Handmade for Christmas

The girls made some handmade gifts this year for Emma and Sara, and we are all so happy with them!

We thought of a few things we could make out of bread dough: ornaments, etc. We settled on picture frames. We decorated the frames with braids, twists, and hearts, and then put them in the oven to bake.


When they were done, we coated them with sealant.


We added personal touches to the backs of them.


Then we added the photos:


Voila! Adorable best-friend gifts!

Katie's violin recital

It was one of the highlights of the many December performances. She really looked so comfortable and capable up there, with her instrument. I've seen her practicing, so I know her playing, but seeing her in the context of Yvette's other students was quite instructive for me. She is doing a fantastic job learning music!



She played a few pieces from her lesson book: "French Folk Song," "Baa Baa Black Sheep," and then the finale with all of the students, "Bile 'Em Cabbage Down" (she was one of the students playing the harder part). Yvette had them play in small groups by ability level, diving the song up into solo sections. Katie's group did "Baa Baa" twice: the first time in solos, then as a group.

Great work, Katie!

News from Katie

It was a Christmas filled month! First of all a few weeks ago I made a Mrs. Claus Christmas decoration. But on friday when Itook her home she fell apart so just today I finished glueing her back together.What a funny story! I also made a silouette Christmas card for my family.A few Christmas presents for my parents totalled it up.We read lots of funny or sierious christmas books.I am so excited for christmas. Excactly four more days! Just yesterday I made a little handmade present for Mommy! I am so proud of myself!


Miss U all!:)

See U all in a snowy Oregon!

Katie

December Happenings

We sure have been busy around here!

Early in December, the girls' school had its Christmas Concert. Eric, Nick, and I got a great seat near the front, and enjoyed listening to the singing of our favorites: the kindergarten, third grade, and the school choir!



Just a few days later, the parish choirs had their annual Advent Concert. I sang with the 9:30 Choir, and Katie sang with the school choir! It was a real treat to have the school choir there - that has not happened before. I enjoyed the concert much more than I usually do!

Our family was also happy to help out at Mass by lighting the Advent Candle for the Second Sunday. We got to process in at the start of Mass, and then Eric read a short statement about the Second Sunday and we lit the candle. It was nice for our family to be able to participate in the liturgy in this way.

ALso, we got our Christmas tree! Do you notice that it does not have any ornaments on the bottom 25% or so? Let's think why that might be the case. Oh, yeah. The New Kitten. That's also the reason why we left all of the breakable ornaments in the box. Good thing we have so many ornaments that it's still a pretty full tree without the breakable ones! It was also a good thing that we just set it up the first night, and didn't decorate it until 24 hours later. That cat was completely obsessed with the tree. Now, he just bats at the ornaments he can reach and crawls around in the bottom branches. Christmas is fun for kitties!



Nick's preschool had their Christmas program, too. This was our sixth Calvary Preschool Christmas Program in a row, but the first one when we had no kids sitting with us in the audience! What a treat! We were happy to see Nick go up on the stage with his class and actually (sort of) sing! He was even well-behaved with his classmates in the pews while the other classes sang!

Continuing our string of December performances, the girls had a dance recital. It was all dances from "The Nutcracker." I enjoyed Katie and Julianna's dances! Katie was a snowflake, and Julianna was one of the "children under the skirt." They got a good reaction from the audience when they kept popping out from under that big skirt! Julianna gets a little nervous on stage, and her response to that feeling is to get giggly. It's so cute!



So, between Parent-Teacher Conferences, the girls' dentist appointments, Eric's Dads' class field trip on the light rail to Union Station and Olvera Street with all three kids, caroling with the Brownies, classroom Christmas parties, and third grade Posadas, it's been quite a whirlwind! Katie will be performing in a violin recital on Sunday afternoon. The fun never ends!

Nick's birthday

Nick's birthday celebrations began on Friday the 12th, which was his designated birthday day at preschool. We brought in the snack, including special cookies to share: snickerdoodles with "4"s made out of butterscotch chips!


When he got to school, he got to choose and decorate a birthday crown!




(Also at school that day: the school's Christmas Program! Nick's birthday cookies were taken from the room and put out on the buffet tables for after the concert, but we found them and brought them back in for his birthday snack time!)

On Saturday, we had lots of friends over for Nick's Birthday Party! The theme was "Nick's FORE-th Birthday!" Mommy did invitations by evite.com, since she had run out of time for making invitations by hand :-( . The evite invitation had a picture of a golf tee, and said:

"Please help us celebrate Nick's "FORE"-th birthday!

Join in the fun at the "Nickolympics!"

Get ready to race, throw, and kick!
(And build, bowl, and putt!)

We hope you can join us!

At the "Nickolympics," we had plain white flags for the kids to decorate with marker, paint or pictures of sports for gluing on.

We started off the party with "free play" in the backyard, while kids were also decorating their flags. Then we had a parade to officially begin the "Nickolympics!"




Events at the "Nickolympics" included "kick a soccer ball under the little bench," "knock down the pins," "race the car down the ramp," "jump off the porch and onto the grass," and "throw the bean bag into the ring."






Then it pretty much just turned into "Chaos in the Backyard."




Nick's cake, as requested, was chocolate. Mommy decorated it with a golfer and a basketball player on top, and baseball and football candies around the side. On the top, she wrote "Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! Nick is 4!"



Mommy also made a vanilla cake in case anyone didn't like, or couldn't have, chocolate. Because she had some extra blue frosting in her piping bags, this one she doodled on in the "Nickolympics" theme.





On Nick's "actual birthday," we went to church, and the Sunday School kids (Julianna and Nick included) came into Mass to sing us a Christmas song. Later on, we went to Julianna and Katie's dance recital (all dances from "The Nutcracker") and then Darell and Kathryn took us out to dinner!


If there's one thing we've noticed about our newly-four-year-old boy, it's that he has become very LOUD and very, very SILLY!



He spent most of his "actual birthday," and the days since, playing with his presents! He has really been enjoying each and every present. Here are a few photos I've captured of some of them:




Nick already had some of this train track, but he got the airport (in the foreground) and more track for his birthday.

Well it surprised me!

The Amazing Race ended in Portland!

What FUN (capital F. U. N.) it was to see them racing in Portland! And for the final pit stop!

The airport, with its green and blue carpet!

Then, "Go to the Bridge of the Gods..." We yelled "It's out 84!"

The Portland Building!

"We don't call it 'Fifth Avenue,' it's just Fifth! Alder! Morrison!"

Some doughnut shop I've never heard of! But is that Berbati's Pan down the block?

Look, gas was $4.11 that day!

And finally, Pittock Mansion! Woooooo!
_____

Well, I guess this explains why Mom has been watching it this season! But she didn't give me any inkling about it. Good job keeping it a surprise, Mom!

THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN TO WATCH!

One for the Ages!

What a wonderful Thanksgiving - it was a special day!

We loved having people at our house for Thanksgiving for the first time. It was fun finding places for everyone to sleep on Wednesday night!

We had Darell, Kathryn, Grandma, and Noni here. We got started with the food on Thursday morning, while the Macy's parade was on. Many games of Sequence Jr. were played.

We made considerable use of our two ovens, changing their temperature settings between dishes, and it seems that one got turned off while the turkey was cooking. Eric and Darell improvised by putting it on the grill, and it turned out delicious! Darell and Kathryn made most of the sides, as well as a scallop appetizer, a salmon dish, and a small version of Kathryn's family's traditional cheese course. Mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, brussels sprouts, zucchini, AMAZING gravy, just to name a few! So much cooking that one oven's heating coil died on Friday morning and had to be replaced!

Kathryn made an apple dessert, and Grandma and I tried out a new recipe: maple pear pie. Grandma made her pie crust, and I did the filling and oatmeal crumb topping. I think it's a keeper!

Before dinner, the girls read "Thanks for Thanksgiving" to us and we talked about what we are thankful for.

After dinner, the cleanup crew was busy while the kids watched the Kit Kittredge movie with Grandma and Noni. Tearjerker!

On Friday, Grandma and Noni took the kids to the movie theater to see "High School Musical 3." The girls' third time, Nick's second! A fun one. Later, we drove out to Redondo Beach to walk around the pier with Darell and Kathryn (couldn't pass by the arcade without going in!), getting some dinner, and visiting their apartment.

On Saturday, it was dance class and saying goodbye to our visitors. It was shorter than we would have liked, but it was truly a fantastic holiday weekend for us!


I have a few photos to share, but I admit it's kind of a disappointing number. I was too busy enjoying the days - I didn't think about taking pictures!

(Grandma made a special mid-day snack platter for the kids!)

(Darell had a very attentive audience while he was cooking. "This is better than the Food Network!")

(I captured the table before dinner - looking so nice - but then while we were eating, my brain became soaked in gravy and I forgot my own name, much less the fact that cameras had ever been invented)

On Monday, I took Turbo back to the Veterinary Dermatologist for the second injection of the antibiotic. Unfortunately, his paw was looking even worse, and we decided we needed to add another antibiotic as well as an ointment and a rinse, both with further antibacterial agents. And... the vet wants to make sure he doesn't chew at it and aggravate the tissue further:


He HATES this thing.