Curing a germophobe

So most of you that know me, know I'm a little bit of a germophobe. Fear not because 4 kids and doing church by myself (Matt is in the bishopric so he sits up on the stand) are curing me. Today, Tenney kept crawling under the pew in front of us. She would get up from under the pew chewing something. I really was trying to listen to the speaker. "What are you eating?" I whispered. "Gummy bear," she said. "Where are you getting it?" I asked. "There," she pointed to the floor. The cute Hill boys were sitting in the pew in front of us. Their mother had them all lined out with gummy bears and great coloring books and candies. "Okay," I said knowing it was keeping her busy. Hunter then leans over, "Where is she getting that?" "The floor," I said. "Sick!" Hunter said. "That's gross." "Yeah, pretty much," I agreed. Then Tenney stands up with a huge Life Saver. I didn't know they made them that size, about the size of a quarter. "Whoa! She's got a Life Saver," Hunter said. "I'm going down." So now Hunter is under the pew looking for Life Savers to no avail. You snooze, you loose or should I say you're afraid of the floor, you might not get the candy. "Man! She hit the jackpot," he said covetously. Oh, I know what you good mothers are thinking. I know those gummies and Life Savers could have already been sucked on. That's the chance you take for a little peace in church.

School in the winter

Some friends want to know about home schooling. Tenney goes to preschool three mornings a week. It's easier to work with only one child. Parents that homeschool many children have a lot of work.










Hunter reads to me about an hour, maybe an hour and a half everyday. We always begin by reading the scriptures. He's flying through his math. I bought a math series called Singapore Math. It is named that because it is the math students use in Singapore. He doesn't really like writing, but we do 10 spelling words a day, and he usually writes about his reading. He did work on an autobiography of his life, and he is going to send it to his birth mom. He wants her to know (in his own words) "how great I am now. I don't want her to find out when I'm 18."

Home schooling gives incredible opportunities for us to talk, really talk about what's important, what we're interested in. Not that we didn't have those opportunities before, but now it seems we have more of them.

I try to make sure he gets to do things outside. He's in the LASAR program (ski racing) after school.



Hunter grew out of his skates, but need not fear our friends the Alberdi's went to Hawaii for 6 months, so we're borrowing them. I'm practicing ice skating too. I feel like I have PE almost everyday too. I'm a horrible ice skater, really just learning. I had to begin today by pushing a chair around. Pitiful! I even went back to the car to get the helmet because I was afraid I'd break my head open on the ice. Nice image, eh?

Hunter is learning too, but he doesn't have the fear like I do. He just skates into the wall or over to the snow berms and falls. I know home schooling isn't for everyone. It may not even be for us more than this year, but it is truly a year I and I'm pretty sure Hunter will treasure.

Painted Nails

This is Tessa's fault. Tenney probably had her nails painted when she was a few months old. Yesterday, Tenney's friend Taylor was over to play. When I had Hunter check on them, I heard, "Does Mom know you're painting your nails?" We took that polish off and painted both girls nails.

The next day: Tenney's friend Laura is over to play. I hope their moms don't mind a little paint.

So for Christmas I got glasses. Not the reading kind but the I can't see distance very well kind. I was trying to look sexy, but my kids kept jumping in the way. You can't see Hunter, but I'm kicking him out of the picture. I mean literally kicking him.

We did get a serious amount of snow for Christmas. It was fun to have Kelsie & Jeremy home, and we missed our Tessa.

There was amazing sunset this night, but my camera couldn't quite catch it. I love Christmas! I love family!

I know some of you won't like this, but it's our life. My man and our son are hunters. They love it. That is how we got Hunter placed in our home. Hunter's birth father picked our family because Matt hunts. I know it's crazy, but true! We went to California for New Years. Matt grew up in Gridley which is in the path of the Northern Pacific Flyway. You have never seen so many geese and swans (you can't hunt them) and ducks in your life. Hunter went out with his Dad one cold foggy morning and had the time of his life. Goose Hunter. These geese they call Specks. Hunter would say, "Yeah we got four Specks. They are the best eatin'. He was right about that. They were so good!