Christmas 2016

Santa has been here.
 
The big ones came into our room asking if they could go downstairs. I heard Felix shout “Wow!”

After a little bit, we finally let them go wake up Leo.
Leo looking for his presents.


This was their idea :)



We drove over to Mom & Dad’s and had a lovely breakfast before gift opening. It was raining and super icy, but we were practically the only ones on the road, and we took well salted routes, so no problem.

Waiting patiently as adults finish their breakfast


Leo loved his new Santa Jammies. I'm not sure which photo I like best.


Really, everyone liked their new jammies.




Felix was so excited for everyone to open his gifts.





Finally able to create her own REAL Perfumes!


Spy Gear!!!!






It was a lovely Christmas. So fun to watch the kids get stuck on something they really loved. So stuck that they didn't care about opening anything else.

Angels

Occasionally I wonder if my efforts to make my children into caring human beings have any effect. Teachers, friends all say good things, but I pretty much only see them around each other, and often they can be pretty rotten to their sibs (& furry sibs).

Then today happens.

We were lucky enough to be gifted some Nickelodeon Universe "mystery tickets". They can be worth 6 points, 100 points, or rarely a "years wort" if points. Out of our 8 tickets, one lucky one was worth 100! Yay! 

Felix tried the little roller coaster...and hated it.

We rode some extra rides and had lunch.  Then, I lost the ticket! Oh I dreaded telling them.  But after we back tracked and emptied my bag and pockets, it was undeniable that it was gone. Relia was pretty stone faced, but told me it could happen to anyone. Felix hugged me and told me it wasn't my fault. 😌

They made a new plan to hit all of our favorite free things. 

Felix was helping the little boy beside him find more jewels.

Hiding

We put Leo to bed last night, and a couple hours later, we heard talk radio playing on his stereo, but we can't find him! We looked in and below his bed, in our room, Felix's room, Relia's room, & the third floor. 

Eventually we found him in his room:

BREAK OUT!... er, IN?

Today, Relia had her friend Meg over, and Evan, our neighbor boy came over. Since we had such a nice range of smarty pants kiddos, I set up my school's kit from breakoutEDU.com.

The kids worked so well to solve the puzzles. They completed 2 games. The first was great for everyone. The second was more for the big kids. All of them were within reach with a few well placed hints when they got stuck.
So fun!

I have to lead this at school in mid-January, so I got to get bugs worked out and figure out exactly what I need to have ready.

Santa jars

Tonight's advent surprise was making Santas out of jars. Way more exciting than I thought when we decided to light real candles in them. We almost NEVER light real candles here, because I discovered that a good chunk of the house is insulated with wood shavings!

Gingerbread Houses

Today's advent surprise was making the traditional gingerbread houses. They have been asking me since day one when it was going to be.

I whipped up some stiff, dry royal icing as our mortar this year, so we didn't have to wait long to have nice sturdy houses.

After lunch, I made Alton Brown's royal icing to decorate the houses. Then we broke out the candy and got creative:









Santa was visiting Leo's house, and he left LOTS of presents on the ground

Santa!

Today was "Visit Santa" day in our advent adventures. We got to Bachman's plenty early and got front row seats for the show. We bopped around Bachman's for about an hour. I think the cold and snow kept some people away, because it wasn't nearly as crowded as it has been in the past.

Checking out the koi


Trying Santa's phone

Leo was a little cold in short sleeves


Felix working on how Santa's type writer works.


Singing with Santa & Albert


And a little photo op with Santa


Rellie got herself a selfie with Albert the elf.

They are old friends. Here they are in 2012


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