December Doings

It's that month again! The Advent-ure month....when you add the holidaze doings to your usual controlled chaos! That's how it seems even when i do my best to plan, structure, limit. It didn't help that in addition to the Twirly-Whirly being part of a 4-day concert series (of which she only performed in 3 of the 4 because one of the days we also had soccer awards banquet and two birthday parties!) I and my 17yo got a case of food-poisoning from a shared burger. blech. (oh yeah...almost forgot we finally had our first trip as a family to Journey to Bethlehem, the living history event our own church puts on. They loved turning the grindstone!)

There are still events to attend, but at least as we're not performing in them it's a bit less stressful/demanding. Our church is doing a Winter Wonderland this coming Saturday. Sunday will see a Violin Holiday Potluck Party (have to make a casserole) followed by a GEMS Ice Skating Party. 

The next two weeks are winter break (includes a recycled gift exchange party!), but we still have a few things to cover today and tomorrow, namely the letter J and Friday Fun at Madrona Marsh about clouds. She did some copywork today by creating some Christmas and birthday cards for some friends. I love that homeschooling means such flexibility.

However, homeschooling does come with its disappointments, too. We had the news yesterday that TUSD is cracking down on its volunteer regs. After 3 years of having paperwork properly submitted and TB test taken etc, Twirly is no longer allowed to help out in her brother's classroom even if the teacher is cool with it. I understand...seeing one child coming along with her mom to help out in a sib's class triggers other moms to bring multiple younger children along and then there's no helping getting done...just crowd control. 

Still....it's a total bummer...it means I can't help either as we come as a pair. And it means missing out on what Best Ever gets up to (it's a new nickname around here for him...long story)...it's fun watching him. I am sorry her community service activities will not include her brother. Sigh. We'll just to look for other opps. That's all we can do thus far.