Chatty post at midnight

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd stop by to catch up a bit.  What's the family been up to?  Let's see.....

Torsten is still working at Simplot once a week on vet check day.  He follows the vet around, sorting and marking cows.  He comes home smelling pretty potent because he is usually standing at the hind end of the cow.  One day I smelled him through the kitchen window before he even got in the house.  That particular day I realized he had manure splatters clear up to his neck!  This is his first "real" job and part of his paycheck is being matched by the company and going into a 401K account.  Nice that he can start young since Social Security will probably not be around when he's old! Torsten will be the first to admit that this job is not endearing him to cows but I keep telling him what a great experience this is.  :-)  Isn't that what mothers are for?  To remind their kids that what they perceive to be a horrible drudgery is actually a "great learning experience". This semester Torsten is taking a dual credit history class and an online science class  and he just finished designing the promotional posters for the homeschool bell choir's Christmas concert.  He's done this for a couple years now and they look professionally done as always.   (have I mentioned that the Republican party in Twin Falls had him design the t-shirts for the state convention this May?  Torsten, Hailey and Taylor were pages at the convention.....)

Hailey is currently taking an online Spanish class and doing awesome.  (she has a 99%) Her teacher told me that some of the Hispanic students in the school, who are also taking that class, have said they are amazed at her and that she makes them sick.  In fact, one Mexican boy asked Hailey in math class if she is part Spanish because her accent is so good.  We had a good laugh at that one. (If you're familiar with what Hailey looks like you would know that's a strange question! :-)  I'm sorry the Hispanic kids are sick but proud she is doing well.  Hailey is currently in the middle of basketball season.  She enjoyed volleyball so she figured she may as well try out basketball.  Our family is not very sports oriented so this is her first exposure to either sport.  Athletics can be enjoyable and great exercise but our family agrees that it's not fun when people take it too seriously.  We take academics and music serious.......but sports?  No.  Maybe if we were any good at sports we'd be serious about them! ha ha

The last 2 days were very fun, but busy days for me.   I'm teaching art to the 3rd and 5th grade classes a couple times a month. (Reagan and Heidi's class)  Yesterday, I taught Heidi's class how to make snowflakes and it was really rewarding.  Many of the kids had never done it before and they were so excited to open up the snowflake and see the patterns they'd created!  Then today was Activity Days and we did stained glass/painted cookies, homemade gift tags, and a 12 days of Christmas countdown project. I usually have from 12 to 16 girls attend.  I love them!  Afterwards, the whole family went to the boys and girls basketball game at the high school.  Lately I've been going to the chiropractor in Mountain Home and he's been able to help me keep my back problems under control.  What a blessing.

Whoops, this is turning into a seriously wordy Christmas newsletter!!!  Which reminds me-- I SHOULD be composing a Christmas letter, so I can get cards mailed out, so that friends will know our new address! But instead I am typing on my neglected blog at 1 in the morning because I couldn't sleep.  When I can't sleep, I get hungry and then I have to get up and eat.  I got up and made a wonderful salad complete with pomegranate seeds and sliced mushrooms.  Yummy, but after making and eating that salad I was completely wide awake.  So here I am, but I should be in bed.  I will try to finish this post sooner than later and in the interim I can ask the boys where the heck we have now put the pictures so I can make this a little more interesting to look at.  We just changed our computer's hard drive and updated to Windows 8 and it's frustrating me beyond belief.  I was not made for the technological life!!  I just can't keep up with the changes.  The fact that I even figured out how to blog is due only to my patient sister who taught me how.   Good night for now-- hopefully I can fall asleep before I get hungry again!