This Week at Our House # 5

1. And just like that, February is upon us. Every now and then John takes up new hobbies that benefit me. Recently, he got interested in knife sharpening, bought a lot of tools, and sharpened my 12 year old kitchen knives. He did such a good job, he could shave with them. This week, he bought some cookbooks. He has been reading to me about italian food and cakes. I am wondering if this is going to become another one of his hobbies that benefits me. Years ago, it was photography. That was fun too.
2. I decided to make Friday the clean the whole house day, rather than Saturday, so we will have one whole day with nothing necessary. We did it this week and loved having Saturday to be lazy. 
3. Ruth had her dentist appointment. She has to get her cavity filled before the dentist will sign her off and then her mission papers go in. The cavity appointment is on Valentine's Day. She will also have to have 2 of her wisdom teeth extracted. I never did. I just had mine pulled when they grew in, and I was 27.
4. Kate just reads and reads and reads. She didn't like to read until she was about 13, so this gives me hope for the younger kids who are not book lovers yet.
5. I signed Johnny up for the ACT this week. He will take it in April. He has now taken 3 practice ACT's to prepare, and he will be taking one each Friday until then. The first two weeks, he got a 26, and this Friday he got a 28. He has time, so hopefully, he will be able to get a 30.
6. Adam is growing by leaps and bounds. I can hardly keep up with clothes for him. I bought him new things in September and he literally burst through them. They had big holes and not from ordinary use. John and I were joking about him being the incredible hulk. Ruth and Kate grew so slowly that this is new territory for us.
7. Rachel loves playing with her legos and does so in a very girl way.
8. Anya is an all-around good student. She does her work without nagging. She understands things reasonably well. I never have to explain things to her more than once, and she gets the answer correctly. 
9. Joseph really likes the home school coop. All of the kids do. They get in the car excited about what they learned and played and who they talked to.
10. I made hershey kiss cookies for the kids. Joshua ate the hershey kiss off the top of one, handed me the cookie, and said, "Here Mom. You can have the crust."
11. Arwen picked out some princess dolls to spend her Christmas money on. She has been carrying them around since she got them.
12. Susan is such a classic terrible two. She screams at the top of her lungs whenever she does not get exactly what she wants.
13. Sam smiles and smiles so big all the time.

Tender Mercies

1. Ruth only has to get two of her wisdom teeth out, so the cost is half.