Since our homeschooling style has become complete and total unschooling, I feel like the format of the blog is going to evolve a little as well.  It will probably be more about just our day to day life , rather than a focus on what we’re learning. 

The past couple of weeks have been pretty blech around here.  Shawn got a cold right after Thanksgiving, and within  a couple of days, all three kids had the flu, and then I ended up with a terrible cold.  It was pretty horrific for a few days, and reminded me just how much I hate winter! 

This week, the kids have all been feeling better, but Aiden and Autumn are both getting teeth (Autumn has three coming in and Aiden has two) and are TERRIBLEY cranky and whiney.  Which has been enough to make me look longingly at the bottle of Merlot on the counter by about 11 :00 every morning! 

Connor is anxiously (notice I said anxiously, not patiently!) awaiting Christmas!  EVERY DAY he’ll ask, “How many more days until Christmas, Mom?”  “Are you SURE Santa knows I want a kitchen? I hope he doesn’t bring me that pink GIRL kitchen!”  And endless discussions on exactly WHY he will not be getting the D-REX dinosaur toy.  (Because it is 158 dollars!  And the economy is so bad, even the North Pole is in a recession!)  

I have been working on some craft projects the past few weeks.  I made each of the kids a new blanket for Christmas.  Aiden is getting a matching little plush mouse that I made with leftover fabric.  I also made the each of the kids a little fabric dollhouse.  Sort of like this: 

I found a great pattern at www.uklassinus.blogspot.com  (The picture up above is of the one she made…I’m just posting it to show you an example since my camera’s USB cord is missing and I can’t upload any photos!)

Connor’s is a car garage that I painted with roadways and used iron on letters to spell out “Connor’s Cars” on the outside.  Autumn’s is a little girly dollhouse with purple and blue and pink sides and her name ironed on as well.  I also appliqued some little pink flowers and lady bugs and hearts on it.  Aiden’s is a farm, also with his name, and a felt walking trail and lake hand stitched on the inside.    I also made them some bean bags and some collage crayons for their stockings.    

I know it’s silly, but I am LOVING using my sewing machine!  It’s been a long time since I’ve had a hobby.  This week, I made Connor and Autumn homemade super hero capes out of some leftover fabric I had, and they’ve spent lots of time “flying” around the kitchen and living room fighting off bad guys! 

We got our tree up this week.  We finally got a REAL tree this year.  We’ve always had an artifical tree in the past, but since the dog chewed our’s up, rather than replace it, we decided to just get a real one.  Shawn has always wanted a real tree, so we made the deal that if he would get a SMALL tree, I wouldn’t care!  However…apparently we were not clear on the exact definition of SMALL, and now I have a nine foot tall evergreen tree in my living room!