It's Christmas Time...again...

It's already Christmas time again. This year Christmas time has snuck up on me! Time seems to be flying by, even when it's not! Before I get carried away with Christmas details, let's take a look at Thanksgiving 2011 a.k.a Turkey Day:

Mark and Me, Thanksgiving Day 2011

Abi cleaning up the pine needles at Grandpa and Grandma Tink's house

Abi, chilling with grandma Tink's turkey and pilgrims

What's Thanksgiving without a little front yard football? Austin kicking the ball.

After- Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving at Grammy and Papa's

Abi and a friends playing on Papa's rope swing

Baby Jacalynn and Abi playing Grammy's piano

Pumpkin whoopie pies for the Texas vs. A&M party we went to at the Taylors'

Mark, the Lone Longhorn...lost in a sea of aggies!

Last, but not least...Black Friday shopping!!! As usual, Naomi and I met at Target to get some deals!!! I did NOT like this year's Black Friday operations....midnight just doesn't work for me. Mainly because I'm tired from the hustle and bustle of running around all day. Standing in line for a couple of hours at the end of the day when I am exhausted is not my idea of fun. And BF is usually a lot of fun for me! It's a lot of fun because it's just like coffee shop girl time...the only difference is that you're standing in line with a Starbucks in hand instead of sitting in the coffee shop with Starbucks in hand. Not this year. Our plans were to meet at Target at 10:30pm to get in line for the doors to open at midnight. The first person to the areas springs for the coffee. Naomi made it there before I did, so she got in the drive thru for Starbucks. As cars lined up behind her, she pulled up to the menu...only to be told that they closed at 10:30!!!!! And that she could return at midnight when they reopened. Not cool. So, our hour and a half wait was without coffee...bummer!

In all the chaos, we have managed to get quite far in the kids' school work. Abi has been working on double digit addition and counting money (which she loves!) in math. Journal, grammar, reading and spelling are going pretty smooth for her as well. Austin is working on long division in math and poetry in English. Spelling is a breeze for him, too! This past week in English, Austin learned how to write a diamante poem. The two opposing nouns he chose were Veggies and Candy. When I asked him for a describing word for candy....his response was high fructose corn syrup!! He is such a funny guy!!

Abi learned about cartligneous fish in science. She made models out of crayola modeling clay.

Ausitn learned about screws in science...

And how the space between the threads determined how difficult it was to screw the screw in.

He also learned about levers.

This year for the Christmas season, we have began a new tradition. I was invited to a 'Jesse tree party' along with 24 other women. We drew numbers to determine which day of Advent we would make an ornament for. I drew day 6, a ladder. I made 26 little ladder ornaments. All the other women did the same. Then we exchanged all that we made so that each of us would have an ornament for each day. We made an extra set for a family in need. It was a fun and crafty thing to do. It was right up my alley! We have a devotional that we read together as a family each night and then open the wrapped ornament to hang on our tree. The devotion is meant to prepare our hearts for this season, the season of celebrating the birth of Jesus, the Savior of the World.

The tree

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This year's Women's banquet has come and gone as well. The theme of the banquet was 'Holly Jolly Christmas' with the comedy from Michelle Thomas. I shared many laughs with close friends. I also decorated a table again this year. In the planning of how I was going to decorate it, I became mesmerized by peacocks!! Funny, I know...but really, the peacock is such a beautiful creation. The  color of the bird from feathers  to it's breast are so breath taking! So, you guessed it! I decorated my table in peacock feathers! Although I broke the perfect vase for this table the day before the banquet, I was still pretty happy with the out come! 

I couldn't find any plates that I saw fit to go with the idea in my head. So, I purchased plain clear glass plates, painted the backs of the plates with metallic acrylic paint, and then sealed the paint with polyurethane.

Slackers R Us!!

It's true! I have been slacking in the blogging department, but not in the living life department! If you're wondering what we've been up to the last month, take a peep:

First, a couple weeks ago, I walked out of my room into the kitchen to find this note and flower from my favorite little boy! I love that sweet boy!



This year our church's fall festival fell on Sunday before Halloween. We entered our trunk into the trunk or treat as a mouth this year. Mark was a toothbrush and I dressed up as a tube of toothpaste.

Jack Sparrow and Silvermist

 The real Jack Sparrow...or is it?

Silvermist has several different costume options. This is the costume that I copied.

This year we carved pumpkins with the Bender family. 

Luke and Abi had their game faces on!

Our co-op, Friday school, had a scarecrow contest. This is the Brewer family scarecrow:

Even Barbie needs a scarecrow in her corn fields!

In October, the kids and I had two field trips. The first was to the Houston Zoo, which is free on the first Tuesday of each month. We like to take advantage of anything free. To top the deal off, the weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! We packed a picnic  to have in the park before we went into the zoo. We rode the train around Herman Park where we found a picnic table near one of the playgrounds. One of the memories I will cherish from that excursion is feeding the squirrels. When we first sat down, one squirrel approached us. Austin tossed a Cheetos out to it and it sat there staring at us as it munched! Before we knew it, 3 more squirrels has surrounded us!! The kids and I were laughing so hard. I have a mental picture of both of them laughing uncontrollably! That is the memory I will remember forever!

First time to ride the train at the Houston Zoo

Our second field trip was to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, which also happens to be free on EVERY Tuesday! We, again, packed a picnic and headed for Herman Park. We chose a different section of the park this time. And it was  breath taking beautiful! The kids had so much fun running around, climbing on vines, and watching the birds fly around.

At the Miller Outdoor Theater, the kids rolled down the HUGE hill!

We did eventually make it into the Museum, but my camera died just after I snapped a couple of the kids riding the space simulator. Abi was really afraid to ride it. She even made the guy stop it so she could get off about 10 seconds after it started!

 Austin's face is priceless here!!!

We took a third field trip in November with our co-op to the Annual Renaissance Festival. We checked out some books about the Renaissance Era fromt the library before going to give the kids an idea of what the festival would be like. Both Austin and Abi had a blast. Abi said a couple times, "This is the best day of my life!"

Radio Disney got us pumped be fore going in! Austin, in the yellow sweater, entered a hula hooping contest. 



The jousting exhibition

We saw and learned about "Birds of Prey", This was one of the vultures on show.

So, as you can see, we have been VERY busy...and I didn't even include all of the pictures! This semester has been so much fun! I'm looking forward to the holidays now!!!!

Abi on the Map

This is another awesome project that I found on Pinterest.com!!!! I know all of you are probably tired of hearing about it, but it is such a cool website! You have to check it out!

The direct link to the project is here. It's called 'Me on the Map' and involves a bit of craftiness...but not too much. A perfect project for Abi! Here goes:

The finished product

 We live on the planet Earth



On the continent of North America

In the United States of America

In the state of Texas

Our city

 

Our street

 Our home

Abi and I were both very happy with the finished product!!!