I can't believe how fast the time passes! My last post I was busy contemplating finals and Thanksgiving. Now, after weeks of holiday fun, it's time to settle in and get serious again. But not before sharing what we've been up to over our Christmas break!
I'll pick up where I left off-Thanksgiving. We had everyone here for dinner, and in the midst of the chaos I came to the surprising realization that only half the kids here were mine! Being the oldest child in my family and being a significant amount of years older than my siblings has made me accustomed to being the only one with kids. So it was a pleasant surprise to see for once my children weren't solely responsible for the noise level being unbearably high!
Some of my half of the madness! Two of my sisters, my brother and his girlfriend and their three kids, and my mom. Even though it was hectic and crowded and crazy, it was really great to have everyone together!
We decided next year we're going to make our own giant gingerbread house, this one was too little for all of us to work on...
Even with all the fun Christmas activities there's always time for a story (or ten) in our house! The greatest thing about Katie learning to read so young is Francesca having someone else to read to her!
Decorating our tree
Of course we had to have the one that touched the ceiling :D Notice the lights? That is how much my husband loves me. I love Christmas lights!!! (Something about them just makes me feel like a kid again. Just sitting in this room made me carefree and happy!) He would do without it all if it weren't for me. Yet he hung them (almost) cheerfully this year! If that isn't love...
I found a great recipe for salt dough ornaments. We all had a lot of fun making them!
Painting them was even better!
Along the way we painted (we're always painting something around here!)
we sorted...
...we decorated (for a while Francesca's favorite story was A House for Hermit Crab, so they used some spangles to decorate Hermit crabs house)
I love that little girls are so delighted by pretty colorful things!
and we sorted some more!
On Christmas we got a visit from Santa
The girls got some really great things I can't wait to try out. I have so many ideas for this ABC puzzle! The possibilities are endless! (thanks coolest auntie ever!)
And grandma gave Frankie some cool Magneatos we've been wanting for a long time! In case you couldn't tell from the name-they're magnetic! (and they're neat! Haha.)
Speaking of cool. Guess what the greatest husband (and MIL) got me for Christmas?!
That's right, it's a NOOK!!! Those of you who know me well know what an enormous book nerd I am. I've been wanting this for the longest time. (well... honestly, it was the Kindle that I'd been wanting for so long, until Bethany told me about this. It's so much better!) Since my daughters love reading as much as I do, and my husband loves books, we have no shelf space and we're quickly running out of walls to put shelves. This magnificient creation holds 1, 500 books and has expandable memory for unlimited storage! Ready for the cruel joke? They were backordered and so mine won't be shipping until February. Those of you who know me will understand what a huge test of my patience this is! :D I am so, so, so excited about it I can't stand it!!! I have to just put it out of my mind and not think about it because I want it right.now.
On New Year's Eve we got to enjoy fireworks
At ten o'clock at night...
In the freezing cold!! (Ok, freezing cold may be a slight exaggeration, but I am so not cut out for New England living!) While I wish we could've been celebrating New Year's Eve somewhere warm and tropical, the kids absolutely love going out to play in the snow so late at night. Viewing the fireworks display our town puts on from our yard has become a tradition they look forward to.
After a three week break it was time to get back to school. This week Francesca worked on learning to write the number 1.
Writing in whipped cream is so much more fun (and tastier!) than writing with plain old paper and and pencil!
We've also been talking about Creation and what God made on each of the days. Here Francesca is doing a Day or Night sort.
We talked about God creating the sea and sky on the second day. Here she's gluing blue rice for the sea and clouds for the sky. I got this activity here. This is such an amazing resource, I'm so glad I came across it!
Well folks, I think that's about it for now. I have more news and more pictures, but my husband just brought me supper!
