Weekly Worship - Lauren Daigle - Noel [Lyrics]

This is by far one of my favorite Christmas songs.  

2020 Week in Photos #47

 We had a quieter week focused mostly on school!  

Saturday - We decorated outside.  It was actually a nice day with beautiful sunshine.  I keep forgetting to get some photos outside! 

Sunday - I did more scrapbooking while watching lots of football!

Monday - Our main goal was finishing up Josh's science project that took nearly 3 weeks to complete!!  

This is the face of a kid who is SUPER happy to have this done!!  

So, this is the part of the project that took weeks - building a plant cell in Minecraft.  When Josh picked this format he thought it would be fine because, after all he got to play in Minecraft for school.  He figured out that it was boring and took f.o.r.e.v.e.r. HA!  So, for his Animal cell, he traced it and finished it in about 2 hours.  

Tuesday - More school! 

Dash, just because he is cute.  He was soaking up some sun. 

Wednesday - More School! 

Thursday - School followed by haircuts for Josh and Nate

Friday - We enjoyed a relaxing day since our weekly lessons were done.  Then dinner at my mom's and our daily Grinch Advent Calendar fun! 

And this is what I go through to try and get a photo: 

So, each night they pull a card and read a portion of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and get a small gift.  This year I am hiding the gifts and giving them really awful clues HA!  For example, tonight's clue was "Games are Fun, We play games, Do you want to build a snowman?" They figured out that I had hidden it by a snowman.  (It was one of those Triangle Peg games that you see on Crackle Barrel Tables).  

That's our week! 

Weekly Menu

Thanksgiving was such a nice relaxing holiday :-)  Winter is slowly making an appearance (which means when I plan soup it is no longer a "surprise" 80 degree day) and Christmas is coming!  One of my favorite blogs, Confessions of a Homeschooler, just posted a December Holiday Menu calendar for the month of December that also includes some activities and fun snacks. I won't get to most of what is on her plan but it might offer some inspiration to you as well.  Honestly, each December I say, "Next year, I need to look at this in November and make better plans." and every year, I forget HA.  oh well! 

Friday - We are going to my mom's on Friday this week since we have plans on Saturday

Saturday - It's Christmas Tree Day!  Last year we said that our tradition would be to stop and get Pizza Hut on the way home from cutting the tree but, well, 2020 isn't the same as normal years!  Instead, I'm going to do a free snacks including Chicken Wings and Mexican Dip.

Sunday - Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Tomato Soup for lunch and Chicken Quesadilla's for dinner. 

Monday - We are going to get our photos with Santa tonight (don't worry, they have it set up for social distancing!) so we are going to treat ourselves with dinner out either before or after depending on what time Darryl gets home from work.

Tuesday - Chicken Alfredo and garlic Bread 

Wednesday - Chick-Fil-A Nuggets and Fries

Thursday - Swiss Chicken, veggies, and crash potatoes.

December Goals

It's December!  A lot of years, December is almost preplanned with events but this year we will have a much more relaxed season.  I'm ok with that but will miss things like the kids Christmas Program, my annual choir concert, and other special events.  We will do our normal family traditions and we have a birthday to celebrate this month too! 

1. Scrapbooking - 1) Complete 1 page a day (so 31 pages total)  2) File all the photos I ordered last month and then order May and June photos 3) The Spines' Project - focus on the top shelf and make sure all albums are complete/order spines if needed 4) My niece's book.   

2. Reading - 1) Read my book club book 2) Just read, curled up on the corner of the couch with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate!!  

3. Cleaning - 1) Organize and declutter Nate's room 2) The kitchen is the focus - it's the last room of the house that i need to do a deeper cleanout.  (Then I'll start over in January and dig deeper!) 

4. Family - This month is focused on Nate's birthday and Christmas.  Nate has asked me to make him a cake "like I used to" so I have to figure that out. 

5. Homeschool - Wrap up as many projects as we can and as many lessons as possible. 

6. - Holiday Plans - 1) Get our Christmas tree and decorate it 2)Make our gingerbread houses 3) Make and decorate Christmas Cookies 4) Go out and see Christmas lights 

That is all this month.  I may get a few other things done but these are the main goals this month.  

November Goal Recap

 October seemed so long and November just seemed to fly by!!  I do feel like I had better success this month with my goals which always makes me happy!   

1. Scrapbooking - 1) Finish my nieces book (a broken record) but this time it will be done.  As I mentioned in a previous post, if I need to I'm going to change the "story" of the book so I can finish it.I had a plan but didn't accompish it.   2) Complete 2 pages a day scrapbooking (so 60 pages total) Done!   3) File all of the photos I have on hand right now and, once those are filed, order the April photos Done!  4) The Spines - my goal this month is to focus on the top shelf of my scrapbooking shelf and make sure the albums all have page protectors and decide if I'm flipping any of the album covers for others.  I did not get to this yet.  

2. Reading - 1) Just read.  There is nothing better then curling up with a book.  I have a lot on my kindle :-) Done!  2) Write my reading goal for 2021 Done!  Well, it's not written specifically but my books are organized and the photo is taken to actually write about it 

3. Cleaning - 1) The kids bedrooms.  First up is Josh's stuff.  I plan to take a weekend (or 2 if needed) and just spend hours sorting and cleaning out (with Josh's help - he says he wants to get rid of TONS of stuff so we will see!).  Once that room is done, we will work on Nate's stuff. Josh's room is 90% done - we just have the last round of sorting and organizing done.  Because Josh's room has taken longer, I won't get to Nate's room until december.  2) With holidays coming I just want to take time and just simply clean.  I'm hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas this year so making sure everything is nice and neat is key.  Done :-)  

4. Family - Very simply, Thanksgiving.  That is our focus this month.Done 

5. Homeschool - Our goal is just to continue on track.  Both kids are going to finish some, if not all, lessons by Christmas as long as we keep going.  I also want to find some supplemental things for them to do when they are done until the semester begins in January (fun but educational) Done :-) 

6. Holiday planning - 1) Decorate outside for Christmas.  I usually watch the weather and pick a "warm" weekend day to do it all even if it is the beginning of November!!  Done 2) Plan Thanksgiving - the food, the decorations, and all that fun stuff!  Done 3) Get our Grinch calendar gifts-- keeping it super simple! Done 4) Make my gift plan for the kids so I know what to order and when Done 5) Plan our December so we do what is important to us first. I'm putting finishing touches on this :-) 

7. The Basement - This is the bonus space.  If I can find time to do 20 minute sessions in the space, I will and if not, I won't. No bonus time this month :-)  

8. Piano - Just finding a way to get the kids through some lessons This has been a struggle with extra kids here who are always in live lessons with their teachers while my boys have seatwork time.  

9) Photography - Time to read my new book once section at a time and practice :-) Maybe when I'm snowed in this winter . . .. 

10) Spiritual - Complete my Thanksgiving Bible Studies I forgot I even bought one!  Geesh! 

11) Misc - 1) Clean up the yard and fill in the holes 2) Have Josh finish his artwork from last semester  3) Pick out camping dates for next year so I'm ready to reserve them on time  4) I have an idea brewing for a vacation next summer but in order for it to happen I have to plan now and begin saving so my goal is to get it all planned so I can start saving for it :-)  5) Clean out the vehicles and set up my new organizing bins in each one (for lysol, wipes, extra bags, etc) 6) Make sure my November flag is hung up :-) This is the only thing done in the list!  7 I cleaned the garage last month but there are 4 bins of "donations" that I put out there like 5 years ago HA!  While pulling them down to decide what to do with them, I found a basket and two bins I had been looking for for quite awhile so I've decided I need to go through those bins before I donate them! 

Weekly Worship -Chris Tomlin and We The Kingdom - Christmas Day (Lyric Video)

I love Christmas music!  Over the weeks between now and New Years, I'll be sharing some favorites!  

2020 Week in Photos #46

 This was a fun week with Thanksgiving included! 

Here's a look back. 

Saturday and Sunday - I finally took time to just scrapbook.  I set up my card table and enjoyed watching Little Women and doing what I enjoy - creating scrapbooks! 

Monday-Tuesday - These two days were totally school focused.  

Wednesday - No school!! My mom came over and I ran some errands.  Then, we started cooking! Nate helped with the pies; well actually he made the apple pie on his own.  

Thursday - The big day! 

Nate was my chef - he helped me make just about everything going on the table. 

Our pies!  I made two and we bought two from Grand Traverse Pie Company. 

Our snacks.  My guests were not arriving until 12:30 so I cut back on my snack choices.  

Our Thanksgiving Table. 

Of course a football game happened too. 

Our pies!  First up, Nate's caramel apple pie (which is amazing), my pumpkin pie (which Nate also made), and our two Grand Traverse Pies one which was Strawberry Rhubarb and the other was Cherry . .. well it was supposed to be Cherry.  When we cut into it, it was Apple.(and not very tasty either!)  Talk about disappointment!  Uuugg! 

Friday - Today we decorated for Christmas! 

We are enjoying a nice 4 day weekend - as we come to the end of Friday night, it is nice to know that we still have two more days before it's back to the regular business of work and school!