updatin

1) I thought the last time I posted was when Nell was born. I am pleasantly surprised to see it was only August.

2) Depressing stat: I only took 12 photos with my camera in August.

3) Nell is an amazing child! We just love her so much, she is so happy. She just turned 6 months, is teething, rolls and scoots across the floor, loves chewing on drapes, and recently sits for longer periods. She doesn't care for solid foods, and she has recently been forced to sleep through the night without a feeding because I couldn't take it anymore.

4) I don't function well on interrupted sleep.

5) We tried to take family pictures. The entire experience was horrific. I snapped a few hasty head shots in front of our fireplace bricks and called it a day for the Christmas card.
Last year we had family photos done for the card and got them 3 days before Christmas. We didn't bother trying to send a card.

6) The holidays are becoming more important and memorable for the kids.

7) We are officially homeschoolers now. All the feelings. Good. Bad. Proud. Embarrassed. Isolated. Excited.

8) Homeschooling is going well. Most days are amazing and the kids love it. Ben never wants to go to school, mostly because he doesn't want his sisters to play with his toys while he is gone.

9) Greg finished his first class on the way to finishing his Bachelors. American Military History. Good riddance. I told him I need a motivation chart, so  I can cross off little boxes and see the progress towards completion. I haven't received a chart.

10) Greg built an ice rink. To date the ground was not as level as it seemed and we are working to either level the ground or shorten the rink to compensate. Nothing is ever easy. Ever.

11) Thanksgiving was great. The two big kids both finished the 5k we "run" in the morning, Amelia did part of it, Nell did none. I carried Nell and Amelia for 1.6 miles.

12) I'm glad the garden is done. There are still some carrots and radishes in the ground we can dig, and I did lose some swiss chard to frost (totally broke my heart and made the whole family picture ordeal feel even worse), but I am really glad it doesn't need attention anymore.

13) The weather has been extremely mild. We had a few days in the 30's finally and everyone was freaking out. It makes me wonder what kind of Winter is in store.

14) A friend who keeps bees gave me beeswax from his hive. It was a huge mess and took days (and made the whole family picture ordeal feel even worse), but I cleaned it, melted it, and made candles! It was a good learning experience. I learned that I would really appreciate silicone molds over the tin kind! It also made me desire to keep my own bees next year.

15) Even though I am currently one quilt behind (and feeling extreme guilt) on niece/nephew quilts, I actually managed to not only sew my own baby her quilt in time for her birth, but for the first time in years, ALL of the family members have their own handmade stocking. It's a job that only takes a short time, but I have just failed miserably the past few years at accomplishing this.

16) We will be busy all of December, and we have a busy end to November, but I am hoping against hope to get that last stinking baby quilt done. That would feel so good.