I had planned on doing our “homeschool block” through the end of the week, but I decided to exercise my perogative as principal and ended the year a couple days early.  (If I’m the principal, then is Matt the superintendent?  Hmm…)  We got our Christmas tree last night and when Emma woke up this morning asking if we could please, please, please decorate the tree I realized that even if we tried to do homeschool block, it probaby wouldn’t go very well.  Who can concentrate on skip counting by two and sounding out words when there is a lovely but undecorated Christmas tree sitting three feet away?

We managed to get the morning chores done and most of the tree trimmed before we had to go out and sort the buying club order.  The tree looks nice, although it is taking a little getting used to.  We decided for Gregory’s safety and his parent’s mental health to just get a short tree this year.  So we have a four and a half foot tree sitting on a table, and I rather like it.  It also was a lot cheaper to go this route!  Next year we are really looking forward to cutting down a tree from our own property to use as our Christmas tree.  I hope we never have to buy a tree again!

I have been really scattered this afternoon, ever since I got back from sorting the order.  After we got back, I brought the order in, got food for the munchkins, found something for myself, then tried to do the next required step with the crockpot dinner I started this morning.  After I did that, I started putting away our order and picking up the Christmas explosion in the family room…  not doing a particularly effective job at either task.  Matt came down, looked in the crockpot, and said, “um, you’re supposed to drain the water before you put the rest of the ingredients in”.  Hmm.  Whoops, missed that step.  I decided to drain the soybeans and add the ingredients in again, to try and salvage the meal.  In draining the soybeans (crock-baked soybeans - a yummy recipe from Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook, btw) I found a teaspoon in the crockpot.  I guess that’s what happened to the one that mysteriously disappeared earlier…  I guess it is just one of those days.

Emma wants to make candy after quiet time this afternoon, and I think that we’ll give it a go.  We received a package of homemade candy from Emily a few days ago, and Emma was quite amazed that you can actually make candy, not just buy it.  I haven’t made any candy for a little while now, and I think it will be fun and perhaps even educational!