"Little Women" Family: Christmas Eve 2010

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Christmas Eve 2010

On Christmas Eve, we were able to have Grant's sister, Jill, and her family come over and Grant's brother, Brian, and his wife, Shannon stay with us. We had a great time just being together. Some of us enjoyed eating. Some of us enjoyed visiting and laughing. And some of us enjoyed passing the time in other ways. LOL!

Next, we exchanged a few gifts. Also, here is a beautiful picture of Jill's family (Tito, Jill, Alexis, Paige, and Kaiti.)

Also, Grant (and Tito) helped the girls make some cookies for Santa (I love that he isn't too manly to do stuff like this with his girls). They all had a fun time! And got pretty messy!! LOL! Then Jill and Tito and their girls headed home to get ready for Santa to come to their house, and we got ready at our house. So glad they could come spend Christmas Eve with us. :)

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there..." The girls put the cookies and milk out for Santa (and even some carrots for the reindeer. Also pictured- our favorite Nativity set, the Little People Nativity. The girls love playing with it! And I don't have to worry about it. Perfect!) And Sariah wrote a sweet note to leave for him. So adorable!! We were all ready!! :)

My Favorite Part of The Book of Mormon

3 Nephi 17:21-24

"21 And when (Jesus) had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

22 And when he had done this he wept again;

23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.

24 And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them."

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/3_ne/17

To learn more about The Book of Mormon or to get a free copy: http://www.mormon.org/book-of-mormon/

Our homeschool program!!

My style of homeschooling is "public school at home." We began homeschooling on our own, the 1st year. Then we were enrolled in the Washington Virtual Academy (WAVA) for 3 years. Now we are enrolled in ORLA. Our girls are taking several classes at an Elementary School that is no longer used for a typical Elementary School. Instead 450 homeschooling students (K-12) take classes there with certified teachers (you choose which ones and how many) but you do have to be at the school with them until they are 12 (in another room with toys for the younger kids) or sign them out to a friend. Then you fill in the rest at home. For example, my girls take Music, Art, P.E., and Science at the school 2 days a week and then I teach them Math, Language, and History at home, on the other 3 days. The school also pays for an additional $300 a year of curriculum (like the Math, Lang, Hist.) We do have to keep up with a certain number of hours per week. We also have a "home room teacher" that helps us with everything, like deciding what extra things to do at home and making sure we don't miss anything. We are really enjoying this program-- it truly is the best of both worlds! If you have any questions, email me. :)