Happy New Year!
The Kids ringing in the new year (at 8 pm our time 
We had silly string, confetti poppers and noise makers! The kids had a blast running around and screaming "Happy New Year!"
Another tradition we started this year was to make concrete handprints of the kids w/ the date. I'm looking forward to doing this every New Years eve. The kids have fun making them and I enjoy the memories that they will evoke years from now..
Every year I buy another piece for my Willow Tree nativity scene. This year (today actually) I purchased the Wise Men.
I missed last week, so I'm following my friend Jen's lead and posting last weeks picture tonight as well.
Last week's theme was "Lines". Here's my entry:
My shot of a "line" of lightening.
Christmas of 1999, when my oldest was just 2 and my second born was only 5 months old, we have had a tradition of reading this version of The Night Before Christmas. We have hot chocolate, read the story and head off to bed. A few years later we added new pajamas to our Christmas Eve traditions. Here the kids are in their new PJ's for this year.
The day has arrived. Advent countdown is over. We finished our journey with Jotham as he discovers not only his family but the Mesiah as well. We also finished The Glorious Coming where we reflected on Jesus coming to earth as a tiny baby for each of us. Our day was filled with presents, good food and spending time w/ family but through it all we remembered You Lord. Thank you God, for sending your son for us.
A Nativity Scene!
You all are so clever. I'm impressed. :D I'll be putting all your names in a hat and have my kids draw the name for the winner.
Here's the close up of the major part of the scene. This is Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and I guess it's the wisemen as they don't look like shepherds to me and I don't see any sheep. LOL The clump of nuts over the whole thing is the star of Bethlehem. The other part of the scene (scroll down to original picture to see) are the shepherds on a hill. The pecans in the sky are the angels w/ the one solitare whole pecan being the one who gave the announcement.
Pretty cute, huh? It will be interesting to see what this dd ends up doing w/ her life. I remember her drawing when she was around 4 or 5. She was drawing this very tiny precise drawing of something and a stranger was watching her. I don't remember where we were that a stranger was watching her draw. But it wasn't something too bizarre. It was probably something very pedestrian like a waiting room. Anyway, this man commented on her drawing and said that it looked like she was, oh what was the word he used, something along the lines of an engineering mind kindof description. Her very tiny precise drawings were so orderly and neat that this man felt she was probably inclined toward an engineering degree. That comment has always stuck w/ me as I've watched A. grow and develop. Her ability to work in miniature continues to improve and she is always creating something.
It is interesting to watch the difference between my two oldest dd's in their art. Both are gifted, if I do say so myself ;-) , but they are both complete opposite as they go about their work. E. draws and paints w/ abandon. She draws bigger than life. Bold and dramatic. She creates new art works on a continual basis. Where A. is much more refined, neat and delicate in her drawings. She loves to study something and copy it. She loves to go outside and paint or draw exactly what she sees. Most of A's work is on a miniature scale where E.'s work takes up the whole page.
This actually paints an accurate portrait of their personalities as well. E. is off the cuff, what she's feeling is what she goes with. She has no moderate, she's either on bouncing all over the place, guffawing loudly, think bull in a china store. Or, she's off. She's holed up in her room reading and you can't get a word out of her. While A., on the otherhand, is very cautious. Never wanting to do the wrong thing. Always making sure everyone is happy and she is doing what she can to help. She is usually on an even keel. Happy but not too happy, if you know what I mean. She is very emotional and sensitive and cries easily (like her mama ;-) ) E. , who does not cry, cannot understand me or A when we cry and thinks we're crazy! LOL
I'm still watching R and S (and of course J) to see how their personalities and preferences develop. It's just interesting to see as at 7 & 9 you can see some very definite traits that were just a hint or whisper when they were younger, developing into maturity.
God is amazing in his creations, isn't he? I love my kids and love even more being able to have them home to watch as they develop into the talents that God has given them.
Since the update I've had trouble posting pictures and entries have been taking forever to load. So, I've been waiting until I had some time to sit and wait for the entries to go through. Tonight's the night. As long as HSB cooperates I'll be getting all our activities of the last week posted. Aren't you all excited?
Here are some of the books we read last week.
The Pine Tree Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs, Michael Hague's version of The Nutcracker, The Christmas Star by Marcus Pfister, The Legend of the Christmas Tree by Rick Osborne, All You Ever Need by Max Lucado, Corduroy's Christmas by Don Freeman (this was a book given to E on her first Christmas by Aunt Susan, she was only 2 months old :-) ), How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss of course, Alvin Tresselt's version of The Mitten, Counting to Christmas by Nancy Tafuri, The Tree that Came to Stay by Anna Quindlen, Henry Van Dyke's The Other Wise Man retold by Pamela Kennedy, A Special Place for Santa by Jeanne Pieper, The Night of the Child text by Robert Benson, The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado, The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden. We also read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever , which we all really enjoyed.
The girls made these ornaments for their piano teacher. They had fun making these simple but unique ornaments.
We had a Christmas Party with our Homeschool Mother Daughter bookclub. It was at one of the members homes in the evening where the whole family was invited to come. We all brought cookies to share, the kids did some crafts and all the girls read their favorite Christmas book to the group.
R making her baby Jesus
The girls working on a craft. E. is the farthest on the left in light purple and A. is 3rd from the left in dark purple.
This is a picture of me w/ J at the party. The background is the girls reading their stories. I don't think I've ever posted a picture of me from this decade, so here it is. I'll post another one in another 10 years. LOL I take after my mother, I don't like pictures of me.
We went to a local park w/ some fellow homeschooling friends that is decorated for Christmas with lots of lights, characters and a scale model (I don't remember the technical name) train that you can ride on that takes you through the park and all the light displays. Dh had the camera, so I don't have any pictures of the train ride! 
We've attempted a few more ornaments that were flops. None of the glue I own will stick foam together. I don't know why but it just won't work! It's been frustrating to me because I'm really not a crafty person and I was only doing this to have "fun" with my girls. LOL I scraped the ornaments and we just read instead.
We've also been baking Christmas goodies this week. I've made Peppermint chocolate bark, which is really, really good and a potato chip/pecan cookie that I got from a fellow FIAR mom. Tomorrow we're going to bake some other type of cookie, I'm not sure which one yet. Or maybe I'll make some rock candy. The girls have been wanting me to make some since they recently tasted some.
A. my 7 year old loves to create things out of tiny little things. She's the one out in the mud creating sculptors or the one who takes the styrofoam from a package and whittles it away to create some type of masterpiece. Lately, she's been seeing things in her food. Here's her latest creation.
Any guesses as to what it is she "saw" in her pecans and created this landscape masterpiece on our kitchen table?
Tomorrow I'll post another picture that centers in on one particular part of her landscape and maybe a hint. That's of course if no one gets it by then. Oh, and if you're my husband, you can't play.
Leave your guesses in the comments. Maybe I'll even send the winner a prize. Oh wow, did I just make my own contest? Of course, I don't have too many vistors (or at least visitors that leave comments that is!) to my little blog, so your chances of winning are pretty good! I'll think of a prize and let you all know tomorrow. Maybe some of our homemade treats. Yum.
Don't forget to leave a comment and who you are!
Commuting from Redmond into downtown Seattle on the 520 bridge ~ that's annoying.
I actually took this picture (yes, I was driving. Not recommended by the way :-) ) on the weekend, so the traffic is not too bad. During commute times though it would get really backed up. The 520 is one of the two floating bridges that cross Lake Washington. I-90 is the other. During stormy weather driving on the 520 was an adventure. Waves would come splashing over the sides of the concrete wall blinding you as it hit the windshield. You could also feel the bridges moving, especially when traffic was stopped, which it often was.
In this picture, for those who like descriptions to what they are looking at *bwg*, you can see the Olympic mountains way off in the distance. At the end of the bridge on the right, is University of Washingtons Husky Stadium
