Christmas with a toddler

Freeze the crazy Labrador dog is 1.5 now and in the insane toddler phase. This made Christmas very tricky. The lights, the presents, the ornaments, the food! At times it was all too much.

Here is our Christmas tree. It is there under those blankets. That was the only way to stop Freeze taking ornaments and gifts.


Before presents come sheep! The kids are caring for the neighbors sheep over Christmas again this year. They thought it was good fun to go care or the sheep in pajamas on Christmas day!


Freeze opens the first of many gifts, this one was actually for him.


The Zhu Zhu is HERE. Hayley was happy as can be and even did a double take after opening this gift. This was the first thing she asked for and the hardest to get.

Comfy blankets! My kids are strange they love getting new blankets. Tristan happy dances with his.

Colin hugs his blanket.

Freeze is tired after the long day.

I didn't get many photos, Christmas seems to go so quick. The kids got a LONG awaited x-box 360 which almost made Trevor smile. Trevor wouldn't participate in Christmas for most of the morning but did open a couple things when I convinced him he would like at least one of the gifts. The kids all got marshmallow guns and they seem to really enjoy those. Blankets for all, legos, a few board games, some arts and crafts things, Lego Indiana Jones 2 for Wii, an MP3 player and Idog for Hayley since the X-box was more for the boys and the much anticipated Wii Fit Plus for all the family (it's fun!). Dog treats, cat treats, Ferret treats, hamster,gerbil,degu,bunny, guinea pigs, fish, turtle and frog gifts (mini plastic lily pad for the frogs). A big dinner and then the new Harry Potter DVD for evening. I think the day was a success.

If you ask a bunny to pose....

If you ask a bunny to pose you will get a cute picture...but first....

They will squirm

and scurry

and one trouble maker will emerge

If you ask a bunny to pose...

There will be giggles


and wiggles

and silly interruptions!


If you ask a bunny to pose....

It will be chaos

and require patience

Then in the end you will be rewarded with cuteness!

Are we done yet? I'm outta here........

Girl Scouts Carolling

Today was the Girl Scouts Christmas party and the girls also went Christmas carolling to a Senior Citizens home. The weather was F-F-F-Freeezing! We walked from scouts to the Senior home, it was an uncomfortable walk with temps in the 1's and wind chills in the negative teens! I think the seniors enjoyed the songs so it was worth it. There were 22 homeschooled girl scouts from little Daisy's- tween and teen Cadettes. Plus a couple siblings like Tristan. I knew he would want to go along since he loves singing.

I had to take photos of Tristan for the blog even though Hayley is the girl scout. Both singing and at the party she was always with the other girls so I haven't any photos to publish. Too many close ups of other kids whom I may not have permission to publish.

Tristan on the walk back from the senior home. Jumping about to stay warm! Girls up ahead in their lines.


Time to greet and chat with the seniors after singing.

Party Time! Look at that healthy lunch...he only chose desserts!

Tristan eventually ate some of my veggies and cuumber slices so I guess there was a little goodness to his meal!

Were finding it hard to get to Girl Scouts and also finding the vision for the group may not be a good fit for us as the girls get older. They are working towards a big trip and doing lot of fundraising, which is great for those who want to take a big trip but Hayley doesn't want to travel far away without family and I guess I wouldn't want her to anyway. I suspect this may be her last year as a girl scout but we will see.

Cub Scouts Arrow Of Light

The cub scouts worked hard, studied all sorts of things such as stayed active in their dens, earned several specific achievements as cub scouts, memorized the boy scout law, oath, slogan, motto, outdoor code, handshake, differences between a boy scout uniform and a cub scout one...and more. They finally had their board of review test about a week ago and now it was finally time for the prize. No not the thrill of earning the highest cub scout award or getting a patch to add to their shirt...all these boys cared about was shooting a flaming arrow! In our pack that's what boys who pass the arrow of light get to do.

First it was time to get their Christmas gifts from Santa, their pinewood derby car kits. For my boys and the other Webelos 2's this will be their last Pinewood derby.


Tristan visits with Santa.


Then outdoors for the best part. The boys listen to a story about how cub scouts grow and change from Tiger-Webelos 2. Then they prepare to light and shoot their arrows.



It was about impossible to photograph. It was snowing...hard!

After all the festivities we headed home, in quite a snowstorm.

It was a memorable arrow of light ceremony.

First ski day of the season 12/12/09

The boys were happy to get back to skiing. I had them take a couple runs on the beginner slope to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything. Soon they were off up the big runs and having great fun.

Animal Academy-December Crocodilians

These photos are pretty self explanatory. The children learned some croc and alligator anatomy and then how to care for them and safely handle them. Fun class.

This guy was heavy, Tristan couldn't handle him but Hayley and Colin were able to.

This guy is releasing heat through his mouth.

apparently electrical tape is just the thing to close an alligator or crocodile's mouth safely. It stays put even when a bit wet and doesn't hurt the animal when on or being removed.

Big Bart the largest resident, just didn't want to go back in his habitat when the class was done working with him. He gave the adults a hard time getting him back in, maybe he wanted to stay out and play some more? (or eat someone?)

crafty kids

It always surprises me that some of my children are so crafty when I am craft impaired. On Wednesday they not only made Christmas decorations by hand and computer art but also made a Mexican flower craft with our Spanish and did a few parts for their Christmas Symbols Lapbooks.

Here are a few of the Mexican Flowers. They made quite a lot of these. Hayley's came out best but I didn't get a photo. the boys did great too though! Tristan stuck a bow in the middle of his since he was going to give it as a gift.


We started the Christmas symbols lapbook. We made and added the Christmas tree and also the draw a tree activity. We learned the history or legends of Christmas trees, lights, glass ball decorations, tinsel, adding food to decorate trees and a few others.



I don't know how well this will show up below but Colin wayyyyy over did the glue and his took hours to dry!


All ready for next time. (below)
I got some of the lapbook components ready ahead of time. It's a lot more low stress that way. The kids do the decorating and writing yet don't have to look for the right parts or do the cutting or have me say where is that raffia (or other needed yet unusual item),then spend an hour looking or having to change to a different lapbook part.