Snowflake poetry

I wanted to share Torsten's winter acrostic poem with you. His original version was done with his artistic knack for lettering- but this typed version will have to do.

Snow
November, past
O, beautiful
White blanket
First Christmas
Lake, frozen
Always giving
Kris Kringle
Eager for Christmas Eve

Tramping through the woods......

We decided to give the fake tree a break this year and get the "real" thing! The day after Thanksgiving, with a 5 dollar permit in hand, we drove up to the South Hills to hike around in the snowy woods for a few hours in pursuit of the perfect tree. Hot chocolate, fresh mountain air, and sledding until dark: it all added up to a great family day for 5 dollars and gas money. I hope to make a tradition of it!

Thankful for cheap heat

What were the menfolk doing while the turkey cooked on Thanksgiving day? Getting the wood pile replenished and ready for the winter ahead and destroying the log splitter in the process..... :-)

Cousins!

My brother Tad and his wife had their 3rd baby in November, only a month after Leif was born, and we got our first chance to see him over Thanksgiving. Dallin is so beautiful! How fun will that be to have a cousin so close in age!

A great music resource

Our sweet piano teacher gave us a big stack of Clavier's Piano Explorer to take home- some dating all the way back to 2003. What a goldmine! These short music magazines for kids are filled with interesting articles on composers, fun puzzles and quizzes, and great practice tips and ideas for improving piano technique. Every issue also includes amazing student composed piano pieces. The composer bio's would be a helpful addition to any music appreciation unit. I am thoroughly enjoying going through these and plan to incorporate them into our homeschool studies this year.

Busy

Life has been crazy wonderful lately.

The last 7 days included:
6 week up check up for baby and me. (Leif's 10lb.s 9 oz.! I won't tell you my weight.)
Sonatina festival.
Sonatina recital. (Taylor won 1st place for his division and Torsten received honorable mention- good job boys!!)
Piano lessons.
Organ and Theory.
Constitution class with oral reports for both kids.
Drama club.
Leif's first smile. :-)
Achievement days.
Scouting for Food.
Lunch and dinner at Grandma's house.
BYU-Idaho concert.
Clogging, clogging, always clogging.
Homeschool swimming.
Cooking and freezing pumpkins.
Baking and eating way too many pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
Buying fabric and sewing a duet costume for Hailey.
Chimes and Handbell choir.
Visiting Teachers.
Magic Valley Symphony Concert.
2 Dentist appointments.
Cub scouts.
And of course homeschool days full of math, latin, read-a-louds, geography and nursing Leif!

I've always enjoyed reading while nursing my babies, but right now I am low on reading material because I haven't made it to the library in over a month. Well, I made an exciting discovery yesterday! It is possible to sew and nurse at the same time! Seeing as Leif's favorite hobby right now is nursing and mine is sewing (my favorite hobbies change with the seasons) this is a great combination. For any nursing mothers out there who may be curious how to do this- the Boppy pillow makes it all possible! I bought my handy dandy pillow at a used children's clothing store for an affordable price. '