a relief to remember that I could stop! I was starting to get a little frantic about all the "things" that needed to be done. But once I realized I could add a few hours to each day by not doing school, I relaxed. It's times like this that I really really like homeschooling. (Yeah--did you get that? Didn't I just say I really like homeschooling when I'm not doing it? Well, it's true. I love having the flexibility to start and stop as necessary.) I *almost* feel like I might be able to prepare for Christmas. We don't have a terrible schedule--just a couple of parties (umm...I think it's up to 6 parties so far), a piano recital, house guests, shopping, baking and baking.

One nice thing I noticed within a week of stopping schooling was that Hannah had a burst in her reading skills. She has been reading like crazy! And doing all kinds of drawing and coloring. Now that she's got extra time, she's putting it to good use.

Today I asked her to draw a Christmas picture to send to Katie. Here's what she drew:

I just love it. I think I want to make it into a Christmas card (which likely won't happen....I haven't sent any out in years). I don't know if she has ever seen a stylized tree similar to that, but we certainly don't have anything like it in our house. (I have to confess that I snatched the picture away to scan it before she added anything else--sometimes she embellishes excessively and then the drawing becomes unrecognizable--she's much more about process than product. She did add some very nice wrapped gifts around the tree after I scanned it.)

She's also been enjoying some of those magic marker stained glass coloring books. Most of her friends who have moved on past coloring books still enjoy working on these pictures to hang up in windows.

Even I have been known to open up a set of 50 fine-tip markers and dabble on one of these pages. There is something quite satisfying about completing a picture and holding it up to the light.

Off to bed with me for now--the piano tuner is arriving early in the morning, and then we're non-stop until supper time. Good thing there are just enough leftovers to last one more meal!