Holiday Cheer

Getting the house ready for Santa

Shanna drew this interesting picture on her new dry erase board; an unhappy flower inside a happy flower. I think that is how she feels sometimes. I wondered about all the Chinese writing around the border.

More interesting writing. On this one the writing is vertical.

Playdate with Megan's friend.

Shanna's food choices are ever expanding. She now will eat wheatgerm, blueberries and raw carrots! We even had burritos with guacamole for dinner and she loved it!

The girls entertained us with some tunes.

Some upbeat:
(Careful - loud. You may want to turn the volume down!)

Some more mellow:

 

We had lots of fun on Christmas Eve at Gramma Marion & Grandpa Tom's, with Aunt Kate and Daniel, and Uncle Terry.

Gramma gave the girls these cool crayola dry erase boards that they can put any kind of paper into, beneath the clear cover. The are great for tracing, especially practicing writing numbers and letters.

Everyone loved them.

Christmas morning was a big hit. We kept it low on the gifts, so it was a mellow morning.

Misty's favorite spot during the holidays!

Opening the "big" gift; a Playmobil Dollhouse

Fun with Aunt Shelly

Baking time with Uncle Billy and Aunt Janis

Mary Alice baked all these amazing kinds of cookies.

Fun with special friends on New Years Eve.

The kids are getting older, but still have fun!

Shanna loves to play the piano.

Then came Shanna's first day of school yesterday. She absolutely, unconditionally, loves school. She told me "Teacher, Shanna, I love you", which translates to Shanna loves teacher!! She is so cute. Her teacher is awesome and has it all together. She made her a little book with all her classmates photos and names and Shanna brought it home today and shared it with each one of us. She is so proud of herself. She is going to do so well. The friend in the picture lives behind us and is also in 2nd grade. They go to art, gym and music together. Oh, and Shanna loves riding the bus and buying lunch!

And on the same day, my boy turned 16! He had a busy day with school and math class at night, so we decided to pretend that it was his birthday today instead.

So Mary Alice baked a delicious cake (what would I do without her?)

Matthew took some artsy pictures.

And we celebrated with our family.

(If you want to see this photo larger, just double click it.)
Slowly and surely, I am getting things done, despite the challenges along the way (like losing the camera for 5 days-with the Christmas photos on it- and finally Megan remembering she put in "in my round jewelry box in my closet".....) and navigating the various mood swings of 6 people. I am happy to have a holiday card mailed out and food in the fridge (and that the freezer works again-thanks, Eric) and clean laundry in the closets. I am grateful for my health and Eric's (and that his back feels better) and for all the blessings in our life. I think things will settle down now into a normal routine.....maybe.