Christmas 2014

I woke-up first this year - around 6:30, partly habit and partly too uncomfortable to sleep more than that. The kids started to wake-up around 7:30am. First, per usual, was brother M.  I told him that it was okay to start with his stocking. By 8 am big sis A had joined in the fun. 

Our bishop asked us to read the Christmas story before we started opening presents and the kiddos had talked about it in primary.  We did that and then we went around taking turns opening, from youngest to oldest. We saved the biggest/most special presents for last.

 Big sister A got a nice little recorder and has already shown how she takes after her dad (naturally musical).  She was driving me a little nuts practicing, but then we found some great lessons on Youtube, and she has been watching them over and over. Now she can play "Hot Cross Buns".

At the very end the boys had their huge Thomas the Train set to open and Abi had her Frozen dolls.

 Everyone had fun setting up and playing with the Thomas toys.  We didn't let them get much out in the living room. We took it all up to the toy room and Daddy helped them create a huge station.  I was not sure about the table at first, but I am SO glad that we got it. It has 6 bins that sit underneath, which are perfect for clean-up and storage. And it gives them a focal point for their play (less spreading of train tracks/toys everywhere).  It is just the right height too. Only problem is that there is no way to fit all the buildings on it. They have to tear down the "town" and then build a new one with different buildings.

Big sister A got a new pioneer dress from Grandma Suzy, which she has worn most of the time since she opened it, including to church today.  Great idea Grandma! One of our other favorite new toys is the "Break the Ice" game that my little brother and I used to play over at our friend's house (see it in the bottom right corner of this pic?).  I saw that they reissued it and remembered how much fun it was.  Unlike most board games it only requires two players, it goes quick (like 10 minutes), and they can set it up themselves.  We have already played it about 20 times. 

Recommended Reading: Ender's Game and Two Princesses

My husband read Ender's Game when he was a kid and recommended it.  Actually, he would not let me see the movie until I had read the book.  I enjoyed reading it and yet anticipated some of the plot before it happened. I think my favorite part was at the end of the last cd Orson Scott Card spoke about his thinking as he was writing the book and how it was published etc.  I love seeing into the mind of the author.  It helped me realize that some of the best stories need to percolate for several years before you are ready to finish them.  I have aspirations of writing a great children's novel set in Bretagne one day, but only have about 50 pages so far. 

I have been looking for this book, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, by Gail Carson Levine, for over a year now.  I like her stories (see previous recommendations on Ella Enchanted etc). For some reason I could not get this one through the library system and was waiting with it in my library "holds" queue.  Then I came across it at the thrift store last week and of course happily paid the .50 cents and brought it home.  It is another lovely story with girls who take action and have a happy ending, with a twist at the end. It was an easy read and I highly recommend it for about 3rd-4th grade and up.

Family Schooling Summary

This week big sister A discovered educational computer games. She did about 30 minutes of learning keyboarding, and a bunch of spelling and math games.  It has been hard to find games that are at the right level.  She did some "Super Y" games on pbs kids, but by the second day she had already mastered those and we were looking for others. None have really stood out so far, but we will keep looking and report back. Meanwhile, she continues to enjoy math a lot more than reading, but does both in her workbooks anyway. 

Monday we had another class at the nature center.  This one was geared towards younger kids, but digging for bones and shells in the giant sandbox and playing with "snow" was fun for all.

See the "snow" on her coat?

 Some cute pics of the kiddos from another Etsy shop photo shoot.  I have not added these items yet to the shop, hopefully this week.

Running around the clothesline pole is a favorite activity outside.

We had the Joy School nativity play this week. Brother M was a shepherd and sister A was a wiseman. Neither were super excited about their parts. They just came for the after party (treats).

As I have mentioned, we are not big cake fans, but A and M have been waiting to have a "castle cake" (Thanks to Gpa Jim for the pan!).  So we made a castle on a cloud of whipped cream and berries.

I was really worried that it would crumble as I took it out of the pan.  I used the recipe from the Williams Sonoma website that is called "vanilla castle cake" just to be as safe as possible.  The kids want to make a chocolate version of it for a scary haunted cake for M's friend birthday party next Halloween.

Presents and cards from the grandparents.  Thanks everyone!

Waving to Grandpop after his visit.  He was in town for a few hours photographing a wedding for someone in his ward.

Saturday was big sister A's holiday dance recital.  It was a huge change from 2 years ago when she was too afraid to go out on stage.  She liked all her dances and had a great time performing. They did one tap, one jazz, and one ballet number, plus the grande finale with all the other dancers.

We made our annual trip to see the Christmas lights at the Washington DC temple.  It was very cold, but the kids LOVED seeing the thousands of lights. Baby S kept saying, "I love them Mommy". It was so cute.

We went to Ikea for dinner Saturday and hot dogs and ice cream, which was what M wanted for his birthday dinner. The kids were also hoping to play in the kid zone for an hour or so, especially the ball pit. But the whole store was pretty packed and there was a long line at the kid zone. We just quickly grabbed the things we needed to replace the flood ruined items and then headed over the the hot dogs.

Brother M opened his presents when we got home.  He got a big tool kit/workbench thing, some cars, a book, and some Thomas the train tracks... Much more Thomas stuff to come on Christmas morning.

Family Schooling Summary

Another super busy week with lots of doctors appts (midwife, chiropractor, and massage).  Luckily no one seems to have caught A's strep throat and we did not have to make any repeat trips to the pediatrician.  I also force fed my family some more Vitamix test recipes -- Homemade Nutella is everyone's favorite so far!

Big sister A finished reading another 10 books for November and got her free pizza on Monday night as part of Pizza Hut's Book It! program.

On Tuesday Brother M's Joy School Class went to the Christmas Electric Train exhibit at our local conservatory, but I forgot my camera! Brother M's class spent Thursday getting ready for the Christmas Nativity show next week.

We had some serious plumbing mishaps on Friday. Had to call the professionals on this one.  NEVER flush baby or other wipes down the toilet, even if they say "flushable" the plumber said they are all bad and will (over time) clog up your sewer line. Lesson learned the hard way.

Because of our plumbing adventures, we almost didn't make it to the ward Christmas party... but the older kids were looking forward to seeing Santa so we raced to take showers and get our potluck dish ready in time.

Baby S still has no love for Santa.

We learned about owls at the nature center Saturday morning. They read Owl Moon, a story about owl watching.

The teacher also recommended a couple of great websites.  You can download owls' calls at the Cornell Ornithology Website.  And you can use the sounds to call owls to you!  She said that she has had a lot of luck calling barred owls and they are very chatty even during the day.   You can also see this cool owl cam that someone has filming great horned owls nesting on their second story deck in OKC.

They also did an owl craft with feathers and glue...  notice her rainbow sweater that I finished awhile back.  She loves it!

Then we went on our traditional tree cutting adventure. Big sister A and brother M pretended to be reindeer and pulled the sled.

The pulling get a lot harder when the tree was actually in the sled.

Professional Grade Photos from Grandpop: Part 2

 A few more shots from the Thanksgiving photo shoot. Here is the proud Grandpop with all the grand kids that were there:

Kids are so photogenic: