{This and That} - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, friends!  Did you have a nice Christmas break?  We're off until Epiphany tomorrow, but we're looking forward to our exams for Term 2 later this week and the beginning of Term 3 the next!  I did have a bit of time over the holidays to pull together our Morning Basket plans and write exam questions, so I think we're pretty much ready to go.

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Speaking of our Morning Basket, on the recommendation of some of the AO ladies, we are reading Elizabeth Goudge's I Saw Three Ships as a short Christmas read-aloud.  I meant to read it Christmas week, but I woke up Christmas morning with no voice and didn't get it back for a couple days.  So we had a late start but are thoroughly enjoying our little chapter each morning at breakfast.

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So how did you ring in 2015?  We took advantage of the holiday and spent the day at the coast.

A long walk along the dunes, sparklingly-gorgeous scenery...it was heavenly.  As you can see from how the littles were bundled, it was chilly (well, for California!), but the sky was absolutely clear and it warmed up over the course of the day.  I think we may need to make it an annual tradition.  Nothing like fresh air and blue skies to feel like you're starting the year right...

And I had the best almond croissant ever, so that didn't hurt either. ;)

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And this guy had a great time on our little outing!

He's seven months old and crawling now, which makes our school days...interesting.  But he's big enough now to ride on my back in the Ergo, which always makes things a million times easier.

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Are you subscribed to Joyous Lessons over on Facebook?  If you are, are you getting notifications in your news feed?  If you're interested in staying up-to-date, remember to edit your settings for my blog so that you get notifications when something new is posted.  Facebook's algorithms drive me a bit bonkers, but it is what it is, and if you haven't asked to see new posts, you probably aren't.  The reason I created that page was because some readers mentioned that they prefer to follow blogs that way--and I'd hate for you to miss out if that is your preference. :)  Besides cross-posting my blog posts over there, I'm also going to start using that platform to chat a bit more and share favorite articles, so I'd love to see you over there!

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One last photo from our New Year's getaway:

I'm so happy whenever I get a photo of me and all my littles--with no one crying.  Not easy!

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I'll be back tomorrow to share a fun little project I'll be running here on the blog this year--I'm excited to chat about it with you!  See you then.