Oh Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas started off with a bang!  The girls and I walked in the Westminster Christmas parade with the Bookmobile.  Gwyn even wore her "Corky" hat.  (Corky is the library's penguin mascot)  Lyla brought her bag full of left-over Halloween candy to give out.  We did take out all the candy that was obviously Halloween candy.  They had a pretty big load of candy, but they ran out before we got to the big crowds on Main St., which is good actually because they were getting behind trying to give a piece to every single kid.  It was a fun way to kick off the Christmas season.

The next day we went to Davidson's Tree Farm to get our Christmas tree.  We had previously decided that we needed to get a tree that Jason and I could reach our hands around.  That never quite works out when we are picking a tree though.  We got one that wasn't too big though and loaded it up.  We were even super prepared this year because Jason brought his reciprocating saw to cut it down.  I think the girls enjoy the cart the most of all though.

After getting the tree home, but before decorating anything, we had to rake the yard.  It wasn't so bad as we'd already blown the leaves a few weeks prior.  But there was still a huge mess of leaves to rake up and dump.  At least we don't have to bag it.  We can just dump it all down the hill behind the house into the woods.  The girls were troopers though and didn't complain too much even though the leaves were too wet and yucky to jump in or play with.

And the reward for the hard work?  Decorating the tree!  I put the lights on it, but then we let the girls put everything else on.  So some of the limbs are super weighed down and there are some ornaments hanging 2-3 to a limb, but I think it looks good in a mish-mash kind of way.  Jason would not make a normal face for the picture.  He is doing something silly in every one.  So this is the picture for the world to see. ;)

We're off to a fun and joyous Christmastide!

Shoeboxes

This post is about packing shoeboxes, but I had to include some other things too.
I love that Lyla is taking piano.  She is progressing and is enjoying it, so that makes me happy!

I also did another American Girl program at the library.  This month we did Kaya and the girls got to make parfleches.  Then everyone got to decorate their parfleche with geometric patterns that represented nature.  And we got to eat blackberries, so that's always a win.

We did get to attend a shoebox packing party.  The girls had already packed individual shoeboxes to donate.  This time we just had to bring the rulers.  All the piles of supplies were laid out on a table and the kids got to fill shoeboxes with all kinds of goodies.  They also got to fill out a sheet telling little things about themselves for whatever child received that box.  Suzy Shoebox even made an appearance.  

I am very thankful that my girls love to do things like this.  They are very generous and are always ready to get gifts or supplies to give to people who need them.  I think that's a good lesson to learn in life and they remind me to keep being generous too.

A Thankful House Full

My parents and my Aunt Gale got to come up and spend the week of Thanksgiving with us.  We are always so excited to get visitors!  They also brought their three dogs, so we definitely had a house full.  But it was a great week!  The girls got them to play lots of games.  I love to hear the girls and Mom and Gale all laughing as they played Jenga and Smashup.

On Thanksgiving Day the girls and I ran in the Y's Turkeytrot.  It was super cold and there was a dusting of snow on the ground, so we stayed in the car until it was time to run.  Gwyn and Celee took off together.  I stayed back with Lyla.  She stops a lot and does a fair share of complaining, but she keeps going.  She all of the sudden will just take off and I have to full out sprint to catch up with her, then she gives out and walks with me jogging backwards trying to encourage her to keep going.  But it is fun to run races with them.  And they are all very proud of themselves when they finish the race.  We had an ok time, considering all the walking and coercing that I did to get to the end.  I also do not have my endurance back yet, so I was just happy to be able to do the race.  Anyway, it gives us a time to try to beat at the next race.

Between me having to work and the weather not cooperating, we didn't really get to do much in the way of going and seeing.  But it was nice to just hang out and relax with family.  Tinkerbell enjoyed it.  Moxie, being the only cat in a house with 4 dogs, did not enjoy it, but que sera.  

I somehow did not get a picture of the Thanksgiving feast.  Probably because we were all too busy eating and enjoying it.  We did make sure to get some family photos though.  

I love having family here.  I love just that fact that other adults are in the house with me.  Sometimes you just need some help!  And thankfully I have a wonderful family who comes up to do just that periodically.  We have much to be thankful for!

Wrapping things up

We wrapped up lots of things at the end of November.  We had our last co-op day.  Gwyn got to beat the boys at Munchkin one last time.  To be fair, they ganged up on her and beat her too, but that's ok.  It took their combined efforts.

Gwyn also had her first swim meet.  Can you tell she didn't want me to take her picture?

Celee had a nerf gun war at Grace with all the other 4th-5th graders.  They had a general melee in the mini-auditorium.  Then later they played capture the flag throughout the church.  I got to shoot a few hand darts too.  Most kids didn't actually put themselves "out" when they got hit, but it was still a lot of fun.

And the girls decided to have a spa in our kitchen.  They made a banana mash mask and painted it on each other's faces.  They put cucumbers on eyes.  They soaked, scrubbed, and massaged feet.  They even put flower petals in the water.  Other than the uber uncomfortable seat, it was very relaxing - as long as Lyla wasn't the one painting your face.  She's a bit too excitable for painting faces.

Also on the last day of co-op, the kids got to break boards in HapKido.  Lyla's friend Megan was her guest that day so she got to chop wood too!  Lyla was so proud, she still has these three pieces of broken wood in her closet.

Gwyn and two more Cadettes led Lyla's Girl Scout meeting.  They talked about some attributes of a Girl Scout like creativity, kindness, honesty, etc. Then they made fruit kabobs with each fruit representing an attribute.  So each girl made a kabob that represented herself.  So my little kabab is a funny, smart, kind, and creative little Brownie.

Happy Birthday Celee!

Celee Belle is 11!  I can't believe it.  I say that alot, like evertime there is a birthday.  But it just seems like my little blondie can not possible be this old!  She is growing into a beautiful, talented, intelligent, thoughtful, and hardworking young lady.  She is my most pensive child.  She is very serious about decisions she makes - like being a vegetarian for the past year and a half.  She is also a clown and loves to do silly things or tell jokes to make people laugh.  She's a keeper!

Celee is also my child that makes her own path.  She doesn't choose to do or like the things that other people like, unless she really does like it.  So instead of having a big loud party with lots of friends like the other two, she wanted only two friends to come over.  She chose chose a chocolate cake with strawberry icing.  She also chose to go to Ripley's Believe It Or Not.  This was one of the easiest birthdays yet!

Since Ripley's is in the Inner Harbor, we let Celee choose where to eat lunch and she chose Cheesecake Factory.  It is very interesting to follow the conversations of three 11 year-olds over lunch.

Ripley's was really cool.  It's not nearly as creepy or gross as I was expecting.  Oh there is some creepy and gross, but mostly it's just really cool things that I never would have thought of without seeing it.  Who builds an entire Hogwarts castle to scale using matchsticks?  Not me, but I'm glad somebody did.

We also went into the Mirror Maze.  I totally underestimated this maze!  All of us were thoroughly lost and relied on walking slowly with our hands held out in front of us to keep from running into walls, which we did anyway.  It was super fun and we all went through it twice.  

We also saw the 4D movie at Ripley's.  One was a mouse car race inside the walls and rooms of a house.  The other was a sled ride with live snowmen.  We got air in our faces and "snow" whooshed at us and things brushing against our feet and neck.  It was all good fun!

Celee said she had the best birthday ever, and that's what we shoot for.  :)  I want my girl to feel special and loved on her birthday because she is.  We love you Celee Belle!

A History Trip

Our History Club went on an awesome field trip.  Thanks to the generosity of Bridget's aunt and uncle, we were able to go down to Easton and stay in their guest house  They have a hobby farm with sheep and chickens that looks out onto the St.James River.  It is a beautiful place!  It also happens to be close to many cool museums and exhibits on the Underground Railroad in Maryland.  So we had a big pajama party while we watched a movie that follows the paths of four runaway slaves and their attempts to make it to Canada and escape slave catchers.

The next day we went to the Dorchester County Visitor Center.  They have a very nice Underground Railroad exhibit with hands-on things for the kids to touch and handle.  We also went to the Harriet Tubman museum in Cambridge.  There the kids got to see lots of pictures and read quotes from Tubman herself.  We also watched a short movie that told about Harriet Tubman's life and the Underground Railroad in general.  It was well done and kept the kids attention.  I think mostly they are just in awe of a world in which people had to go through such torture and deprivation, and for whom the desire for freedom was such that they would risk horrible deaths to seek a place to be free.  

I know it amazes my girls that in our country, right where we live, only 150 odd years ago, that was normal. I'm glad this in inconceivable to them, and I'm glad that they are interested in learning about it.  As the quote attributed to George Santayana says, "Those who do not remember history, are doomed to repeat it."  Here's my soapbox - That is why a liberal arts education is so important.  Yes we need scientists and mathematicians and programmers.  But we also need those professionals to be competent citizens, who understand the context of our history and how it is intrinsically linked to the history of others.  If we don't know the context that created our present circumstance, how can be make informed decisions in the moments we live?

Ok, back to the History trip - 

We gave the kiddos a treat and ate out at a semi-fancy restaurant in Cambridge.  I suppose no restaurant that has ketchup on the tables and crayons for the kids is really fancy, but it was pretty fancy for a bunch of kids on a school trip.  

On the way back we stopped at Adkins Arboretum in Ridgely, MD.  They have several different kinds of audio tours there, but we went for the Underground Railroad tour.  It was a 2 mile or so hike with numbered signs every so often.  We all would stop and listen to the number we got to.  It was really well done.  There were good sound effects and voice actors reading first-hand accounts of runaway slaves.  At each stop it described some kind of situation or obstacle that a runaway slave may have faced.  It was really awesome to see the kids so engrossed in it.  It really brought the stories to life for them to be out in the forest looking at a Cyprus tree or a creek bank, listening to what a slave may have done or said in a place just like where we were.  The kids didn't want to stop listening!  At the end they were choosing random numbers from other tours just to listen to the stories.  

I would love to go back to Adkins and do the other tours.  They have a lot of very cool-sounding programs held there as well.  All in all, it was a wonderful field trip.  I think the kids will remember this trip and many of the things that we all learned about the Underground Railroad - and that's what learning should be like!  Yay History!

Halloween

This year the girls chose to coordinate their costumes.  Gwyn was Princess Zelda.  Celee is Link.  And Lyla is Navi (the little fairy that tells Link what to do in the games).  The monster in the back has no relation to their costumes, we just think he's cool.  The girls took their picture with him at Jason's office during their Halloween trick-or-treating there.

We did carve pumpkins this year.  It's hard to see in the night, but Celee's is the puking one.  Gwyn's is a cat (of course).  And Lyla's is the one on the top, but she wanted hers to puke too so she put some pumpkin gunk in it's mouth too.

Gwyn actually went to a friend's house to trick-or-treat with them this year.  It's weird to have a child old enough to do things like that.  But she had a great time.  I took Lyla and Celee out to trick-or-treat and they had a blast, even though it was pretty chilly.

Navi's job was to direct link to the houses with the best candy!