Holiday fun!

Christmas concert at Calvin starring the fabulous MattBedner

Christmas concert with the incomparable Danny, Brianna and Sophie

Christmas concert with the adorable Leah, first number was the Penquin Polka! She did a solo, and really rocked it!

So how  is your Christmas season going?!!

 

Friday December 20th

Well I am super happy that molly and Danny brought their homemade Christmas goodies in to school yesterday, because school was cancelled today! Black ice is the claim, but I think teacher fatigue is more likely! it is 37 degrees at the moment, though foggy as heck as all the snow starts to melt a bit.

So charlottes teachers stuff either gets eaten or goes in the freezer, and I will make some more prior to 1/6 I guess!molly and Danny are still snoozing and early girl Charlotte made it til 7:50! 

I think we will head to the library, always a good spot for all ages...

A bedtime cookie snack from my Cookie!

Cassie visits!

We were happy to have Cassie with us from the 12-15 and enjoying sharing christmasy things with her. I put my giant pile of Christmas books on the sun porch next to my little Christmas tree and she loves to go look through those and find new favourites. Currently number one is Who is coming To Our house! a story about the animals in the manger wondering who might be planning a visit to their home on Christmas Eve. 

Cassie loves going to Friday night basketball with dzadza and the kids, and has started asking about it as soon as she comes in on Thursdays! She runs around like crazy, which is great in my book! 

Jerry's team started basketball practice and the girls were by happy about that. The Pink Panthers are back in action for another season-- go Coach Jerry!

And speaking of great dads, in spite of 4-6 inches of snow which fell on Saturday afternoon, Jerry loaded up the older kids and took them over to Calvin college in Grand Rapids for Matt Bedner's band concert. This is a wonderful holiday event, all the sections dress up and compete against each other to be audience favorite! And the music is phenominal! They did make it back and forth safely. 

Cassie and I made home made playdoh and had a blast smooshing and playing.

On Sunday we went to the VFW for Breakfast with Santa. I was happy that jake could go and get to see Cassie visit Santa. The breakfast was great and included an omelette station. Funny story: there is a dance floor, and about 8 kids were running and playing on it when they were finished eating. We encouraged cas to in in. She did for a bit, then a kid half a head shorter than her started to push her. As I got up to go interfere he gave a hard shove and knocked her to the ground! I dashed over and picked her up and comforted her, went and told the kids parents, and then Cassie says " I need to tell Santa!" So we go back over to his throne, no one is visiting at that moment, and she goes right up to him and says"Santa, a boy push me down and I cry!" Santa picked her up and told her she was okay, then he says"would you like another present?!" Suddenly she is not crying any more, and happily adds a Christmas pooh bear to the rubber duckie she had gotten earlier! As my dad would have said, she is quite an operator!

I stir it!

The finished product!

Cassie works on her potty skills, she is up on the counter to avoid the ever inquisitive Harry!

The meijer pony(still only a penny)!

Target! Cassie helped me shop...uh huh!

What a week for Danny

Turning thirteen is a pretty big deal, and Danny had a stellar week. It started on December 7 when he participated in solo and ensemble festival at Scranton middle school. About 50 middle schools were represented and all the students were judged by a high school or college band teacher. This was optional, and Danny had to get a piece of music, practice it on his own, hire an acompaniest, rehearse with her, then go play by himself in front of a judge. I am impressed that these kids do this, it is quite an undertaking. His scheduled time was 8am, so he had to be there at 7:15 to warm up and be ready to go. He did a great job, and scored a 2 rating, with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst. Pretty good for his first time and we were very proud of him!

Next up was the third and final Quiz Bowl Team competition.

His team ended up taking first place, with the other brighton squad taking second! Danny answered a couple of neat questions to help with the score. He brought birthday cupcakes and his teammates were very happy to wish him a happy day!

Christmas Season!

Hooray! I love Christmas and decorating and cooking and hostessing. And watching Christmas movies, opening cards, driving around and seeing everyone's lights....it is just such a friendly and happy time! We hosted our first annual gingerbread Open house on Sunday, replacing the 14 years of the neighborhood caroling party. I finally realized that sine I am the hostess( with the mostest I must add) I can have the party whenever I want! and since we moved to Princeton court we have not caroleda my way, so why have it at night! and so close to Christmas. I have settled on the first Sunday in December, but only if it isn't during thanksgiving weekend like this year. So last Sunday we opened our door at 2pm, the last guests left about 9:30, and in between we had about 60 people drinking,eating,laughing and sharing good cheer. It was AWESOME! And now, my house is all decorated and I am relaxed( to the extent that that is possible) and enjoying the season! Go Me!