Christmas Letter 2018

  If you would like to view a printable form of our Christmas letter you can click HERE for a pdf file.

2018

HIGHLIGHTS

** Morning Time has become the highlight of every school day. A time to gather around the table and absorb scripture, poetry, catechism questions, fun grammar songs, hymns & great books together. Four kids are “officially” homeschooling now!
** Margaret (11) begins riding her BLM burro, Sassafrass, with her “new” vintage 1908 McClellan cavalry saddle. She also whips up handmade dolls, makes pottery creations & is a cellist extraordinaire. 

** William (9) spent the entire summer filling the freezer with bugs for his new & amazing insect collection. He also learned the art of frog gigging (with the assistance of Clay), draws incredibly detailed battle scenes & can play “Angus Campbell” on guitar.

** Amelia (7.5) wins the cutest smile award and raked in the most tooth fairy money for all the teeth she lost (including a couple pulled at the dentist). She began viola lessons and masterfully performed the “Run Doggy” Twinkle variation at her first recital. 

 

** Susannah (6) continues to be a beam of sunshine while learning reading, 'riting & 'rithmetic. She greatly looks forward to beginning flute lessons and can independently steer little Fritz (the faithful pony) around the lower field.

** Happiness follows Hattie (4) whe'ere she goes with her beautifully big smile and love of babies, books, singing, and critters. She proudly announces to everyone, everywhere: “I'M FOUR!”

** Clyde (2) shows great promise in becoming a master craftsman & if ever missing can be found in Daddy's carpentry workshop – staring around with awe & wonder, or diligently pounding on wood & “fixing” things with a screwdriver. After receiving his own tape measure for his birthday he now wanders around the house measuring everything & announcing: “Eighteen!”. He is usually wearing his favorite yellow puffin pants. 

 

** Elissa managed to sneak into the Springfield Drury Civic Orchestra & greatly enjoyed playing in the 1^st violin section for Shostakovitch's 10^th, Mahler's 9^th, and with electronic vegetables from NYC. She also enjoys playing at church & fiddling around with Clay, the kids, & friends!

** Clay continues on at City Utilities, cuts firewood, fixes fence, wrestles with cows, creates gourmet meals, dominates trivia games & builds stuff. This year saw the construction of:

• oak bookcase in the school room
• built-in walnut dresser in girls' bedroom wall
• barn doors
• floating dock for swimming in the farm pond
• reclaimed oak table (using wood from the torn out walls in our house)
• custom whimsical craft/office shelf for Elissa.

** The 3 older kids join their grandparents in doing farm chores every week, learning how to check cattle, kill weeds, fix fence, etc. They even get to name calves, including names like: White Tip, Smokey Splotch, Lick Chops, Chocolate, Feisty Valentine, Sperm Whale, Marble Face & Proud Head. Other calves got christened with the kids' own names (this proves to be quite confusing). Maggie Moo became the favorite of those & still comes up for apple treats and scratches. 

 

** Sunday evenings have become family movie night with Attenborough nature films predominating the landscape. The fare occasionally varies to include the Marx Bros., or other classics like Kung Fu Panda.

** Fulfilling a long time craving of Elissa's we launched our newly renovated little yellow dinghy, affectionately nicknamed “The Golden Dory”. Farm ponds can make do for rowing practice when no oceans are nearby.

** Elissa & Clay went horse camping at Hercules Glade & survived the alleged “17% chance” of rain with no rain covers on hammocks, ate steak with their bare hands, rode 22+ miles exploring 7,000 acres, survived a rattlesnake encounter, & savored beef jerky for breakfast on their trusty steeds.

** Family vacation in Colorado included hiking a mountainous 28+ miles with ~7,000 ft total elevation gained, 2 cozy & rustic cabins & 1 New Mexican stray desert cat gained (with a broken femur).

** Learning Russian is a new undertaking & we can now say: “Excuse me, do you understand English? I am American.”

** We attended several of Hing Wah Hatch's Chinese Watercolor classes over the summer, which are great fun & help fuel the kids' love of art.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!
With much love from our home to yours ~

FAVORITE BOOKS

“Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” – Groucho Marx
Our family greatly loves partaking in books together. Here are a few we've enjoyed sharing together this past year:
Complete Poems of Robert Frost (Clay & I read each other a couple a day) * War & Peace * Little Britches * The Valley of Vision (Puritan Prayers) * E. Nesbit's Treasure Seekers Series * Training Mules & Donkeys: A Logical Approach to Long Ears * Wodehouse's Heavy Weather * Wingfeather Saga * The Ultimate Weird But True Book * Narnia & The Little House Books (always) * Tin Tin * Brian Jacques * God's Philosophers * My Family & Other Animals (my 5^th time through, but 1^st time with the kids - & a big favorite for all!) * Ogden Nash's Zoo * Herman Melville's Short Stories *

FAVORITE HIKES

Even Clyde started hiking on his own two feet this year (he's pretty heavy in the backpack!) and did awesome.
Mina Sauk Trail (Taum Sauk Mtn) * Devil's Honeycomb * Elephant Rocks (always) * Paul Hennings Conservation Area * Pedestal Rocks (AR) * Cedar Gap * Glade Top Trail *

And in Colorado : West Spanish Peak * Sharks Tooth * Trinchera * Great Sand Dunes * Ice Lakes * Petroglyph Trail at Mesa Verde

FAVORITE ANIMAL HIGHLIGHTS

Finding Clyde multiple times with the rat cage door open & our “royal” rats Billy & Harry happily climbing on his lap * Margaret's sheer joy in discovering the pet store had accidentally given her a female gerbil, so she “had” to raise a couple litters of gerbil pups * William talking us into raising an English Sparrow that got christened “Ogden” (see the favorite books list) & often joins Arlo, the starling, in begging for scraps at the breakfast table * The resident flock of guineas, geese and bantams all running for the feed room door when we're spotted outside, begging for their ration of chopped corn (we also had fun raising lots of goslings and chicks this summer). * 6 more ridiculously adorable corgi pups raised by May May & sharing our home over the summer before finding their own families. Rascal proves to be the best stud dog we could ask for – and a doting father. * Trail riding with Margaret, William & Amelia & galloping through the autumn tinted woods together.

For the Lord is good & his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. - Psalm 100:5