Milestones

It's done! Rose and I are finished with The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading! We worked on this book for over two years....so we are heading out to lunch this week to celebrate. It feels momentous! I took four kids through this book. It wasn't always easy, but it always worked. She will definitely need practice with her reading, but she has a very solid foundation now. 

And on the same day, she finished Writing with Ease Level 1.  She'll start level 2 after our break.

Speaking of which, since Grace just had her 15th birthday...which means we are officially on Christmas break! Our last day of school for the calendar year is usually the day before Grace's birthday. With her birthday falling on a weekend this year, today was our first day of break. All the kids slept in - Rose, because she was tired out from all the visiting over the weekend, and everyone else because we were up late watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ~ Grace's pick.

 Fifteen!

We did a lot of cooking over the weekend, including three different cakes. Grace is very much into food (we all are, around here).  I tried making slow cooker wassail - I thought it was good, but most of the kids thought it was too "wassail-y".

I saw this cute idea on Pinterest and thought I'd make it for Grace's party, but after a few attempts I had to call her in to make my mess look like a tree. I love this idea for a Christmas appetizer - easy and healthy!

Which is good, because we're eating a lot of candy canes, too.

We lit the third Advent candle on Sunday. It's flying by. I'm hoping the next couple of weeks will go really slowly.

Two of our amaryllis are blooming, one pink and one red.

And our little Christmas village is still growing.

I realized we are very far behind with our usual Christmas movie viewing, so I told the kids every afternoon we are home I'll watch one with anyone who wants to. This afternoon we watched The Muppet Christmas Carol, my all-time favorite. 

 This week I am hoping to get our Christmas cards out, have Peppermint Day with the kids (post coming), and make fruitcake. I also have a couple of crafts in mind if we have time. 

I'll see you back here soon - I need to go eat some leftover cake:).