Christmas Fun

We splurged this year and got a new, pre-lit tree. After 14 years with our old tree, and wrestling the lights on and off, it was glorious to put it together and plug it in. Andrew and Coleman helped put the ornaments on.

They like the clustered look.



Here are the pictures of the rest of the activities from our advent chain. There were a few things that didn't get photographed, like seeing the church Christmas program, peppermint milkshakes, peppermint ice cream with magic shell for dessert, and watching different Christmas specials on tv. Here are Andrew and Jonathan watching "The Polar Express" together. Coleman was in the recliner, but Jonathan stayed right next to Andrew and watched without moving until his bedtime.

We had Christmas pancakes for supper one night.


We took Aunt Mer Mer to see the Muppet movie.

We made lots of cookies together.

One night Andrew and Coleman made sugar cookies shaped like the Nativity.



While the cookies baked, Brent read the story from Luke and Matthew and the boys did a sticker picture as he read each character.


Then they got to eat their cookies when they came out of the oven.

We made gingerbread boys for Santa.




Here are the two bigger boys with the Jesse tree this year. Jonathan knocked the ornaments off every time he came by, so we waited for the picture until after his bedtime. I am pretty sure this was the only time the tree looked like this.


We also made our most successful gingerbread house.


And we made some reindeer art.

The Pink Pig and a Visit with Santa Claus

This year we did an Advent chain again. Each day before Christmas we broke a paper link in a chain which revealed a special, fun activity for that day. The Tuesday after Thanksgiving, our activity was to ride the Pink Pig and see Santa at Lenox Mall. Despite their expressions in the first two pictures, the boys were very excited.







After we rode the Pig, we headed down to see Santa. We had a short wait in line and then got to visit with The Big Man. You'll notice it was not such a happy time for all involved.





Andrew and Coleman each asked for a Leapster explorer and some surprises. Andrew also asked for a pair of handcuffs. Santa gave them a reindeer hat and some candy before we left. Jonathan got his candy and even gave Santa a high five, but I couldn't get it on camera. Brent tried to make a cute picture of them in their hats. Andrew and Coleman cooperated nicely. Can you find Jon Jon in the photo below?

He's under Coleman's elbow. You can see his red hind-end poking out from the Christmas tree.

December Science Club

At the beginning of December, we had our monthly science club. This month's topic was dinosaurs and fossils. The presentation was from the popular, yet incorrect point of view that the earth is millions of years old. I was a little worried about Andrew's take aways from the afternoon, but he wasn't even phased by the timelines that were presented. Overall, we enjoyed our afternoon, and were very glad a hike wasn't part of our experience on that cold day!

We started off with a lecture from a paleontologist who brought many, many fossils to show the children. It was good practice sitting and listening. At the end, they got to examine the fossils up close.



She even gave the students their own bag of fossils to keep!


Then we headed to the classroom where they did some digging and identifying of fossils on their own.



A timeline activity


Miss Melissa had Andrew pretend to be a dinosaur that turned into a fossil. He loved getting to do some acting!

Trying to move a piece of petrified wood



Our last station was to make a fossil of a leaf using plaster of paris. It was super cold outside, but they turned out really neat.



This has got to be one of the funniest expressions ever captured. The caption possibilities are just endless.


And here is our sweet friend Wyatt. He was in swimming lessons with us this summer, and he has two older brothers. His mommy and I have lots to talk about each month! His family visited the Creation Museum over the summer, and Joy had him wear his shirt as a protest that afternoon. It says, "God created me on Day 6." I loved it!

Where We've Been

So we've been a little busy lately! Our halls are decked, the shopping is finished, and school is out for Christmas holidays. There has been much fun to be had, errands to run, and company to host. Currently three yahoos are playing in the garage, a grocery list is being made, supper is thawing, laundry is washing, and Christmas music is playing. I hope to find time in the next few days to begin our Christmas postings. But if not, that's okay. We hope you're having a fun filled, meaningful December. See you soon!

Bartering Market

Our co-op group had its Christmas party and Bartering Market on Tuesday. The kids were supposed to bring twenty items to trade with everyone. The ideas for items ranged from ornaments, crafts, and yummy treats, to McDonalds toys from the bottom of the toy box. I am not even kidding. Lots of kids made their items by hand, and lots of kids cleaned out the toy box. So there was a wide range of things to choose from to barter for. Since we had never participated, we decided to make hot chocolate mix and marshmallow stirring sticks. Here are Andrew and Coleman working on the stirring sticks.



Andrew measured out the mix very carefully.


We took our packages to the market on Tuesday afternoon. Here are Andrew and Jonathan set up and ready to barter!



The kids walked around to different tables to see what they might like to trade in a five minute preview time. Then, the fun began. Here's Andrew offering a trade to a bigger boy.



Some trades were successful, some not. The rule is that you practice compassionate capitalism. If you truly do not want to trade, you don't have to. But you do have to be kind and polite. Most of the kids did a great job. I think our cocoa and marshmallows were a big hit.



After the market, we watched a short movie that one class had written, directed, and produced this semester. It was hilarious. Andrew, Coleman, and Jonathan were mesmerized the whole time. Then we had refreshments.



It was a really fun party with our new friends. Here are Andrew and Coleman with their trades. Andrew was most excited about trading for a NERF missile gun. We had lost one just like it, but he still had a missile and was thrilled when he saw the gun on that table. Coleman's favorite trade was a red and blue gun. And even Jonathan got to trade some cocoa for two little cars that he liked.