The Holidays

Faithful blogger until the holidays come around and then there's complete silence from Halloween until New Year's!  Not my intention, but the last few months were pretty much a blur.  Is January really already more than half over?  Unbelievable.  Our holidays were wonderful.  The kids make them all more fun and we tried to make the most of every one.

In November I started learning how to sew.  This was my first project - a super power cape.  I made a few for the Sunbeam class in church that I taught that Sunday - Scripture Power!  Not great work, but for my first project, I was pretty happy.  I've since made myself a skirt as well - that I'm actually wearing to church!  Not sure what's next, but it's been fun!

During Christmas break we visited a TON of museums.  6 museums in a week and a half.  Some for the first time, which is always fun.  Here's Christian at the Michigan History Museum in Lansing.

Here's Bella at the Impression 5 Museum in Lansing.

Kelly and the boys plus our friend Jade at Imagination Station in Toledo.

We also visited the DIA (Detroit Institute of Arts), the Michigan Science Museum, and the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum.  Thank goodness for memberships!  4 of the 6 were free and we had memberships that paid for the others, so it was a fun, cheap way to spend the week.

Yay - Christmas!  Bleary eyed on Christmas morning.  We got our first full-size Christmas tree on Christmas Eve and it was so fun decorating it.  Up until now we've had a 3ft. tree from when Kelly and I were college students.  It was time for a change when our kids were taller than the tree!

Christian got a truck you can assemble with a kids' electric drill.  He struggled a bit at first, but its now been built and rebuilt many times.

Bella got a doll, stuffed kitten, costume, and face paint.  Until the doll got face painted and then landed face down on the carpet.  Then the face paint went away.  Now it's a parent-supervision only toy. ;)

Benjamin got dinosaur kits - you chip them out of the plaster like a paleontologist and then assemble them.  He thought they were so fun, but I made sure he did it in a box so I wouldn't be vacuuming up plaster for weeks. :)

The family got a new cuddly blanket.  Perfect for bedtime snuggles.

When we weren't at the museum, we found other indoor fun.  The church gym is always good for some running around.  The kids unloaded a chair cart and spun and pushed it all over the place.  That was a lot of fun until it was time to reload all the chairs. ;)  Then suddenly everyone was "too tired."

The kids have also gotten really into roller skating.  Benjamin and Bella decided to take classes on Saturdays so we've spent a lot of time at the rink.  Our friend Jade joins us a lot there too with his mom.  The kids are getting really good.  It's not a sport I ever really got into as a kid, but I've been having fun and getting better as well, as long as there's a padded wall to crash into when I need to stop, because that whole toe stop thing is TRICKY!

We've gotten a few good snowfalls already and when the older kids are at school, Christian and I love to play outside.  The other day he said, "Let's go on an adventure walk in the woods."  Okay!  We found a patch of ice under the snow that made an awesome skating rink.

And a frozen river we could walk across.  He was nervous but so giddy proud of himself when he made it over.  I love hanging out with this little guy.

He has also asked to go sledding many times and has started really enjoying going down by himself.  Such a cute boy!

With the beginning of a new year comes new primary (sunday school) classes.  Benjamin moved into senior primary for the first time now, so he's no longer in the same group with the younger ones.  In honor of the special occasion, we bought him his first suit.   He was so excited, he's worn it every week since!  The jacket is still a bit big, but it won't be long until it fits.  Coming into church with his suit, his own set of scriptures, and his serious expression, he looks so grown up.  What happened to my little boy?