Five for Friday--Education Edition

Finals
 Four of our nine children have been working on finals this last week and for the week after Christmas.  For me, it is fun to have a different schedule than the rest of the semester.  I like having time to study for the exams to evaluate how much I have integrated the information.  I am not sure if the boys like it or not.  I know they are all relieved when the exams are over.  Scuff and Sport are finished.  Slim has another week of finals and Speedy has his first one today and the rest of them after the Christmas break.

So Sport just told me that homework is "killing us."  "You know how?" he says.  "Homework uses paper, which to make kills trees, and trees provide oxygen for us.  If the oxygen is gone, we will die.  So by doing homework, it is killing us."

The kids have been doing a lot of papers and projects....by kids, I am mostly referring to Speedy and Sport, as I don't have any idea what Slim and Scuff have been up to at their various colleges.

Homecomings

Last Christmas

Scuff arrives home tomorrow from his first semester at college.  He has been gone for six months.  I am curious as to how the baby will react to him.  They had a special relationship and I am anxious to see the baby remember his special brother.  I wasn't sure he would, but Slim left in August and when we SKYPE with him or when the baby hears his voice, he gets very excited and I can see that he remembers his brother.  So, anyway, I am very excited to see how it goes.

Slim comes home the following weekend and I think grandparents are arriving a few days after Slim.  Both brothers have made food requests for their stay at home.  It will be the first time Slim has been home for Christmas in three years!  I am sure we won't have him home for much longer.  Being a returned missionary, it will be time for him to find his special someone and settle down to start their own traditions.  I am looking forward to it and a little sad at the same time.  My sweetheart keeps reminding me this is the reason we raise them, so they can establish their own eternal families.  While I am excited for them, I am a little sad their seasons with exclusively me are coming to a close.  This will probably be the last Christmas we have before we begin to add girlfriends/spouses to our holiday celebrations.

Tammy is coming home too!!!  Tammers is an honorary family member.  She is Spanky's age and has pretty much been a member of the family since she was about 11.  Both of her parents are deceased and we love her like she is our own.  We are so excited to have her home, as well!!

Family Time and Traditions
So with all of these people coming home, we will be celebrating Smiley's 8th birthday and baptism.  Scuff will be ordained an Elder and we will just enjoy the holidays and share a few family traditions.  I mentioned last week that we will be having birthday cake on Christmas day to remember the birth of our Savior.  We will also be celebrating Slim's birthday.  On your birthday at our house, you receive your gifts first thing in the morning, no waiting!  We sing and open presents and have family prayer and then head out to our various activities.  The birthday person chooses the evening meal and then they choose if they are going to have cake or a different dessert  or if they would rather have donuts in the morning.  It is a big day here.  I LOVE birthdays because I kind of feel like it is my day too.  It was definitely a day to celebrate----the arrival of a fresh, new spirit directly from heaven!  (And I worked hard that day..........so I think I should be recognized also!)

photo credit: na.wwrd.com

For Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, we set a formal table, with all the silverware and everything.  That way, at least three times a year our children have an experience and opportunity to practice their formal manners.  When I was in high school, prom was my first experience with eating at a formal table.  I had no idea which silverware to use or the rules of etiquette or anything else.  It was neat to be all dressed up, but I felt kind of dumb for not knowing how to behave.  I wanted our children to have some practice with that, so we go all out with salad plates and even dessert utensils.  It is more work, but the children look forward to it every year.  They are excited that they get to eat on the China and use the crystal.

 Illnesses
So my little princess has been sick all week.  It started out as a cough, then achy-ness, now a runny nose.  The baby is starting to show signs now too.  So I am feeding everyone sprouted wheat and barley water.  Maybe we will kick it before our company shows up.  But it won't be gone by tomorrow........sorry Scuff.

Down for three......I got a phone call from Smiley's school.  Please pick him up, he is sick too.

Connecticut
As I was typing up this blog this morning, the news of the Connecticut elementary school shooting was coming across the airwaves.  My heart and prayers go out to the families of that tragedy.  I am so saddened by the random acts of violence which occur in our society and world.  It breaks my heart that it occurred at all, but it is more upsetting to me that it happened at an elementary school.  That age group is so innocent.

I really don't know what else to say.  I will keep them in my prayers.