January

It sure does seem like it's been forever since I have blogged! More than anything else, it's cold, cold, cold! Our office has no heat except for a small space heater, and it has been one of the coldest winters we've had that I can remember in that past 10 years. I wish we had the snow to go along with the cold, but oh well. We've had multiple days when the low was at or around 0 degrees and the high barely reached 20. But I'm at my in-laws house where it is not only warm, but has high speed internet to go with the warmth. : ) I'm about fed up with even checking email at home anymore.

News, news, what is new? Well, we have had a good month staying home and focusing somewhat on homeschooling. Savannah and I have been able to work a good bit on reading, math, Bible, money, etc. She's doing well. She can read basic beginning readers on her own now. I found two Dick and Jane books at the book store that were really cheap. Each book had 3 of the original readers compiled into one book, for a total of 6 Dick and Jane "books". She's read through both of them now. She's also very enthusiastic about learning the books of the Bible. We've learned all but the last 3 books of the Old Testament so far in less than two weeks.

Alan is, well, Alan. Not much new with him. With all the EXTREME cold we've been having, we've kept the wood stove burning more ferociously than ever which means cleaning the ashes out of it once or twice a day. Aaron was gone for three days last week, during some of the coldest weather yet, so I was left to tend to the fire. Well, I'd take a couple shovelfuls of coals out each time I loaded it and finally the bucket was full. The ashes in the bucket were anywhere from 12 hours to 4 days old. I let the ashes sit in the office overnight (it was very windy and the ashes were blowing out of the bucket), then the next day, I dumped them in the driveway away from anything that they could ignite. The next 24 hours were VERY COLD. I think the high that day was around 14. Aaron came home that night and the NEXT day, he told Alan to get ready to go outside so they could get firewood. He got all bundled up and Aaron wasn't ready to go out yet, so he told Alan to go on out so he wouldn't get hot. Well, in the few minutes that no one was out there, he decided the ash pile was an excellent place to shuffle his little rubber boot clad feet in. A few minutes later, he comes inside, somewhat wimpering and saying "There's something wrong with my pants." Well, they'd caught on "fire" or smoked the bottom 2" off his pants. He said they were never any actual flames, they were just smoking. His boots (which were really Savannah's) were somewhat melted as well. He said he'd stomped on his pants and hit them with a stick to make them stop smoking. After I had a minor heart attack and explained to him how dangerous what he'd just done was, and then Aaron also did the same thing, they proceeded to get firewood. I could just see him tearing through the driveway like a little roman candle......thank God he was ok. Boys....he is such a boy.

More later, got to go now!