First half of January

 January was a pretty uneventful month. We did a lot of school work. Housework, piano practice, a bit of skating (at home and with the homeschool group) and a bunch of play.

 Jennifer reading on the "kindle".

 Matthew making tacos for Saturday dinner.

 Lego (aka, toys all over the floor)

 Comics

 Peanut gallery

 Model in training :p

 Old lady knitting :p

The ice of our rink was in pretty good shape at the beginning of the month. So we the kids made sure to use it!

Lots of snow had to be cleared though. So nice to have snow and ice!!

 It is nice when there are eager helpers to clear off the ice. They are harder to find later in the year!

 Jennifer and Evelyn like to lounge around when I read to them.

 And Daniel (who is supposed to be doing his own work) comes "sneaking" in to enjoy the stories too.

 More winter

More lounging

 more of the same

 I actually took two pictures of our skating outings!! This one is of the hockey side of the rink. All the kids except Evelyn tried joining the hockey, and most of them did it most of the time.

 Melanie making something out of Lego is a bit unusual. So I took a picture. For posterity.

 Daniel making "sausage sauce" for dinner.

 More Lego (aka more toys all over the floor)

 more of the same

 A classic Nathan smirk to his mother's attempt at a witty remark.

 The hard working math student.

 Evelyn making rice krispie squares.

 Nathan's tank. It was hard to find enough camouflage pieces, and getting the track to turn (he didn't have enough of some piece to get it perfect....he speculated it was due to younger siblings' neglect of cleaning up Lego off of the floors everywhere. But it turned out despite all that, drives (even over uneven terrain) rotates, etc. Fortunately it does not shoot. :)

 Daniel worked on a background scene for a play/game with Evelyn's help. Very impressive, and they had fun with it.

Evelyn the Mom, not sure why she needs such a fancy head covering, but it seems to keep her baby happy. :)

2020!

 We left the chickens for the overnighter. Checked and double checked they were safe. Arranged for someone to give them fresh water (it would freeze overnight, for sure!) and hoped for the best. They didn't get their fresh water so when we arrived home in the dark the next night I held a flashlight up and watered them in the dark, poor things! Good thing it was only one night!!

 All packed up and ready to go! Very excited kids are eager to go.

 Some hours were spent in front of the screen

Evelyn brought her new pillow craft and let her friends help her put it together.

We brought some board games and the kids had fun with that.

It was a real treat to be hosted. We were spoiled with lots of delicious food, and it was a whole new experience for the kids, as a sleepover event is a rarity for us. What a great way to roll in the new year!

December

 Nathan likes to take pics of his lego creations before they get taken apart. They don't come with instructions, so it's worth remembering. They always move realistically as well, which takes a lot of work to sort out.

 Skating time is here! We certainly love having hockey in the backyard!

 I finished a curtain which I'd promised to make, finally! And Melanie and Nathan worked on the matching pelmets.

 More shuffleboard!

 Boys and trucks! The whole world turned into a gigantic sandbox!!

 We are so blessed, with a chunk of land like this that we can call ours. So beautiful and peaceful!

 As a motivator (have to get your school done!) through the winter, I signed us up for a very affordable homeschool activity (wow, we got out with other families regularly!!) to help us slog through the really busy winter months of schoolwork. It certainly helped keep us motivated. I even took one picture (out of seven biweekly get togethers). There was informal shinny hockey on one side for kids who were interested, which certainly included my older kids!

 Trying to get the rink back into shape after a big thaw!

 More hockey

 A rare cozy evening fire.

 We hosted a Christmas/Boxing Day dinner, and the kids had a hoot. They skated until the ice was mushy, and some played hockey until it was beyond mushy. Lotsa fun!

 Evelyn got a craft from some dear friends--they know my kids well after many quality hours together with some of them!

 Jennifer tried very hard not to do her craft for her (she needed some help with remembering not to ;)

 Jennifer got a kaleidoscope.

 Matthew got his first model. With super tiny pieces.

 And Nathan too, his pieces being slightly smaller even (hard to believe that was possible!)

 Melanie made some decoration for her room.

 Daniel got a waterproof motor, so he made a boat for it to run.

 It did quite well, despite the limitations of the ocean size. Too bad the paper couldn't last the moisture longer...but that gives him a chance to work on different designs!

 Another doll dress magically whipped up!

 Melanie was gifted some origami. Very neat colours and designs!

 We got invited to celebrate New Years elsewhere, and since it wasn't a Dutch family, Philip broke tradition (second time in our marriage!) and made oliebollen early. Only once for the year though...I was hoping we could have it extra. :)

 Yum!! Everyone is enjoying them! Note the boys on the corner

 You can peacefully share a comic together! You just need to be a bit flexible about the arrangement. :p

 Another fresh batch ready. Mmm!