The Girl has been reading more independently these past few days. She's working hard to finish up her current Spanish books so that she can move into Bi-School (adding English). We go slowly with Latin and Greek at this point, just vocabulary development, but English will be pretty intensive for her within the next few months. She has a very good attitude in school, which makes it easier considering the work load that's headed her way.
The boys gave their last Christmas performance Tuesday morning at the Senior Center here in Bainbridge. After 6 performances, they're glad to be finished for the year. Now, to start planning next year...
Algebra class was pretty fun this week. Miss Beth had each child figure out where he would be on a graph if he were a particular coordinate. Meanwhile, the moms were in the house planning a surprise party for the teacher, which went over well. The kids were excited about all of the "party" foods. We're finished with Algebra until January. We will try to do a bit of review on our own just to keep the information fresh.
Here's a photo of the Algebra class (plus a few "Littles" who joined us for the snacks).
We also had a small party Thursday for the boys' guitar teacher. The "extra" boy in front of Stennes also takes guitar here at the house. And ChubChub? He thinks he's a student, too, since Mr. "Ow" (Joao is his name) always speaks to him.
The Girl detail cleaned Mean Ol' Mama's dishwasher. Isn't it nice to have children who are work so diligently? Are they always this sweet? Mostly yes, but we all have our "moments".
Mean Ol' Mama gave ChubChub a plastic nativity scene that she purchased for a whole 10 cents many years ago. He's absolutely fascinated with it, especially with Baby Jesus. He can't figure out, though, why Jesus is lying there because he thought that HE was in our hearts. Perhaps that's why we should all have the faith of a child.
The three older boys had their annual Christmas concert in Tallahassee with the Homeschool Band. They did a great job. The photo below shows Stennes way in the background finishing up his jazzy solo piece on trombone. Mean Ol' Mama was unaware that he had a solo coming up, so the photo isn't the greatest. He did a fabulous job, though.
This was the first concert for Anders. He's a year younger than Band requirements, but they let him in based on his brothers' good reputation. He enjoys playing trumpet but really needs to practice more (hint, hint...).
We had a friend take a family photo since we were all dressed up. They sure are growing quickly, aren't they?
We enjoyed lunch with them: venison with collards and green curry, rice, and fish filets. It was all delicious, and Mean Ol' Mama enjoyed discussing food, gardening, and other topics with the mother (she's originally from Cambodia).
Wednesday evening we joined Mean Ol' Mama's extended family for an exorbitant quantity of food and fun. ChubChub was so excited to receive a gift. What could it be?
Watch out, law-breakers! "Quick Draw" ChubChub is back in town!
Poppins helped set out gifts at our house early Christmas morning before the kids awakened. The Girl was thrilled to find a stroller that she had previously seen at a thrift store. Mean Ol' Mama was pretty sneaky to buy it while The Girl was with her, and she was none the wiser.
They were all happy with their little collection of gifts. We don't often give new items; the kids have such eclectic tastes that yard sales and thrift stores hold plenty of excitement for us.
Branch received a tiny pot with tomato seeds for sprouting, and Poppins was quick to help him get it started. Can't get that farmer blood out of his veins...
A joker's cap for a little jokester...quite appropriate...
After a week of visiting with family, we took off on our own to the beach. Stennes wanted to show a tiny fiddler crab that he picked up.
The Girl wasn't quite as brave, but she held onto a female crab by a little flower.
She and ChubChub dabbled in the sand for a bit while Mean Ol' Mama dabbled in being dazzled...by the sparkling sun, cool breeze, and peaceful quiet of it all.
Look! The kids captured a small puffer fish. He blew himself up in righteous indignation, but we weren't frightened a bit. Poor little guy; all that show for nothing. Kind of makes you think about those overwhelming problems and fears for the future, doesn't it? It may look mighty grim, but it may also be just a bit of hot air. God cares for us in His hands as tenderly as Stennes holds that poor, overwhelmed puffer.
What a picture! Anders quickly races back to his fishing pole while a sail boat passes by. It truly was a gorgeous day.
Branch was quite excited to find a perfect, tiny shell containing a perfect, tiny crab. Isn't his expression worth all of the sand and dirty towels waiting to be washed? These days pass so quickly...[sigh...].
Josiah netted diligently but with no success. Nevertheless, his patience and growing skill makes Mean Ol' Mama surer in her heart that he will be just as diligent in fishing for men.
What a curious little shell that Stennes found! We decided that it resembled a small fish, even down to the little eye-shaped growth.
Doesn't she grow sweeter every day? Mean Ol' Mama stood under the tree and serenaded her with the song about Zaccheus while she giggled.
After no fish were caught at the beach, we loaded everything in the van and head to St Marks Refuge to try our hand at catching large crabs and anything else that was willing to bite. We had the whole dock to ourselves and enjoyed just being together in the sunshine. It's hard to imagine that it's the week of Christmas with the weather so mild. 
The Girl tried her hand at netting little fish for bait, but fishing doesn't really interest her enough to keep trying.
On the way home, the boys begged to stop and take a photo of a monster truck we spotted on the way. Wow!
Branch really seems tiny by such a huge machine. We're just thankful that we don't have to buy the gas...
We arrived home after a very fun, enjoyable, refreshing day together to find a Christmas package from Grandpa and Grandma! It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.
