Lazy Christmas-y Day

Today has been one of those lazy days that I love. We are still getting work done, but it's totally relaxed and on our own schedule. We slept late, and are enjoying the gray day outside because our Christmas tree lights look nice even in the middle of the day!

The only things we *have* to do are go for pictures of HRH at 3:40, and find a place to watch the Colts game on NFL Network tonight. For this reason (the Thursday night game) I am skipping out on my Moms' Coffee Night with the homeschool moms in my neighborhood...a girl has to have her priorities, and very few things come in ahead of PeytiePie.

Olivia is currently working on her handwriting assignment. When she was in Kindergarten, they were so picky about handwriting and made so many corrections in bright red ink that she would cry when it came time to do handwriting homework. Thanks a lot, Mrs. Allen.

After a year and a half of homeschool, I am happy to report that her handwriting is wonderful. And she doesn't cry when I ask her to do it! She actually likes to write now, and is always making cards for friends, etc. It just takes a while because she works so hard to do her best. For that, I am very thankful. We start cursive next week, and she is thrilled about that! (In the time it's taken me to type this, she has finished her assigned work and is doing extra handwriting...filling out her Hannah Montana Christmas cards)

I need to come up with some snacks, crafts, activities, etc. for the Christmas party Olivia and I are hosting Monday for her friends. I found a great Martha Stewart craft (I know...Martha Stewart does NOT live here...but I *do* read her website occasionally) to attach felt or cardstock mittens to clothes pins and put a magnet on the back. I think we might make some of those with cute Christmas cardstock & stickers, then "laminate" them with contact paper. And of course there will be wassail, or hot chocolate, even if my friends are not big fans of hot drinks. Maybe it'll be cool and dreary out so we can light the fire in the fireplace!

Googling Ramses

We are planning to go to Dallas in January to see the Tut exhibit, so we are working on an Ancient Egypt unit study this month in preparation. Yesterday, Olivia was coloring a timeline of the Pharaohs and wanted the colors in Ramses' headdress to be realistic. Unfortunately, the only pictures we could find were of his statues which are, well, the color of rock.

"To The Internets!"

I came into the room to find her googling Ramses 2nd. She was frustrated because she kept finding pictures of his statues and mummies. Undaunted, she modified her search, hoping to find color drawings or paintings.

Her final search string? "Ramses 2nd color alive pepple"

Because if you don't want to see pictures of mummies, you'd better google "alive pepple"