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The boys were excited to open their stockings Christmas morning, then head to Seattle to spend Christmas Day with Dado and Dada.


Esperanza surprised us with stockings of our own at their place!  She even custom decorated and personalized them! 

Esperanza made this darling little nativity scene for her mantle

Esperanza and a pretty wood box from Fabio

Dado and Dada

Antee Sara

Esperanza made a delicious feast for us.  I want that chicken recipe…

(Please note the dusting of snow in the backyard.  We were blessed with snow on Christmas!  This does not happen in Seattle!! :))

‘A’ and ‘R’ received a game from Auntie Yaya and Uncle Artie, called ‘Hulabaloo’.  They love it and can play it without my direction…it’s a good thing 🙂

We attended our church’s candlelight service on Christmas Eve.  The boys sand two songa and wre adorable.  I could not get a decent shot…’A’ is top center, and ‘R’ is just below him.

After the service, we all drove to my mom’s condo for a delicious dinner and lots of presents!

Last year, kind of out of necessity, we moved into the Westin Bellevue for three nights after spending five nights with no electricity.  We enjoyed our time so much we decided to repeat this year!

The boys loved jumping from bed to bed…


The first night, I got to enjoy appetizers and dessert with our MOPS Steering Team.  It was a nice evening!
Two of my favorite Jens…

The Team, minus three…


A beautiful art piece in a mall attached to the hotel…
Another view…

The hotel is next to the Bellevue Art Museum.  We had lunch in their cafe and looked at the free exhibit on the first floor.  This is a piece in front.  From a distance, it looks like a purse.

‘A’s birthday was on the third night.  DH upgraded us to a new room that had an amazing view, and sitting room.  Ama spent the morning with us and gave ‘A’ walkie-talkies and games.  Here we are playing ‘Trouble’…

My cousin, Terry, joined in the fun before going to lunch with DH…

 


The view from our new room…

Seattle in the distance…

Our friends, Kenny and Karen, joined us for ‘A’s birthday dinner at Manzana.  They gave him a book that a mutual friend wrote, and this ‘Pete the Pirate Parrot’.  The boys love it!

View from our room at night…

The Westin had these live orchids all over their lobby.  They are gorgeous!

I have to say, the Westin really went above and beyond to make our visit special.  I called beforehand to order a bottle of champagne to celebrate our 13th anniversary.  The concierge suggested chocolate dipped strawberries.  OK.  Then, when I said that we would have our boys with us, he suggested milk and cookies as well.  (Gulping, and seeing how this was racking up financially, I said ‘OK’).  I asked if I could pay over the phone, and he said, "this is a treat on us, Happy Anniversary."
Then, upon check in, the front desk manager gave the boys each a bag of chocolates and the Kids Club bag full of goodies.

THEN, after finding out it was ‘A’s birthday, the manager had the front office staff sign a card and sent up two pieces of cake, milk, and a teddy bear for each boy!

What a treat!  Looking forward to next year.

Math Activity

We are currently working through Singapore Earlybird Math.  One lesson revolved around assessing length.  The boys had to meause multiple items using a paperclip and a large Lego block.  Here is a picture of them measuring their shoes.

Monday: Christmas Eve at mom’s: Make apple crisp

Tuesday: Christmas at Fabio and Experanza’s

Wednesday: The crockpot vegetarian dish from last week

Thursday: Carrot Potato Soup with homemade biscuits

Friday-Monday: Sandpoint Trip to Margaret and Randy

Christmas at Dad’s

We spent Saturday with my Dad and Stepmom at their beautiful home in Olympia.

My brother, Devin, and niece, KK…

‘R’ and Grandpa Gary…

Devin and niece, P…

Grandma and Grandpa with A and R…

We were spoiled agian this year with gifts.  The boys received (among many other things) a castle with these fabulous knights and a dragon.  They have been playing with it nonstop since we got home.

After a full turkey dinner, we all rolled to the living room floor…

Bible
We are reading about Jesus meeting Andrew and Peter, Philip and Nathaniel, the wedding at Cana and Jesus turning water into wine, Jesus and Nicodemus, and Jesus talking to the woman at the well.

Memory Verse
Proverbs 15:23 "It’s wonderful to say the right thing at the right time"

Read Aloud
Among the many read alouds this week, we got to read one of ‘A’s favorite stories.  It is from ‘The Children’s Book of Virtues" and is called, "The King and His Hawk".  It tells the story of Genghis Khan and his favorite hawk.  Genghis Khan was thirsty and kept trying to drink from his cup that was filled with water from a stream.  The hawk knocked the cup from his hands three times.  On the third time, Genghis Kahn got angry and killed his hawk.  As he climbed to get better access to the water, he discovered a dead large poisonous snake in the stream.  He realized that the hawk was trying to save him.  He learned to never act out in anger.

Language Arts
We continue to work through’Developing the Early Learner’, with activities on visual and auditory memory, and sequencing.  We also looke dup words in english and spanish associated with the kitchen.

Science
We read about energy, defined as "what makes things go into movement and action"
Sources of energy: food, fuel, water, wind
How our bodies turn food into fuel
Earth fuels: oil, coal, natural gas
How water is truned into electricity
How we use electricity
(We touched on all these and will go more in depth over the next couple of weeks)

Art Appreciation
We looked at three pictures that showed "Beakfast, Lunch, and Dinner"

Math
We are working on ertimating length.  The kids have to show what is longest/shortest, and measure various items with a LEgo, or a paper clip (ex. a shoe is 3 Lego blocks long or 6 paper clips long).

Life SKills
Reading from ‘A Little Book of Manners for Boys": All about girls.  We read that it is important to treat girls and women with respect.  We show respect by- opening doors for them, taking their coat, pulling out their chair, playing with them, speaking appropriately to them, sharing your toys.

Reading
‘A" continues to work a few pages at a time on Bob Book Volume 2 Book 7: Jumper and the Clown.
This is a stretch for him.  We will go back and review easier books after this.

Watch out!  This is addicting!

How well do you know your world?

Antee Sara came over last night with her  friend, James, visiting from Utah.  She brought shirts from London.  The boys love them!!

Before there were television and video games, kids used to play outdoors, entertain themselves and work around the house in the afternoons. Kids don’t choose television over people. They choose television because of lack of people interaction. – Brook Noel

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