A Snow Day

The kids woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground this morning. They always get sooo excited when it snows here. School was canceled, of course. They cancel school here at the first sign of flurries. We spent about 20 minutes getting everyone dressed for 15 minutes of play time outside. Funny. :) Beyond the cold and wet, they do seem to really enjoy the white stuff. Noah brought out his light saber for some "Hoth" time, while Rachel made snow angels - a whole family of snow angels. Kate looked on smiling, no doubt wondering why her crazy sister way lying down in the freakishly cold white stuff. After heading back inside the kids caught site of the cups they had left on the deck the night before. It was an experiment with water freezing. They both thought is was cool that the water they had left on the table had frozen into ice. The best thing about snow days? Hot chocolate and snuggling on the couch while we watch movies. Who doesn't love that?!

Gingerbread House

The kids made the traditional gingerbread house tonight. We make one of these every year, and each year I love to see what they come up with. They have gotten so much more careful and conservative than they used to be with the candies. They couldn't agree this year on how they wanted to make the roof, so they each got to decorate half. Noah wanted his to be traditional diamonds and Rachel wanted hers to be decorated with swirls. No problem, we split the house down the middle - to each their own. :) I love how his was clean lines, all business and hers was swirly girly. I put the icing on as they directed and they stuck all the candies on, just how they wanted. Kate woke up about half way through the decorating and watched while she ate a blueberry muffin. When she finished her muffin, she promptly dug into the gumdrops. She had no real intrest in the decorating, but loved eating the candies. When they were finished getting it just how they wanted it, we put it on a platter and spread 'snow' around it for the finishing touch.

First Basketball Game of the 2010-11 Season

Noah had his first basketball game of the 2010-11 season today. The white team played pretty good - They need to learn to pass the ball a little more, but the ball handling seemed better this year, than last. Noah did well with defense and worked hard the whole game to stay open and ready for the ball on offense. We were proud of him for the way he played. His team won their game and it was a good start to the season.

Hello Santa

Noah and Rachel were so excited to go see Santa this year. We met Grammy & Papa over at the mall and waited patiently in line for a visit with Santa. Kate loved the 'Choo -Choo' that kept running by us as we waited. She would throw her hands up in the air when she couldn't see it and say "Choo Choo?". She even seemed to enjoy peeking through the Christmas trees to see Santa while we were waiting. Rachel was so very excited. She kept peeking, looking for him and when she saw him for the first time she had the biggest smile on her face! When it was our turn Noah and Rachel walked right up to his big chair. Rachel climbed right up onto his lap, while Noah squeezed in next to him. Kate took one look at him and completely lost it. She was having nothing to do with him. I didn't even try to set her on his lap because she was crying so hard and shaking her little head. The best I could do was sit her on my knee by Rachel (as far from Santa as I could get with Kate still in the picture). She was still not happy to be anywhere near Santa. After a quick snap of the camera I pulled her off to the side while Noah and Rachel visited with Santa and told him what they wanted for Christmas. As I comforted Kate, I asked her if she wanted to go give Santa five? She adamantly said no and shook her head. Poor Kate -Maybe next year.

After visiting with Santa we took the kids to ride Kate's beloved Choo -Choo. She enjoyed every minute of it. :)

The Polar Express

Rachel's class got to experience The Polar Express the other day. When we arrived at her classroom (in jammies, house shoes and with her blanket) she was given a golden ticket to go on the Polar Express. We then traveled to the gym where she 'boarded' a train ( long line of chairs set up in a double line) and got to watch the movie on a giant screened tv at the front of the room. It was so cute. During the movie they had hot chocolate and cookies. She also recieved a bell to bring home along with the paper above with her ticket attached. So cute. She had so much fun! :)

Art Class: Mini Gingerbread Houses

I got to spend an hour with Noah's art class helping to make mini gingerbread houses. It was so cute to watch all the creativity from the kids as they worked to put their houses together. I love to see what they all come up with. On their tables were milk cartons, grahm crackers, royal icing, pretzals, chex cereal, red hots, gum drops, chocolate chips, m&m's, candy canes, peppermints and more... Mrs. Hawkins showed them the basics for putting the houses together and let them go to it. Noah's house was very rustic with lots of pretzals, chex cereal and a candy cane bench. I loved what he came up with. I'm so glad I had the chance to go and spend some time with Noah and his class while they were making these!

Elf & Cookies

Our favorite Christmas movie of all time is Elf. It doesn't matter how many years we've watched it, we can always watch it again at Christmas time and laugh just as hard as we laughed the first time. I love to hear the kids laughter as they watch it. Every year they seem to find something they missed each year to laugh about. So cute. Along with our movie we shared some reindeer cookies (can you tell who the biggest cookie monster was?) and snuggled on the couch during the movie. Love it! Phoebe came home this evening and is moving slow, but seems to be in good spirits. We hope she starts feeling better soon.