Christmas Advent Calendar

I made these little cards to put into an advent calendar for the kids. We are getting started a little late this year so we might have to do a few at a time, but I think the activities on the cards will be a start to some good traditions. 

Here's the link to the Google Docs page with the file. You can download it in your favorite word processor program and edit the font (when you open it in Word the font looks a lot better), and even edit some of the activities to fit your own family situation.

The Homeschool Classroom are some ideas for homemade gifts kids can make, and Courtney DeFeo has some great ideas for service activities you can do with your family during the holidays. 

Happy Holidays!

Back to Blogging

I came to the old blog to find a picture of Samantha's birth day. (I can't believe she's already SIX!!) As I read through some of the old posts, I realized how much I miss writing, and how spotty my family record has been for the last few years. The kids are hilarious! And life is good. We are blessed. So I decided I need to get back into record keeping. A paper journal for some reason seems improbable (not impossible like I can't do it, but more like I probably won't and don't really like to).
I don't want to spend an entire post playing catch-up, so I'll give a quick overview:
David still works at the railroad. He still hates it (because of the schedule), and he's still waiting for me to get a job so he can get a new one, or at least work regular hours at the railroad.
I finally finished college. I am still waiting for the graduation application to go through, but I am done with classes. It was a pretty rough two years, being in school at the same time that Drew and Owen were just starting school. But we made it through, and hopefully I'll be able to find something in my field soon.
Drew and Owen are in second grade. Drew loves sharks, dinosaurs, bears--pretty much anything that has huge teeth and/or growls. He is a fantastic reader, and has a quirky sense of humor. He is our passionate child and seems to be either really excited or really upset.
Owen started skateborading this summer. He is picking it up really well. He's really brave and outgoing and will try almost anything once. He does really well in school, and he makes friends easily. He loves sports. He is our easy-going child.
Samantha is six years old (today!). She started kindergarten this year and seems to really enjoy it. She is a fun little girl; full of energy and spunk. She's also really smart and loves to have math competitions with her brothers because she's just as good as they are.
So now that I've gotten the "Family Christmas Letter" post out of the way, I'll start posting more regular updates and try to keep a better record of our fun little family.