Just Checking In . . .

The weather outside . . . 
was much more temperate today. A balmy 34ish degrees. Phew! Quite a reprieve from the -20 (windchill factor). First we got quite a bit of snow and then it was quite cold. But it's those cold days that are also the most beautiful. All sparkly outside. The temps are nice but I hope the snow doesn't melt.

I'm listening to . . .
silence. And house noises like this clock ticking beside me. Aaahh. Quiet. It doesn't happen too often around here. Just at bedtime. So thankful that we have that one right at least. We do pretty well with bedtime around here.

Around the house and garden . . .
I can't get over the fact that it is late December and we are in the throws of winter already. I feel like it was just autumn yesterday. I mean I was still harvesting vegetables out of the garden at Thanksgiving. Oops. Yeah, first year that I didn't get everything out in time. I still have some broccoli, carrots, and kale out there. Oops.

Learning, learning, all the time. . . 
We finished the boys' last math lesson for this half of the year. The next couple days they'll be working on their semester review. They don't love it so much. I can't blame them.

We are reading . . 
I'm reading The Chosen by Chaim Potok. It's a novel about a Jewish boy and his father. I don't know much about Jewish cultural, so its an interesting read. I recommend it.

Basil's reading The Two Towers in his free time. He's also reading The Silver Skates.

Sage is trying out Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne but really he wants to reread The Magician's Nephew.

We are reading aloud the Advent storybook Bartholomew's Travels by Arnold Ytreeide in the evenings. This Advent series has been part of our Advent routine for a couple years now. The kids and I love it so.

Another part of our Advent reading is reading a page of A Northern Nativity by William Kurelek. Please check it out. It's probably the most profound picture book I've ever encountered.

In the kitchen . . .
Our Advent geography picture books are bringing us to the holy land this week. So tonight we had a Jewish stew: Slow Cooker Beef Cholent. Twas good. The hubs said he loved it about four times!  Works for me. ;)

Mace . . .

Gotta hit the hay but here are a few pics from Mace's birthday.