TreasuresInTerraCotta

December always seems to fly by without much time to upload pictures, sit in front of a computer or compose a complete sentence. Here are some snap shots highlighting a few of our December activities. Homemade Fruit Cake.  I love that stuff! The cousins ran in a 1 mile Jingle Trail Run.   Everyone has bells on their shoes and running the race is so happy! On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! After the kids race we cheered on the adults in the 5K.   Uncle Fran was the only runner this year, but the kids cheered him on from the infield.   Andrew and Calvin discovered how to make these tin can lanterns.   What could be better for a boy than a tin can, a nail and a hammer.   We did some water/volume experiments for school. All the boys helped make sugar cookie cut outs. Grandma and Grandpa came over and decorated with us. Kids doing decorating...heavy on the frosting...heavy on the sprinkles...Aweso...

Just a quick note to say Happy St. Nicholas Day! We love St. Nicholas Day! We celebrate it a bit differently each year, but it is still so refreshing, even after almost 10 years.  It helps us to focus on giving instead of getting.  It helps us find ways to serve.  It helps by focusing our gift-giving to our kids on a day other than Christmas.  By default it also requires that shopping be finished by December 6 (more-or-less), which frees up a lot of my mental energy that tends to ruminate on "What are we going to get for...?" It's also super fun to leave shoes outside doors and watch the Veggie Tales St. Nicholas story.  And my boys love leaving St. Nicholas gifts.  In years past we have left little packages on the doorsteps of friends.  In the spirit of St. Nicholas we leave gifts in secret (except when mama's would be creaped out by anonymous gifts with their children's names).  This year we're doing something different.  We wil...