Typical Homeschool Days

I've been struck lately by my kids' ability to naturally learn.  We still do the school-ish curriculum each day, but what is really exciting to me is how God is providing a way every day for my kids to learn in order to round out their educations.  From a book I found at the library called "50 Dangerous Things (you should let your children do)", to a science experiment that required an empty soda bottle to perform the experiment, every day presents new and exciting ways for my kids to learn and have fun.

Today we drank Coke out of bottles so that we could have what we needed for the experiment.  ;) This morphed into the kids learning about carbon dioxide in addition to how to blow across the top of a bottle to make tones.

Just to name a few, in the last week we've learned to hammer nails into wood, went to the post office for a field trip, tried out the new indoor trampoline park, licked a 9V battery (haha!), took swim classes, gym classes, gymnastics classes, and visited a friend's farm and watched chicks hatch from eggs.

I NEVER would have believed how much the kids and I would love homeschooling. I was not a mom who took naturally to parenting, and am ashamed to say that in the early years, I was eager to escape from my duties to go have 'me' time, constantly.

What a gift it is to spend these days with my kids.  Although the first year was a transition, I can honestly say, the longer I'm home with my kids, the more I love hanging out with them.  What a blessing homeshooling is in our lives!

Our Home School Room

I just finished sending an extremely lengthy message to a friend looking for ideas for her new school room, and it occurred to me -- I can blog this!  :)  Since the work is done, here it is..........our school room!!!

So, what I love, starting with:

Picture 1 - our white board, that we use for All About Spelling and All About Reading, and makes a great place for explanations, if we need it. Under the whiteboard is a storage bench. It holds files of the kid's work from this year that I'm going to save, our small whiteboards that they can take to their desks, any extra book lists, etc that I want to reference, but don't need very often, and all the homeschool catalogs/newsletters that I get and want to hang on to for future reference. To the left of the whiteboard is our morning board, with a hanging file box under that. The corkboard has a picture of the flag on it, The Pledge of Allegiance, and our memory verse of the week. The file box holds our Bible lesson plans, our doctrine question book, the other verses of the week to come, and our read-aloud Bible.

Picture 2 - J just got his own little desk (found it at Sam's Club for $20 around Christmas time) and he uses it all the time. This also shows where our room is. It's the first room when you walk in the house. I was't sure about how this looks to visitors, but I decided that we are the ones that live with it every day, so it's for us. I LOVE having a room with a window, and I LOVE being so close to the kitchen and laundry room so I can sneak away to get my housework done (or warm up a cup of tea) whenever I have a quick break.

Picture 3 - The 3 older kid's desks. We used to have chairs, but they always were getting knocked over, and I was afraid J was going to get hurt, so we switched to the storage cubes. They keep some extra reading books, their rock collections, and things that they don't want to throw away, but I don't want to keep, in there. The corkboard for each kid is a new addition this year, and I love it. There's always something they should be memorizing, or things they can't remember for math, phonics, handwriting and grammar that I post for their reference. The pink, purple and green sheets you see are their workbox numbers. I copied the workbox system from confessionsofahomeschooler.com and it has worked fabulously. If you go on her website, and search for workbox, you should find this setup. Her room is setup differently now, but for the ages of my kids, this works much better. Their shelving holds their work for the day. I load their boxes the night before, and put a velcro number on each box that has work in it for them to do. The first boxes are the ones they can do on their own. Ever since we started school, I have either been pregnant, or had a baby or toddler in the mix. Giving them work first that they can get started on their own while I clean up breakfast, change a diaper, start laundry, etc, is a wonderful thing!   With the numbers on the boxes, they can see right away how much work they have to do that day. This system is an absolute Godsend for me - I don't know how we'd do it without it!

Picture 4 - My desk and the bookcase. Starting from the top of the bookcase - on top are the things that don't fit anywhere else, or need to be out of reach. The top shelf has my books and teacher's manuals that I use frequently, and the kids math and literacy center folders. The next two shelves hold the kid's books and workbooks that we are currently using. I have two other locations for books. Close by I have a cupboard of books that we will use this year, but we aren't to them yet, then in the basement in our storage I have 2 bookcases for books that we are not currently using. As soon as we finish a book, it goes down to the storage bookcase. The 2nd shelf from the bottom has 2 bins. The right bin holds our Science experiment supplies, the left bin holds Pre-K manipulatives. The bottom shelf has 2 crates. The right crate holds learning things for toddler/preschool age (for J to pull out any old time he wants while we're homeschooling), and the left bin holds all of our Math manipulatives. On to my desk (whoo, we're almost done!). I finally bought a comfy chair this year, and that was a great purchase! On the right side I have our electric pencil sharpener (from Sam's Club), tape, a stapler, a box of wipes (we're always cleaning something off of something around here...), an iPod with a speaker, and the kid's "turn in box". Above that, on the wall, I have another hanging file box with 3 slots that holds the kid's upcoming weekly lesson plans. On the front of that I have binder-clipped our school calendar. The corkboard above my desk used to be functional, but now I made it inspirational with a couple quotes about education, a prayer, a verse, our daily schedule, and some other helpful things. Also on the desk is my laptop, which I just got this year and I absolutely LOVE, and my color laser copier/printer which is a wonderful gift from my techie husband, which I absolutely love as well (completely unnecessary and expensive, but when you're both engineers, well, you know)!  The shelves of my desk hold a basket full of construction paper, my laminator, a 3 hole punch, a 12 in. paper cutter, and a box full of stamps, envelopes, etc. I used to keep extra supplies/markers on the lower right shelf, which was super handy, but since we have a toddler that enjoys coloring on walls (reference picture #1) and floors (reference the rug in picture 3), we have moved them!!

And, last but not least, eggshell paint so that marks USUALLY wipe off the walls easily, along with furniture/furnishings that are my taste, so that I love the look of our schoolroom and actually LIKE spending time in there (it helps if the teacher wants to be there)!  

The Wedding of Q and U!

Today we celebrated the wedding of Q and U!  K, my Pre-Ker is learning the sound "qu", so this was a fun way to cement in her mind that q is followed by u.  (My 1st grader could use the reminder, too, but we told him this was just for his little sister!)

We started with inspiration from this site:

http://kreativeinkinder.blogspot.com/2012/02/qu-wedding-and-valentine-freebie.html

I had invitations rolled up in scrolls that K placed on each person's desk.  They weren't allowed to open them until we were ready to start the wedding.  That helped build the anticipation and excitement.

After everyone had opened their invitations and read them, I whisked the bride away to get her ready.  Then, since we homeschool, and her daddy works from home sometimes, he actually got to walk her down the aisle to the wedding march that I found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tDYMayp6Dk

Dad walking Miss Q down the aisle.

She met Mr. U and I used the script found at the above blog to officiate the wedding.

The wedding.

I now pronounce you, Mr. and Mrs Qu!!!

May you never forget to add a u to your q when you spell, again!

2012-2013 Curriculum

2012-2013 Curriculum

Having successfully completed 3 days of our school year makes me confident enough to now post our 2012-2013 curriculum choices!

Little J (Baby School):

Just keep him out of trouble as much as possible.

And feed him...don't forget to feed him....a lot!

Little K (Pre-K):

Handwriting Without Tears Pre-K

All About Reading (finish Pre-1, then start on Level 1)

Sonlight PS 4/5

RightStart Math Level A

Big I (1st Grade):

Manuscript Handwriting, Poems from First Language Lessons

RightStart Math Level B

Sonlight 2nd grade readers

First Language Lessons 1

All About Spelling (finish Level 1, start on Level 2)

Institute for Excellence in Writing, Primary Arts of Language: Writing (Part III)

Elemental Science, Chemistry Lapooks

Big G (3rd Grade):

Cursive Handwriting, Poems from First Language Lessons

RightStart Math (review Level C, then on to D)

Sonlight Core D Readers

First Language Lessons 3

All About Spelling (finish Level 3, then on to Level 4)

Institute for Excellence in Writing, All Things Fun & Fascinating

Elemental Science, Chemistry for the Grammar Stage

Rosetta Stone, Korean, Level 1

Together:

Egermeier's Bible Storybook

Sonlight Core D Read-Alouds

Simply Charlotte Mason's "Stories of the Nations Vol. 1" and "Stories of America Vol. 1"

Haven't started yet:

YMCA Swim & Gym

Art/Music Co-op

It's going to be such a fun year!  Now that I'm starting my 3rd year of teaching, I am finally starting to relax (a little!) and just enjoy the process of my kids learning!  Words cannot describe the blessing that homeschooling has had on our family!

What's in a Preschool Day?

So, just what do you do with a 3 year old at home? Here's a glimpse into what one day looks like. (and this is a good day, I left out the temper tantrums....)

We start with the Pledge of Allegiance, then we go right into Bible. We do this all together, so this picture was staged after I realized I needed it. I have such an obliging daughter!

Bible is a memory verse a week (which gets confusing to a 3 year old, just today she told me, "In the beginning, God created the castles in the earth. John 3:16". We'll get there....) Then we cover 2-3 questions of doctrine and a quick Bible story. Once a week we do an activity to go along with the story, and sometimes we watch a video of the story I just taught. And on Friday, they stand up one by one and recite the memory verse (I help K), then they each get a piece of candy at 9:00 in the morning. Everyone pretty much loves Fridays around here.

Right after Bible, I go right into helping K with her work for the day. She is very excited to get to work and loves to get my attention right away. Her first box today is a simple handwriting sheet with our letter of the week. I show her the proper way to form the letter (which she'll remember someday, I'm pretty sure...) and I tell her the sound the letter makes and have her repeat it to me.

This is playdough letters. For our letter of the week, I roll playdough for her, and she lines it up and pushes it down on the outlines. I have these sheets for every letter, and they're laminated, and on different days we use them for different things. Right now the favorites are Bendy Stix and Playdough!

Then we move on to the book, How to Build an A. This is a super cute book that comes with foam pieces to form all of the letters. I was going to do Handwriting Without Tears, but this was a similar concept and much more economical.

Then we work on counting. This is an old Tootsie Roll container and I cut a slot in the top. A Gerber's Puffs container works for this as well as any other container with a plastic lid or a little piggy bank would also work great. I put a different number of pennies in each time, then she has to put them in one by one and count them as she goes, then tell me how many there are. I then have the number for that day on a piece of paper in the container all ready, so then we open it up and see what the number looks like. Another favorite for number recognition is to give her a phone and tell her which numbers to push.

After all that, she gets a break and goes to play. I missed getting a picture of that, because that's when I spend time with the rest of the kids. At 10:30, we all break for snack, and that's when I do the reading for the day. She has her own shelf of books that I have planned out what story to read each day (otherwise I'd totally skip it!). I bought the Sonlight Preschool 3/4 books for this year to be sure that I read her good quality literature at her level. Although this is a lot of money to spend on a preschooler, I would be paying that much in 2 months at a preschool program, plus my kindergartner and 2nd grader love to listen in on her stories, too!

After snack, we all go to calendar time. We put today's date on the calendar, then sing "The Days of the Week Song" (to Oh My Darlin' Clementine; Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. There are seven days, there are seven days, there are seven days in a week. Repeat.). Then we sing "Months of the Year" (to Ten Little Indians; January, February, Ma-arch, April. May, June, Ju-ly and August. September, October, November, December. Twelve months in a year. Repeat.) Then "Weather Watcher" (to Frere Jacques; Weather Watcher, Weather Watcher, What Do You See? What Do You See? Tell me what the weather's like. Tell me what the weather's like. Won't you please? Won't you please?)

Then, we count. We count to 100 by ones for K. For the other kids, we also count by 10's, 5's, 2's and 3's. So that's where her day ends. Then I try to find something to interest her on her own while I finish up school with the other kids. I had to add one last picture of her from Friday:

Every Friday, we read the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and put a letter on a coconut tree in our school room. She's in charge of putting the letters up. I'm not saying she is bad....I'm just saying, this is where she put the letters!

And one last picture that I couldn't resist, because I seriously spend SO MUCH time getting hands-on learning ready for my kindergartner, so this picture is to remind me that it really is worth all the effort. Look at that concentration! It takes a lot of work to keep this guy focused, but we're doing it!

So, there you have it. A Tuesday in the Life of our Preschooler!

Music to put Joy in your Heart

In an effort to put joy in my own heart before we start each school day, we are starting each school day with a Christian song blasting from my iPod! I splurged on this JBL speaker, and we are set to go each morning. I have to say, although I planned this for my own selfish reasons, my kids are loving the singing and crazy dancing first thing in the morning, too! So, the schedule is, we played our theme song each morning for the first week, and every following Monday morning for the rest of the school year (or until we get tired of it). Then, each week, starting on Tuesday, we play the song of the week each morning. So without further ado, here's the list!

1. "Do Everything" - Steven Curtis Chapman (Theme Song)

2. "There's Power in the Blood" - GroupMusic

3. "Light Up the Sky" - The Afters

4. "Fly Away" - FFH

5. "Dive" - Steven Curtis Chapman

6. "Superhero" - Go Fish

7. "Astronaut" - FFH

8. "Hold Us Together" - Matt Maher

9. "Stories" - Go Fish

10. " Big Fish" - FFH

11. "Wherever You Go" - GroupMusic

12. "God Of This City" - Chris Tomlin

13. "Ten Commandment Boogie" - Go Fish

14. "Sing, Sing, Sing" - Christ Tomlin

15. "Away in a Manger" - Randy Travis

16. "Joy to the World" - Casting Crowns

17. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" - Jewel

18. "At the Name of Jesus" - GroupMusic

19. "Jesus Loves Me" - Go Fish

20. "Hold On" - TobyMac

21. "Jesus Messiah" - Chris Tomlin

22. "There is a Way" - NewWorldSon

23. "See the Glory" - Steven Curtis Chapman

24. "I'm Amazed" - FFH

25. "Our God" - Chris Tomlin

26. "Millionaire" - FFH

27. "Be That Way" - Go Fish

28. "God Almighty" - Chris Tomlin

29. "By His Wounds" - Glory Revealed

30. "When I Praise" - FFH

31. "Whatever" - Steven Curtis Chapman

32. "Stronger" - Mandisa

33. "One World" - TobyMac Feat. Siti Monroe

34. "Live Out Loud" - Steven Curtis Chapman

35. "Free to be Me" - Francesca Battistelli

36. "Hold Me (feat. tobyMac)" - Jamie Grace

All can be found at iTunes.

A Day in the Life

Today I got my camera out to capture this photo:

To me, this picture seemed to capture in a moment why we homeschool. K is doing her school, and took it upon herself to teach her baby brother what she was doing. I love how intent he was on what she was telling him. Also love our doggy in the background.

So, after this, I was ambushed by K and I wanting to take pictures with the camera. What resulted was "A Day in the Life". (edited) There were lots of pictures. Seriously. It took me a long time to delete the extras, but here's the best of the best!

Seriously, this may be the first picture of me in awhile.

J hanging on while I teach G.

K, captured by her brother. Guessing she waited awhile for this picture to be taken!

K with our art in the background. That's right, we did art! (because if there's one subject that slips around here, seriously, that would be it!) And I'm okay with that. Really. I am. I don't ever fall into the trap of thinking I can homeschool my kids perfectly. Seriously. I don't. Okay, maybe sometimes....

I, up close and personal.

K posing and cheesing, for what was a really looong time for a 3 year old. We were working on patience, see?

Teaching cursive to G with a baby on my lap. (Good thing he's a good baby!)

Said baby getting sleepy. Or maybe he was thinking, "Help me!"

K's desk. She's done for the day!Spaghetti-o's for lunch! So fancy and healthy!

And finally, G studiously working away while I make lunch!

So, there you have it, all the GOOD parts of a homeschooling day! What, did you think I was going to document the bad parts???

Used

Confession: Sometimes I feel used. My kids, ages 5, 3 and 1 like to use me to be their maid, servant, etc. As I handed my 5 year old daughter a snack she had requested yesterday, she said, "Mom, that's not what I ordered." Hmmm, I wonder why I feel so used sometimes?

Truth: That's the point, isn't it? To be used? Jesus became the servant of all when he humbled himself to arrive as a baby on earth, only to later have our every sin cast on him as he was crucified. I want to strive to be like him, right? Not that I want my children to take me for granted, but I can lead them to be servants as well, by providing an example, and requiring the same from them. And the Bible confirms it for me in Romans 12:1 where it says, "Therefore, I urge you, dear brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship."

School Days

Confession: I have been overwhelmed with anxiety due to my daughter starting kindergarten. Fear is overtaking me that she will be hurt, that she will decide Jesus isn't so great, that she might hear things her 5 year old ears are not ready to hear, that someone might say something that would break her spirit and self-worth, that her teacher will not see what an amazing, caring, loving, funny, endearing child she is, that she will become bored with school and swear off learning forever.

Truth: My God is big enough to handle it. He is in control. Thank God we know the Truth and are teaching it to her. I should be spending my time praying to him to intercede on her behalf. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts." Psalm 139:23 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6 And my favorite, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Matthew 6:27 & Luke 12:25

Life is good

Confession: After skimming through my last few blog entries I've realized they were all a little whiny and complaining. Life is good, but yet I complain. My husband asks me to proofread his resume, I complain. My daughter asks me for a cup of juice, I complain. My son asks me to turn on the moonwalk downstairs for him for the 100th time today, I complain. The baby cries after I put her to bed for the night, I complain. What is up?

Truth: I should be so grateful to have a husband that is present and loves me and wants to work. I should be thankful that my daughter is a thriving, healthy 5 year old who wants to eat and drink healthy things. I should be appreciative that we can afford such luxuries as a basement and a moonwalk for the kids to play in. And my God, forgive me, for not being thankful for the baby that you gave to me that depends on me for food, comfort, sleep and love.

Sick Day

Confession: When my husband is sick (which he is right now), it drives me up the wall that he is practically on his death bed from the flu. I mean, really, as the mom, do we ever get to just lay in bed all day when we're sick? I am so jealous of his ability to shirk all household responsibility and just hole up in the bedroom for going on 36 hours now!

Truth: I know that my jealousy is rooted in selfishness. I selfishly want it all. I want to be able to lay in bed sick for a day, but more than that, I want to be able to say with pride that I didn't, and that I don't ever get to. If I were truly loving my husband, I would be concerned for him and wishing the best for him. In fact, maybe if I started treating him with more care when he's sick, he might actually want to come out of the bedroom!

Call me overprotective

Confession: My daughter, who will be 5 years old next month had her first sleepover last night and I cried when I drove away. Anytime I leave one of my children somewhere, I have this overwhelming "mother hen" feeling like I just want to gather up all of my chicks and take them home. And I know that this is only the beginning of letting go - someday, God-willing, I will actually drive this child to college, leave her in a dorm (or a den of wolves, as it seems), and drive away (or even fly away) from her for weeks on end. How in the world will I ever do that? It is an absolute overwhelming feeling of dread for me.

Truth: I want my children to be all that God intends for them to be, and they cannot be that in the security and protection of my home forever. At some point they have to become independent, and my job is to make that transition the best that it can be for them and to prepare them to make wise decisions for themselves. In order to make wise decisions on their own someday, I must start by allowing them the room today to make their own decisions, and make mistakes, while they still have the safety of us to fall back on. God, I pray that my overprotectiveness does not ever impede on your plan for my children, I pray that you give me the strength to trust in you with their future, because you are a much greater planmaker than I ever could be.

This Life is Hard

Confession: I have slipped from reading the Bible everyday like I was in the habit of doing previously. I started back up this week and can't believe all that I have missed since I haven't taken the time to read His Word daily. Why is it so hard? Why does reading the Bible seem like such a chore. It gets put on a to-do list, but always at the bottom - the task I never get to. But yet, if I just get the Bible opened, and read the first line, I am so glad I did. Okay, 99% of the time so glad I did - when the reading is cumbersome, sometimes it's a line by line prayer for God to keep me focused so I can get something out of it. But that's not the norm, the norm is it is so amazing to read living, God-breathed Scripture. Why is it so hard?

Truth: The truth is, this life is hard. Choosing Jesus is hard. Why do I think it should be easy? That's what makes the prospect of entering heaven so amazing. I can look forward to heaven, where there are no distractions to worshiping the one true God. What an amazing eternal life that will be.

Cabin Fever

Confession: Why is it so hard to take 3 kids under 5 anywhere? The winter is so hard for this, there is always at least one of us sick at all times through the winter, which makes it hard to hang out too much with friends, or else they won't be our friends very long if we keep infecting them. So we stay home so long, that we get to the point where we are climbing the walls trying to get out. So then we decide, it's time to go somewhere. But where? Let's go to the mall. Maybe we can catch something else there. Maybe the flu this time, yippeee! So we go, and we try to shop, which is next to impossible. Between my 4 year old daughter's endless questions, everything from why do they make clothes for little girls that aren't modest (good question), to why are those $220 boots too expensive, to my 2 year old son, who likes to run and hide between clothes racks, and then there's my 7 month old daughter, if she's captured by a 5-point stroller harness instead of freely crawling her way around our house, she's not happy. About 30 minutes into the trip, my husband and I are spent, and one of us usually says, "let's go, quick!" Then there's the mad dash to put coats and hoods back on, and trudge back out through the snow to get strapped into car seats in the car. There's usually at least one crying on the way home. . . . maybe you get the picture by now.

Truth: We've decided that the only reason to go out at this point is to help us appreciate being home. Isn't it awesome that our home is a place we long to be? It reminds me of those without homes, children without parents, and widows in nursing homes. I pray that our home has been, is, and always will be a place of comfort, safety, love and acceptance for my husband, myself and our kids.

Crying

Confession: I am so annoyed by my own children's crying. We had the worst night. . . if one child wasn't crying, one of the other's was. What is it about your own child's cry that just grates at you and makes you feel like a failure? I'm the mom. I'm supposed to be able to fix it. Why am I a lot of times the one that causes the crying?

Truth: I know that when they're crying, sometimes it's because I AM fixing it. I want them to learn character here, in the protection of my home, where I can help soften the blow if I need to. I can stop the crying immediately. By giving them what they want. But the reality is, if I do that, I am not doing the job that He has put me here to do. God, continue to give me the strength to do what's right for my children, even when it makes them cry.

Chaos

Confession: Trying to leave our house always end up in chaos. Why is it that no matter how early I start getting everyone ready to go, it always comes down to the last 5 minutes? I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, I've tried it 100 different ways, but it's always a huge ordeal to leave the house.

Truth: The bottom line is, for now, this is my reality - 3 kids under 5 equals chaos when trying to go somewhere, especially in the winter when everyone must have winter coats on. I know that I know that I know, that someday I will actually look back on this and miss it. Children are a blessing from God, every minute of every day. Even when they are screaming so loudly that you think they may have pierced your eardrum. . .

My kids dress themselves

Confession: Sometimes I have no idea if I'm doing this parenting thing right or not. Not enough milk, too much milk, hats and gloves, no hats and gloves, pricey new electronic toys, no electronic toys, organic baby wash, inexpensive baby wash, time-outs, taking away privileges, make them look presentable, let them pick out their own clothes. The list of options goes on and on, it is so exhausting being the mom.

Truth: I know two things, first, I'm trying to follow God's rules for parenting as best as I can, and second, I am sure that I have and will make mistakes. Thanks God He's in control and not me.

Fun-employment

Confession: My husband doesn't have a job, and I'm loving it.

Truth: When the severence runs out, it may be another story.

We're always in a phase

Confession: I'm struggling with the adjustment of having my husband home full time. Yes, on the one hand, I love it and wouldn't trade it for the world. The other hand? I'm just really not used to someone else being in my house that has the authority to make decisions like where and when are we going somewhere, and what in the world is everyone going to eat for lunch.

Truth: Like I said, I wouldn't trade it for the world. When I see the man I love with a four year old girl and two year old boy on his back roaming around the room on his hands and knees playing "horsey", bucking them off to their delighted giggles and squeals, really, what in the world is better than that?

The No-Job Blues

Confession: My husband lost his job last week, and since then I have acted. . . . let's just say, less than Proverbs 31-ish since the dreaded day.

Truth: Driving in the car, listening to a praise song, the God of the universe became so clear to me, yet again. He has given us an amazing gift by having my husband home for now. He had been driving an hour and fifteen minutes one way to work each day. His place of employment was extremely pressured and stressful. My husband was gone from his babies (3 under 5) over 70 hours a week. His health was failing, and he was a very healthy guy. He was offered 6 months severence pay. We thought it was unfortunate that he lost his job right before Christmas. Unfortunate? Absolutely not, what a gift to spend my favorite time of the year with my hubby and father to my beautiful children!