Our week in florida

We've been having a great time here in Sanibel. The children have been enjoying the pool and the Gulf. Last night, Steve and I had a 'date night' and had a great meal out. Afterwards, the whole family went to Captiva and went to the beach there. It was quite different from Sanibel.

The children have all learned the game of Spoons, and we've had some good time playing.

I've attached a few photos from our vacation. We hope to go to the nature preserve today or tomorrow.

Holiday Weekend Projects

Friday was the last day of the quarter for the children at school. All in all, I think it's been a pretty good quarter for them. The proof of the pudding will be in the report cards which will come home on Friday. While it marks the halfway point for the school year, it also marks the halfway point of Abby's career at her school--it's a K-8 school, so she is halfway done. How quickly time has passed, and how much she has grown from that tentative kindergartener!

Abby's projects for the weekend were to 1) post the pictures that Aunt Peggy brought her from China, 2) organize her stuffed animals, and 3) move the fish tank OUT of her room. (Fish tank story--we got our first fish when Abby won them at a fun fair. You know how those fish normally die after two days? Not ours! Three years later, they're hale and hearty!) We accomplished all three.

The picture wall above Abby's bed.



We pondered long and hard how to organize the stuffed animals. We finally purchased a box of the $12.99 organize it! cubes at Target. They worked great! It was also about the lowest cost option we found.

Andrew took advantage of Sunday afternoon to build. He received a K'nex ferris wheel for Christmas, and yesterday he decided to put it together. He felt strongly about doing it himself, and did much of the work on his own. Towards the end, Steve and Abby chipped in to help.

Polka Dots!

Abby is very visual. About every six months, she wants to rearrange the furniture in her room. About every year, she wants to repaint and redecorate.

I am not visual in the least. I put furniture down and it pretty much stays there till we move.

This can cause differing views in our household. However, for the last few months Abby has been advocating for a room makeover. The extra time at Christmas allowed us to do it as a family project. We all helped, though Steve did the bulk of the work... my hero!

Here are some before and after pictures! By the way, Abby picked out the colors and theme!
BEFORE













AFTER















We did compromise, however. I wanted one wall with polka dots; Abby wanted all four. We settled on two!

What a blessed Christmas!

We have had a blessed Christmas! We attended a wonderful Christmas eve service (and the greens and pontsettia's didn't bother my allergies too much!). We were up late Christmas eve preparing, and a certain little mouse was very excited about Christmas! Abby, this year, was the one up a couple of times through the night and then at 6:30 am waiting for Christmas morning to arrive! I had told the children on the way to church that each warning about behavior in church meant that mom got to sleep in 15 more minutes (past 7:00 am) on Christmas morning. Both children enjoyed the lessons and carols, and then took a bit of a snooze during the sermon. Alas, no warnings! Mom had to get up at 7:00 am!

We read the Scripture and talked about the meaning of Christmas. We then opened gifts. As you can tell by Andrew's reaction, there was one hoped for--but really not expected-- gift under the tree this year.

The children have enjoyed the Wii very much. In addition to Wii sports, we have Wii Play (a series of mini-games that the children enjoy), Big Brain Academy (I've have learned my brain is not so big!), High School Musical (a karaoke game for Abby), and Super Mario Galaxy. The children have had tons of fun playing with each other, playing with us, and playing with their friends. And Wii Golf even seems to be therapeutic for my sore shoulder!

Abby has also done well reading for school. She has finished one Mandie book and is about to start on the next. We're hoping to read at least three books over the holiday!

For me, one of the best gifts is that I have off the week between Christmas eve and New Year's to spend with my family. It has been restful and enjoyable and productive. I am grateful.

We got a Wii!

We've had a wonderful Christmas!! The highlight for our children is that my brother and sister- in- law sent us a Wii! Abby and Andrew have been saying all morning, "I can't believe we got a wii!"

Here are the children opening it!

Our Beginning Strings Concert--on video!

Steve got a new digital video camera for his birthday in November. It records straight to DVD, and is really cool.

Last night was Abby's first beginning strings concert, and we got to try it out. Abby's group played four songs--Ode to Joy, African Noel, Allegro, and Joy to the World. Considering that most of these children began their instrument study in September, I think it incredibly courageous of their teacher to put on a Christmas concert! I thought they did really well! We were very proud.

Christmas Pictures

I think that Christmas cards and Christmas pictures are an important part of the holiday season and tradition. I take this very seriously. Unfortunately, no one else in my family seems to. In fact, they seem to think of it as "mom's Christmas chore".

I did not have the opportunity to get studio photos done, so today we took out the camera and tried to get a photo of the children that we could use for a Christmas card. This took extreme cajolling, wheedling, threats, and the old (rather pathetic) standby... "all I want for Christmas this year is a great Christmas picture!"

Not the best, but beggar's can't be choosers. The cards have been ordered. Hopefully, they'll arrive by next weekend

Here are some pics of our fun times!