A torn frenulum and no pacifier

One week ago I lost Baxter's pacifier.  He only had one and I kept saying if he (okay, if I) lost it, we'd be done with the pacifier.  Maybe it had something to do with unpacking from our Thanksgiving beach trip, or the fact that we were driving a strange car truck since the Suburban broke down, or maybe it was just a lack of sleep that causes me to misplace the doggone thing, but the pacifier was gone.  I checked the diaper bag a million times.  I checked the truck a hundred times.  I did not go back to the library (the last place I remember him having it) because let's face it, a pacifier that's been on the floor of the public library that long might as well be thrown in the trash!  So, here we are a week later and my sweet little 11 month old who busted his mouth and tore his upper lip frenulum yesterday hasn't cared one bit that his pacifier's gone.  This was the easiest pacifier transition I've ever known.  So glad to be done with that!!!
I guess now I should catch you up on school...
It's Science time and we are knee deep into the study of the human body.  Ruby and Ford are learning all about their five senses. Rachel has learmed about the skeletal system, muscular system, and circulatory system...next we go to the digestive system and nervous system.  Next week we'll all talk about taking care of our bodies (sleep, eating healthy, exercise and such).
Ford will be starting addition this week.  Rachel is adding three digit numbers and rounding to the hundreds place.  She will be adding money in a couple of days.
Everyone is finishing up poetry this week.  Next week we'll write some Christmas poems.  We've been talking about alliteration, personification, similes, and speakers.
Rachel is getting close to cursive, Ford is almost finished with lower case letters, and Ruby is about ready for a handwriting book.
Ford has been reading Clifford books which focus on certain letter sounds and combinations.  Rachel has almost finished all of the American Girl books.  Ruby is getting antsy to read, so I think in January we'll start the pre-reading Bob books.
We have been doing lots of Christmas crafts and hope to build gingerbread houses this Friday.  We've also been reading Christmas stories every day.
Some days are great, some days are hard, and every day is exhausting, but I do feel like we're learning a lot (myself included!).