Happy New Year!

Could there be a more peaceful scene in late December?

We had a blast meeting extended family at Union Station to donate at The Giving Machines.


But then the kids were a little riled up later in the day, and I stopped them all in their tracks to do a progressive muscle relaxation exercise.

Why he didn't move to carpet is beyond me, but he said he was happy where he was!


Baymax was so ornery, he wouldn't lie on his back, but he was otherwise cooperative, so I called it a win.

The kids all got up saying, "I thought I was going to fall asleep!"

"That made me too tired!"

"I didn't know how to tighten my (insert name here) muscle."

But they all got up from the floor capable of following directions and moving safely through the house, so I was quite pleased with the result.

We dropped Pixie off at the airport by noon on the 31st.  

In the afternoon, the boys went to a friend's house to play football and video games.

In the evening, Belle drove Little Princess and Ladybug to a youth church dance.  Nature Angel stayed home because she was sick.

Belle could have found a young adult dance, but she didn't. 

Sir Walter Scott, the kids, and I were all in bed before 10 pm.

Belle picked up Little Princess and Ladybug when the dance ended at 11 pm.  Nature Angel had napped so much and was so congested that she was awake when they came home, so the girls played Yahtzee until the year turned.

On New Year's Day, we talked about setting goals.  We used the Children and Youth books to help us organize our plans.

As a family, we decided on the following goals:
  Spiritual:  Continue with Morning Meeting and Thankful Thursday
  Intellectual:  Continue reading good books together
  Social:  Continue with American Rhythm both for nurturing friendships and serving our community.
  Physical:  Train for a 5K and continue hiking as much as possible

Then I handed out printed sheets with dozens of ideas to get the kids thinking about what goals they wanted to set for themselves, and they got to work.

I got to work for myself as well!

Some of my favorite goals the kids set are:

  Baymax:  Learn about family history.
We're doing this by playing Wheel of Family Fortune and then finding the person in the game on our family tree.  We're learning everything we can about that person, and we're following various family lines back as far as we can.  We've found the BEST stuff!

  Mister Man:  Learn Swahili on Duolingo.
He's really focused, and he's teaching the rest of us as he learns!

  Brother:  Do temple baptisms for 50 names this year.
He wanted to do 200, but the kids are limited to 5 names per temple visit, and I didn't see us making it to the temple 40 times this year!

I know that new goals are fun, and we're bursting with enthusiasm, and our enthusiasm will wane as time passes, but I'm enjoying this week and this season of new passions.

And I have a plan for monthly check-ins this year that will, hopefully, keep us focused and motivated.

Later in the day, Lola helped me can a batch of black beans.



We picked up school again with math on the 2nd of January.



We'll go back to our regular school days next week.

Our bedtime reading right now is Patterns on the Wall by Elizabeth Yates.  It's historical fiction--only historical in the sense that the main plot takes place during "the year without a summer"--and we're all liking it very much.

Come, Follow Me study this year is Doctrine and Covenants and Church History.  Our Morning Meetings look a lot the same as they always have, but we've added Saints vol.1 as a read-aloud.

One cold day, I popped popcorn and made a pot of cinnamon-apple tea.  We ended up having a spontaneous Poetry Tea Party using this old favorite book of ours:


We had friends over several days this past week.  Kids spent hours outside playing football, hiking, and generally making the most of the pre-storm days.

These small friends were very happy to explore our woods with Little Princess as their guide.

I have zero pictures of the other outdoor activities.

But they really did happen!

Indoors, they read, played games, and did countless craft/art projects.


Brother has been sharing his 3-D pen with other creators in the family.

Mister Man is writing a Pokemon book.

Lola is using her hot glue gun for building play houses.

This is not creative play, but the littles wanted to join Lola in her carpet-scrubbing clean-up job.
So I guess it's imaginative play/observational learning.

We're having a big ice/snow storm this weekend. Yesterday they spent an hour or more "skating" on our deck because it had 1/4" of ice covering it

The kids are having a blast sledding, shoveling, tromping, stomping, throwing, catching, sliding, and otherwise reveling in the snow.  So far I've gotten Baymax and Mister Man to take pictures for me.

photo credit:  Baymax

photo credit:  Baymax (edited by me)


photo credit:  Mister Man

photo credit: Mister Man

As for me, I'm reading several encouraging books--books that are helping me gear up for the second semester of homeschool.

Hard is Not the Same Thing as Bad -- Abbie Halberstadt
Modern Miss Mason -- Leah Boden
Adventuring Together -- Greta Eskridge
Practicing Presence -- Joy Prouty

I've also set a number of personal goals for myself.

And I wrote them down!!!

They're in a little notebook that I put on my bedside table where I see it every day, and I (so far) remember to open it, review it, and stay focused.

It's all of January 5th, but I'm hopeful.

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