I am wearing a turtleneck today!

The cold weather finally hit today. Very cold - it is supposed to get into the 20's tonight....brrr!

Beth and Ryan arrived on Monday night. We woke the kids up at 2:15am on Tuesday to see the lunar eclipse. It was worth getting up for. It looked like red cellophane wrap was over the moon. On Tuesday afternoon, after Hunter's tennis lessons, we went swimming - it was 81 degrees. The kids had a great time. Tuesday night Beth and I went to a neighborhood Christmas party. On the 24th we had some neighbor kids over to make cookies and gingerbread Christmas trees. Beth and I did the cooking, the kids played. We went to church that night.

We had a wonderful Christmas and ate way too much. I wasn't that worried because Terry got me a Wii Active for Christmas so I worked it off. After two days of workouts I am VERY sore. My virtual trainer is named Devon - he is very nice.

Today Terry and I put up Hunter's rope swing in the backyard. It was a big hit. Terry has ticks thinking about the patch of dirt that will inevitably appear under the swing. I promised to patch it with sod regularly.Tonight Hunter got to participate in tennis practice at the local high school with some kids from Katy. It was a two hour practice - he should sleep good tonight! I promise to post pictures soon.

Hunter's Piano Recital



The video everyone has been waiting for! Hunter had his piano recital tonight. It was his first piano recital ever - he was a little nervous but did GREAT. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Today we had so much fun at school. We learned about interjections in grammar. This is especially fun for our family because we use interjections A LOT. Interjections are one of two words of strong emotion - examples: Ouch! Rats! Wow! Yikes!   Now when someone in our family runs into something and says Ouch! Hunter starts singing the "Interjection Song" from Schoolhouse Rocks. We are sure to have fun with this. We also learned about conjunctions - not nearly as interesting.

We also discover a wonderful new website.Youtube has so many great educational videos available to view. The only trouble is the advertisements are rather X-rated. Hunter has to close his eyes for almost every page load. However, there is a Youtube for kids called Zuitube. You can find supplement classes on math, grammar, and any other subject you can think of- without the trashy advertisements. They also have "Funniest Videos". We haven't watched that one yet.

Today we also finished up our book on Paul Revere for history and knocked out math, phonics/spelling and science.

Eye Ball Dissection Udate.....Oh what fun!!!

 Hunter had an amazing time dissecting a cow eye at the Health Museum in Houston. We attended the event with our friends Mrs. Kelly and her daughter Katherine. While we were there, we ran into one of Hunter's classmates from last year, Olvice Greenwood.

The woman teaching the class did a great job helping the kids pull out all the different parts of the eye. She spent a lot of time talking about the role of each of the parts.

The most interesting piece of info I learned is that the pupil is not a black circle, but rather a hole in the eye.  The museum also offers a pig dissection, but I am going to skip this for this year - I like bacon too much!! I am working on selecting a 4th grade math program for Hunter. He is not really loving the curriculum we are using right now. We will be ready to move to 4th grade math in the next 2 months. Tomorrow is a grammar test - it might be tough with all of the time we've had off school over the past month - but we are going for it!

Where is my clean laundry?

Every day for several weeks of my vacation I would wake up to find my clean laundry folded outside my bedroom door (compliments of a little elf - Lola Landers). Even after leaving Jon and Lola's house, my mom did laundry for me at my grandma's house. Today I was slapped in the face with the reality of now having to do my own laundry. I opened my bedroom door this morning and NOTHING! No clothes - they were all still sitting in the laundry room.

We arrived back home last night - today we spent settling in - but before I get too far ahead of myself.............

First, Hunter had no fun at Kalahari as evidenced by the below photo. His favorite ride was the Toilet Bowl. He let us know that he was not happy when one of the lifeguards asked him if he could swim before he went down - he was so offended.



Steve is not standing on a stool - he is this tall!



After the fun of Kalahari, we headed to Sheboygan Falls, WI to see Hunter's GREAT Grandma and Grandpa. We also were able to catch a couple of my brother's basketball games at St. Norbert's College in De Pere, WI. My brother Steve is now a senior - where did the time go? He treated us to TWO slam dunks during his first game - very nice!

We got to see a lot family even though we did not get to spend as much time with them as we would have liked. Picture below: First row (left to right): My brother Jack, cousin Aiden, my Mom.  Second row: Hunter, Steve, Grandma Shank, my Dad. Third row: me, my Aunt Kathy. Last row: Uncle Kevin and Aunt Laura.

We originally planned on taking three days to get home, but by the grace of God we made it in two days. Hunter ended up running a fever for the trip home but seems to be on the mend now. Today we knocked out some math, history and spelling. Tomorrow we head to the Health Museum to dissect an eye - not our own. LOL - a little science humor.

Fun...Fun...Fun

We have been having such a good time visiting family that it has been hard to find time to update everyone on our trip. On Terry's last day in Indy, we went to the Titanic exhibit with Uncle Jonathan. It was really a nice exhibit and we enjoyed it. When you enter the exhibit you are given a boarding pass from a real passenger of the Titanic. It tells what cabin class you were in and some background info. At the end of the exhibit, you can see if your passenger survived or not. Terry and I both survived. Hunter and Uncle Jonathan did not make it. I told Hunter I am sure they died trying to help women and children off the ship.

Hunter and I knocked out some school on the way up to Wisconsin to see his Great Grandma VandeBerg. Oddly enough, we were doing his Excellence in Writing class on the DVD player in the car while driving through Chicago. His class actually takes place in Chicago so there are several references to Chicago by the professor teaching the class. He got a kick out of the fact that we were in Chicago while the professor was talking about Chicago.

This was the first time in years we have been able to spend that night at Grandma VandeBerg's house - typically we just stop by for the day. Hunter was so excited to have time to play with his cousins. He had an amazing time running around with the kids. Can't forget to mention that my Aunt Diane was able to get me a package of the most delicious venison sticks I've ever had....mmmmmm. Grandma sent me on my way with three loaves of Amish bread....yummy!! We woke up Wednesday to an answered prayer - SNOW!!  Hunter just wanted to see snow while we were in WI. There was just enough snow to have a fun time. It is supposed to snow again on Friday and Sat. - several inches. We start heading back to Texas on Sun. morning so I am hoping it is nothing major.

Hunter with Addie and Lettie



Hunter and Ryan Robert playing in the snow.



Hunter playing with Emma, Ryan and Addie

Yesterday we arrived at the Kalahari water park (indoors) in Wisconsin Dells for a little fun with my mom and Jack, my brother. Jack and Hunter especially liked the toilet bowl and the Kalahari Surfari - it is a ride that is just like surfing. Hunter took a bad spill and is still limping today. He had so much fun. We practically have the entire water park to ourselves since it is off-season. Off to the water park for another day of fun!