A Thanksgiving Break

     The boys and I took a 4-day break from school for Thanksgiving, and we really enjoyed our lazy days! I had to fight the temptation to have them work ahead or practice flashcards, but they needed a mental break from school. However...this morning was a ROUGH re-entry. Three more weeks until we finish the first semester! 

    We had to have our Ash tree removed this fall. Most of the Ash trees in our area are diseased and dying. I hated to lose a big tree, but it was time. We were plugging away with school last week when the tree crew returned to take out the huge stump. ZOOM- all 4 boys were glued to the front window. Admittedly, that machine is pretty cool.

    Every now and then, one of the boys has a sudden inspiration for a game or activity, and the four of them race off to accomplish said game. Yesterday, I had 4 SWAT team members stomping through the house. Last week, they were in teams of two creating their own countries. I found this list of rules on one of the country's maps. I didn't really see the last one coming.

      Our Christmas decorations are up! John insists on proudly displaying a singing blue Christmas dinosaur on the mantle. That dinosaur drives me crazy and scares the dog, so it is not getting on this blog. I prefer to go with the Pinterest overload. 

    Lastly, we scored a free ping pong table this weekend! We live right behind our church, and the dumpster is right across from our back gate. On our way back from a walk this weekend, we saw that someone had dumped a ping pong tabletop in the dumpster, and we weren't too proud to haul that out and set it on our sawhorses! A quick trip to Academy, and we had the net and paddles! The boys are a great age for ping pong, and it'll be a fun activity this winter. John has mad woodworking skills, so I showed him a picture of a paddle and ball holder and he whipped up one for us in a day!

    Thanks for reading! Have a happy and blessed Advent!