Advent Calendars, Crochet and Bowling

Every year the kids and I do an Advent Calendar. Last year we did one with ornaments we painted. This year, I was having a hard time finding one we had not already done. So, I challenged the kids to come up with one. I think we have finally decided on one. A few months ago my mom gave us a tin full of stuff you might consider junk. There were some of those fluffy ball things in there, a whole package of them. DJ decided he would draw Rudolph's head, with an over sized nose, make 25 circles on his nose, and then each day glue on a different colored ball. He will be Rudolph the multi colored nosed reindeer, LOL. We are supposed to work on that tomorrow, but Friday's don't always go as planned.

Now that my online job has dried up, I find I have lots more free time to do things I was always too tired to do before. So now I am re-teaching myself to crochet. Since I don't follow written directions well, they just make no sense to me, I frequently make up my own patterns and then by trial and error I get something done. I have already completed 2 baby snuggies with hats, and am working on a third. Plus I started a after bath baby blanket and wash cloth that I am excited about, and have another pattern in mind for something very useful in cool. This dress shown below, was made for my daughter. She asked me if I could make a Leopard print dress. I tried to find patterns, but really had no luck, unless I wanted something extremely hard, which I didn't. So this is my own pattern, and if I do say so myself it is pretty darn good. She was very happy and can't wait to wear it. I continue to paint as well, at least once a week, sometimes more, read, and of course there is all this homeschooling and teaching going on. We are also doing a winter vegetable garden, which so far is going good. No veggies yet, but I am optimistic. It is super dry here, no rain in three weeks, so that always poses a problem.

I am hoping we are joining a homeschool bowling league. We have been members of this one homeschool group well over a year, but we never can fit their schedule into ours. But, once a month, on a Thurs. I hope they will be going bowling, and the fee is cheap considering. We do have to drive a bit to get there, but not too far, and I think for DJ especially this will be awesome. Pray it all falls together nicely.

We shouldn't tell tall tales, right? Well unless it is a writing assignment by your teacher. DJ had just such an assignment from me this week. Hop over to his blog to check it out. Now, I have not checked his spelling and grammar yet, but what he read to me was really awesome.