NYE, 2019 Edition

We finished off the year with a little bit of our normal schedule--art class (for all three kids! Love their teacher and how flexible she is!) & park day. It was fun getting together with friends after a week off, and having just a little bit of normalcy. I love the holidays, but I also start to crave routine after a week or so. 

Then, we headed home to clean up a little and do a little treat making for the evening festivities. I made stuffed pretzel balls (we LOVE these things!) while Bean & Peanut made fudge, and then we pulled out all the other snacky foods we could find in our stash.

Friends came over for an evening of games and hanging out. The kids ended up being the only ones who played games--I don't know why that happens so often when we get together with other families, but I was glad I'd played a round of King Domino, one of our new games, with the boys while we waited for our friends. The kids went on to play Saboteur, Pass the Pigs, and a Mario Kart Wii game. 

And then, before we knew it, it was time to ring in 2020! I had to capture everyone gathered around Daddy-o's phone. Our TV isn't cooperating the best and he couldn't cast the ball drop to a bigger screen, haha. But we counted down and popped the poppers and toasted with our Martinelli's and celebrating the new year in style :)

Living It Up

We're finishing out the year strong. The kids and I got out for one last hike of the year. 

It had rained the night before so we opted for the paved path in Sycamore Grove for most of the hike, but it was a beautiful morning with lots of sunshine.

It was great being outside after a lot of days in PJs at home.

After dinner, we FINALLY made it to Deacon Dave's to see this year's light display. The theme was Poinsettias and the Magical Plant Plant was a hit! We were hoping by waiting so long after Christmas, there wouldn't be a line, but we had to wait about half an hour to get in. Serves us right for not going at the beginning of the month when we know it's not crowded.

We took this on the bridge where 72 couples have gotten engaged over the years. I think we only look a little older than we did 17 years ago when we got engaged, haha. (Side note--I just finished the white hat, my first, a couple days ago. I feel like I cheated a little because I used a loom, but now I'm feeling inspired to learn to knit in the round for real.)

Everything Christmas is winding down. Hard to believe it's almost 2020!

Family Christmas

We got to have my mom and brother here for a week of Christmas fun and it was awesome. Lots of hanging around the house playing games and watching movies, but we did do a few things. We went to the Oakland LDS Temple to see the lights and so Rara could come with Bean and Bug to do baptisms in the temple which was a neat opportunity.

Unkie waited outside with Peanut, checking out the views from the top (not Unkie's favorite thing :)), and the visitor's center. The grounds were beautiful.

We also got to gift a couple of experiences since they were going to be with us for the holidays this year. The kids dipped candles with Rara, which was a really fun (and mildly stressful) activity. It's fairly straight forward and very soothing to dip the wicks over and over. Keeping the wax melted was the only tough part.

It was fun to watch how quickly they go from skinny little wicks 

to fat little tapers.

I love gifts that mean spending time together, and this one meant we all have new candles, too!

I didn't take any pictures, but Daddy-o and I also took Unkie and Rara to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Uncle Yu's, which is the best Chinese food I've ever tasted. We all loved it! 

Their last night with us, Unkie helped Peanut make us dinner from the Harry Potter cookbook he'd given him. They had picked out the recipes beforehand and Peanut was pretty excited to fix us foods from the book--Shepherd's Pie, Brussel Sprouts with Béchamel sauce, and Aunt Petunia's Trifle. Peanut loved saying the word béchamel, and running in and out of the preparation process to play with Legos and his stuffed seal, Sea. Unkie was very patient with it all (and "helped" make dinner actually happen.) The food was all amazing and we ate it all. I think Shepherd's pie may have to go on our regular meal rotation--who knew it would be such a hit?!

I think it's pretty safe to say that assembling the trifle was Peanut's favorite part. Layering chocolate pudding, raspberries, and pound cake is fun :)

I'm looking forward to more meal help from our new little chef!

I didn't get much photographic documentation, but there was a lot puzzle making, Lego building, and game playing while they were here, too. We got several new games for Christmas between all of us, and while we didn't get to all of them, we did play Saboteur and Patchwork, along with lots of old favorites. It's been such a fun week, and, as always, we're sad to see them go. (The kids are going to be especially sad because it's also time to get back to some normal schedules--of chores and homework that needs to be done before the break is over.)

Christmas Continues

One of Bean's gifts, which Daddy-o and I got to tag along for, was tickets to Hamilton. She's been obsessed with the soundtrack this year, so we thought she'd enjoy getting to see the actual show.

Daddy-o and I were both unsure that it could live up to the hype, but it didn't disappoint. Despite not being able to get into the music beforehand, we both loved it. Just about everything is better live.

It was fun getting to take this girl into the city for the day to see her first big production. Now she's hooked and ready to see them all!

Happy Christmas to All!

Ready for the kids to come:

Santa knew that this year's theme was Star Wars all the way. Getting new light sabers just days after watching the last of the movies just amped up the excitement. I think they're going to get a lot of fun out of these!

And while the picture may be blurry, I love the excitement over the Legos here. We have so many already, but they welcome each new set with ecstatic joy.

Peanut's Harry Potter craze might return. Star Wars had tempered his interest in the wizarding world a bit, but getting the Great Hall Lego set may have just revived it. Whew--I was worried we would lose to the force. 😂

Once all the gifts were opened, these boys got right to it. Lots of Lego building to get done.

Side note: Peanut wore his new hiking backpack around for hours. That was a surprise hit--I figured it was more of a necessary piece of equipment that helped me out (I don't have to carry his water and snacks anymore!), but he is pretty excited about having his own pack and camelback. Guess we need to get out there and do some hiking!

The rest of the day was spent in pajamas, playing with new toys (except for the hour I got out and went for a walk). The kids watched Arthur Christmas, ate too much candy, topped it all off with a delicious ham dinner, and we ended the evening with a round of Saboteur, a new card game. All in all, it was a good day with family.

"Twas the NIght Before

Terrible pictures, but here we are--with the stockings hung,

and presents piled under the tree. Christmas Eve was spent puttering around, wrapping last gifts, baking cookies for Santa, prepping the cinnamon rolls for the morning, and watching It's a Wonderful Life. We ended the evening with reading Luke 2, listening to Bug play a couple Christmas songs he's been learning on the piano, and then the usual wrangle to get excited kids to bed.

WInter Solstice, Observed

Because the actual shortest day of the year was spent at Grandma and Grandpas house, we moved our solstice party to the 23rd this year. We had clear skies and cold weather, perfect for hanging out by the fire and drinking hot chocolate.

17 kids meant lots of chaos, noise, and shenanigans (we had 3 spilled hot chocolates in the house in about 15 minutes time!), but I think they all had a blast. They played the piano and ukuleles, swung on the hammock, pulled out board games, and ran around the house in circles, literally, haha.

I got this cute picture of my mom with her buddy for the evening. Apparently, little A brought out some coloring stuff and plopped down by my mom and then told her stories for a really long time. 

Such a great celebration for the return of the sun--can't wait for the days to start feeling longer!

3 Days Before Christmas and All Through the House

Games were the theme of the day. We started off with a lovely church service where Daddy-o and Peanut both sang in choirs, and we heard messages of the hope that Christ brings.

 The rest of the afternoon was spent playing games. Konexi, Skyjo,

and an escape room type mystery that my brother's family sent us for Christmas. We each took on a character of someone from a retirement community where the widow, Mary, needed help getting into the last gift her late husband had left for her. Some of the role playing was hilarious--Rara calling us all whippersnappers and nincompoops, Daddy-o constantly sweeping and cleaning up after us, grumbling about how messy we all are, and Bean bursting into song at every new comment (wait, that one is totally normal for her character. . . ). We had fun solving the mystery and getting the last gift opened.

That night, we lit the last candle in our advent wreath as we ate our latkes to also celebrate the first night of Hanukkah. It was a bit of a mash-up this year, but we like latkes too much to ever want to skip out on those :)

Family Christmas Lunch

Grandma and Grandpa hosted a family Christmas lunch for everyone up at their house.

The weather cooperated and even though it was the first day of winter, you couldn't tell from these kids--shorts, bare feet--it wasn't really THAT warm, but they were fine running around outside like that. They stayed so busy, and I'm always struck by how lucky these little cousins are to have such awesome teens in the family. They get right out there and play with all the little kids, too. There were light saber battles and magic spells and general chasing and tackling and tickling. I think they all had a lot of fun.

Grandma also pulled out an old game from her childhood that was a big hit with the little kids. We sat out on the patio for a couple hours and the kids were passing the game back and forth for a good chunk of that time.

It's so fun celebrating holidays with family. And when we finished up in Cathey's Valley, we got to drive home to see my family who had gotten there while we were gone!

The Rise of Skywalker

What we've all been waiting for! The final episode. We watched 5 movies this past week getting ready for this (if we'd started earlier, we would have watched all 8, as well as the extras, but with limited time, we decided 4-8 would have to do.)

This kid has been Star Wars crazy lately. I'm a little sad that the force is taking over his obsession with Harry Potter, but it totally has. He wants to be a Jedi now and keeps asking me if I think they are out there, somewhere, in another galaxy. He couldn't wait for this movie to come out.

And it didn't disappoint. We had tickets for a showing with about 20 friends. We all wondered if the movie could live up to the excitement, and I think that it did. It didn't take itself too seriously, pulled in just the right amount of nostalgia and fun acknowledgements, and wrapped things up pretty well. What more can you ask for.

Christmas Schooling

I had big hopes for Christmas schooling this year. Every year, I plan to take the month of December off from some of our normal schooling and instead focus everything on the seasonal activities. This year, we had so many things to read--for history and daily advents and language arts--along with crafts and celebrations.

I had all our Christmas journaling things ready to go, lots of baking to do, and even some Christmas themed math to replace our normal math activities.

But, as happens every year, real life seems to get in the way. There are just so many things that we can't really quit to make room for all the fun, and it ends up not all happening. Art classes and piano and swim lessons don't go away, and this year, the first couple weeks of the month were scout heavy as the boys were finishing up their requirements for the goals they'd set before the end of the year. There's also the hustle and bustle of shopping and planning for Christmas that starts to creep into my schedule.

But it wasn't a complete loss. We managed a Poetry tea time breakfast one morning, where we read our advent reading for the day along with some seasonal picture books.

And we're enjoying our read aloud, which is set at Christmas. When I got a cold and lost my voice, we got a little slowed down, so we won't be finished before Christmas, but the book will still be fun after as well.

We did throw in some activities that we haven't had time for this fall--Peanut got to open one of the many Little Passport envelopes that I've been saving for him, and we put together the scratch off globe I picked up at a thrift store this summer so he can keep track of which countries he "visits". 

Bug also got to do one of his Eureka crates once he was done with all the scout stuff. He saw this one come a couple weeks before and has been chomping at the bit to get to it.

It's a table tennis machine so you can practice returning the ball--so fun!

And we did have some fun field trips this month. Besides the book binding, we also went to a local fire station for a tour.

The tour was cut short, by two different calls during the hour we were there, but the kids still got to see the station and it's kind of fun to see how fast they can be ready to go!

And finally, we hosted a Christmas Party School morning. We learned about the history of a few different Christmas traditions, like Christmas trees, candy canes, and all the good food, and then did activities to go along with each. We had a German Christmas market for lunch (all thanks to Bug--this kid is still a crafting cyclone when he gets an idea in his head.)

All the families contributed foods and Bug had them all set up for the kids to get from each of the stands.

The vegetarian welsh sausages were delicious!

I think a big part of the appeal of any homeschool gathering is the chance to hang out with other kids for a couple hours. They all enjoyed the lunch break where they could just chat. And we got so lucky with the weather. It was cool, but sunny and dry so we could get outside for a little while.

After we learned how candy canes are made, we played around with our candy canes. Heated at a low temperature for a few minutes, they become flexible again and can be twisted into different shapes. 

The kids noticed that after cooling, they were even more brittle than before, which got them into a discussion about why that might happen.

After learning about some of the traditional foods, we decorated gingerbread men. I kept it simple--just white frosting and then some little candies to embellish, but it was just right for 10 kids.

 

(They can still do a lot of damage with just one color of frosting, haha.)

So, while the month hasn't been quite as relaxed and cozy of a Christmas schooling as I'd hoped, it's had it's moments. We have only journaled twice and are days behind on our advent reading; we have felt rushed and hurried and have only baked gingerbread men, but I'm trying to just go with it and be okay with whatever we have done. There's just no sense in letting the fun turn into chores. And maybe we'll get to some of the activities after Christmas. Or not. It's all good.