Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving this year consisted of traveling to Illinois to celebrate Thanksgiving AND Christmas with Ryan's family and then down to Missouri to spend time with some of my family and friends. We had just arrived into town and went straight to the festivities at their great grandma and grandpa's house - the kids had lots of energy and jumped on the bed with their cousins...shh, don't tell Great Grandma. :)
Neighborhood Friends
This is a typical scene on our street.
Best place we could have moved for Dash. What a dream.
Crystal Springs Preserve
more fun on one of our monthly Crystal Springs Preserve field trips
finding as many different critters as they can to look at and share data
Home "School"
The kids loved the weekends that we got to take care of Tornado's class pet (and later pets).
It's a great responsibility activity - and I love how careful and sweet they are with them.
team work
He and I read and did a study on Red Badge of Courage during our Civil War unit.
Waldorf Holiday Faire
We love visiting the Waldorf School, especially the holiday faire in December.
Sister made this lovely headband.
Basketball
Despite being out for a month, Dash had a fun basketball season.
Tennis
Besides attending camps and team lessons twice a week, he participated in a couple of Saturday tennis tournaments.
We love watching him play!
Seasonal Celebrating
Our neighborhood has a Christmas parade every year. Kids line up wherever they live and wait for Santa to stop by on the golf cart. :)
We also got to experience a little snow at a snow festival. They got to sled and make snowballs, among many other activities. And had lots of fun, even if it was warm enough to wear shorts.
Travel
This was the trip we took to Missouri in December. The kids love playing with my friend's daughter in their great yard. They are playing "house" outside and making soup.
sweet E's new tree house
I think this was the first photo we took with my new selfie stick.
eating lunch at Mama Jean's
The kids and I drove to MO, and after a few days, Ryan flew in to meet us.
We went back to my hometown to watch a girls' basketball game. This is another one of my friend's little girls, and Sis loves playing with her.
Finally -
cousin time at Googie and Papaw's!
basketball with cousins
The girls and Tornado set up an art gallery and worked hard at creating pieces for it.
We were given invitations to attend.
Each piece of art had a price, and the adults paid real money to snatch up these lovelies.
Sister's best friend came over to exchange gifts. Her friend got her a matching jean jacket.
They also tried out the art supplies gift that Sis had given her.
I put up an advent string with number cards every year at Christmas. The kids look forward to looking behind the cards every morning to see watch book we are reading, what new gift we are receiving, what service project we are participating in, what craft we are doing, or what movie we are watching, etc. This night we watched Elf.
Christmas spaghetti!
The favorite Christmas activity is our Christmas Eve scavenger hunt. I've done this every year (except maybe one) since Tornado was little.
We usually do it after we get home from Christmas Eve service at church. There are a series (20-25) clues, one that leads to the next. The final clue leads to a gift and the baby Jesus that needs to be put in our nativity scene. When they were younger, the gift was new pajamas. Lately, I've been giving them new special ornaments especially for each of them.
Day Trip
We attended Space Coast Veg Fest that fall. It took place in Cocoa Beach, which was a new location for us to visit. We had a nice meal on a second floor restaurant overlooking the street. We checked out the cute downtown, a little park, a health food store, and the beach. Before it began pouring rain, we had a very nice day.
No comments:
Post a Comment