tales from a far-land

We started our Christmas Eve by spending some time with Oma in the morning.  She was so happy to see all of the children.  We brought some doughnuts to eat for breakfast and Oma enjoyed watching the kids run around the house playing with Beau, her dog.  It was a nice little visit and I'm so glad that we were able to bring her some holiday cheer. Oma and the kids The Cousins In the evening, we were surrounded by family and friends for dinner and companionship.  The meal consisted of latkes and chili as this year Hanukkah and Christmas overlap.  We also had some great appetizers and desserts.  This year, sadly, it was too cold and rainy for us to sit outside by the fire-table.  So, instead, we enjoyed some logs burning in the fireplace while listening to the annual reading of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas  recited by my Dad (Papa).  We also lit the menorah to commemorate the third night of Hanukkah.  Before the evening conclude...

We had a very eventful Hanukkah holiday season.  We spent Hanukkah with friends in their home, at home with friends and family, and abroad celebrating in Puerto Penasco, Mexico.  We had our fair share of latkes, lights, doughnuts and spinning dreidels.  Madilyn and chug choir at our temple even created a Hanukkah parody sung to the tune of "Little Shop of Horrors."  She was so proud to sing her chug's creation to us one morning during Religious School.  Too cute!  Overall, a very good Hanukkah season. 1st Night of Hanukkah Making a paper chain menorah at the Arkos Aiden's heart latke Lighting candles on the 1st night 2nd Night of Hanukkah Madilyn and Lauren Keaton and Aiden Lighting candles with friends 6th Night of Hanukkah in Puerto Penasco, Mexico 8th Night of Hanukkah in Puerto Penasco, Mexico Madilyn singing a Hanukkah parody song A video of the parody song

In December, while my sister and niece were visiting for the holidays, we decided to take all three kids to JCPenney for photos.  The session went pretty well.  Madilyn and Mina were very cooperative.  Aiden, on the other hand, was a little challenging.  He is definitely in his "I don't like photos take of me" stage.  But with a little bribery, we were able to get him to smile for the photographer a couple of times.  And the final photos turned out really cute!!  I cannot believe how grown-up they all look. Mina Aiden Madilyn Madilyn and Aiden Cousins Forever

Wow, I cannot believe that my kids are half-way through the school year.  This past semester was much different than years' past.  The pace was much more calm and less stressful for all of us.  Both kids seem to be liking Lookout Mountain Elementary (LOM).  They have made some new friends and re-connected with some from preschool.  Neither of the kids have had too much homework.  Aiden usually has a spelling test on Friday that we have to study for throughout the week and a Wednesday writing assignment that is due on Friday.  Madilyn receives a homework packet on Wednesday which is due the following week.  The only frustrating part is that because our kids are not receiving as much homework as they were previously, we don't always feel like we know what they are learning.  But, I'll take that over the tears and anxiety of the past.  Academically, the kids have done very well the first two semesters.  Madilyn qualified both semeste...

One Saturday during the December, I decided that I wanted to bake holiday cookies so the kids could decorate them.  What a disaster!  I went through two different sugar cookie dough batches before I called Josh to stop at the grocery store for a back-up plan.  I'm still not sure the reason why my recipes didn't work.  Super frustrating!  Thankfully, Pillsbury came to the rescue and I was able to bake some sugar cookies for the kids to decorate.  I think they had more fun licking the frosting off of their hands and utensils then decorating the cookies.  After decorating all of the cookies, the kids were able to eat one of them while we watched Elf , the movie.  It turned out to be a very fun holiday-themed night! Decorating cookies Pretty cute kids! Family Selfie The final creations Watching Elf as a family