Oh yeah... "O week"

"Olivia observes the ocean an owl on an octagon and an orangutan holding an orange and an onion wearing overalls."

It's extremely hard to write clearly in chalk.

And the girls chalk designs. 

The 3 year old's Christmas quilt with a snowman.

 When I was in Washington my Gramma gave me a lot of fabric so that I could make Christmas quilts for my kids.  I've been wanting to make them some for a while now since I had a Christmas quilt for the Daddy and me (made our first Christmas together.)

8 year old with her blue icy Christmas quilt.

 I wanted to finish these for "Q week" but we had some things happen that stalled the letter-a-week progress and I wanted them done for Christmas, SO I stayed up too late a few nights and then I ended up getting the little ones done on Christmas (hand stitching the binding) and then the blue one the next day, and finally the pink one yesterday!  The hand sewing was the most fun because the couch was comfy and we watched Elsa and Anna episodes of "Once Upon a Time" that my husband bought on amazon for me for Christmas.  :)

The 6 year old was so excited to have this on her bed!  She said she was going to faint.  ;)  It's actually sideways because I folded it to fit on her bed better (she doesn't like to tuck it in on the edges.

My mother-in-law's Jamberries.

 We went in the hot pool at our apartment here the day after Christmas.  There aren't many advantages to living in a tiny apartment, but we do enjoy this sometimes.  The girls thought it was weird and unnatural, but when do you get a chance to do this right after Christmas?

My jams in the water.  There's a few days left in the month to order "First Frost" in case anyone is interested!  Each month they have an exclusive design only available for that month only.  Whenever there's been one that I really love I'm never sorry that I get it before it's gone.  :)  JamArtist.Jamberry.net

She wasn't sure this was a good idea, but was okay with it.

 The hot pool felt very hot actually, so it wasn't a big deal to be in it.  It was just a little bit of a shock to be out of it.  Also, getting too hot was part of it too.

The other two girls enjoyed this a little longer, but they were ready to get out before the grown-ups.

 The pool really helped my back.  All that sewing on the quilts was really killing me.

Sometimes several times a day my 3 year old will take a piece of paper (all different sizes) and scribble on it and then fold or roll it up and put it behind her back and come and tell me that she has something for me and when I open it she says, "It says 'Mommy loves Gracie!'"  Every time.  So so cute.  My stocking was full of her notes as well.

 Cookie day!  Gingerbread cookies to be precise.  They are finally old enough to do this with less help from me.  I mean, I still had to mix and roll out the dough and clean up and all, but I didn't have to stand next to the little one the entire time so that was restful.

And the goofy face just for good measure.  ;)

I found this candle that smelled exactly like how I remembered my favorite page from a Christmas scratch and sniff book from when I was a kid.  So, random favorite thing.  :)

Little one sucking on a Popsicle when she had a fever and was sick.

 Oh right... so why did "O week" take longer than I thought?  It was because we all got really sick.. flu type thing, but not stomach flu.  We had fevers and just couldn't do anything.  It didn't last super long, but the energy level got totally sucked away from it.

Random project that she came up with.

Okay, so "O Week" had little to do with anything "O" ... we talked about words that start with "o" of course and the chalk boards were up, but the sickness and Christmas and all kind of pushed school back a bit.  Still, they are learning all the time and pick up on the rich learning environment around them.  We've been reading a book called "No Children No Pets" which is about some kids near an Ocean so it sort of fits.  I'm having to switch up our school a little bit as the oldest is growing out of some things and the youngest is growing into some things, but that's a never ending project.  Clothes, toys, books, projects, basically everything we do and use all around us is in a constant state of flux and I'm here to adjust it all to help everything fit each child's development.
No pressure or anything.  ;)
I'm having a sickness re-laps right now so don't feel great, but I have a week to take down Christmas stuff before my oldest turns 9!  Crazy to think that she's almost 9 already.