Ho, Ho, Ho!

 Another crazy week for us.  I thought I would start off with a morning at the Zimmerman house.  The kids are usually up and playing before Tim and I are ready for the day.  With Owen getting bigger he sometimes gets to play for a bit too.  This is what Tim found one morning.  I guess the family that super heroes together, stays together!  My favorite is super baby...pacifier and all!

This is the second year in a row that we have switched gears a little in November and December for school.  I tend to take breaks from some of the subjects to incorporate some other things.  One of the things that we added this year was doing a little Christmas country study.  The kids have really enjoyed learning about Italy and France.  I am trying really hard this year to focus more on the real reason for Christmas and saying no to lots of other stuff.  Ten days in an all I have to say is it's really hard.  There are so many fun things to do.  

One of those things was a Christmas train.  The River Valley has a very active homeschool group.  A massive group of us boarded an excursion Christmas train.  It was a ton of fun.  I have never been on a train before and I really felt like I was on the Polar Express.  The railroad did a wonderful job of setting things up with treats, Santa, and decorating the train.  

I didn't tell the kids where we were going and they were really excited when they figured it out.  We saw another homeschool family that we love to play with there and ended up riding with them.  I was really glad we could go, because most of the field trips they organize haven't worked with naps and probably won't for some time.  

Unfortunately, I got sick and didn't feel well for the rest of the week.  It was the strangest illness.  I felt like I might have the stomach flu, but I never had a fever.  I just felt super drained and not hungry for a few days.  Very weird.  The kids were good about it and Tim was able to come home and help more with the kids.  It makes we grateful that while he is still extremely busy, there is enough flexibility that he can help.  That has definitely not been the case for most of our marriage.  

We ended the week with a Kuk Sool Christmas party.  Every year they get together and celebrate.  The kids had a blast eating food and playing a gift exchange game.  We debated on whether or not to take Owen, because it was going to be late.  We opted for two vehicles.  Tim took Owen home after dinner and I stayed to play the games.  Our family had the youngest kids.  Poor Liam did a great job waiting for his turn.  Though it was funny that he kept raising his hand that it was his number and a couple of times I had to run down and move him back in the circle, because he was inching his way to the gift pile.  

Much to my chagrin, Hyrum ended up with nerf guns.  He started with a great game, but it got stolen and he chose to steal someone's gun set.  Liam got a lego set and Lila was super pumped with get Chic-fil-a gift cards.  It was so funny to watch her show Tim.  You would have thought that she won the lottery.    

Sunday was busy with a morning meeting for me.  Tim was asked to sit on the stand, because most of the bishopric was sick.  He didn't actually end up sitting on the stand much, because he spent most of the time turning the building upside down looking for cups we could use for the sacrament.  There was an issue with the delivery of cups that wasn't discovered until just before church.  Fun times!  We wen to dinner with some friends.  There kids match up well with ages, so everyone gets along great.  They just moved out of our ward, so it was fun to see them and catch up on life.

Hopefully, next week we will all be healthy and able to focus a little more on the Savior!