Kim 365

Sweet Markus, my dear eldest boy.
I love when an orange is a well received bedtime snack. No pining for granola bars or cookies, just goofing around with silly walrus teeth!

Today was field trip day.
The truth is that every outing is a field trip - an opportunity to learn, out in the real world. This means that shopping for groceries is considered part of school in this house.
Back to today. Today was our first field trip with other homeschoolers, and what a fun day it was! We went to the fire hall for a tour, grabbed lunch at Tim Horton's, then went to Pooh Corner at the library for story time. What a fun day!

Advent is an exciting time - magical in the eyes of a child. I was easily satisfied with cheap chocolate advent calendars when I was small, but since it's nearly impossible to find one without Santa emblazoned on the front (I'm not anti-Santa, but I am pro-Jesus), and my conscience protests buying chocolate that isn't fair-trade, and one fair-trade advent calendar without Santa on it costs $12... multiply that by 3 kids, and well, I needed a new strategy.

So, copying my talented friend Sarah, I made an advent garland out of tiny stockings. Every day the kids pull a new paper out to reveal the day's activity, and for days that I don't have anything ambitious up my sleeve, they go hunting for a piece of chocolate money - one bag of fair trade coins only set me back $7.

You can check out Clay's photo today to get an idea of what the stockings look like.

Our little jolly jumper was all tuckered out. He was busy jumping, and a moment later I heard sucking. He had this monkey's ear in his mouth, and his eyes were closed. He would jump for a few seconds in his sleep, then stop again.
Poor baby - off to bed with you :)

It is tradition that the grandkids stand on Grandpa's hand when they are babies, and today was Deacon's time to shine. I love that I caught Mom's delighted surprise at the sight of Deacon strutting his stuff.

We spent the day with my sister Jean and her family. Thanks for the fun day, guys! We're so glad you are here this year and look forward to more time together while we have the opportunity.

What would December be without an unabashed bokeh photo? I won't promise that there won't be more to come - it's an easy out on a day that got away on me.

Bailey.
The prettiest decoration in the whole house!

We always put up the tree on the first of December, with Robert Goulet as our soundtrack for the evening. You're missing out if you don't have a listen!

I haven't been sad to see the snow melting over the last week. Would you believe I've actually been happy about it? It's true. So when the white stuff started falling again today, reality began to set in again. It's December tomorrow, and these uncharacteristic warm temperatures are going to plummet sooner or later. Oh winter...I'm glad you're followed by spring.

I was a little frustrated that no one was looking at the camera and smiling, but now that I look at the photos I did capture I realize this is much more true to life. I love these little crazies :)

Deacon was so happy that Grandma came for a visit this afternoon, he even took some time away from all his fun wiggles and giggles to give her a minute of quality snuggle time. What a sweetie.

I am so blessed by my mom. Today she popped in so that I could run to the store by myself - so much easier, especially with my finger all bandaged up. I also made a stop at the medi-clinic to get a tetanus booster shot, after finding out my last one was in 1998. Now I'm prepared again for 10 years of cuts! :)