Who knew that cat doors come with this security feature? The cats just want to know how to turn that feature OFF!!!

The kids were disappointed their classes have ended, but they have their drawing books and projects to remember it all. The big project at the end was a new still life. I think the boys paid so much more attention to details than they did last year. They are definitely improving! The only problem with paying so much attention to detail though is that Dakota just couldn’t get done or looking EXACTLY how he wanted. He ended the class with tears of frustration even though I had taken a picture from his seat of the still life to allow him to finish at home in case he didn’t get done in class. Silly kid is just so hard on himself! Destiny’s picture, of course, came out great, and I think Derek did such a nice job this year, too. See for yourself!

Once upon a time not so long ago, alright really just yesterday, in a land really really close called home, there lived a little family called the Rineers. In this family was a mother so eager to create a wonderful childhood for her children rich in love, exploration, and imagination. Everyday though after the children were tucked into bed, the mother would breathe a private sigh of relief that the house was finally quiet. The same quiet she knew she would come to dread once the children were grown and gone. Still for now she appreciated it and looked forward to it. She would forget the worries of the day for an hour or two before her own eyes began to tug closed luring her into a world of wondrous dreams. Unfortunately, this was the same time of day that the mother was suppose to magically turn into the Tooth Fairy.

Morning came and a disappointed young boy arrived in the kitchen to inform everyone that his tooth was still there. This time he even put it near the edge, so the Tooth Fairy wouldn’t have any trouble reaching it like last time. Well, his mother had to make some excuse for the dollar not being there before! “Maybe the tooth fairy couldn’t reach it,” she had said. But this time the young boy had made sure that was NOT the problem.

As she searched for some other excuse as to why the Tooth Fairy might have forgotten his tooth again, he looked his mother directly in the eyes and said, “I know that YOU are the Tooth Fairy, Mom.”

She smiled softly, the guilt of forgetting as evident as the snow falling outside. Her gentle reply was, “So can I just trade the tooth for a dollar now then?”

“No! That wouldn’t be as special!” the boy argued.

“Alright, I will try to get the Tooth Fairy there tonight, but YOU have to remind me before bed,” his mother tried, hoping she’d remember either way.

It was another busy morning with classes out at the cyber school office and a visit to the grocery store, that quickly melted into a lazy afternoon. Then to make up for the lazy afternoon the whole family kicked into high gear just before bed straightening bedrooms, cleaning up pet cages, washing dishes, and so on. This sudden shift in activities and tasks made even the hopeful young boy forget the tooth that still lay beneath his soft welcoming pillow. He quickly drifted to sleep having never reminded the Tooth Fairy of her obligations that evening.

Again, the young boy awoke and checked just in case some miracle had occurred, and again he was disappointed. He found his mother still resting in bed and snuggled in beside her. “Mom, the Tooth Fairy didn’t come again last night, but it was my fault because I forgot to remind you.”

Wasn’t that just sweet that he was taking the blame for that horrible Tooth Fairy? Feeling extremely awful this time for disappointing him two days in a row, she offered another solution. “What if you went back to bed and pretended to be asleep? Then I can turn magically into the Tooth Fairy right now and sneak into your room.”

The boy happily agreed, fearful that otherwise he’d never see that dollar. Off he ran to his room, scurried up the ladder, and crawled beneath his covers. Once all was silent, his mother attempted to use humor to shake off the guilt. She grabbed the money from her purse and flapped her arms like wings as she skated in her candy cane socks and red pajamas across the house and down the hallway to the boy’s room. The boy’s siblings followed her giggling along the way. She pushed through the door a little less than quietly, but the boy was dedicated to this game now keeping his eyes closed and not making a sound. The Tooth Fairy quickly exchanged the tooth for a little more than a dollar to make up for her evenings of forgetfulness.

She left the room and skated back down the hallway flapping her arms. She was followed by the other children asking, “Do you have any extra dollars? Can I have your autograph?” She ignored her fans knowing that it wouldn’t be long before the the boy would arise from his fictitious slumber. As soon as she resettled into her bed, she magically turned back into the mother. The little boy arrived in her room quite excitedly this time.

“Look, Mom, I have a dollar, a quarter, and a nickel!” the boy exclaimed.

“Yes, I figured the Tooth Fairy owed you at least a little extra for making you wait, sort of like interest,” the mom replied. Big hugs and smiles were shared all around. As the mother hugged her son closely, she was so relieved that his childish spirit hadn’t been destroyed by living with the worst Tooth Fairy EVER!

**NOTE: This story is based on real events. In fact it is a real event, but the names have been left out to protect the guilty as much as that is possible when written on her own blog. Errr…Ummm….Anyway, no photos were permitted, so the kids drew pictures of how they envision THEIR Tooth Fairy. Enjoy!

Without giving the 15 inches of snow from the previous storm time to melt down, another snow storm tore through the area dropping about 20 more inches at our house for a total accumulation between the two storms of 35 inches. Ugh! Scott worked from home on the 10th and had off on the 11th and 12th, so he didn’t have to worry about roads thankfully. The kids had fun trying to walk around in the snow. It was manageable in the spots that had been plowed or shoveled last time, but in the spots with double accumulation, they had to follow me. Even the dogs had a harder time with this storm. Really, that didn’t stop any of them from enjoying it. Leia was pretty happy to be able to tackle Luke. He couldn’t use his size against her as much because it just made him sink deeper.

With the 11th being my birthday, Destiny was planning to make a cake for me. However, we discovered too late that we didn’t have enough sugar–too late to actually drive to a store that is. We decided to trek over to Aunt Zip’s and Uncle Tup’s house to borrow some sugar about a mile away. The walk down the driveway and along the road wasn’t too bad. The road was already plowed. It was when we had to leave the road to cut through the woods to their house, the shortcut, that the walk became challenging. The snow was between mid thigh and at points to my hips. It was quite a struggle to walk through, especially because we walked in a complete circle at one point getting disoriented with the snow-covered pine trees blocking our view of their house. Eventually we figured it out, but had to rest at their house in order to have the energy to make it back. Destiny wouldn’t have made it through without walking in my footsteps literally. The walk back was easier except that it was mostly up hill and our driveway wasn’t plowed yet. The driveway felt so so so long! We were so exhausted by the time that we got home, that we didn’t make the cocoa nor the cake that night. Oh well! At least it’s a walk that Destiny will likely never forget!

Again Uncle Tup came up the next day on the 11th and plowed us out with the tractor. I’m so glad they’re nearby, because otherwise, my back would hurt a lot more! Thanks again Uncle Tup! We wound up going out on Saturday and spending a nice day at the Whitaker Science Center and seeing an IMAX movie for my birthday. That was really nice! We’ve been playing in the snow since the storms watching it melt off. The warm weather this past week has really reduced it and hardened it. The boys can finally sled again which was not realistic in that extremely deep snow. They also have giant snow hills from Uncle Tup to climb and slide down. Here are some pics from that storm.

Another storm from the south drops amazing amounts of snow in the whole Harrisburg area! The best thing for us is that these southern storms drop less on us than all of those worrying about our driveway this year. Heehee! Although still a large amount, we ended with only 15 inches yesterday. Uncle Tup again bailed us out with his tractor, but I’m willing to bet we could get out of our driveway before many of you further south.

Anyway, the kids of course were amazed at the snowy bliss awaiting their footprints, sleds, and tunnels. Even the puppies couldn’t wait to run around in it, or more like bound around since it was to their bellies. Destiny took Jagger out on his harness and leash to explore the frozen white stuff. We were surprised that he eventually warmed up to the idea and seemed to like hopping around exploring it. Well all was going well, until I accidentally let the dogs go out back forgetting she was out front with the rabbit. Thankfully she heard Leia coming, and snatched Jagger up before Leia could get to him. Big oops for me, but a big pat on the back for Destiny!

I really don’t mind these big storms on weekends when we don’t have to worry about driving to anything. They are just the most exciting types of storms for the kids. Scott even took Destiny for dark, snowy walk last night. Everything just seems so peaceful when it snows. I’m not looking forward to the snow predicted for midweek. I’m hoping it holds off until Thursday when Scott is off of work! Here are some pictures of our fun snowy day.

Well, as Destiny’s study of Pennsylvania came to a close in social studies, we were lucky enough to have our local home schoolers in the Halifax organize a tour of the state capitol. She was so pleased with herself because she could answer many questions, having just covered the information in school. Amazingly, this is the first time we’ve ever taken the actual tour. Usually we just walk around and hang out at the fountain. It was very informative. Even Derek and Dakota enjoyed it. After the tour, we explored some stairways back up to the fourth floor and down again. Here’s a few pictures from the field trip.

Every year I seem to realize it’s farm show week as I’m driving down the road past one of those traffic signs. This year was no different. The great thing about this late discovery each year is that I’m never tempted to go on opening weekend. Instead the kids and I usually wind up going on the day they have the cart races. We went early on Tuesday and completed their Farm Detective program which was like a scavenger hunt for knowledge throughout the facility. Then the kids got to enter a contest with Turkey Hill to win a year’s supply of ice cream. We really enjoyed going to the different booths and of course, seeing and petting different animals. Then we had to leave for Dakota’s drum lesson, but were excited to return later with Scott along. This is the first time he’s been able to join us for the cart races. We splurged on some treats from the food court and raced to the arena for some good seats. I think I even saw Scott smiling as we screamed and cheered for the different teams. The kids love this event because they get to yell for all of the teams as loud as they want without getting into trouble. It was a nice field trip and has become something we look forward to each year! The kids hope that someday they will have something to enter in one of the competitions at the show. We’ll see! Enjoy the pictures!

Derek and Dakota were learning about the planets in science, so I couldn’t resist introducing them to an old art form–paper mache! They had so much fun with the messy goo as they constructed planets to go along with their presentations. Each had to select a planet, read a book about it, make a poster, and give an oral report to the family. They loved it, and I love when learning is a blast!

Destiny finished her Unit 2 Reading project for her novel, Redwall. She created this wonderful map of the place where the story takes place, and then recorded explanations for each area on the map explaining what happened where. This she then presented to the family. She really took her time and created a nice map! She also had to prepare a one minute speech for history after learning a little about the workings of politics. She had to pretend she was running for Class President, but her speech had to convince two audiences to vote for her, the adults and other children. This was to help her understand how politicians try to persuade their audience to vote for them. She did manage to fit some points in there for both groups in that short time! Great job Destiny!

Project Pictures

We decided it was time to get the kids started with some instrumental lessons as we have been telling them we would after the move. Dakota is taking drum lessons and Destiny is taking flute lessons. Derek and Scott have decided to learn the guitar together. Since Dakota wants to be a builder it has been easy for Scott to find projects to do with him. The guitar lessons will give him something special with Derek, too. They are using a DVD program to learn though instead of going to a live instructor, so we may allow Derek to take vocal lesson to. He has a great ear for melodies!

After the kids had started lessons, one morning Derek gets up with this crazy hair sticking up all over. I couldn’t believe it! He looked just like an 80s rocker which went perfect with his guitar, so I had to share. Take a look for yourself!

We took Pap with us on a PA Cyber field trip to see the Pennsylvania Youth Ballet’s performance of the Nutcracker. I wasn’t sure what the boys would think of it with this being their first ballet, but they seem to really be mesmerized by it. The performance was great! After the show, Pap treated us all to lunch, topping off the trip!

Mammam accompanied us on a field trip to the Dickens of a Christmas presentation at the Mount Hope Estates (by the Ren Faire). This was a neat interactive experience, and we were so glad that Mammam could share it with us! We learned about parlor games from the times, learned the origins of some holidays traditions, sung Christmas Carols, met Charles Dickens, and watched a version of the Christmas Carol. The gentlemen playing Dickens tried to incorporate Dakota into the show, but every time he came over to talk to him as Scrooge’s nephew, Dakota just covered his head with his coat. With a group of teens there from another school, he was getting a lot of “Awwwws!” from everyone. He definitely didn’t want to be the center of attention, but was just darn cute anyway! After the show, we took Mammam to lunch at friendly’s where I persuaded her to save some of that humongous salad for later to have room for a peanut butter cup sundae. She was glad she did! Yum! We had such a nice field trip! Here’s Mammam and the kids in the “church” to learn some songs and traditions.

With the move Mammam wasn’t going to be able to have her Christmas party this year which was really a big disappointment for her. Scott and I decided to surprise her with a party at our house. We set up her tree with all of the family pictures. Destiny set up her village decorations, and we turned the new living room into a little banquet hall. The only problem was that we were hit with a big snow storm the day before. Still much of the family and friends still managed to make it. Uncle Tup plowed the driveway and parking areas, and those that couldn’t make it up simply parked below and walked up. Everyone brought food to contribute, and some even brought sleds. Everything turned out so nicely, and most importantly, Mammam was thrilled. She seemed to be having such a great time seeing everyone, and that makes the whole thing a success. Santa Claus even visited, and Mammam sat on his lap, too. After some of the families left a few with kids hung out and went sledding. It was an awesome day! Here’s some pictures of the day.

On Christmas Eve, we visited Pap and Grandma Rineer as has become tradition. The kids excitedly tore through gifts and enjoyed some dinner and treats. I think Destiny was most excited about her K’nex building sets, and the boys were by far most excited about Wii Mario Kart of their very own. We exchanged gifts with everyone and enjoyed the visit! Tori even had little gifts and treats for the dogs which they were very happy to receive. Leia didn’t want to share the toys,and claimed them all for herself. They devoured the brownies!

For Christmas this year the kids were probably most excited about getting gifts for their pets! They decided to get pet gifts instead of for each other, but I made that choice theirs. That’s right, the humans were bumped off of their Christmas lists for the animals! From a kid’s perspective I can understand that. We got the kids some more Wii stuff, building things, and giant bean bags and followed our normal tradition of opening gifts throughout the day. It was such a nice relaxing time after all of the running around before the holiday. We still had snow on the ground, so the kids also enjoyed sledding throughout the holiday break. We had ducks for dinner, breaking in the new roaster that Tori got us, along with some of Derek’s cooking course recipes. The Rosemary Potatoes were delicious and the duck turned out great, too! Some Christmas Eve & Christmas Day Pictures.

We took it easy for most of the week and appreciated having Scott home with us. Poor him though! He was fighting bronchitis the whole week! For New Years Eve, we decided to all stay up until midnight. When everyone was looking tired around 10 PM, I told them to all get dressed for some late night sledding and a snowball fight. I love breaking away from our normal daily routines for special things like this from time-to-time. We had so much fun! Then we played Apples to Apples as a family until the countdown at midnight, and then finished the game after that. We made our traditional toast literally with toast, and headed to bed around 1 AM. It was such a nice evening centered around great family time which is a theme I’d love to carry on through the new year!