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Merry Christmas to you all.

We had our Chritmas Eve dinner at our house last
night, son, daughter, grand sons, and DIL spent the
evening together, then today they are free for the in laws
celebrations.
I barely got the house decorated in time this year. I hate not
being able to do in one day what just a few years ago I
could do in a few hours. Thise year it took me too many days
to get what I wanted done. Age and pain S***S!

Julia, sometimes it's not the students fault when it comes
to certain subjects. Teachers have a huge input in how well
a student does in a class. History in particular, the teacher has
to make an effort to make it interesting for the class, so that they
do remember the stories behind the events. Some students just
work better for teachers that are not just phoning in their lessons!
It does sound as if Nicole is really trying to maintain the grades
necessary to stay in the group. Maybe there are some online hints
that will help her absorb the lessons along with the efforts she is
already making.

We spent the weekend in Walla Walla with the in-laws. When we left Yakima there was no snow. Got almost to Walla Walla and found it. And it snowed there yesterday afternoon through... well, it was still coming down when we left late afternoon today! And we got back home to find an inch had dumped on us! Tested the new snowblower and I may be in love...

Monica wrote:We spent the weekend in Walla Walla with the in-laws. When we left Yakima there was no snow. Got almost to Walla Walla and found it. And it snowed there yesterday afternoon through... well, it was still coming down when we left late afternoon today! And we got back home to find an inch had dumped on us! Tested the new snowblower and I may be in love...

I felt the same way about our new snowblower. We live on a corner, so it is necessary with the sidewalks!!!

pat-czap wrote:

mpizzazz wrote:

pat-czap wrote:Merry Christmas to all.

Greg, son Dan and I just finished our Christmas Eve tradition dinner of homemade pierogi... Whew, lots of work.

We are a small contingent of our family, we make up for it food wise.

Take care all, safe travels.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday wishes to you, and yours.

homemade pierogi!!! Can I come next year? What do you put inside them?

LOL Marianne. Sure you can come next year. We make potato/cheese and sauerkraut versions. Next time I want to make plum, like my grandmother used to.

Sounds great, Pat! I never heard of the plum version. Do you have them for dessert?

mpizzazz wrote:Sounds great, Pat! I never heard of the plum version. Do you have them for dessert?

We ate them right along with the savory pierogi. My grandmother made a sweetened bread crumb topping for them as well.

When my daughter's MIL's significant other was alive
they would do the perogi making before Christmas
with all sorts of fillings. He did one with kielbasi and sauerkraut,
along with the other more common fillings, like potato and cheese

EDelValle wrote:When my daughter's MIL's significant other was alive
they would do the perogi making before Christmas
with all sorts of fillings. He did one with kielbasi and sauerkraut,
along with the other more common fillings, like potato and cheese

Sounds yummy, Elizabeth! I haven't had kielbasi in years.

Hey everyone! Travels were good, and being in Florida while Missouri was in single digit temps was awesome. Though even FL started getting down in the 40s our very last day, it was still nicer than the negative temps we came home to.

School started back up today, so hopefully we can get back into the routine and do better with this semester than we have been. Finals was a real wake-up call for Nicole. She even had one that she was crying by the end of (history), and asked the teacher to grade it before she left for the next final (pre-AP geometry), so she wasn't distracted with worry. She wound up pulling through with Cs in her problem classes, and As in everything else. Geometry (the third C) was only a problem because she never studied for tests. Since we forced her to spend time studying, she actually aced what was likely the toughest final she took, but she still finished the semester with a 79.4. No joke. That actually bummed her out. She knows that if she'd bothered studying for even one test during the semester she'd easily be in A or B territory. Hopefully that lesson sticks. I still expect that she's going to have to work extremely hard in English and History to stay comfortably within C range moving forward, unless she gets a fantastic teacher that makes the subject interesting or fun. I think that's what happened this year in Science. She had an A all term, but last year Science was a class she was failing most of the year.

So.. new semester.. clean slate. I've got a reminder on my phone to do a planner check for both kids every day after school, and hopefully knowing that someone is paying attention will help get the planners used better. Jake has a planner too. Hopefully getting the habit established this year won't make it so much of a struggle next year when he goes to middle school. He's going to be enrolled in more challenging classes than Nicole was, and will likely have more homework than she ever did. So monitoring my kids' homework is going to feel like the primary purpose for my existence for the next many many years. Here's hoping my kids turn over a new study leaf in 2018!