Weekly Wrap-Up ~ It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We had such a fun week.  We did all the normal lessons -- math, reading, writing and such.  But, we also did lots of charity work and Christmas crafts.

From Left to Right :

1)  We made snow flakes and decorated the French Doors.  The kids look forward to this every year.

2)  We took an origami class at the library.

3)  The nutritionist wanted us to test wheat.  We let Tom Sawyer have a big plate of noodles.  He has been reacting all week and obviously cannot handle wheat.  He sure did enjoy that plate of noodles ~ unfortunately, it will be his last for many more months.

4)  We made bath salts for all of the kids' dance teachers.  They have rose perfume in them and smell so good.

5)  I looked and looked on the angel trees at the mall for a child to provide Christmas for this year but could find no one.  There were plenty of kids, but they all wanted IPads and Wii's with games and cell phones.  I can't provide these things for my own children.  I am sure the worker at the booth thought I was a Grinch when I tried to explain that someone should direct the kids a bit in their desires.  (I do so with my children ~ they have a $40 limit on what they can ask for this year.)  Anyway, I ended up looking on other wish lists in our area and found that the AIDS Project had wish lists with reasonable requests.  When I called to check on a particular boy and asked if I could give the boy a nearly new/used once set of binoculars (his request), the man was delighted!  So the kids picked a toy each off his list, and we packed up the binoculars and donated them to a seven year old boy whose parents both have AIDS.  I hope having toys under the tree relieves some of the stress the parents must be going through.

6)  We made snowflake ornaments with character traits on them. 

                               
7)  We took dog toys and Bleach to the animal shelter (the adoption side).  There were          cute dogs, cats and rabbits for adoption.  The nice thing about our shelter is that, once the animals make it to the adoption side, they cannot be put down.
8)  Tom Sawyer got really excited about eating the noodles and even ate some upside          down just for fun.     

9)  The kids picked a 4th grade girl off the library book tree and bought The Doll People.  I hope it is a good book.  The Barnes and Noble clerk said it was great, and the kids loved the larger print and illustrations.  It seemed like a good bet since we do not know whether or not the girl is a strong reader.

Our Advent books this week.

Lastly, the kids loved playing with the pattern blocks this week.  I love to see their creativity.  They came up with so many lovely patterns out of their imaginations. 

Blessings, Dawn