Wednesday, December 31, 2014

2014 in 12 Photos

To whoever is browsing blogs in their pajamas at 10pm on New Year's Eve - here ya go.  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  You are my people :)  Linking up with Dwija for 2014 in 12 easy glam shots!

(As usual, the vast majority of these photos were taken by my lovely sister!)



January - We spent some time at my parents house right around New Years and the kids got to enjoy an upstate NY winter :)

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

The Christmas Smackdown

I've been going through a lot of photos this week trying to pick some pictures for Dwija's 12 in 2014 link up, and in the process stumbled across some gems from Christmas pasts and started to realize how much progress we've made in the Christmas celebration department.  I figured the only way to know for sure was to do a thorough evaluation of the past few Christmases and see where we stood...so without further ado, I present: THE CHRISTMAS SMACKDOWN.


The Christmas Tree


2012 - Emeric was a new baby, and the girls were 2 and 3.  We decorated the tree, only to find it was routinely knocked over - sometimes several times a day.  We decided to remove all of the real ornaments and let the girls stick a few of their foam wreaths on the top.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Christmas Morning

Meeeerry Christmas!!  I hope you all are enjoying a very blessed Christmas season.  My heart and prayers are with all of you who are carrying very heavy burdens this year.

Our Christmas season hasn't been exactly like I planned - there were no Christmas cards mailed, our $1 felt stockings from Target didn't get any embellishing or name tags of any sort, we have yet to make/decorate any sort of cut out cookies or go drive to see Christmas lights.  On Christmas Eve I spent 3 hours in Target trying to get treatment for a sinus infection.  On Christmas day, Clare randomly started throwing up and Emeric decided he wanted to start potty training ASAP.  



Thursday, December 18, 2014

It Took A War - A Study Guide and a Giveaway!

You guys...my little sister WROTE A BOOK!!  She is amazing.  I really wish I were good at writing book reviews, but...I'm not.  So here's the official book summary:


by Emily Ann Putzke



1861 - Sixteen year old Joe Roberts leads a mundane life as far as he’s concerned. His world spins in the same circle each day: working at his family’s store, taking his sisters on boyish escapades and bickering with his rogue of a cousin, Lucas. Joe can’t understand why his mother allows Lucas to live and work with them after all the pain he caused their family. When war is declared, Joe is quick to join up and become a soldier with the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteers, but war is nothing like he imagined. To make matters worse, he must endure having Lucas in the same regiment. Can Joe put the pain of the past behind him? Forgiveness is easier said than done.


You can purchase It Took a War through:



Wednesday, December 17, 2014

December Favorites: Lots of Gold and Sparkles

Linking up with Jenna today with my December favorites!


- 1 -

This candle is AHHHMAZING.  Since Stephen and pine don't mix, we have an artificial tree - but I desperately miss that fresh tree scent.  This candle NAILS IT.





And it's sparkly.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

7 Quick Weekend Takes: Excuses, Excuses

Linking up with KELLY (?!?!) for Seven Quick Takes, subtitled: Excuses for falling back into my pattern of being a lame blogger. (And sub-subtitled: In which I inexplicably capitalize many words because I'm feeling sassy.  Or something)


- 1 -
Stomach bug from Hades.  Enough said.  Remind me never to complain about washing pee sheets again.

(No photo for this one.  You're welcome.)

- 2 -
In Maryland, we are required to do TWO homeschool reviews with the county per year (unless you are part of an umbrella group or something, which I would have joined had I been a little more on the ball/forward thinking...) and we had our first review in November.  And I basically walked in circles all week and bit my nails into oblivion thinking they were going to tell me I was doing EVERYTHING ALL WRONG WRONG WRONG!  And then I went to it and it only took like 8.5 minutes and they gave me a little gold star and told me to come back in the Spring.  Yay.

A regular homeschool day with Apple Jack as my assistant professor.