Our January so far...

It's been pretty darn cold here lately. Yesterday it got up to a whopping 36 degrees,

which is about 4 degrees warmer than it's been for more than a week.

Humidity makes cold colder I've decided. Brrrrr!

We got plates on the Audi last week.

I've always said this was MY car.

Even the North Carolina DMV thinks it's my car.

(I was born in 1971...) and it's definitely 'zippin'. I love it.

Joey has gotten fat.

It's been too cold to walk, so he hasn't gotten much exercise.

He lays near the table while we're doing school and sunbathes near the french doors.

 

He's one chubby and very spoiled dog.

Just wait til it warms up. Both he and I will be out walking our loop again.

I want to lose another 65 pounds, so we'll trim down together.

 

We found out late last week that we are going to be coming to Colorado

for a short visit in February.

General Dynamics is flying Steven out to attend a week long class in Colorado Springs.

We decided that buying three tickets will be cheaper than buying four,

and we'd like to celebrate Dad's 70th birthday with him,

(although it will be slightly belated,)

so we'll be taking off late in the month.

The kids are over the top excited about their first ever airplane trip!

We're waiting on specifics for Steven's flight, then we'll buy our tickets.

I know it's cold there, but can it really be any colder in Denver than it has been here????

We'll be sure to bring our parkas.

 

Speaking of cold...

we started swimming again this morning. It was 20 degrees when we left,

then we got into a very chilly lap pool.

We spent thirty minutes swimming lap after lap, though, and warmed up pretty quickly.

School is going great!

The kids and I have been learning about the Corps of Discovery, (the Lewis and Clark expedition),

and with it, we've been studying Sacajawea.

We're also starting a religion study this week and pressing on with math.

Scott is learning basic multiplication and Maya is mastering fractions. She's nearly through her decimals unit

and it about to start learning percentages.

Here she is, our lovely daughter,

 

annoyed with me because I challenged her in spelling today.

She's such a good reader...much, much higher than a fifth grade level,

and the spelling lists in the curriculum we use are just way too easy for her.

She has begun reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee,

(my all time favorite book by the way)

so I pulled ten words out of chapter one to add to her list today.

I am happy to say that a few of them tripped her up.

Such as;

assauged,

apothecary,

taciturn

and

synonymous.

She'll have them all learned by Wednesday when we take our next test,

but the fact that she didn't get an A on her test today has her somewhat miffed.

At me, of course.

Oh...it's all worth it to have challenged her. :)