Sledding!

A pair of Christmas concerts

Mouse and Alleluia Boy both had Christmas concerts . . . we're working on finding video of Alex's concert:

A Gracewatch Christmas morning

Decorating the tree on Christmas Eve.

Waiting to go downstairs.

Opening presents.

Jingle bells!

An infinity scarf!

Playing Uno!

Ah, fall!

Playing in the leaves.

Saying goodbye to the old car.

The ham-iest kid of the bunch.

At Flippin' for Books!

Mouse made this apple pie herself, from scratch -- four hours!

Having lunch at school with Jubilee. Note the glass!

The kids were proud of this giant leaf pile.

Alleluia Boy celebrates four years! "Oh my GOSH! That's CRAZY!"

Well, Alleluia Boy had a fun-filled weekend of birthday celebrations. One of the highlights was going through old pictures and videos with him on the computer -- a source of constant fascination for all the kids. Today he said, very seriously, "You know, my NEXT birthday is coming right up, so we better get ready!" Playing along, I answered, "Yep...it's only ONE YEAR AWAY!" To which he put a hand to his forehead (in classic AB style) and exclaimed, "Oh my GOSH!"

As he was falling asleep, he was asking whether he would have another birthday in two years (yes), four years (yes), ten years (yes). I told him he'd be fourteen years old in ten years -- as big as his oldest brother. "Wow, that's a LOT," he said, and then promptly conked out for the night.

Here's a video that Bear took of the Music Man learning to pour water (Bear has a new camera):

Maria cooking apple pork chops

One of our chores around here is called "Kitchen Helper." Depending on how crazy the day is, that role may be pretty limited, or on a good day, it might mean taking the lead on cooking. Our goal here is to train our children to cook so that in our old age they will cook a gourmet meal for us every week. Of course, by then all our teeth will have fallen out, and we won't be able to taste anything . . . but at least we won't be doing the cooking.

Here's a longish video of how it went with Mouse making a nice apple pork chop recipe: