December

The semester is wrapping up, which sounds all nice and tidy, as though the work is coming to an end, but really it means that writing and grading final exams for one semester collides with the (somewhat frantic) prep for the next semester.

In the meantime, winter is definitely here. Six below last night and blinding white, crunchy snow. The town is decorated for Christmas and my children are finally starting to respond to the little elves who are watching for good behavior. Alexandra, who has taken to wrapping all the toys in paper, is asking if she'll get more scotch tape "from Hanukkah". 

We have an EIGHT year old now! Katherine's birthday gift this year was her own room. She has organized her shelves and drawers jus the way she likes them. She happily reads herself to sleep now (instead of the putting up with the annoying, loud chatter of her little sisters). She has her own alarm clock, although because of the horrible, shrill bell that startles everyone in the house when it goes off, we have reached an agreement: She does not have to set the alarm as long as she gets out of bed the first time I ask her to in the morning. So far so good.

We're getting ready to take the goats to the "love chateau" across town, where they will get to spend the day with the bucks we have chosen to sire their kids. I expect the big date will happen around the 20th, though I'm a bit skeptical of the whole process. I'm not sure I have actually figured out the does' cycles and I don't really know how long the window of opportunity is. I guess we'll either have goat kids in the spring or we won't! I hope we do.

A few pictures from the past few weeks, including a final picture of the girls' room before Katherine moved out… it was awfully cute when they were all three snug in their beds!