With the quilting projects looming Livy got to be my helper ironing material. She discovered she enjoyed the task. There are so many skills that dominated women's days that are now lost arts and novel experiences. She ironed yard after yard getting things ready for success. Bruce is at the age where he loves to be a clown.
We caroled several evenings. It was much easier to do with Aliza home. We braved a few nights without her but our singing was definitely not in sync or strong and confident. A new coat for Alia helped as well. The weather got colder as the month went on.
Bruce is a lean young man. After some consulting with my sister we decided milk shakes were the easiest for some extra calories. Thus when the kids were at school the younger three enjoyed a calorie dense milkshake. They are all willing eaters to this breakfast.
Livy had some intense tooth pain for a few nights and we found she had a rotten tooth. Therefore she had her first root canal. Thankfully antibiotics helped the pain subside and even better the procedure was totally manageable for Livy who is notoriously wiggly in the dentist chair. Unfortunately, she's not even 11 yet.
Andrea loves with the older brothers come home. She leans for them and wants to play and interact with them. Babies are great lovers of older siblings.
Bruce and I have been pretty consistent with school this year. We had a goal that Bruce could read by Christmas. While he is not choosing to read, or very literate he does know his letters and if pushed can read words. So we are celebrating that. He is also very good with math.
The kids were impressed with the quilting stands. They were playing that they were calves getting drinks from buckets. Oh the entertainment imagined with siblings.
The kids had their annual Christmas presentation at school. It's vastly different from years past. The one element of being in school for many years is the changes in education experience.
A favorite part of December is visiting our friends. This is our 4-h leader showing the kids her pig stud semen catalog. They were impressed. She then showed us her AI tools and live semen. I've never seen the supplies but it was fascinating. Sometimes they have baby piglets or goats warming in their kitchen during this month. We were slightly disappointed to find no animals in the house.
Merle loving Andrea.
The boars she used this year.
Another neighbor has this elaborate village in his basement. We love watching the train go around and around. It's fun to discover the different scenes that are on display. This is a full 4 tables worth of decorations.
For some reason Christmas needs to be a cleaning month too.
One night it snowed and every stop he worked to make a snow angel.
Deep in quilting process, Millie was making some cards and Livy was probably already getting hers together. She might have been cooking as well.
There's always lots of hands and activities going on here. December pushed my mental abilities but like I mentioned before it was fabulous to have Aliza back helping. I'm thankful for each of these kiddos and their growth. We are blessed.
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