January 2020

(Though I did not follow through on this plan, I still wanted to publish this draft for everyone to see!) 

For 2020, I am going to be starting something a little different. But first, I'm announcing that we are reviving the family blog once again, yay! Only almost a year after the last post! Oops. 🤦 I want to have a goal to do a better job of updating friends and family across the country on our life here in North Dakota. I also want to take more time to document what the kids are learning in school, which we call "Prairie Bible Academy". So, I am going to record what happens throughout the month, and then publish at the end of the month. I think this will be a nice way for me to stay organized and track what we are doing as a family, and also a way for others to feel a little more in the loop. I'll start by sharing our most recent kid photos! I took these on a gorgeous day with frozen fog sticking to everything!



December Break-Dec. 20-Jan 6

We had a wonderful vacation, a full two weeks with Derrick home! It was truly a special time. We had some Hanukkah fun making latkes, lighting the menorah, singing songs, playing dreidel, and receiving gifts from loved ones! We also had some Christmas fun with our church's children's program the Sunday after Christmas.



We spent some time in Minot letting the kids do some shopping with their Christmas money, getting some much needed clothes, and doing a Walmart stock-up trip. (We went to Walmart 3 times while we were there and we STILL forgot stuff.) We also got to see the lights in Oak Park, and saw a movie! The highlight for me was visiting the Roosevelt Park Zoo. The animals were so much fun, very active and a lot happier in the cold, snowy weather. The kids got to get up close and personal with a lion (with 3 layers of glass in between), and had wolves howl at them! It was a great experience!
 The first week of January has been unseasonably warm, and I am not complaining about that! We got outdoors a lot, even though Esther was a little under the weather. The kids also got a lot of time with Derrick, playing board games, building with legos, and we had our share of movie-watching, too. Derrick and the older three got to spend the afternoon at the house of a lady from our church, who everyone calls "Mama Lou". She and her husband have a farm outside of town and invited the kids out for some snow fun. They got to go sledding, then she gave them hot chocolate and snacks! Judah is still talking about how Mama Lou made him hot chocolate with marshmallows, and how he really would like to have that again. 😉
 Saturday turned out to be the warmest day of the week, so we headed over to our favorite place, The North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We saw deer, a couple of bison, and lots and lots of rabbit and coyote tracks! We had enough time to take two hikes before the kids got too tired to go on. We didn't feel cold at all! It was such a blessing. I'm so thankful we got the chance to have one more outing before Derrick goes back to work on Monday and the kids and I get back to the normal school routine.

Jan. 6-12- Back to school this week! The kids had colds, though, so we mostly stayed in and worked on school work, drank tea, and rested. Lots of playing happened, too, though! The imaginary play that goes on in this house never ceases to amaze me. And now, all four kids are in on it! Never a dull moment around here!

History - We started out by wrapping up our study of Ancient Greece. We've learned about Athens and Sparta, the Olympics, Greek mythology, philosophers, and mathematicians. The final lesson about Greece centered around Alexander the Great. Next, we move on to Ancient China!

Science - We reviewed the parts of plants, flowers, seeds, leaves, and the life cycle of plants. We also studied photosynthesis and studied leaves under a microscope!

Bible - We read through the book of Jonah and discussed it together. Judah read the story of Jonah in his early reader's Bible and "quizzed" us about it afterwards!