A new year!

Hello Internet world!
We have been MIA on this blog, but I wanted to stop in and say we are still doing school! We took the month of December off (as is becoming a tradition) and did lots of fun Christmas activities and adventures. We went to the Nutcracker (all five of us) and then out to coffee and treats, we did lots of crafts and made many gifts, visited family and the kids even spent four days at Grandma's house in Oregon, without Mom and Dad!
So it is January again and we are back in the swing of school. We are studying Courage and have covered Old and New Testament "heros" (while reminding them always that Jesus is the true hero), and this week and next we will cover true and fictional heros such as Joan of Arc, Martin Luther, William Tell, and Sarah Noble. Then we will launch into a 5-6 week study of the Revolutionary War! I chose this unit because we spent a little time in the fall talking about our Founding Fathers, I wanted to have more time to study a similar time period.
This season also has seen a shift in our weekly schedule. If you know me well, you know I like routine and have a hard time breaking from it, so this was a challenge for me, but one I know is totally worthwhile. My bible study/women's group grew so large we replicated, which turned into a long and complicated process. My half began meeting on Thursdays instead of our usual Wednesday. It's going well so far. I've also been doing grocery shopping usually on Sunday nights by myself instead of Monday morning with the kids. WHY didn't I start doing this earlier? An evening by myself? It's amazing! Plus I don't have to push school out of a weekday morning when we are shopping. Additionally, after my semi-breakdown of Fall 2012, I started looking for some help. No, not therapy, but a mother's helper to come do some of my chores. We finally found someone who is a great fit for our family. She's 13, homeschooled, and a-ma-zing! She's been helping us about once a week for 2-3 hours and mops, folds laundry, or plays with the kids while I do a task.
So far our new quarter is going well. Pictures to come soon!