"Reading"

This was taken about a month ago but just now getting around to uploading it. Little Man "reading."

Keeping Busy

December is always such a busy month. Better get a blog post in so I don't get too far behind!

Remember the teacher gifts we were working on in the last post (or maybe 2 posts)? **finished product pic was updated on that post** The girls wanted to make a snowflake gift tag for their teachers' gifts out of their hama beads. So we have been doing several hama bead projects!

Yep, that's Yoda. With the colder, darker weather we've been having lots of movie nights. Derek got the kids into Star Wars. I am not so happy about that. I don't like Star Wars. I think it's annoying and nerdy. Sorry if that offends anyone. My kids are all geeked out about Star Wars now and Derek thinks it's hilarious. Thankfully, Christmas movies have started playing and they are preferring those now! :)

Our church Primary organized a Christmas party for the kids. It was held yesterday. Unfortunately, we didn't attend because we had already committed to helping out with Derek's work Christmas party for the kids. Since I am in the Primary Presidency I helped out with the organizing, sort of. The past month during Activity Days, which Allie is a part of, we've been having the kids get things ready for the party. They made the invitations and a lot of the decorations. I was in charge of making one of the crafts. The stuff for it just arrived last week and so I was up just about every night working on it! It was a long process waiting for things to dry.

I did 60 of these!

Last Thursday night was Derek's squadron Christmas party. We got dressed up and actually went this year. Last year Derek went by himself.

The next day Allie had a field trip. I was lucky enough to be able to go with her class. It was a trip to Cambridge to the theatre to see the Aladdin pantomime. Patomimes are huge here around this time of year. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but I enjoyed it. It was really funny though there were several times where I felt that I needed to cover my 3rd graders eyes. Kinda raunchy and a bit foul languaged but that is the norm here!

One of my favorite lines that summed it up....."A joke's not a joke unless you have tears running down your legs."

Saturday was the children's Christmas party for Derek's squadron. Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures. We had Mr. Marvel, a magician, come to entertain the kids. He seemed to like Allie as he was always picking on her and having her come up to do things. Derek and I were relieved to have that happen because Allie really wanted to go to the church Christmas party instead. Blake thought Mr. Marvel was hilarious. It was so cute!

Tonight we made some cookies for the Airmen Cookie Drive tomorrow. Another very busy week this week and lots of fun things planned for Winter Break! Stay tuned for more pics!

Thanksgiving Trip to York

The holidays without family close by is always tough. Good friends are always nice to have around for the holidays when we're so far away. Unfortunately, we don't have any good friends here. I guess we are just unlikable or too picky ourselves. Last year was great having the Barkers here. So much fun! Derek invited his entire squadron over, while it may have been a little awkward, I was kind of looking forward to a house full. However, not a single person rsvp'd. Sooooo, we decided we might as well take advantage of the kids being out of school and go somewhere. Bonus: the Brits don't celebrate Thanksgiving so things wouldn't be crowded. We decided to have another go at York. We went last November with Natalie and Alex but we went to Castle Howard first, which is north of the city, and by the time we left the castle it was dark so we never actually stopped in the city.

We actually stayed in Leeds as the hotels were much cheaper. We found a fun place to take the kids and went there first.....only 2 1/2 hours from the house. It is called Xscape. It has indoor skiing/snowboarding/sledding, miniature golf, arcade, laser tag, rock climbing, etc. Our plan was to do the snowboarding/sledding but once we saw the slope and the price we changed our mind. Instead we did the glow in the dark golf and had an amazing lunch at TGI Friday's. I am usually not a fan of that place in the states, but this was SO GOOD! And funny thing, Derek got a few calls/texts while we were here asking where we were! A few people showed up at our house for a Thanksgiving meal.

We then went to the hotel to check in. Our kids love hotels. So, they entertained themselves while Derek and I took a quick nap! Then we went to Leeds city centre and walked around. They had their German Christmas Market set up. I love Christmas Markets!

 It was fun to walk around and we all had a hard time deciding what yummy goodies to eat! The kids decided on German sausages and fries. They all liked it, especially Rudolph.

Derek ended up with a German burger and I had potato pancakes. Then the kids and I had donuts for dessert. Derek had a waffle with loads of Nutella. I also got a yummy hot chocolate. The hot chocolates over here are amaze balls, plus you get to keep the souvenir mug!

We ended the night watching people pay £8 to get in this snow globe where "snow" was supposed to blow around you....but didn't do much at all. And then we let the kids play one game. Blake picked out a car, Allie got a duck/fishing game and Avery picked out a police set.

The next day we were off to York. First stop, the National Railway Museum.

We had lunch at Byron's Proper Burgers. They were proper indeed! Of course, the kids ended their meals with ice cream.

That guy outside looks really familiar!

After lunch we went to visit Clifford's Tower.

Then the York Minster, which we heard is better than Westminster Abbey. Though we didn't actually tour the Minster because as soon as we went in two of the kids started fighting for whatever reason.....so we left.

Then we were off to the Shambles. A now popular, touristy street in York. Such a quaint area, with beautiful buildings dating back to the 14th century. I wished it hadn't been so crowded so we could have got better pictures. I guess Black Friday has started to catch on here.

Next, we went to an old church.

St. Mary's Abbey

Walking the walls surrounding the city

Ended the evening at the St. Nicholas Christmas Fayre.

Sunday we were able to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal. It was yummy!

Then, we even got the Christmas tree put up and the house decorated for the season!

I am loving my new entry way piece that we found for just £10!

And, how could I forget, just about the best news of the whole trip. Blake went on our first big outing with only underwears!!!! And he had NO accidents!! Plus, I only remembered one diaper and no wipes.....and he kept it dry every night.....and has been dry every morning since. He is a rock star now!!

November Highlights

This isn't really a highlight, but a pretty picture. The days are getting shorter. It is a wonderful time of year but I really don't like that it is dark by 4pm. This was on one of my drives home after dropping the girls off at the bus stop. Love the bright orange sun, fog and dew!

November 5th is a big deal around here.  It's Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night. You know, Remember, Remember the 5th of November. Both girls were learning about it in one of their specials classes....either Art or Host Nation. Allie had the whole poem memorized.

Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, guy, t'was his intent
To blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England's overthrow.

By God's mercy he was catch'd
With a darkened lantern and burning match.
So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring.
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the king.

The bonfires and fireworks actually went on for several nights since the 5th fell on a Wednesday this year. We went out to eat Saturday night and came back to the sky ablaze. We thought for sure a house was on fire and it looked to be right where our house was. We were so nervous! Then all of a sudden the fireworks started going off.....and it clicked! It was behind our house....we don't remember it last year, but that is because we were in Paris with Natalie and Alex.

Family Game nights have been consisting of games geared towards Avery. They are usually dealing with sight words, counting/math, or time. Here we are playing Alphabet Bingo by the fire.

We had parent teacher conferences this month. Knowing the situation we were faced with last year with Avery, we've been concerned about how she was doing. We want to make sure we have good communication with her teacher this year so we can make sure she is on track...or at least know what we really need to be focusing on at home. The conference went better than expected.....also longer than expected...50 minutes! I hope we expressed our concerns well enough. I am hopeful that Avery will continue to progress. With Avery's conference going so far over, we were left with about 10 minutes with Allie's teacher. Allie is already reading at 4th grade level and her teacher is amazed with her writing....as are we! 

Before conferences I made up a "GOALS" folder for Avery. We're focusing on the things she is struggling with and the goal is to see progression each week. She loves it! I've also been making extra worksheets for her to work on. One Saturday we loaded everyone up and went to one of Derek's hangars on base. The previous day had been the Squadron Thanksgiving luncheon so the bouncy house was still there. We set it up for the kids to play on while I cut flashcards, stapled together books, etc. Derek brought along some tools to start on the kids' teacher's gifts this year. We were there all day but we got a lot accomplished and the kids had fun!

The final product for the teachers' gifts. After we got them done, I realized it probably wasn't the best idea for a teacher gift...but, oh well.

We went bowling one night. Blake slept through most of it.

Blake is very in to playing "dress-up" now. The other day he came to me like this and said, "Look, I'm Grammy!"

Avery's School Project - Disguise a Turkey

And I realized I never posted a picture of our pumpkins. Allie carved her own this year. Avery picked out her design, which I partly drew and Derek carved.