Christmas programs

This was a big year in the Sheehan household! All the girls wanted to participate in the church's Christmas program, which was a couple of Sundays ago. Anna Kate had rehearsals, and Lucy and Samantha practiced at home and on Sunday mornings. It was great.

And then, on Friday, Anna Kate had her first Christmas program at her school. She did a great job - singing right along and knowing the motions, even though the other students had been practicing since October! It was a musical - "A Star is Born." And my mom was in town, too! We both agreed that it was a nice idea to have a story to tell rather than just a few songs to sing!

 Will and Samantha and Lucy were captivated! It was incredible, especially since the program was an hour long!

 Three of four before we left!

I'm not sure how this video really is, but it's a taste anyways! My mom has video of Anna Kate's favorite - "Gotta Get Down" - and we're trying to retrieve it! 

A lot's been happening around here

I was surprised that Will wanted to jump right in to finger painting along with the girls!

 Lucy and Anna Kate were in church with us a couple weeks ago for a Family Worship Day, and our pastor was teaching about work. He asked, "Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up?" To my surprise, Lucy leaned over and shared, "A farmer or an artist."

 An action shot my girls would probably rather I not share, :) but who can resist showing that Will is eating yogurt (even if a substantial amount gets on his clothes!). His diet is increasing and now includes cheese sticks, bananas, and yogurt.

 Will's favorite activity is building with these traditional big wooden blocks. One of our friends lent us a few until we make the investment ourselves. He loves these blocks!

 Babies, babies, babies. . . . . The girls are always (or so it seems) playing with their dolls and some scenario - shopping, church, school, orphanage, meal time . .. .  . Here's Jasmine enjoying her meal.

 Fall here means lots of leaves. We might have a small backyard, but it is surrounded by large trees that seem to prefer our yard when dropping their leaves! After Thanksgiving (we had a great one, by the way!) Dave and the kids worked on raking those leaves, and they managed some playing too!

 I can't resist a sleeping picture every now and then. I don't think I shared that I finally persuaded Dave to move bedrooms around upstairs. For those who have been to our house, this will make sense. We moved Samantha in with Will when we returned from our summer. Will is such a light sleeper, though, that having them in the room at the top of our stairs made for a stressful nap time, as I tried to allow the girls to enjoy themselves and play but wanted a quiet house so he would sleep too! So, we moved the big girls into the room at the top of the stairs and moved Will and Samantha to the back bedroom. It seems to be working really well.

 Will went to his first friend's birthday party this weekend. He had a ball and really loved his balloon!

 But he felt best when his big sister was close by. He held on to her arm the entire time they were at the table! So sweet!

So, here's a video I couldn't resist taking one afternoon when I noticed what Will was doing. The activity continued for minutes more! It's amazing to me how each of our children are uniquely created, and it is so noticeable at an early age.

school

Many of you know that we have been homeschooling our oldest daughter, Anna Kate. I usually describe myself as an accidental homeschooler. I never dreamed that I would homeschool my children. However, as Anna Kate finished her pre-kindergarten year at a private church-school in town, I started researching and thinking about Kindergarten. I discovered that it is full-day kinder. This was the first domino to fall for us. I couldn't imagine my sweet 5-year-old being at school for six hours a day, five days a week, most of the year. It felt like it was too soon, too long.
Then, we started thinking about our crazy lives on staff, the amount of travel we do as a family, and the way we share in the calling God has for our entire family. We started to realize that Anna Kate would either miss a lot of school days or a lot of Daddy!
So, we decided to homeschool her for kinder, agreeing that we would take it one year at a time, one child at a time. And so here we are. Anna Kate is in second grade this year, and Lucy is in kinder. Samantha could be pre-kinder based on the school entrance dates, but I haven't yet "locked" her in to starting kinder next year. And, of course, Will is not quite two.
The last two years have been an incredible blessing - having all four of my children home with me and home with one another. And we have been able to continue to be the primary influences in Anna Kate's life, continuing to build her in her faith and our family's values. She has received a fine education at home, with individual attention in her subjects and flexibility.
Last spring, I started to feel the pressure and the tension of our life. As we thought and prayed about this year, I briefly researched some schools in our area, but then felt like we would homeschool one more year. And so the year began. And so my inability to do it all became crystal clear.  The pressures and demands of being connected to our local ministry and raising our children well and other things, and my own desires to do it all well are heavy burdens for me. So, Anna Kate is going to a small Christian school in town. After we visited, I knew I wanted her to attend there, but we needed to see God provide! And He did!
Anna Kate is excited. And, actually when I start thinking about it, I can be excited too. I am not excited to have her "away from me" for hours each day. But I am excited when I think about this next step toward independence for Anna Kate.

We'll miss these days

I actually believe most people when they say that we will miss this phase of life, when our children are so young. (I think that's why I keep wanting more babies, to keep it alive.) In honor of that sentiment - we'll miss these days - here are some fun moments from the week.

An entire "super" load of pink clothes. Seriously, I did a super-sized load of laundry that was all shades of pink! Three little girls and one Mommy do that to a household. I also did five other loads of clothes, not to mention sheets and towels, this week.

We've been sick this week. Samantha asks for "hough drops" instead of cough drops, since her "c" is still not clear.

We turned on a movie (a sing-along, which we will probably never choose again, for the record) for the kids one evening, while I cooked dinner. Samantha came in and asked me to pause the movie so she could go to the bathroom. So, I paused the movie. A moment later, Will found Dave in the kitchen and insisted he come to the living room with him to "fix" the tv -- indicating this by pointing to the tv, making grunting noises, and showing his sign for "more." Will loves tv (a little scary, frankly).

Will also is starting to learn animal sounds and body parts. So, every time we see a dog in person or on the tv, he starts barking. Will's bark sounds like a small dog with a high-pitched bark. It's the cutest. He can also identify a nose, eyes, and mouth (id'ed by opening his mouth wide and sticking out his tongue). We were teaching him ear last night, which is so much harded to locate! He's doing a great job, if only he would learn to use the same hand as the side of his head he's trying to reach!

Forest animals

Grandma Sheehan brought this activity to Anna Kate when she visited. We started building the animals while she was here. We finished! And it's so cute! Forest animals out of pipe cleaners! 

Stockbridge 2011

Again this year we went to Stockbridge, MA to celebrate fall with our small group. We went in early October (I'm a little behind!) but I wanted to share a few pictures anyways. The weather was amazing this year. We were a little too warm in our long pants and shirts. We enjoyed great fellowship, food and, of course, fall! 

This is Lucy and Mary.

 Lucy climbed a tree.

 We tried to get a picture with all the kids. With 16 kids, 7 and under, my picture is missing Will, and a few heads are hidden!

 We went on a little hike.

 And, best of all, Grandma Sheehan was there with us this year to enjoy it all.