Merry Christmas!

It's December...It's snowy and cold! Almost Christmastime...just two more days!

Here are the most recent pictures of Talia and Malachi. If Brandon would let me get his picture taken, you'd see it too...





And here's the review of the last few months:

OCTOBER
This is the month where we really started worrying about Talia and her annual asthma. It just wasn't calming down. All the data point to there being a problem at the school - probably mold. We threw steriods and albuterol (etc.) at her for a month in November while she stayed home from school. I hate to give her so much medication, but the asthma stopped and after a couple weeks of good breathing we sent her back to school. 2 weeks later and she's doing poorly again. We'll have to do something more drastic now. She's been wonderful through this mess - willing, happy, and understanding.

I really don't like Halloween. At all. No part of it. But I put up with it. Talia was a gypsy this year and Malachi was a pirate. I think they were way cute. I was most proud of them for being willing to give up most of their candy. They got to select which few pieces to keep. We could see a clear relationship between Talia's asthma/allergies and candy so this was only more motivation to leave the Halloween candy alone. Misery is great for inspiring change (I could make that my office motto but I don't think it'd be too good for business, no matter how accurate). Why don't I like Halloween you might ask? (well I guess I'll tell you even if you didn't ask) I don't like a holiday where you glorify the creepy things, and pretend to be evil, bad, rotten, or even inappropriate. I don't like all the ghoulish decorations. I don't find being scared to be funny or to be fun. I think little cuties dressed up like Cinderella or an M-n-M are fun and sweet. I wish people gave out books, school supplies, vegetables, recipes, jokes or kind words instead of a high fructose corn syrup fest. Nothing redeems Halloween for me. If there was a Halloween scrooge, I would be it. I remember when I figured I was just having a crabby few years around Halloween, and I wrote off my bah-hum"boo"-ness to stress or failure at parenting. But this year I let myself in on the truth about my feelings: I really do hate Halloween. Boo humbug! (my kids are awfully cute though).

NOVEMBER
Homeschooling is hard work when you're also working! Ron and I split the schooling effort but I sure learned fast that I can't do ANYTHING while she's learning things. She needs fairly constant supervision. So we did fun things like make posters about molecules and nebulae, take spelling quizzes, read, multiplication practice, etc. I enjoy it, sure! I just can't do anything else. And I found myself using a lot of time in the car (driving to the grocery store, etc.) to practice math facts and discuss other concepts. I loved hanging out with my daughter though! She's an absolute delight, and she has such a great sense of humor and style. Here's an example: we're on the way to church, and the kids are looking so cute but apparently the price of a picture is sticking out tongues! Ron is very serious...as usual.


During the week of Thanksgiving, we escaped to the hills (okay, the "mountains" of Western Mass, called the Berkshires). It's a great time of year to run away because most of my business ain't happening anyway. Who wants to see their therapist on Thanksgiving Day? (okay, most of the people I see probably would prefer to see me than hang out with their families...but for the most part, nobody does!). We painted stuff from the craft store, we exercised in the fitness room, the kids swam in the chlorine gas infested pool (it was so hammered with chlorine and so poorly ventilated that I couldn't go). (Talia was fine, although we limited her time). We probably won't go back to that place, solely because of the chlorine problem. We did puzzles, read books, and the kids watched the History Channel. They could have watched the Cartoon Network - they were allowed to watch TV until 1 pm every day! Since we don't have television at home, they were pretty happy about it. And although they did see some Tom & Jerry adventures, they mostly watched the History Channel. Yes, I am indeed raising little nerds. Malachi said to me "Mom, I don't think the History channel is rated "G" but do you think we can watch it?" I laughed, "Well, son, history itself wasn't really rated G ever..."

The kids also took a trip up to the Boston Temple with their Primary. The Primary (church's children's organization) rented a trip bus and went to the temple on November 11 when all the kids were out of school for Veterans Day.
The Temple Presidency talked to them a little bit and they were able to walk into the front area where the temple workers check to make sure you have a recommend. Ron went with the kids (and I was glad he got to chaperon because I was still worried about Talia's asthma at that time).

DECEMBER
The first week of December was still unseasonably warm, and we went on a hike (thanks for the suggestion Malachi!) that Saturday. We drove up to Talcott Mountain State Park, just northwest of Hartford (not far away). We hiked up the "mountain" and along the trail to a tower. It was SO windy!!! We enjoyed some granola bars by the tower, and downed our water before setting back. Ron was working, so he's not included in the "we" but he was helpful in encouraging the hike. Here are several pictures - it's hard to choose from so many good ones!