Is it really Christmas in 2 weeks?

 Eric pointed out a week or so ago that I had not updated the blog in a while.  There is a reason for that.  It's kind of busy around here lately.  Not only did we take 10 days to travel back to the midwest for Thanksgiving (with nary a photo to show for it...but it was really fun...not the drive home so much as John apparently does not enjoy spending 18 hours in his car seat, and Molly has a propensity to get carsick...all over the car.  I've never seen that much come out of her!), we've also been slogging away at homeschool lessons hoping to get those done in time for the public school break, dealing with an independent toddler, and also just normal day to day things like cooking and laundry.  And John has shown a capacity to fend for himself.  If 5 o'clock rolls around and I haven't provided him appropriate sustenance, he helps himself to the lower shelves of the pantry.  At first I thought this was just 1-year-old typical mess making behavior, until I realized it was the exact same time every day.  Problem has been sort of solved.  With 4 kids, I tend to lose track of time.

 But, let me provide some pictures.  Basketball is in full swing at our house.  Nearly every afternoon we have games going on.   Dom wore the above attire one day and I told him he looked ridiculous.  He took it as a compliment.  I love him for it!

 John is pretty mischievous.  Not only does he raid the snack shelves, he climbs every thing.  Or attempts to.  I found him on the piano, I'll find him on the dining room table, I'll find him climbing on to the computer, and I also found him scaling the deck in the backyard.  He also climbed into the dryer recently.  He was so proud of himself and howled with rage when I took him out.  He's trouble, but I love him for it.  Look at those eyes and smile!  Start praying for me, friends, if you haven't already!  He continues to love all round objects, has developed a taste for trains, and is still the best snuggler of all of our children.

 I recently completed our 2016 calendar and I don't have nearly enough pictures of Will.  He continues to be diligent in his studies and will finish his semester lessons well in time for the public school break.  He is so clever and I have to stay on my toes.  He recently missed some word problems and was convinced the book was wrong.  I explained gently and then more sternly that he had, in fact, got them wrong and he needed to re-think them.  This lesson in humility lasted one day before he got a grammar rule apparently wrong on an English assignment...but, it turned out he was correct and the answer key was wrong.  Will has also completely fallen in love with the world of Hogwarts and spent most of yesterday re-reading The Sorceror's Stone.  It has been wonderful listening to his and Dom's discussions about various characters.  They are actually on Goblet of Fire with Eric, but each has decided to re-read the previous books.  A highlight of our long road trip was listening to the books on CD with the boys.  They loved them and begged to listen to them from the moment we got in the car until our next destination.  We got through two books on that road trip.

 I do have loads of pictures of Molly for the calendar, just nothing super recent here.  She continues to amaze me at her sweetness (aside from cleaning up after herself).  She was not as thrilled about listening to Harry Potter in the car, but really did not complain.  And when we allowed her to pick a movie to watch, she gave her best effort at compromise by choosing the KU Basketball DVD from the 2008 season (when we won the National Championship) that Dom has watched 1000 times.  Ok, I exaggerated...it's probably only 100.  That is not an exaggeration.  She spends her days looking at books, drawing pictures of her friends, and waiting for a chance to play with them.  Which she does basically from the time they get home from school until dinner time.

 We have yet to cut John's hair.  So he still has the adorable curl that goes crazy in humidity.  Case in point.

 As I mentioned, Christmas is in 2 weeks, so it is the time to order last minute Christmas cards.  Last Sunday we did a less than 10 minute session and got 5 or 6 decent shots.  I'll share the Christmas Card rejects here.  I'll keep the winner a secret for now.  Can you imagine there is one better than these? (In my opinion, anyhow)

 Ok, not this one.  St. Nick came and brought all of the kids toothbrushes to help with all of the candy in the shoes.  Lame you say?  But, not so!  These are Light Saber Toothbrushes and the boys LOVED THEM!  Molly also liked her pretty one that lights up for the minute you are suppose to brush your teeth.  Coincidentally, we all had dentist appointments this week and got rave reviews on how clean our teeth are.

And with that I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Let me know if you would like a print of some beautiful kids.  I will hook you up.