Assembly 2013
with Katie Windham
Friday, December 27, 2013
Sunday, December 22, 2013
My Sister in Christ
John Mark had the privilege to baptize Lyndsey today at Gateway Baptist Church.
There is no greater JOY than seeing your children come to KNOW Christ.
We are so proud of you, Lyndsey. We cannot wait to see the plans God has for your life with Him.
Lyndsey accepted Christ during VBS at Gateway on July 12, 2013. She has waited many months to be baptized by her Dad, and it was hard many months seeing baptisms happen in the church but we were unable to make Dad's schedule work! Today was her special day to share with our church family her decision!
Friday, December 20, 2013
December Fun School
OK, we truly do have many learning things going on this month while we are having fun! The girls have put in extra practice time at the piano. Quite honestly, they have probably logged more hours this month than all of July-November! They have also logged quite a few hours on Reading Eggs (Lyndsey) and AlwaysIceCream (Lauren) which are educational learning and review games. They have also had to take math 100 fact (La multi and Ly add) timed test daily. We have done a few science experiments, gymnastics classes, choir classes, tennis lessons and swim practices. They doubled up on AWANAS scripture memory a few weeks. Lyndsey completed her review book for year 2 of Sparks. So for all of those moms who have looked at me like I was committing some kind of sin by NOT teaching my students this month, they really have been busy learning!
One of our December Fun School projects was reading the Addy series. We just completed our history unit on the Civil War. The American Girl Addy is from the Civil War time frame. Addy and her family were slaves who escaped to freedom in Philadelphia.
As of December 18th, the girls have finished all 6 books. Lauren is working on her storyboard for the Book Fair in January. Lyndsey is starting to read Charlotte's Web for her book fair project. We do have to pick up the pace if we are going to finish it!!! (Update 1/1/2014 -- We are not even close to completing Charlotte's Web and have decided to go for the stack of Amelia Bedelia books she has been wanting to read!)
As for our Advent book basket, each weekday the girls unwrap a storybook. I read the book to them and then we do a craft. Most of these are targeted at Colleen, but we all enjoy simple fun!
::December 2::
The Gingerbread Man
We made Gingerbread play dough. It smelled up the whole house with yumminess. This activity was a huge success. The girls have enjoyed playing with it for weeks!
Lauren has become quite the sculptor (art class 101)!
::December 3::
Who is coming to our house?
Ok. I had a star craft planned, but hair cuts and a few other things ate up too much time today. Thats ok! Lauren did practice "giving to others"! She cut of 8 inches for Locks of Love.
::December 4::
The Legend of the Candy Cane
We enjoyed candy canes and made candy canes. We also tried a recipe for peppermint play dough which did not set. Oh well!
::December 5::
The Candle in the Window
Guess what! Not all the planned activities where elaborate! Today, we just placed our candles in the upstairs windows. Simple.
::December 6::
Rosie Revere Engineer
Not every book was Christmas! I think we also read Legend of a Christmas Tree today, but we did not do an activity with it! For Rosie Revere Engineer, we tried a little engineering with wine gels (kind of like ??? minus the sugar coating) and tooth picks. This was another huge success which entertained for days!
::December 9::
Good King Wenceslas
Oh, this was a fun day! The book came with a DVD narrated by Jane Seymour with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was beautiful! We created stain-glass ornaments after we watched the DVD.
::December 10::
Rudloph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
We had reindeer noses for treats today. Then we made reindeers using our hands and feet.
::December 13::
The Nutcracker
This was a no brainer for activities! Tickets to see The Nutcracker with our homeschool group. Daddy even took the girls which sweetened the day!!!
::December 16::
The Littlest Angel
::December 17::
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
We watched the movie based on this book for Family Night tonight. Great movie!
::December 18::
The Legend of St. Nicholas
::December 19::
Homeschool Group Christmas Party
The Christmas Orange
We watched the movie The Christmas Orange. My girls were completely captivated by the girls living in the home waiting for their orange for Christmas. They have been asking to watch it again!
We have had a great month of fun. It has made Christmas so much more relaxing than last year. We will definitely be marking off the month of December again!
Other December Events
Just a few more things that we have done this month!
December 4th
She has a new reason to smile…no more braces!!!
December 6th
Granddad and Noni stopped by to pick up 3 girls to go see cousin Jenson in The Nutcracker in Dothan.
December 7th
I ran my second 5K for this year at the Jingle Bell Run. It was a great run and the 5K part is getting easier--not fun, but easier!
December 10th
Polar Express at Chick-fil-A
JM took the 3 younger girls to Polar Express night for a fun evening date! Colleen was so excited to see her name on the "Nice" list!
December 16th
I told Lauren and Lyndsey that I would drop them off for mani-pedis while I ran a few fast errands this morning. Colleen got in the car with flip-flops on prepared to join the girls at the nail salon. When she did not get unbuckled to get out of the car, she had a melt down. I agreed to take her after we finished our errands. She was one happy girl! I really never thought she would sit still long enough for a mani-pedi, but she proved me WRONG! 45 minutes she sat!
Lauren has been creating with the rainbow bands for months now. I finally got her an actual rainbow loom. She has been watching you-tube how-to videos, and she is creating some really neat items. Apparently, her friends think the items are nice because she has created a little business of selling them to her friends!
December 18th
Just 2 girls taking selfies!
Visitors from the North Pole
Santa sent 2 elves this year to watch over the kids in the Vermillion house. They haven't caused too many messes around, and the girls have enjoyed looking for them each morning!
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Girls Craft Weekend
It's the most wonderful time of the year…with marshmallows dipping and chocolate melting and the smell of candy in the air! I love to create with food. I especially love sweet and salty and chocolate and ideas from Pinterest!! The boys were gone to Louisville this weekend to a tennis tournament, and the girls and I had a great time being creative!
Oh what fun…it is to make…
ModPodge Ornaments
Stovetop Christmas Potpourri for the neighbors and friends
Reindeer candies for the youth Christmas party on Sunday...
A batch of our favorite cookies...
Gifts for her teachers…
Santa's elves were busy this weekend...
On Sunday late afternoon, the girls walked around our neighborhood to give out gifts...
Advent Devotions 2013
This is our second year to "celebrate" the advent season in our home. It was not something that JM or I ever really did as children, so we never thought we were neglecting anything. Last year I stumbled across The Jesse Tree devotional series as I was reading a few homeschool blogs. We read the book of devotionals last year which recount the story of Jesus from Creation to Birth. We absolutely loved sitting down as a family for this devotional time...something we should be doing as a family all year long.
I ordered Jotham's Journey for us to use as our devotional guide this Advent season. It was a blessing to our family!
Jotham's Journey is the story of a boy who lives in the Holy Land around the time that Jesus is born. He experiences some really exciting, even scary, circumstances as it leads up to the birth of Christ. We were all enraptured by the story each night. It left us hanging each evening which brought us back the next night for more!
The book is arranged for a chapter to be read each night starting a few weeks before Christmas. The author even includes a page n the back where you can look up to see what day you need to start the reading, all the way to the year 2078! It begins with an explanation of Advent and different customs surrounding it.
Each night's reading also ends with a Scripture and a short devotional/questions to ask and ponder.
I have already order the rest of the trilogy, Tabitha's Travels and Bartholomew's Passage, to use in the next few years!
I think this was the first time we have ever had Advent candles in our house also. The kids enjoyed taking turns lighting the candles (and blowing them out)! We will definitely be doing all of this again!
One night we added our new initial Christmas ornaments to the tree during devotional time. I love how devotions bring us all to the same room for something other than food and TV!!
Friday, December 13, 2013
B is for the Battle Cry - The Civil War
Our next history unit was The Civil War. We completed our Time Travelers unit on the Civil War just before Christmas. We are enjoying studying American History with Homeschool in the Woods' Time Travelers Series. We read from their lessons, and we supplement with a variety of books! The Time Travelers Series comes with all the projects to complete the lap book at the end of the unit. We love doing the daily projects because in reinforces the material, and it helps the girls really understand what is going on during this period of time. At the end of the unit, the girls each have a beautiful lap book to review the history material.
B is for Battle Cry: A Civil War Alphabet
Cassie's Sweet Berry Pie
If you Lived When There Was Slavery in America
If you Traveled on the underground Railroad
If you Lived at the Time of the Civil War
A Picture Book of Robert E. Lee
Escape North! The Story of Harriet Tubman
The Drinking Gourd
Helen Keller Courage in the Dark
Abe Lincoln
You Wouldn't Want to be a Civil War Soldier!
Yankee Blue or Rebel Gray? The Civil War Adventures of Sam Shaw
The Red Badge of Courage
The Yankee at the Seder
The Last Brother - A Civil War Tale
Seeing The Elephant- A Story of the Civil War
Additional Movies
The Miracle Worker
Learn Our History - American's Founders and Fighters Civil Rights
Learn Our History - The Civil War: A Nation Divided
Learn Our History - The Civil War: Brother Against Brother
Learn Our History - The Civil War: Freedom and Sacrifice
Additional Games and Resources:
Professor Noggin's Civil War Card Game
Scramble Squares Civil War
Flags of the Confederacy
Spotlight on America - Civil War (Teacher Created Resources)
Learn As You Go Civil War Coloring and Activity Book
Thursday, December 5, 2013
ECS Basketball
Corynne played on the Eastwood JV basketball team this year. She had a good season and so did the team. This was a new year for the 8th grease girls. Only a few had even seen any court time last year, so this was truly a NEW team with a new coach. The girls played well together, and became known for their 4th quarter SPARK. Seemed like they finally put every thing together by the 4th quarter but it was seldom enough at that point. They played hard and tough despite their losses, and they were a joy to watch each week.
Way to go #25! We are proud of you!!!
Sunday, December 1, 2013
It's Christmas Time Breakfast
I worked very hard on Saturday to get the Christmas decorations up. I knew I needed the breakfast room ready for our biennial "It's Christmas Time Breakfast"! Yes, biennial! Why? Well, our elves only come every other year, and we welcome them at our "It's Christmas Time Breakfast". Yep, I cannot handle elf fun EVERY year, so my poor kids are elf deprived every other year! It is ok. They really lose interest after the 1st week (and so do I), so it works for our family!
I really try to have fun on this special breakfast morning! Northpole cupcakes, snow covered doughnuts, peppermint hot chocolate, bagels & cream cheese, granola & yogurt parfaits, and real bacon (to satisfy to oldest child)! I am sure glad it is Sunday and we are off to church! Sorry, Sunday school teachers for the sugar high!!
After church, Tyler helped me put out the yard decorations and hang the window wreaths and garland. JM made it home from work to help us decorated the breakfast room tree. It is full of the ornaments we have been given over the years or the kids have made. The kids love to find their ornaments in the boxes and hang them.
The tree is actually decorated pretty evenly now that I have kids of all heights!
The tallest of them all decorated the star! Let it be noted that I really don't like it, but it is not worth the effort to get it down!!! Therefore, we have an Auburn Star on top of the tree!
I hauled our big, formal, 6-year-old-pre-lit tree to the curb last year after battling the lights for the entire month! When half of the lights did not work on Christmas morning, I said get it out of here! We decided to give the real tree thing a shot this year. We have not had a real tree since 2003 in Baltimore when we went out and cut down our little tree. In my mind that was the plan for this year, but our busy life with teenagers got in the way. I gave up and called my friend whose husband owns one of the tree lots in town. He picked it out, delivered it and set it up for me! That is what friends are for!!!!!
I LOVE IT! It has not bothered my allergies, it looks beautiful, and it is not losing needles! It is perfect! We will definitely keep buying a real tree for the front room! Maybe next year we will even go cut our own tree!
A Few of My Favorite Christmas Things
#1 Simply wrapped packages under the tree.
#2 Santa praying over baby Jesus.
#3 Stocking hung on the mantel over a FIRE.
Merry Christmas to JM & me!
#4 Nativity Scenes…I just love them.
This one was given to us from JM's Dad. It was JM grandparents, the Vermillions, nativity. His granddad made the stable, and the figurines are all hand painted.
#5 Nativity Scenes...
Yes, I have many of them up this time of year. This Willow Tree was my FIRST nativity scene. I wished and dreamed for this collection for years! I sent JM many hints over the years! He finally got it for me, and I love it so much that I leave it up YEAR AROUND.
#6 My festive, Santa adorned, breakfast room.
This room is just about the sparkle and fun of Christmas time. I love to share meals in this room with my sweet family.
#7 Stockings
The stockings on our chairs are from JM's other grandparents, The Treadwells. They hung stockings in their house for each of their 3 kids & spouses, 8 grandkids & spouses, and numerous great-grandkids. A few years ago, they gave each family their stockings as a Christmas gift. Each stocking is different. The grandkid stockings were each handmade the year they were born.
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