Happy Thanksgiving!!

Not the picture you were expecting? Thought I'd post some nice picture of us all dining on a beautiful feast? Nah, I'd rather post the pictures of my kids being totally grossed out at the raw turkey. They all wanted to help cook the huge turkey that Aunt Lindsay brought over earlier in the week. Well, when I cut the package off, they were grossed out, big time. But, wait......when I told Sasha she had to reach inside the cavity and pull out the neck bone and gizzard bag, I think she 'bout threw up. They screamed and screamed and yelled for Daddy to come quick and check out the livers and all that jazz. I finally got it ready and shoved it in the oven. Whew. Who knew cooking a turkey could be so exciting.......

Here is me and my sweet Sasha Belle. She had so much fun today playing with Audrey and Sean. The pumpkin pie was the biggest hit with the kids. Me, too actually. We put up our Christmas tree tonight and rocked out the country music. It was so much fun! The kids had a ball opening the boxes of decorations. I love, love, love the holidays!

My friend Cara and her sisters have a fun tradition of going shopping on Black Friday, just for fun and to get a deal or two. I have never gone but since they are shopping in my neck of the woods now that I have moved, I am in! We are meeting at the Walmart at like 4:30 am and holy cow, I must be nuts. I wonder if we will witness some crazy people fist fighting over at TV or something. Geez, I hope so.........not really. That would not be cool. My sister is coming too so she can score some big items and stash them at my house! I am excited for this! Maybe I should go to bed now........nah. I might as well stay up all night and blog away!

Where have I been and what in the world have I been doing?.....

I have been neglecting my blogging, but I doubt you have noticed or even care much. Much has happened in our family and I have been very preoccupied. I won't get into all of it here, but I will just say it has been a tough time for my family. On a good note, I have decided, after years of concidering it, talking myself out of it, then concidering it again, to homeschool my kids. I know, I am nuts. Homeschoolers are weird and anti-social, are they not? Nope, they aren't actually. The homeschooled kids I have met recently are amazing. There are 4 homeschoolers in my ward and they are wonderful.

In case you are wondering why I would do such a thing, here are some of my reasons, in no particular order:

**I want to be the one to see my children's faces light up when they understand a new concept.

**I want to take full responsibility for my children's education and not leave it to a system that may or may not care about my child.

**I want to have control over what my child learns and how they learn it.

**I want to foster a love of learning that they can carry on throughout their lives.

**I want my children to learn together and create strong family bonds.

**I want to learn, grow and challenge myself right along with them.

**I don't want to get them away from me, I want them to be with me.

**I want them to learn at their own pace, and to not to be expected to be like everyone else.

We have been homeschooling this entire month and it has honestly been wonderful. We have done science experiments with sound, collected rocks, make Hansel and Gretel's cottage (I gotta post a picture of that! It is darling), written a poem, played store with fake money, learned about the 1st Thanksgiving, and on and on. We do reading and math first thing in the morning, since they are the hardest and require a fresh mind. The afternoons are for history, science and other things. We have a history lesson with 3 other homeschoolers on Tuesdays and then the kids play for several hours. I have purchased and or borrowed my curriculum and am loving what I am doing. The decision to do this came after much prayer, thought and talking it over with eachother. Sometimes I think I am nuts. It would be so much easier to not do it, but I know it is right for us. I have hesitated to post about it since I am not sure what others may think or say.........but, there ya go. We are a homeschooling family now.