Valentines, Romance

I never really cared about valentines.  Sure I like chocolate, and excuses to give my daughters presents, but a day to guilt you into spending money.

This was the best Valentines day yet!  Instead of chocolates and flowers we spent our money on gas and went up to the local Science Museum.

 OMSI is big.  We only had about two hours so we didn't see everything.  It was nice to spend the hours exploring and not rushing.  The girls loves looking at dinosaur bones (we even talked with a paleontologist.)  And they enjoyed looking at all the different rocks.

 OMSI is great because of its many hands on exhibits.

 Including a puppet stage.  We managed to avoid the school groups and take our time on the exhibits we liked best.

 Charity and Daddy had a balancing contest, I don't know who won.

 And I even got in on the action virtually jumping rope.

At the end of the morning we were sad to leave, there was so much more to see and do.  But Jon had to work so we're making plans for another trip before too long.

It might not have been a day of love, flowers and chocolates but it was time spent together!

Not so busy weekend

I had expected to be driving all over the place this weekend.   We had one event after another scheduled.  Instead I am sitting, relaxing, typing out a blog.  "So," you might be asking, "what happened?"

 Late night cotton candy!  My poor delicate children just couldn't handle the high-sugar excitement of a late night cookie rally!

 They enjoyed every minute at the rally, had fun making crafts, playing games, and watching a 3D video.  But when morning came and it was time for another full day, they couldn't quite make it.

So instead of being busy, busy, horribly busy we are spending the day relaxing.  Playing dolls in pajamas is a great way to spend a Saturday!

Happy New Year

 So before our Christmas break we moved to my mom's property.  I love being in the country!  Now we are finding out what "school" looks like out here.

 The desks are in the girls rooms but school is being done on a table.  They aren't quite ready to work on their own yet.

I had hoped to still have a school room set up but that room is a bit cold right now.  Maybe when the weather warms up we will move schooling into it's own room.

 Fitting four kids (when I'm watching the cousins) around the table is a bit crowded but they make do.

We are also making do with other learning centers.

New Year Parties and Plans

Happy New Year Cyber Space.

Goodbye 2012 and good riddance!

For new Year eve we had a small party with one set of cousins.  We got ready for 2013 by making a few resolutions(using a worksheet I found on Teacher Pay Teacher)

 Merry cracked me up when I realized she had stuck her pencil into her hat.

 We had a few coloring sheets too, since there were cousins over I wanted set activities.

 They played a game of Pretty, Pretty Princess.  They were all very pretty.

 Then we had snacks, including yummy brownies my sister-in-law made.

 The kids disappeared and got very quite, when I went to check on them I was surprised to find them putting together a puzzle.

 Then it was time to toast the new year.  We had poppers with crowns and sparkling grape juice.

 Instead of waiting for midnight we used Animal Crossing for our countdown and fireworks, it was great and the next day we had our other cousins over and did the countdown all over again.

This time I remembered the balloons.

So now that the parties are over I'm in planning mode.  School will start back up on January 7th for us and I want to be prepared.  No real midyear changes but I do plan on adding some daily vocabulary.  I can't wait to see if it works.

Almost Christmas

It is getting so close to Christmas, the party's have started, presents are wrapped and so much family time.

Living in Oregon our Christmas weather is not quite as cold and snowy as others.  The kids were able to run outside with out coats (or shoes on some of them) and feed ducks during our family gathering.

 It has been a high light to my Christmas season.  There is something special about Aunts, Uncles, Great Aunts, Second cousins, Grandparents, cousins all getting together having fun. 

 Holidays are also a time for Christmas performances.  Our Pastor's wife, Sue, came up with some great, easy costume ideas.

 My favorite was mustaches on a stick for the wise men.  Along with a sparkly paper crown they were the perfect touch.

 Grandma Kelly has a whole box of Christmas books that only come out during the holidays.  So my girls were eager to find stories they hadn't read all year.

 It was a special treat for my girls to read on Grandma's bed.  Normally her room is off limits, but they were mesmerized by the decorations and calmly reading.

 During the holiday season it is important to teach kids about keeping a balanced budget.  Our budget is so small we simply balanced it on the table.

 Seriously though, our family tends to eat at different rates so having something to do while we wait for someone to finish can be nice.  And trying to stand a handful of change on end does the trick.

So another busy week is over, but with Christmas days away I think we will stay busy for a bit longer.

Christmas Cheer

We are working hard to make "happy childhood memories" this year.  And boy is it fun!

 We went to the mall to see all the decorations (my mom was with us so I get to be in the picture).

 We took a picture in front of the "coffee tree" at Starbucks with Grandma and Aunt Coral.

 Them on St Lucia day we had our traditional Scandinavian celebration (sadly no cookies).  This year my youngest was very excited that she is the one who fits the dress.  Merry found out balancing a wreath on your head is hard.  Charry was happy to have a star head band.

 This year we decided to include a few cousins, since we were at their house.  I learned the boys get to wear cool pointed hats with stars on them, ours were more party hat size instead of wizard hat size but they didn't mind too much and a bit of tape kept the hats from falling off while we took pictures and sang a few Christmas tunes.

 It is becoming a family tradition to be a bit late getting our tree up, all the other decorations have been out since we moved (right after Thanksgiving) but the tree has been missing.  So there was lots of excitement as the tree finally made its appearance (although it will probably be replaced be a real one before Christmas.)

 The tree is a hoot, the girls decorated it all themselves and you can tell.  They grouped ornaments from the same set together (like the fairies Charry receives each year from Grandma in on section and the star wars M&M figures we each got their Dad in another.)

 As an added holiday treat Grandma came over to try out our new-to-us oven.  And thankfully it works!

 Cookies were handed out to the workers when they finished the tree.

 I did my own version of baking, I frosted little leaves on Little Debbie cakes to turn them into "Yule Logs.

 I also made some sugar cookies for the girls to frost.

The hat makes the memories more festive.
I hope everyone else is taking time to make happy memories and spread holiday cheer.

Christmas Traditions

So this year is just like all the others, our Christmas is not quite normal.  Right after Thanksgiving we moved so we are setting up house and staying busy.  But I'm working hard on making Christmas memories for my daughters.

We are reading Christmas Fairy books at bed time.  The girls are loving that their dad inserts his own random comments into the story and does all kinds of voices (most don't quite fit like the little girls having deep voices.)

We are also making Jesse Trees.  It is a somewhat unique advent tradition that looks at the promises of God through out the old testament.  Because we are planing on celebrating the 12 days of Christmas leading up to Epiphany our Jesse tree will End with John the Baptist.  Then we will focus on the people involved with Christmas (Mary, Shepherds, etc.) I enjoy how hard the girls work on finding the promises as I read the scripture.  So far we are up to Abraham and his children blessing all nations.

A final Christmas tradition I am working on is fun.  Just having fun as a family.  It is easy to put the girls in front of a movie or have them play in their room, it is harder to take time to laugh and play with them.  It is work that is well worth it!