The Comfy Spot

For Panda, any blanket, comforter, sleeping bag, towel, or anything else soft and cosy left on the floor, is the best place for a rest. Even if somebody else is already using it.

Visiting Cousins

This morning we headed to Grandma's (K's) house for a visit with cousins E and C who are there for the weekend sans parents. We had a lovely time! E was absolutely thrilled to play with the boys. She and Matthew get along really well and always enjoy playing together. I think it's because E is two years younger (she's almost 6) and thinks the games Matthew comes up with to play are just the best. Quite a change from his brothers' reactions! lol! Matthew wasn't so enamoured of C's interventions in the games and had to be reminded that C is only 2.5 years old and to cut him some slack.

The kids all played until lunchtime, then again for a while afterwards. C had a little nap on the couch in the basement while K and I had a chat and the other kids played, then I took the older ones upstairs to get ready to go in the hot tub. They all had a great time in the hot tub and C joined in after he'd fully woken up from his nap and had a snack. Before we left Andrew put on a little magic show for everyone while Matthew provided background music on the piano. E made a lovely magician's assistant for Andrew. Very cute!

I even got a few cuddles with C today. I was surprised he let me hold him since we don't see them that often. He's not really used to me being around and usually shies away, but he snuggled right in. It was so nice!

Today reminded me of just one of the reasons I am glad we homeschool. The boys don't see their cousins very often now that one is in grade one, two are in kindergarten and another two go to preschool a couple of days a week. Weekends are always busy for all the families and weather is a huge factor right now since they all live about an hour and a half away from us. If we didn't homeschool we'd miss out on visits like the one we had today. And those memories are precious.

Jogging Update

Today I finished week 5. It was a somewhat difficult week for me to do because each of the three workouts were different so I didn't have that chance to get used to a certain level or combination of walking and jogging. I did make it though...even through today's 20 minutes of jogging with no walking in between! I was amazed and admit I was heading into this one with a bit of trepidation. Really, 20 minutes with no walking?! It turned out to be great!

I've totally surprised myself with sticking with this jogging thing for this long. I'm more than half done the programme! I still don't jog very fast, but I figure that will come eventually. Nicholas was very funny one morning. He came downstairs during my last five minutes of jogging, watched me for a moment then asked, "Are you supposed to be jogging or walking right now?" When I replied that I was jogging he told me he really wasn't sure because it looked like I was just walking with a bounce. I let him know that it was the last few minutes of the workout and that I was very tired. He giggled. *sigh*

Of course, he hasn't really stuck with jogging at all. He keeps telling me he wants to start up again, but it's always on a day when he has Tae Kwon Do (and we had agreed he shouldn't run on the same days as TKD so that he doesn't tire himself out) so I think I'll just mentally pat myself on the back and be thankful I didn't decide to take on Tae Kwon Do. I'd never last!

Exam Day

This morning was Andrew's grade 3 piano exam. Adrian took the day off work and drove us to the exam centre, a beautiful home in a town about 45 minutes away from us. With the snow we've had this week, the flurries and icy roads on the way there, and the transport who felt the need to risk lives by passing everyone I was very grateful that I was not driving today. We were at the same exam centre two years ago when Andrew did his grade 1 exam so things were somewhat familiar.

Andrew was fairly calm, though he had told us many times through the week that he was a little nervous about this exam. He has practiced for hours and his teacher was very pleased with his work yesterday. He read a book on the way there and then before we went in, Nicholas led us in a short prayer for Andrew. It was lovely.

We were the first to arrive and discovered Andrew's was the first exam of this particular block of exams, so he didn't have long to wait. He lamented that he hadn't brought in his book, until he saw that I had it. I figured he wouldn't want to look through his music books! lol! While Andrew was in doing his exam I chatted with another mom who was waiting with her daughter who was there to do her grade 7 exam. I had to laugh when this lady mistook something I said and assumed I was a teacher! lol! I told her I only taught my own children. When she looked a bit confused I explained that we homeschooled.

Andrew came out of his exam after 15 minutes smiling and looking very calm. He said he messed up two of his pieces and was a bit disappointed because they are probably his two best, and he drew a blank on one of the scales but overall he felt it was okay. The results won't be posted for another 4-6 weeks. In the meantime he'll move on to grade 4/5 pieces.

I brought Nicholas into the waiting area with us so that he could see what it was like (Adrian waited with a very fidgety Matthew in the van). K told him yesterday she thought he'd be ready to do his grade 1 exam in June and he was sooo upset at the thought!!! He assumed it would be like a recital where he'd have to play for a room full of people and the thought terrified him! Once I explained what it was really going to be like he calmed down and thought it didn't sound as bad as he originally thought. Whew!

He knows that taking the exam is his choice. I pointed out that the fact his teacher thinks he's just about ready for it is a positive thing. It means his hard work is showing and that he's doing very well. That helped, too. We won't have to register until the spring and if he's not interested we'll wait. Same for Andrew doing his next exam. He mentioned he thinks he'd like to wait to take his next exam. I don't mind, as long as it's not in January again. After two of them in January I really think we need to schedule them better!

Slime!

Friday night's craft at The Book Club was for each child to make their own slime. This was a hit!!! It was easy to do and after the initial collective "ewwww" they had fun playing with it. My boys have been experimenting with different shapes made out of the slime and checking how long it takes for it to revert to what looks like a fried egg minus the yolk, really just a solid-looking puddle of the stuff on the counter! It feels rather rubbery like egg white, too. It's actually a material called a polymer, a long chain of molecules.

Here's the recipe, in case anyone wants to experiment with their own slime! This makes a nice amount for one child to play with.

1 tsp Borax

1/3 c warm water

1/4 c white glue

1/4 c water (warm or cool)

Add the Borax to 1/3 cup of warm water in a soup-sized bowl. Stir gently until all the crystals are dissolved.

In a separate bowl add the white glue to 1/4 cup of water. Stir gently until the glue and water mixture is smooth. You can add food colouring to this mixture for some cool coloured slime. We added some glow in the dark paint to ours instead!

Slowly pour the glue/water mixture into the Borax/water mixture. Pick up the bowl and swirl it gently in a circle five or six times. Reach into the bowl with your fingers and pick up your slime! Knead it gently - it will become more viscous as you play with it. Don't worry about the excess water left in the bowl, just pour it out.

Store your slime in an airtight container or zip-top bag. It's best to keep it in the fridge to prevent mould growth. Don't eat it!!!

Friday Finally!

This has been a busy week, not as busy as most of our weeks, but it just felt that way. Maybe because I've been feeling so tired all week. I can't seem to shake it. I know this time of year doesn't help much; I'm a sun-loving kinda gal! lol! I've had to force myself to get going each day, convince myself to jog, convince myself to get out there and pull that wagon for the kids to do their newspaper route, which, incidently, they actually gave up a couple of weeks before Christmas but the supervisor has not been able to find anyone to take over this particular route so we're sorta stuck with it for now because we agreed to keep on until a replacement was found - I think we're the suckers here!

Part of my agenda over the last several weeks has included picking one area in the house each day and give it a good decluttering. So far several kitchen cupboards have been done, along with the kids' schoolwork storage area in the kitchen, my closet, the area underneath the phone table which was full of old magazines and catalogues, the bookshelves in the family room and the shelves in the laundry room. Oh, I also defrosted the downstairs freezer which was nearly a disaster since I forgot the thing had a drain in the bottom that was not attached to anything and I happily defrosted, nearly missing the huge puddle under the freezer! Eeek!

Today I figured I'd tackle our bedroom. It's not bad, really, but there are definitely items in there that do not belong. I got in there and vacuumed up all the sock fuzzies, put away a few articles of clothing and some books and that was as far as I got. You see, the boys were also supposed to be cleaning their bedrooms today.

Nicholas was up early, as usual and got his chores done before the others had even surfaced from their beds. His room was mostly finished this morning. Not showing-the-house clean, but respectable anyway. Guests could stay over at a moment's notice and it would be fine. Andrew's is a work-in-progress at this moment because he chose to play with lego instead of clean this morning. Matthew, dear child that he is, had a flurry of tidying activity when he was supposed to be tucked in his bed and falling asleep last night so he boasted he didn't have much to do this morning in his room and decided on his own to tidy up the computer desk in the family room. Cool!

When I finished vacuuming my room I had a little thought that I should probably check out Matthew's room. My children are masters of the 'stash and dash' (admittedly they get this from their mother) and I saw last night that Matthew had shoved a bunch of stuff down the side of his dresser. He assured me he would fix it in the morning. I had to check. I wish I hadn't. I spent the rest of the morning folding clean clothes that had been shoved in with dirty clothes, sorting out little scraps of paper from lego, taking books out of the toybox or from the closet floor and putting them on the shelf and vacuuming up the twine fuzzies leftover from his 'security network' he had tied all over his room this morning and I insisted he put away. I could have asked for his help, but I just didn't feel like having to justify the stuff that was going to be recycled or put in the garbage. I've left the clean clothes, some toys and some books for him to deal with. And the dusting. The funny thing is, after I was finished his room looked just the same as when he had cleaned it! lol!

So, his room is clean, my room is only semi-finished and my 'get up and go' has abandoned me. I think I need a nap.

Cursive Writing

Over the years Andrew and Nicholas have made a few attempts at cursive writing, sometimes wholeheartedly, sometimes totally lacking enthusiasm for the project which Adrian and I have placed on them. My thoughts on learning cursive writing have changed over the years. I started out thinking that we had better make sure our kids know how to write because that's what we learned when we were in school. Really, when you think about it, any forms you fill out must be printed, not written. The only thing I officially write any more is my name to sign something. I do write about half the time when I journal or send a letter or card, but it is more of a joined up printing than the formal cursive writing I learned as a child. I don't think it is a necessary skill that people require these days. A neat thing to be able to do? Yes. Necessary? No.

I remember our first homeschooling foray into cursive writing and the why behind it.

I had overheard a very proud father of a little girl about a year older than Andrew boasting about how great his daughter's private school was. They didn't teach them printing, they started them off with cursive writing...at the very tender age of five! I was stunned and was thinking back to when I learned to write at school...probably the tail end of grade 2. Hmmmm. Must be some kind of progressive school. At any rate, the group of people he was gushing to all thoroughly agreed that this was the best way. Huh?

As we had already pretty much decided that we were going to homeschool I realised that this task of teaching cursive writing would fall to us to do. But when to start? I pushed this to the back of my mind for a few years, ignoring that little panicky feeling that my son wasn't learning to write already because he wasn't part of a progressive school. (By the way, I am completely over this now. I was young and we were new to homeschooling, knowing nobody else in person who actually homeschooled.) Then when Andrew was about seven I found a cursive writing book while out shopping and picked it up, figuring my kid could handle this at his age. After all, he picked many things up easily and eagerly. Ha! While the initial reception was of interest it waned very quickly and he resented this intrusion on his time, especially since forming printed letters still gave him some grief. The book got put away and eventually misplaced - he may have helped in that!

Fast forward a few years. Nicholas was eight and a half years old and had shown interest in how to properly write his name. We showed him how. Adrian found the identical cursive writing book while out one day and picked it up for Nicholas to start on. He was eager and made his way through most of the book before it lost it's appeal. He would practice writing his own name, but that was about all that really interested him. He had accomplished all he desired...to be able to write his name.

Around this time Adrian found full time work so I was able to be at home with the kids again (I worked outside the home for two and a half years while he was home with the boys), and I rediscovered my own tendencies to lean towards unschooling. The cursive writing book didn't leave the shelf in the kitchen for the next year and a half.

I was filling out passport applications a couple of weeks ago and Andrew asked what I was doing. I explained what it was and he took a bit of interest in the applications. When I got to his, I mentioned that he'd be able to sign his own name since he is older than 11 years old. He asked if that meant a true written signature or just his printed name. I honestly didn't know. The bank allows him to print his name when he makes a deposit or withdrawal. Would it suffice on a passport application? He must have been mulling this over because the next day he had dug out Nicholas' cursive writing book and made his own way through most of it in one sitting. Over the last two weeks Andrew has gone through that book in its entirety twice and is working on a third go through. He can write his name quite well now and is so pleased with the results. He even signed his name in writing at the bank last week. This, after a six-year hiatus on writing.

My point? Well, I guess it just goes to show that like many other things in life, kids learn best when they are motivated and interested in a subject. Especially when it becomes personal to them. Truthfully, I think our kids weren't ready until they were older and better able to control their pencils to tackle cursive writing. Having been through this with two of them now, I know we'll wait for Matthew's lead on whether he wants to learn to write. Even if it's just his own name.

Piano Musings

At the start of January, Matthew told me he really, really did not want to take piano lessons any more. Not that he didn't like playing the piano, but he just didn't want the lessons right now. We decided that we wouldn't push it and I let K know that there would be only two students at our house. She understood and is using the extra half hour now to spend with Andrew each week because his grade 3 exam is coming up at the end of the month.

I was just thinking about this change in our household and have discovered something. Matthew is spending about the same, if not more, time at the piano. He plays his favourite music he learned in his lessons and he has been working away at another piece he loves that his brothers can play. They've helped him out with correcting the notes and even fingering and that piece has come along nicely. It sounds great! All this in two weeks, no stress attached! He and I agreed that we would sit together and I would help him whenever possible with the pieces he would like to learn on his own. But, no stress!

Since there are no longer two students for the Music for Young Children programme, K is concentrating on grade 1 pieces with Nicholas. He is thrilled and spends loads of time at the piano practicing and perfecting the assigned pieces. He is also continuing to work through the various other popular music books we have, picking and choosing what he feels like playing, reading the notes or figuring it out by ear and sometimes checking that against how the music reads. He hasn't opened the MYC book for weeks now (he spent the majority of his time over Christmas playing Christmas carols; most of them were not specifically taught but he taught himself), and is enjoying this challenge. I'm not sure what will become of the MYC programme around here since K was sure it would be helpful to both Nicholas and Matthew, but she was the one to drop it when Matthew was no longer interested. They had completed about a dozen MYC lessons out of the 40 or so that are listed in the back of the book. I'm not disappointed that Nicholas is finally being challenged, I just regret the $$$ spent on two MYC books that could have been better spent on something different for music!

Andrew's time has been spent on a lot of technique - scales, triads, clapping back patterns, sight reading. He is willingly going to practice these things on his own. He still enjoys sitting at the piano and playing just for the pure enjoyment of the music, going through his entire repertoire at times from the simplest to the most challenging pieces. He does spend a lot of time on his specific exam pieces. We have discussed future exams. He's not sure that he wants to do another one this year, although K is certain he could do his grade 6 exam in June of this year. I told him that taking exams are completely up to him, we're not going to force him to do them! He hasn't said he's nervous about this upcoming exam as a reason for not doing any others. He would just like to play to enjoy playing for a while. I can understand the need for that!

All in all, piano playing around here has become more enjoyable in the last several weeks and I have not had to remind anyone to practice. Interesting how things work out when something turns out to be a positive change!

Cold!

Last night we had a very small group of kids at the library for The Book Club - only two of the seven did not belong to leaders. Some of the kids walk to the library so the cold has kept them at home. We had a good evening anyway. The group consisted of mostly older kids, aged ten and up. Matthew was the exception last night, being more than two years younger than the rest.

We have started a new series of lessons on the Fruit of the Spirit and C will talk about one fruit each week. Last night was Love. The craft was making a rag duster from leftover bits of fabric and the challenge to the kids was to use that duster to show love at home this week. It could also be used to wipe the floor from all the slushy puddles that congregate at the door from winter boots. Oh, and they aren't allowed to just give it to their moms to use! Great for me - I have three of them who need to show love this week! lol! I made one myself - mine is the large red one in the photo. I had more patience to tie the knots! Easy to do and it got the kids learning how to braid and tie knots.

K has done the last two weeks of memory verse activities and it's been fantastic because she has all sorts of new ideas for the activities and the kids are loving it so far. Great for me because I was finding it challenging to think outside the box and not just repeat previous activities! I'm mentally filing away these things for use at day camp this summer.

Afterward G&K took Andrew and Nicholas out for a doughnut and hot chocolate with C&C's family. I took Matthew upstairs at the library to get a few books, then we were going to head home. Unfortunately for us the van wouldn't start. It hadn't given me any trouble when we were leaving to go to the library earlier, but I guess it just didn't like the cold from sitting there for two hours. Ugh! Matthew and I walked home, neither of us with gloves on, and for some reason I decided to take the crate of stuff from The Book Club with me so I couldn't even stuff my hands in my pockets or up my sleeves like Matthew did. My fingers were soooooo cold and sore when I got home. The library is only about a five minute walk away, but we usually end up driving because of all the stuff we have to bring with us.

Poor Adrian hadn't been feeling well after work (he was using a particularly icky smelling chemical for most of the day and it gave him a headache, turned his stomach and made him really want to go to bed) so he stayed home. When Matthew and I got home he got out of bed and walked back over to the library to see if he could start the van. He did manage to finally and waited for it to warm up before bringing it home. Probably just a bit of a drain on the battery. It was fine this morning.

The boys were up and ready in plenty of time for Tae Kwon Do this morning. They found out their next testing will probably be mid-February. Their friend, M, came home with us while his brother is doing the adult sport class. They were all thrilled when I said he could come over, especially M! Right now they are all in the basement watching a movie and entertaining each other with magic tricks and cool kicks on the kicking target. At least they are happy and I'm warm!

Magic Time

Andrew received a great magic kit for Christmas. Since that day he has been putting together small magic shows for our family and friends. He loves performing and tries to put a bit of humour into his act. He sometimes gets one of his brothers to assist him and we sometimes have to put a restriction on Matthew's mouth because he gets carried away and wants to tell everyone how the trick is done! lol! There are over 200 tricks that the book in the kit describes. Andrew's goal is to master every one of them. Some of them are quite clever! I guess he'll be needing a fancy costume to really look the part!

Quiet Morning

Adrian left early for work, before anyone was awake other than the dog. She joined me in bed for a while after he left. I had a chance to sleep in for a bit, which I think I really needed. I've been feeling extremely tired for the last few days. Last night by the time dinner was over I was ready to drop! Adrian took the boys out to Tae Kwon Do and I had a chance to rest for an hour.

It was quiet when I got up this morning. Matthew was in his room organizing all of his clothing. He was taking items out of each drawer, refolding and putting them back neatly. Andrew and Nicholas were each snuggled into their own beds listening to audiobooks. I decided to take advantage of the quiet and after taking Panda outside sat down here with a lovely cup of tea! I just may need another one!

It's snowing again and I may have to go out in it later on, but for now I'm happy to be inside with nothing pressing to do. Thankfully my list for today is much, much shorter than yesterday's. I did get all but one thing done yesterday. Maybe that's why I was exhausted last night!

Running Buddy

Something I have recently started doing is to use the treadmill we have in the basement...really use it to walk and run on, rather than just letting it exist in the corner as I go about my day! I've never been big on running and my efforts at jogging with Panda have been sporadic and limited to spring and fall at the local track. Or summer days that aren't too hot. Oh, and only on days when Panda's leg isn't troubling her. Each time we'd head out I'd be happy if I could make it halfway around the track without feeling too winded. Then I'd have to walk for a bit and then, you see, Panda couldn't keep up so we'd have to just go home! lol! Unfortunately halfway around really was my best! Sooo, yes, my jogging efforts are definitely sporadic.

A fellow homeschooling mom over at Peer Into Our World posted a link to The Couch-to-5K Running Plan and I decided to give it a try. It's a nine week programme designed to have you gradually work up to jogging 5K in about 30 minutes. Since I've never even made it around the track once this is quite exciting for me! I'm not sure how long the track is, probably a quarter mile or about 400m so my "track" record is not very good at all. I'm in the third week of this programme and I'm doing okay so far. The first workout of each week has been tough, but the others have been better. The one verse that keeps going through my head, especially during the gruelling last five minutes of the workout is from Philippians 4:13, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." It's the only thing that keeps me going while counting down the seconds!

The timer and odometer on the treadmill don't work (certain boys liked to pretend they were disconnecting and reconnecting a nifty gadget for their superhero and spy games and it's pretty much toast unless you hold it together now) so I'm doing each workout by time only, using my watch, and have no idea how far I actually get each time.

Nicholas has decided to become my running buddy. He likes all things to do with fitness and enjoys using the treadmill on a regular basis. I put his photo up because he looks much cuter on the treadmill than I do! He sailed through the first week of workouts barely breaking into a sweat! He was coming down with a cold last week and didn't do the second week of workouts because he was coughing so much, but he's planning on getting back to it tomorrow. He said he is looking forward to spring when we can get outside to run at the track. I hope I'm as enthusiastic about it! Truthfully, I'd be thrilled to make it once around the track without stopping or slowing down! Panda won't know what happened!!!

Who Am I?

This morning during our Bible study each woman took a few minutes to create a list of words to describe who she is. We are beginning a study on Paul's letter to the Ephesians and one of the purposes is to find out who we are and whether we are living up to who we are. We'll make another list to describe ourselves at the end of the study and compare the two. Should be interesting!

Here is my list:

• mom
• wife
• teacher
• shy
• nervous in new situations
• stubborn
• thoughtful
• like to read, learn
• love my bed!
• saved
• forgiven
• easily pleased
• perfectionist
• emotional
• enjoy simple things
• procrastinator
• hopeful

Doing the background work for this study I found it interesting that Ephesus was an important coastal city during Paul's time. In fact, while it was the third largest city in the Roman empire, behind Rome and Alexandria, it was the occult centre of the empire. It was a hub of commerce and travel and the Romans had landed there when they were about to take over the province of Asia. It was a rather cosmopolitan place. Ephesus housed the Temple of Artemis (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) and Paul's ministry was considered a threat to this temple. Many vendors made their living selling idols of the goddess Artemis and with Paul preaching that there is only one true God they were envisioning their livelihood going down the drain so they took steps to have him removed. Paul's message spread throughout all Asia and affected both Jews and Gentiles. The people were realising that magic stands no chance against the gospel and that handmade gods are useless. The types of practices that were acceptable at that time remind me of what is now deemed acceptable and commonplace in North America. There seems to be a renewed interest in alternative spiritualities while at the same time a moving away from Christianity. Scary! I think this study will be very helpful in learning more about spiritual warfare!

Sledding at Camp

This morning we bundled up and took a little trip to camp to go sledding. Around town there aren't many places with a good enough hill to slide down and though the kids have fun with their own makeshift hill down our back deck steps which fill in with snow each winter, it's worth the short drive to camp for some decent sledding! Deep Freeze (a winter teen camp) just ended on Wednesday so we had the place to ourselves.

These first photos were taken at the hill leading from the gazebo down to the senior soccer field. It's not a huge hill, but you can go pretty fast and far across the field! The only downside is having to make the trek back up the hill. It was great the snow wasn't too deep.



Nicholas went waaaay across the field on one of these foam boards!

Even Adrian joined in, although this particular run ended up with him taking a spill off the sled.

I relinquished hold of the camera for a few runs myself.

These were taken at the campfire hill. It leads down to one of the volleyball courts nestled amongst the trees. This hill is much steeper than the one going to the senior soccer field, plus the teen campers had built a ramp on this hill. Avoiding it was difficult, but I managed! I was too scared to even try the ramp!!! Matthew accidentally went over it, had a bit of a scare, then was keen to try it again. My poor heart! The kids decided to try the ramp from partway down the hill, but if you went over it too slow, you missed the downslope on the other side of it and landed in a heap on top of the slope or in between the two parts. There were a few sore backsides before we left!

You can just see the remains of the igloo the teen campers built to the left of the sled run in the first photo. Two of the staff members tried sleeping in it one night, but didn't last the entire night. One went back to the cabin around 3:30am because he was too hot and the melting snow underneath him was making his sleeping bag damp and the other woke up at about 5:30am, frozen! All the condensation had frozen over top of him. I don't think you could pay me enough....

The view from the bottom of the campfire hill and Adrian just missing the ramp.

Andrew with a bit of a rough landing on the downslope.

New Year's Eve

This year we had a quiet evening at home with just our family. It was wonderful! We spent the evening playing games, watching movies and eating way too many treats. There was much laughter with Matthew being our resident comedian. He loves to act silly, as long as nobody makes a huge deal out of it other than laughing appropriately at his antics. As soon as he realises the attention is on him then one of two things happens - his desire to get a laugh becomes a little...shall we just put it...over the top which only leads to trouble, or he shuts down and is upset that everyone is watching him. A lot of the time these reactions are tied to him being tired or hungry though.

The boys were excited to be staying up late (a bit of a modified late...I think we celebrated the new year as it hit somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic) and enjoyed sipping 7Up out of wine glasses. Adrian and I had the real wine! Adrian doesn't enjoy having his photo taken and went out of his way to blur the photos I was taking of him that night, but I still managed to get a few, even with my hands shaking from laughing so hard!

One of the games we played was one I remember playing with my sister and parents while growing up, a card game called Mille Bournes. Adrian was introduced to it when we started dating and we've played it with our kids since they were old enough to grasp the concepts. We hadn't played it for some time so it was all new again on new year's eve. The description on the mostly falling apart box says it is a French auto race card game. The object is to be the first driver to reach 1000 miles, all the while avoiding hazards like flat tires, accidents, stop lights and being out of gas. These are things you can play on others to slow them down and allow you a chance to get ahead. You can play it in teams if you like, which is a lot of fun.

As it was getting later, Matthew was definitely showing signs of being tired and wired at the same time! He was bouncing around the room for a while, then settled into his 'nest' beside Adrian for a while. He had tired of the cards much earlier, had had some time playing at the computer, then decided to watch the rest of the card game warmly ensconced in his blankets.

Once 'midnight' hit we wished each other a happy new year and then headed for bed! Partiers we are not! lol! Actually, we had to wait while the kids fell asleep to re-modify the time zone we live in so as not to have children getting up at 4:30 in the morning!!!

New Year's Day was also fairly quiet. Panda woke me up early to go outside, Adrian came down shortly after and Nicholas followed by 7:00am (he's our early riser; thankfully as he's aged his body clock has been setting itself to a bit more reasonable time to wake up - when he was younger we usually were up with him by 5:30am!!!). Matthew and Andrew surfaced sometime after 8:00am. We had already removed pretty much all of the Christmas decor from around the house, the exception being the outside garlands and lights. They can wait until it's a bit warmer or I get tired of looking at them. We did move the boxes of decorations to the basement, did some additional tidying and got dinner ready to share with Adrian's parents.

After dinner we played some games while having some much-needed tea, then turned in early after G&K left.