Cheers to a New Year

 

Our neighbor texted me and let me know Santa left something at our door. The kids had a mad dash to see what it was.  They were very happy to see it was cookies and candy and candles.

Alex had to make a zipline in the house for science class. So here he is testing it out.

I had to go get some more school supplies from the school for the boys and Evan's teacher was there and gave me a gift for him. Part of the gift was a new baby black stuffed kitty that matched his big stuffed kitty. So now Zip has been adopted and enjoys sleeping with Evan every night with the rest of his kitties. 

The sub had enough snow that the kids enjoyed sledding for our morning walk. Eliza didn't get much of a workout, but Alex sure did dragging her. :)

After our morning walks the kids have started sledding until school behind the house. It's a good way to get some energy out before school.

Alex hard at work.

Eliza has really been enjoying the etch-a-sketch. 

Cookie time!

Watching them bake.

Can't have too many sprinkles!

Now Eliza's turn. (Alex got a chance too, I just didn't get a picture of it.)

Alex did a reading with his friend Jason at one of the church services. Eliza and Evan joined in when they sang Away In the Manger. 

Evan requests that he doesn't get slices of cucumber, he prefers large chunks of cucumber. 

And of course we had our annual decorate a little house with sugar day.

Evan's finished product.

Me working on the frosting for the boys.

Alex's house

Eliza loved hers!

Matching PJ's for bed. Hand me downs from the Wade's are so great!

We went to a light show in Northville at a church. The light show was about 20 min, and you listen to the music in your car, and it plays on the side of the church. 

We saw the Christmas star (Saturn and Jupiter Combined!) We stood in the cold for about a half an hour waiting for the clouds to clear so we could see it with the kids. When it did come out we knocked on a few of our neighbors doors to see if they wanted to come out and see it. :)

Swim Class is A Okay!

Loves to splash and talk to the other girls through the plastic barrior. 

Dressed and ready to go drop off gifts and food to Mike's family on Christmas Eve.

We had a Zoom call with Mike's family on Christmas Ever to open gifts and chat some.

The boys had a nice time seeing their family.

Christmas Morning! Waiting for the stuffed French toast and bacon to cook while we open gifts. 

The kids got lots of fun things!

These awesome sleds are from Nana. They have been so much fun, but man are they huge!

Evan playing one of his new mind games. You have to get the marble to fall into the right place only using the pieces given.

In the afternoon on Christmas we had the Rowe family over for dinner. Eliza and Alex play so nice together most of the time.

Before we ate we had Jason and Alex say the prayers for our meal.

Eliza got LOTS of unicorns for Christmas!

Auntie Em and Lila came for a visit and to make some peanut butter cookies. Lila is crawling and very interested in anything she can get into. 

They are all getting so big.

Took the new sleds to the library sledding hill.

Everyone had a great time there with these sleds. They flew!

After baby Lila's visit the kids were given the go ahead to start building their Lego sets they got from Christmas. 

Eliza is hard at work.

And here are all of them complete and ready to play with.

Eliza and her Etch-A-Sketch.

Here is the elephant she was able to produce. 

The boys busy working on their Thank You cards for their Christmas gifts.

Mike and I worked on this puzzle that had a secret ending..... I'm not going to give it away.

So many new games in the house this year. Here is one that Mike got we are learning how to play while Alex finishes his eggnog. 

Me making the pizza, stretching dough is an art.

Evan helping me make Uncle Robert's Christmas present, chocolate chip cookies. He was using the blender all on his own now. 

We did get to see a few people, and were forced to put on clothes, during our break. We went to the Wade's house and were able to see Dad and Jodi.

Play some games, open some gifts.....

And even got a show by the girls!

The kids helped me start some onion seeds and parsley. This is my first year starting plants from seed, we will see how it goes.

On our walk this is their normal break spot. Usually they start a "fire" in the middle and roast marshmallows, now they look at the "northern lights" and "oooh" and "ahhh" at them.

The girls all masked up at swim class.

Eliza doing some math. Now that the boys for the most part know what to do with school, I've been working with Eliza again. She has to take out the amount of numbers added together and count them up to find the answer. She really like this.

I love her fashion sense. 

Alex working on his homework.

Not sure where Eliza got this, but she covers her head to sleep a lot. And then she's all sweaty when we gets up. She claims she doesn't like the noise of the noise maker. 

We finally made it to the Henry Ford Museum to see the Marvel exhibit before it closed at the end of the month.

The kids enjoyed seeing some of the characters there, but it was really neat for adults if you have the time to read the stuff.

Love this picture of Eliza.

For some reason I have never seen this tractor cut in half a the museum. When I have more time I'd like to go back and look at it more closely. 

Adult game night with some great people!

Snuggling with the kids before bed. 

After just a week the onions have started to sprout!

I'm keeping up with my bread baking game. Today I made French loafs for the soup I'm making for dinner, and then I also made a Rosemary Parmesan loaf to share with my pastor and eat for breakfast.