School 2014-2015

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving  after New Years.. I never wrote a post about our school starting so here are some pics.

LewCrew Christian Academy '14 pancakes

How'd they get big so fast?

Nature study and hiking!

Socialization and Swimming

History at the 82nd Airborne Museum with the BBs

Cool find on our nature hike

Even cooler find- we were so surprised to find this lake on our walk

More history at the Museum of the Cape Fear 

More swimming and socialization

Tennis at Mazarick Park

More socialization (aka birthday party)- look at this nice line   

Nature walk, hiking, and obstacle course

Soccer Fun

Easy science experiment- we brought a closed pinecone into the house to see if it would open up when it got warm. Look on day two- opened pine cone with seeds released into the box.

Fire station field trip- fire safety

I don't have pictures of math but the kids are doing really well. They are all using Math U See.  K is finishing up Epsilon, C is working on Delta, T plugging through Gamma, KG working on Alpha, and Big Girl is excited to have T's old Beta book. She wants to do math with everyone else- she does need some help though. :)

New Years' 2014

I love traditions. I love when the kids remember our tradition and are so excited about them. Even though James is away this year, we've tried to continue many of our traditions. New Years' included. I also like to be flexible (sometimes). We had friends who we really enjoy seeing who could have a park date New Years Eve so we decided to celebrate New Years Eve on New Years Day which is okay!

We got up and fixed pancakes- now I have several pancakes flippers and an egg scrambler so I mostly supervised. we went on our annual bike ride- although this one was very short since I had a flat tire. I sure do miss our wonderful bike repairman. After our bike ride we enjoyed Russian tea, homemade donuts, and oliboli (Hillegonda fixed oliboli- a Dutch New Years tradition- which Hannah brought  over New Years Eve- she and I caught up for a couple hours after the kids went to bed.) The kids played so nicely and it was nice outside so the kids skipped naptime (well Big Girl C napped but the rest had a great time outside.) I didn't have as great a time since I was trying to fix our toilet. I really mess our wonderful handyman, plumber, jack of all trades too.

Then we began fixing appetizers- a tradition we started four years ago. The kids get so excited to go the store (usually BJs) and select an appetizer to fix. These are usually heat and serve but they love choosing, fixing, and serving them. Once we got the appetizers going, it was game time. In years passed we've sometimes used envelopes or balloons with fun ideas listed. This time since James is away and Big Girl C is into everything, the kids and I came up with a list of fun things and I helped pick what we were doing by what Big Girl was up to. Some of our fun- Quirkle, LCR, Bananagrams, and more games. Our little one woke up "hunree" so we were all happy to start eating our yummy/ unhealthy appetizers. Each person served the appetizer they prepared and as they served the appetizer, they told their family member something they love about them. I loved some of the things they said they about each other: "I love playing football with you, i love playing lego with you, I love that you cook", .. but also I also "l love that you are kind, I love that you like to help others, ..."

After dinner, we had another favorite tradition- filling our and reading our time capsule. The kids really get a kick out of reading their past years responses. T cracked up that one year he wrote his name was train and was surprised to see that all four years he put he wants to be a policeman when he grows up. C laughed at how one year he wrote his answers by drawing. We played a few more games before the countdown and toasts (at 7:30). We were thankful that James could Facetime with us and everyone enjoyed the toast- sierra mist and pineapple juice.
We really missed James but were happy to have our traditions and Facetime to connect. We are looking forward to the New Year.

Christmas Part Three

We drove to Orlando Saturday morning. The kids were excited and woke up early so we left while it was still dark and enjoyed seeing the Christmas lights in our neighborhood again. Our drive went so well and it was so nice out that we were even able to go swimming the first day we got to Orlando.

 Sunday morning we went to Downtown Disney. There is a lot of construction going on so lots of stores were closed but we had 4 very excited people when we found this...

 the Lego store and princesses. The kids each picked out a lego set with their Christmas money from Grandmollie. After dragging them away from the store :), we enjoyed the pretty shopping area

 and especially the water fountains where we had several wet kids!

 Lots of nice photo ops!

 And even a train ride.

 After good napping, we were ready for the pool!

 and hot tub!

 Monday we spent hanging out at the condo, last minute shopping, game playing, and swimming. The Hubbards all came over for dinner. Mom brought yummy Country Captain and dairy free, gluten free chocolate cake for dinner and then we enjoyed visiting with family. We had a good time playing two Christmas carol games we learned in Baltimore. Christmas song picture game similar to this and another where we teamed up to think of as many Christmas carols as we could. Curt and Michelle and their partners came in 1 and 2 even before they named all the Put it on the Sleigh songs.

 Tuesday morning we headed to Sea World. We had a wonderful day there. We first saw the North Pole Express. We didn't have much time before the Shamu show and I'm so glad we didn't rush. Instead we took our time to see the Beluga whales were pretty and then went to Shamu land. There was almost no one there. The kids got to walk right up to Shamu Express (kid roller coaster) and several other rides. There was no doubt when the Shamu show ended as tons of people suddenly interrupted our private play area :)

 C enjoyed the train ride with Nana and Papa.

 C and T wanted to sit in the splash zone. The rest of us sat a little higher up in the no splash zone. The show was super- even had sweet baby whale kisses!

 On our way to BBQ lunch, we were glad to see several land animals up close including this snake KG got to pet and lots of beautiful birds.

 The kids loved the shark exhibit. Baby C couldn't stop looking at the "Fish up top" and "Big Fish"

 We all enjoyed our BBQ lunch and then got to watch the dolphins have their lunch! That was like a show by itself. They did lots of tricks before we saw the actual dolphin show.

 Baby C was the only one who fell asleep but all of us were worn out at the end of the day.

 Sea World was beautifully decorated that just walking around was fun. I'm so glad we went and that we stayed to see Sea World lit up at night.

 The only thing we really wanted to do but missed was the O Wondrous Night Show. The kids were in line for the snow globe picture when we heard the announcement that the show was already full- over 30 minutes before it was scheduled to start.

 Wednesday we recovered from Sea World with fun at the pool and can you guess? more swimming!

 We sang Christmas carols and recited the Christmas story for Christmas Eve for our "Florida Christmas"

 Christmas morning the kids woke up early. I was thankful for Adventures in Odyssey to keep them happily occupied for a bit. A thankful for Facetime so we could open stockings and Christmas presents with James. Here are our two ballerinas. We opened stockings and then Happy Birthday to Jesus before having coffee cake. Then lots of fun present opening. We were so blessed by all the wonderful presents. And then enjoyed yummy brunch- sausage breakfast casserole and overnight French toast.

 After more playtime, we headed to Tampa to see the Hubbards again. After a short visit, we enjoyed a delicious dinner and tons of dessert.

 Then bundled up outside for "A Christmas Story."

 C made her rounds to lots of laps.

 Friday morning we drove to see Nutcracker Ice. We got there a little early and decided to look around. I'm so glad we did. It was amazing- huge, pretty, a river runs through it, alligators, turtles, fish, ...

Then we made it to see Ice! It was really neat - Ice carvers brought in from China carved over two million pounds of ice into scenes from the Nutcracker. Amazing detail. Beautiful! It was also very cold! So thankful for the parkas they loan everyone for the 9 degree room. I should have brought hats and gloves but we didn't get frostbite :) I guess we did go a little Overboard for Christmas.

Kids loved the slides and we went at the perfect time- not many people there! When we left, there was a long line to get in. Another great day!

We ended our Florida Christmas with hamburgers and music by the pool. And of course more swimming! We really wished James had been with us but we had a good trip. We enjoyed wonderful food, good company, great weather, super presents. A Merry Christmas!