The following were amazing geometric devices that were so fun to gaze into. It felt like you could go on forever through them.
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| Neat how the geometric display can be seen reflected in this crystal! |
After we finished the exhibit, we went outside the museum and walked the trails:
We read the following book, which was a sweet story that involves a girl who enters the care of her aunt and uncle after the state removed her from her parents' home.
We liked that book so much and found the description of another book of hers interesting enough that I bought and downloaded it on my Kindle. It is also told in first person by a girl whose father left her, her mother, and her brother, and they became homeless and started living out of the mother's car.
We never failed to enjoy the winter wonders outdoors. I took new pictures of some frostweed (Verbesina virginica). I walked with the kids down to the icicle-laden cliffs so that they could play.
I'm happy to say that I truly have the perfect-tasting fried rice down, and not only that, but I also make the perfect Japanese white sauce, too. I had been disappointed the first several attempts, but I'm ecstatic that I have finally mastered this. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It is very time-consuming and labor intensive, though, to cook and refrigerate the rice, saute fresh vegetables (onion, zucchini, mushrooms, and broccoli are our favorites), scramble the eggs, fix Japanese white sauce, and fry the rice. But it is sooooo good!
And look! I made two cheesecakes for a sabbath dessert one week—one pistachio and the other raspberry, both with homemade crusts. They were delicious!
In the previous post, the rat Tobin was featured. The following rat is his brother Buddha. Carissa trains the rats to go through obstacle courses for treats.
In late December, I read the following book to the kids, since its setting is winter. It's a ghost story, but it teaches a lesson about racism, now and historically.
William sometimes goes on longer hikes with us elsewhere, but this time the three of us hiked near home.
And we went bowling, too:
When I had all four of my babies, we enjoyed a fun hot dog and marshmallow roast:
We visited my parents and other family. I got my dad to take a walk with Carissa and me, and we ran into the boys driving the ATV down at the boat landing (White River).
The four girls (including my two nieces) always spend ample time hanging out:
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| Meg and I |
Then it was back to everyday life again. During this semester, I stayed home to work on my bachelor's degree online and did some substitute teaching. Two mornings of the week, Carissa has on-campus classes and drops the kids off at school on her way. I always see them on their way at the door.
Sometimes I go for a walk and only one child joins me. Often the child is Elizabeth.
Trust and Liv went through a brief spell of wanting to go hang out on the roof of the house.
Trusten was assigned a cell project. He was able to choose whether he wanted to do an animal cell or plant cell. He and I worked on it together, and it was fun. He really memorized the cell parts and what they did with ease. He's always seemed to enjoy biology. Hmmm, wonder from whom he gets that. ;-)
I made up some sort of cake bread/cake that I think was both vegan and gluten-free. Oh yeah, it was flourless, I think. It contained banana and avocado, chocolate, and I don't remember what else. I've got the recipe saved somewhere, if anyone wanted to contact me for it. It was somewhat good.
We were able to give the kids winter solstice gifts:
We also celebrated Elizabeth's eighth birthday. My baby is getting so big!
She likes to get cakes half vanilla and half chocolate. She eats a bit of both. She requested the candy decorations this time around.
Her class sang "Happy birthday" to her:
My biggest baby passed his driving test! We left there and went to get his license.
Elizabeth made a Rudolph reindeer for art in school:
I made some sort of coconut cream pie that was a lot better than any sort I'd made before:
At the tail end of the month, we visited family again:
2019 was a pretty good year. We certainly dealt with some challenges, but we enjoyed a lot of good fun and learned plenty of new things.
Until next time...
