Co-op Christmas party and talent show......

We had our KEEN group Christmas party last night. We incorporate a talent show into the fun.

Michael played Jingle Bells on his guitar. I gave him the music over two weeks ago and told him to practice but he didn't. He did okay for not practicing. WE had that issue with the guitar class too. I keep telling him that he could be very good if he would just practice.

Jacob and I went through all his pictures and picked out a few to share with everyone. We put them on a board and he told where and when they were taken. He has some really good pictures, some he took when he was 5!!! The guy in the photo department asked me if I took the pictures. At first I told him yes because they sometimes ask me that to make sure I am not trying to print someone elses pictures. Then he said..."they are very good." So I told him that actually Jacob took them and I called Jacob over so he could hear the nice things they were saying about his pictures in the photo lab.

Anthony decided not to participate this year. He didn't want to last year either but David kind of made him do his Black Belt from. Since we aren't taking TaeKwonDo anymore it was a little harder to come up with talents to share.

Quite a few people were sick so we had a smaller party this year. I wasn't feeling very great myself. But the food and the company was good. We are very lucky to have found all the wonderful people in our group.

The Best Christmas Pageant EVER!!!!!!

Michael in his bathrobe Shepherd costume. His headpiece is tied with a necktie.

Of course Hobie's father didn't have a bathrobe so he had to have something else.

Friends came down from Northern Kentucky to watch the play.

Anthony on the headset getting everyone in their places.

Michael signing Silent Night.

The guys are in the play "Best Christmas Pageant Ever." Jacob is Hobie, Michael is David and Anthony is on the stage crew. He was also the understudy for Leroy Herdman. They had auditions early October and started rehearsals late October. It was weird to be singing Christmas carols before Halloween!!

Jacob and Michael have small speaking parts and have enjoyed the laughs they get during performances. The first two performances they really weren't loud enough but last night David and I went to watch and I told the boys that his ears were stopped up so they needed to talk really loud so he could hear. And they did!!!! After the play tonight the producer of the play hugged Michael and told him she was proud of him because she could hear him say his lines.

The boys love being in the plays. They like being on stage and getting attention. Anthony likes hanging out with all the girls. I think that is what he really misses about public school. I also enjoy the plays. I love watching it all come together and the kids shinning on stage. This is only our second play with Georgetown Community Theatre and I hope there are many more to come.

Ward Hall.....

We had a field trip to a pre-Civil War house here in Georgetown. Our town has some very beautiful old houses this one was on the verge of being torn down. But a group came in and bought it, and are in the process of restoring it to the way it was when first built. It cost a whopping 50,000 dollars to build in 1855. Quite a fortune for that time.

Veterans day.....

We got up Wednesday morning and worked on our school work. Then we headed to Camp Nelson with our friends Rachel and Walker. Camp Nelson was a Union supply and training camp during the Civil War. It was also the first place to recruit and sign up black soldiers. The place was also home to many black women and children. The camp was like a small town with with houses, a jail, a school and a hospital. The hospital even had running water inside.

Camp Nelson is also a National Cemetary. There are veterans buried there from the Civil War and they continue to bury people there. Our friend Rachel's father is buried there.

http://www.campnelson.org/introduction.htm

The day was beautiful!! The kids had a great time playing in the tall grass and rolling down hills. I just enjoyed being outside and watching them.

Today was all about books!

I took Jacob and Michael to Frankfort today for the Kentucky Book Fair. Jacob is really into the Bailey School Kids books right now and one of the co-authors of that series was there. He was very excited to see her even though we had met her before. He wasn't really into her books then, Michael was.

When we got there we started heading to the back. There were over 200 authors there signing books. Jacob walked straight back to the end of the building and found her. He walked right up to her and told her he was a fan. She has a new series of 4 books, they looked interesting so we bought them. We also ran into Mary Todd Lincoln at the fair :)

After we were done looking at all the books we went to the library for the read to the dogs program. Jacob loves reading to the dogs and Michael seems to be really enjoying it now too.

Co-op day cancelled.......But look at the fun we had!!

This seesaw is actually a sculpture at the College....too cool that you can play on it!

This is our buddy Brice. All my guys adore him!!! Makes me think that maybe we need a little one around, not that I have the energy for another child.

We had a few people sick this week and when we got to the church we found out they were having a meeting there. We decided to just cancel classes and go on a walking tour of downtown and the college. It was such a beautiful day!!! We started by looking at some of the sculptures on the Georgetown campus. We walked over to main street and went into the Georgetown museum. Its small, but they have some interesting things. Then we all walked down and had lunch at Subway. We headed back to the college to see the library. They have a nice childrens section on the third floor. We need to find out if we can check out books from there. Anthony was very interested in the library. I think he is just very interested in College. One of our HS friends is taking a Latin class at the college and she is only 14. I told Anthony that maybe he could do something like like that next year.

Then we stopped by the coffee shop and got hot chocolate. then the kids played in the leaves for a really long time. I was quite upset because there were so many opportunities for great pictures and I didn't bring my camera!! Luckily a friend had hers, so I am going to rely on her kindness for pictures to go with this post :)

playing catch up again.......

Wish my pictures were clearer. I didn't want to upset the animals so didn't use my flash.

Chuckie from Kentucky

Jamie, one of our favorite Salato employees

We have been to several Brown Bag Lunches at Salato. One in October about wild animal rescue. We saw a groundhog and a couple of baby raccoons.

Last week we went to a lecture about Bald Eagles. We got more information about the Bald Eagle weekends at a couple of the state parks in January and February. A friend had already sent me some information about them but I hadn't mentioned it to the boys yet. They were very excited when they found out about the Eagle watching. They thought it would be a very good idea to go :)

After the talk we walked around to look at the animals. We didn't see the bear, we think he was in the back where he stays when he is off of display. The door to back there was open, but no sign of the bear. The eagle was out and talking to us, but when I got my camera set to video he stopped :(

We always get special attention when we go there and a couple of the volunteers wanted to brin out snakes for us but found out that they had just bn fed. So instead they brought out a fishing game and the boys all won fishing bobbers.

Have I mentioned how much we love Salato?!?!