December - in pictures (with Benson Commentary)

"This is me going to get hit by a sled"
(or making a snow angel)

"This is my family"

"These are my kids"

"This is my friend, Batman"

"This is my family going SUPER fast down the hill"

"These are my Aunties"
(and mom)

"I want to open those Jammies again"
(Christmas Eve)

"This is Jaymeson and Benson"
(and the rest of the family on Mom's birthday)

"It's a big snowman and a small snowman and a little, tiny snowman!
Because we have scarfs on the snowmans."

"It's Santa Claus!"

"I'm giving Santa a hug!"
(He actually ran back after we left because he felt it was important.)

"We're getting on a sled and doing this.
Then the reindeers are going to fly"

"It Spiderman, ME, Spiderman!"

Steam Engine Education

While reading "Story of the World" today, we learned about Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin and other life altering events of the enlightenment.  The first one was the Steam Engine.

Me: So, a steam engine works because when you boil water, you get what?
Saryn: Steam!
Kienna: Beer!

I laughed so hard, Kienna thought for a second and then realized she was thinking of a whole other process involving apple juice and fermentation.  She obviously thought it was so interesting last time that she's trying to apply it in all situations.

"So, it's been like a year."

Goal:  Summarize events since last informative post (July-ish) in 10-15 sentences.  Go!

Much of the summer fun from last year included cousins - Alanna and her boys came for 6 weeks and we had a blast (Sundance Lake, Camping BY MYSELFwith 7 kids and many more fun posts that could come off of that)!  We also went camping with the Cahoon side, had an extended Cahoon reunion (like 130+ people) and topped it off with my my sister, Kimberly getting married on Aug 17 (more pictures and info to come - hopefully).

School was a big "to do" this year with trying the public system after homeschooling.  After a month, we took Kienna out and then (after much begging on her part - despite her love of her teacher and classmates) we took Saryn out in January.  We are currently trying to figure out what to do next fall as I have decided that homeschooling and public schools both have major perks, but doing both at the same time takes most of them away (as does teaching piano and theory).

Most of the difficulty in the decision making for the fall (between school and a teaching schedule) is due to arrival of Cahoon baby #6 (girl #4) coming in June!  We are extremely excited, surprised, busy and ecstatic because of this news that we received in the fall - and the kids are beyond thrilled, too!

The kids have been extremely busy with school, music lessons, swimming lessons and just helping out around the house.  Kaia has grown around 6 inches in the last year.  Both Kaia and Kienna are preparing to take music exams in June.  Saryn has started the piano and put violin on hold (Jaymeson, too, put guitar on hold until he's a little older) and has really simplified things for me in the process.  Jaymeson started Kindergarten and is enthusiastic and having a blast (today he did a science presentation to his class about an elastic guitar he made).  And Benson is a little monkey, but is as cute as can be (as I've shown in a few random posts).

Jarett and I were also able to go on a little week trip to Florida - which was awesome, but WAY too fast!

One sentence to spare - wow!  For those who know who long winded I like to be, this should be very impressive!!  Of course, with this "postlude" I've gone over, but hey, I'm not perfect!  Hopefully this will be the beginning of another spurt of posts... it really is a much better recording of life than facebook, and more likely to happen than journal writing.  Until next time...

Missing Benson - but this was the crew while camping

Camping with my kids and two nephews - actually much easier than I thought, and a ton of fun!

Sundance Lake with the Moody cousins

Favorite Camping Pic

Extended Cahoon Reunion - Grandma Joyce

Kim and Nathan get married!!

Camping Cahoon Style

First Day of School (Public System)

Saryn is the coolest older sister ever - reads books, but also plays "maps" and builds forts with these boys constantly

We cut down the trees in our side yard - my first time with a chain saw.  Super fun!

Jose...

Apparently when Benson tells us something exciting we have responded with "No Way, Jose!" too many times.  I

Now when we say "No way!", it has become Benson's standard response to say "Yes, Jose!"

He also dances constantly to every 'Frozen' song.  He knows all the moves that the characters do, and has them down to an art.

This kid brings such a fun energy to our house!

Singing "Let it Go"