Post Christmas Cookie Decorating

We didn't have time to do cookie decorating before Christmas, but Bean's friends were able to come over the next day so we pulled out the frosting for them to have fun.

I love that they still want to do this. It's not been the same friends over the years since we moved, but we've decorated cookies with friends most years since Bean was in 2nd grade.

I love how good they have always been at including the brothers.

Peanut's collection.

Bug's pile.

And the reason we did this. I was actually thinking we'd skip this tradition this year, 

but Bean and her friends wanted to do it. And who can say no? (And now they are old enough to help clean up, which makes it even easier!)

End of the Year

Busy house to end the year. After church, Bean's friends came over to decorate Christmas cookies (little behind this year).

We finally did it right--only one batch of cookies for 6 kids was the right amount. Usually, we have so many cookies, and we still had plenty, but it seemed more manageable.

Peanut is still the little brother, but he seems more and more part of the gang.

And then we had friends come over for the evening. With so much illness going around, only one of the three families was able to come. 

But it was a fun group. Lots of food, lots of laughing.

We played a few different games,

the kids played the Wii,

And then everyone left, and it was just the five of us to ring in the new year. 2023 has been such a full year--can't wait to see what 2024 brings!

Christmas Schooling

While we've had some of our regular school activities still going this month, we've also let some of the things go and have embraced the season.

Cookie baking works for math (and is good fraction review since we make some 1 1/2 or 2 times the recipe.)

And having something good to eat at the end is a big plus. Peanut made tried out a new twist on our chocolate crinkle cookies by adding crushed candy canes to 1/2 the batch and they were a hit at his cookie contest last Wednesday.

Another baking project that went along with our Read Aloud Revival Christmas School.

We're reading several books by Jan Brett and the Christmas school guide comes with baking, craft, and writing projects to do with each book. We haven't managed to do most of the activities, but we did bake the Ukranian Apple Cake after reading The Mitten and enjoyed the tasty treat.

Guinea pig class through 4-H did their own holiday party and the photo shoot for the animals was adorable!

I was wishing that we'd brought all 3 of the piggies, but Bandit was the only one who got to dress up.

(And I promise that the other pigs would be relieved if they understood what they missed out on, haha.)

So stinking cute!

My main hope from doing this class is that Peanut will get more comfortable handling our animals. I don't think we're going to show them at the fair because they have to be tagged and I don't think we're ready for piercing their ears, but at least we can have fun along the way.

Peanut has also helped with the Christmas cards while I read aloud A Christmas Pig which was one of our read alouds this month. We loved the book and are also finishing up Tolkien's Letters from Father Christmas and A Place to Hang the Moon (again), along with a lot of picture books.

Peanut just finished a Christmas themed Kiwi crate that explores thermodynamics with a Christmas pyramid.

I loved the ones in Germany and was thinking about buying one while we were there, but ended up deciding they were too expensive, and took up too much space in our limited luggage, so it was really fun for him to make us one.

And the No Sweat Nature Study classes this month have been all about winter and Christmas.

First up was a class on snowflakes.

And then he did one on Christmas spices, which ties in nicely with all the baking we're doing right now!

Santa's Elves

Lots of busy people this week! Bean has had to work 3 mornings, but is now off for the rest of the break. Peanut had his normal Tuesday activities--Art class and park day, but is now done for the rest of the break. And everyone has had Christmas fun to work on--secrets and gift making, last minute errands, decorating, baking--we've been We've been checking things off one by one.

Cookie baking is always a favorite. 

We had to spread it across 2 days because we ran out of time to actually decorate the cookies, 

Bean has stepped up the game.

Bug went for the knitted look.

And Peanut has continued the tradition of kiddos everywhere--tons of sprinkles.

But in the end, we had plates and plates of treats to share.

I think the only crafty thing I'll get to this year was drying oranges to use on packages, 

and to turn into a garland for our mantle.

This little guy wasn't satisfied with the list of Christmasy things we already had planned. After watching The Man Who Invented Christmas on Dec. 22, he decided he had to write a Christmas book (with a quill and ink) and gave himself a Dec. 24th, 10 p.m. deadline because if Charles Dickens can do it, why can't he? Haha. We'll see how it ends, but he churned out the first chapter in a couple hours.

Peanut also wanted to make ravioli--which probably could have waited until next week, but honestly, keeping him busy this week is good (the Christmas crazy is strong with this one, haha.)

Luckily, he has an awesome uncle who used to do this for his job. (Especially lucky because I got boosted the day before and was dragging a little by late afternoon and wasn't up for doing this.)

They made pumpkin ravioli and spinach cannellini. 

Yum! So good.

We love having family around.

It's a Wonderful Life

Christmas Eve--one of the best days of the year. So much excitement and anticipation, hurried finishing of presents and surprises, mixed with lazing around the house. I thought we were more done than we ended up being, but we got things taken care of by dinner time and then were able to relax with Chinese take out and It's a Wonderful Life. 

I'm so glad that our kids love that movie as much as we do because it's a must-see movie every year in our house. I cry every single time, and this year, I think Peanut got a lot more out of it than he has in the past. He was a little choked up at the end, and then was so sweet when he told us, "It really makes you think how much every person matters. How everyone's life is important." It was such a sincere realization.  Something good for each of us to remember, all the time. He came and snuggled with me for several minutes after that.

After that, we made a fire, read the story of Christ's birth from the bible, sang Silent Night with Bug accompanying us on the piano, and listened to Daddy-o read An Aussie Night Before Christmas, which just might be our favorite rendition of the poem.

Then, it was time for cookies and milk for Santa (and carrots for the reindeer, of course!) and off to bed. 

December Adventures

It's been a month of hiking (and catching a beautiful sunset at Del Valle).

Sometimes it's just the kids and I, but we love it when Daddy-o gets to come with us.

Peanut and I continued our Christmas Carol study with a chalk pastel of some symbols that represent the story. Peanut was very taken with this book and has loved all the different versions of the story.

We've taken a LOT of walks to see the lights around our neighborhood, and to get those 1000 hours outside.

I can't always convince anyone else to do a chalk pastel lesson, and this is one I wanted to do last winter and never got around to, so I sat down one evening with Nana from You Are an Artist and did this one on my own. I love little birds.

Our city put together a geocache style hunt that took us around the city, including a couple new spots that we hadn't visited before. It also has gotten us out for a really long walk one evening and a bike ride another.

Peanut and I made "snow" from baking soda and shaving cream and had fun playing with our artic animals.

We haven't baked quite as much as we usually do, and haven't done any marathon baking days, but I almost like this better. I made snickerdoodles one day. A few days later, Daddy-o and Peanut made Mexican wedding cookies, and then the kids had a gingerbread man baking zoom call with friends one day. It's meant that we've had a pretty steady stream of cookies all month.

Bean was with them most of the call, but then she had to go.

I love how the cookies turned out. We usually make buttercream frosting because I think it tastes better, but royal icing is the way to go for pretty cookies. 

There have been a lot of games played, many outdoors. Really, in order to get those outside hours, we've been taking everything we can outside. Peanut had fun learning how to play chess.

Peanut and I collected sticks to make these fun decorations.

Peanut and I had a surprise visit with the Grinch when we were dropping off a food donation.

The kids and I also had a fun winter picnic in the backyard--hot chocolate with all the fixings, cookies, a nutcracker picture book. 

We even made some fun shrinky dinks while we were out there.

An outdoor dinner on one of the warmish evenings. And notice the tent in the background--the boys slept outside for 3 nights in a row in order to make a dent in those hours they needed. They were the three warmest nights of the month, but it was still a little chilly.

We went hiking near Berkeley one Saturday, grabbed dinner at a Jewish deli, and then stopped by the Oakland Temple on the way home to see the lights.

If I had to pick, I'd say lights and outdoors are our theme for the month. We have been on every street in our neighborhood, as well as a couple other neighborhoods as well. We went to visit another spot one evening to do a decoration scavenger hunt (we had to go somewhere that none of us were familiar with, or the boys and I who had done the most neighborhood walks would have had an advantage.) We had so much fun running around for 45 minutes seeing what we could find. Daddy-o and Bean found a couple more items than the boys and I did, but they were a couple minutes late getting back to the car, so we're calling it a tie (and excited for a re-match next year!)

It's been a pretty fabulous month.