Chistmas Eve morning at CMOR and seeing the Legendary Santa!

http://craigandlorel.blogspot.com/2012/01/pre-christmas-events.html

Lorel already blogged about this and her pictures and explanations are great, so I won't add much commentary.  Just a few pics.

We love seeing Santa come down the chimney!

Sod fam with the snow queen,

and with the man in red!

Victoria said that she would like an acoustic guitar, Christian asked for surprises, and Grant asked for a Joker house. They were really glad to see Santa and running into cousins again made it extra fun!

V's Christmas concert

Third and Fourth graders performed at the December PTA meeting. There was a huge crowd and they did a great job! The resource teachers at the school are really great!

A sweet quick wave back from V before the singing started! I was pretty far away and couldn't get too many clear shots, but thought this was cute.

Victoria loves to sing and has a lot of poise on stage. I enjoy seeing her do things like this.

C's Wombat Project

Christian did an animal project this year and chose the wombat. This kid cracks me up. He filled out his written report paper before I even saw it! That sort of initiative and wanting to get things done quickly is tricky for me. I admire it, but I like to deliberate and think things through first. I wanted to help him research and plan his project. He just likes to get things done and move on. Some of his answers changed after we did a little more research online, but the majority were right and were things I wouldn't have known. He remembers a lot of what he hears, the first time. Lucky him, huh?

For the creative portion of the project, he and Danny cut out a wooden wombat with the jigsaw. Christian sanded it and painted it.

We thought it was pretty cute. Good job, Buddy!

Gingerbread playdough!

Gingerbread houses and a party in Richmond

Look at these cute little girls!

and boys!

Victoria loves decorating treats!


Grant wasn't too into the craft, but enjoyed the candy and also practiced getting ready for the new baby!

Lisa and I! We were able to attend Lisa's 40th birthday party in Richmond that night too! Love Lisa. Danny was able to join us too after his wrestling officiating was over for the day.

Decorating the tree

My family just cracks me up!

Keysville vs. Farmville Turkey Bowl

So, I mentioned 3 feasts.  There were also 2 turkey bowls. Danny played with Belmont, our old ward, in the morning on Thanksgiving, and had a great time! He had to preserve some energy though for the next one. The day after Thanksgiving, Danny played in another game in Keysville with some friends from Farmville. He played last year too and had a fun time.

Farmville won again this year and the boys and I (V spent the night at Geemaw's with Camila and Megan) had fun cheering for QB dad!

After the game, we brought a thanksgiving plate to our friend, Pat Taylor, who lives in Keyesville. I should write a post about her sometime. She is an amazing woman. She is an 84 year old blind woman who lives alone. She is super strong and funny and positive and just a really special lady who we are glad to call a friend.

After that, we had pizza for dinner and watched the Muppet Movie. The boys thought it was pretty great. We don't go to the movie theater too much, so it was a pretty big deal. Fun day.

Thanksgiving feasts!

Thanksgiving celebration in Ms. Dudley's class was a fun way to eat lunch.

Christian and his friends

Creative Kailynn

Emma and her dad

Christian and I

We had 3 feasts total if you count that one! On Thanksgiving Day we ate at my parents' house and then again with Danny's side of the family in Williamsburg.

I didn't bring my camera, but wanted to share a funny story. Copied directly from Lorel's blog

"At the Marshall house, when we first arrived, we wrote down a few things we were thankful for a put them in a jar.  At the end of dinner, we pulled the strips of paper out and took turns reading them.  My mother-in-law was a little shocked when she pulled this paper out:

"Okay... Who wrote this?!?  Who said they are thankful for poop?!"  

Ha!  My bro-in-law grabbed the slip of paper to see whose writing it was, and realized that Pam had just read it upside-down...

 

Pretty funny stuff! We are indeed thankful for food and ate a lot of good stuff! We really have a lot to be thankful for and were happy to spend the day with our extended family.

Field trip to learn about the "Olden Days"

Grant and I met up with Christian's class on a cold drizzly day in November at 

Appomattox Court House National Historical Park.

http://www.stateparks.com/appomattox_court_house.html

The students learned about the "olden days". They went into several old buildings there and were able to hear about differences between communities past and present. The kids were cute and pretty well behaved. Christian impressed me with some of his questions and also some of his answers to the tour guides questions. He is a smart kid. Not sure that I can recall the specifics, except for one which was kind of weird. He asked about the plaster and paint on the walls. He wanted to know if it was original or repainted and what they added to make the color in the "olden days." Danny, a history teacher, thinks it is so funny when Christian so often says "olden days".  Also, I noticed how observant he is. When we were in the McLean house, he was excited because he noticed a doll in the house which he had seen earlier reproduced in the gift shop. Good eye buddy.

Part of the class listening to the tour guide before we went into the McLean house. Christian looks freezing cold, because he was. He was wearing his rain coat, but then accidentally ripped it (big time) while we were there and refused to wear the ripped coat. I held it for him, but he had to suffer the consequence of being cold. Maybe next time I ask him to wear a winter coat, even though it is raining, he will heed my advice.

I am glad that I am usually able to go on field trips with the kids.

Fall preschool fun

Just wanted to share a few random pics I took one day at preschool. Not even part of the lesson, inquisitive students, Grant and Jaclyn, examined and then counted some gourds I had in a bowl.

Cooper had fun transferring corn kernels from one bowl to another.

J drew in salt.

Grant tested magnetism.

They enjoyed their stations and then switched. (I like stations).

After school Grant wanted to do the kernels again. Simple task- big fun to a 3 year old.