Holiday Memories

Well the holidays are almost past for another year. However thankfully I have become a major picture taker so we will have lots of photos to either post online or put into our scrapbooks for future viewing.

Our Christmas was a nice one, we stayed home this year and just enjoyed the quiet of a small family Christmas. The kids got lots of fun gifts this year and they spent most of Christmas Day playing with all their new stuff.

The customary Christmas Eve present...NEW PJ's!

Johnathan got a new nerf gun, and Dad had to play with it also.Santa brought Hannah these cute Littlest Pet Shop stuffed animals, now she can play online with them.And Hannah got a beading kit, I see hours of necklace making....well after hours of picking up the spilled beads!

Yes...they got Ipods...now maybe they will leave mine alone!A very funny movie...Kung Fu Panda..."prepare to feel the thunder"!Johnathan got a professional microscope and some really cool slides. Science is one thing that he is really interested in.

And once again I am surprised at how fast they manage to rip through those wrapped packages that take me forever to wrap! No I didn't save any paper, bows or ribbon! :)

Winter Fun

We have had an unusual week of snowy weather. But along with the snow has come almost zero temps and ice covered streets. This has caused the kids to start their Christmas break early. But because of the temps and the freezing winds we haven't been able to go outside much. Yesterday it started snow again. It was the perfect snow for snowmen and snowballs so we all bundled up and went out to play.

Hannah and Johnathan begin rolling their snowman!

The finished product. They couldn't find things to make a snowman's face so we used food coloring to make the nose, mouth, buttons and hair.

Jim showing how easy it is to kick a snowball!
What is missing here is, Hannah had just dumped a huge pile of snow on Johnathan. See her smile, she was so proud of getting her brother first. I love the look of revenge Johnathan has behind her! WATCH OUT HANNAH!!!

SNOW!!

What a treat, we woke Sunday morning to see snow falling. We don't usually get snow here in the winter, our weather usually just falls as rain. So the kids immediately wanted to go play in it and make snow angels. The snow balls started flying as soon as we stepped out the door. Hannah was a little put out by the powdery snow, she wanted to build a snowman.

When it snows here everything closes, so all the schools are closed today. The kids are enjoying another day off, while I am ready for them to go back to school. I still have stuff to do around here before the holidays arrive. And the news is calling for more snow later in the week. Kids may not have school for the rest of the year.

Scouting Adventure

Yesterday Johnathan had a Cub Scout den meeting at the Rice Museum of Rocks and Minerals. The den was completing their geologist badge, so they needed to see some specimens of the three types of rock. Hannah got to tag along also and she enjoyed seeing the museum again and bringing her camera along. The boys asked some really great questions of our tour guide. It was nice to go along at a slower pace and take some photos and really just look at some of the amazing rocks, and crystals they have on display. After this outing both of the kids are wanting to go rock hunting to see if they can find some of the amazing rocks they learned about yesterday.

Oregon's state rock the thunder-egg. This one is opal filled.

Hannah taking photos of Oregon's state gem the sunstone.

Downstairs in the museum they have a large room filled with petrified logs. These are petrified pine cones.

This is the museums prize exhibit, it is the worlds second largest collection of Rhodochsorite. This crystal is more rare than diamonds.

At the end of the tour our guide let the kids look for a rock to take home from the giant rock pile behind the museum.

Rocks and Minerals

Today I joined Hannah and her class for a field-trip to the rock museum. They are learning about rocks and minerals in class right now. I spent 4 hours with twentysix 7 year olds looking at crystals, agates, thunder eggs, sun stones, and petrified wood. Some of the the crystals are amazing and the kids loved seeing all the different shapes and colors rocks and minerals come in. I show several examples that were amazing, and I even learned a few things.

But I must say I was really glad when we got back to the school and I could leaver everyone of those cute and loud 7 year olds with the teacher! I don't know how that lady does it everyday.

Another Day Off

The kids have another day off from school today. Last week they got out early on Wednesday for the holiday and as usual they had Friday off. Today the teachers needed the day to get report cards ready.

Now I understand that teachers have a lot to do each day and that is supposed to be the reason they have early release on Wednesdays. But how many days do they need off a month to get things complete? In the month of December the kids only go to school for 12 days.

The kids love these off days, and I enjoy having them home but nothing gets done. My entire weeks schedule is all messed up on these weeks. The usual stuff I do on Mondays will not get crammed into Tuesdays. In my opinion its getting crazy the amount of in-service days that teachers have, the kids are out of school more then they are in school it seems.