Publishing Party

Kristin's Third Grade had a 'publishing party' the week before the Christmas break. Each child in her class had to read a story that they had written in front of the rest of the class and all of the parents that could make it. Kristin did a great job. I will try to find her story, scan it, and post it later on.

Merry Christmas!

Wehope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Kristin and Kellen were very excited leading up to the day. It was a lot of fun watching their excitement build. Kellen woke us up on Christmas morning: 'Dad, Santa CAME!'

Here is a picture of the kids showing off their gifts from Santa. Kellen was too excited to even take his eyes off of his new Spiderman bike.

New House

Yes, we have finally found a new home to call our own! We are in the process of purchasing the home and we are all so excited. Moving will happen in early February. :) BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT!!!

Reindeer Games

Kristin and Kellen recently enjoyed clowning around with some reindeer antlers. Kellen wanted to be Rudolph, so he got out his clown nose. Only trouble was that he's pretty much worn it out and it falls off if he smiles. You can see him frowning in one frame in order to keep in on. In another, you get his smiles but the camera catches the red nose on it's descent.

Gingerbread Houses - Kid Edition

Kristin and Kellen didn't get to go to the gingerbread house party, but they were still excited by our creation and wanted to do their own. Here are their creations.

Gingerbread Houses - Parent Edition

We may not be taking Kristin to soccer 5 days a week these days, but we are certainly managing to stay busy. Kellen has one more week of indoor T-ball, and Kristin is now taking an indoor softball class. So that's our Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Kristin also has Girl Scouts every other Monday night - tomorrow night they begin discussing cookie sales again already. Then soccer practice on Friday evening and game on Sunday.

Kristin is got her first semester report card last week. She is doing very well in school. Between two maths tests, her combined score so far is 76/77. She's exceeding grade level in math and got lots of other 'pluses' (they don't do letter grades yet). Way to go Kristin!

Kellen continues to enjoy preschool. He absolutely loves going and we can tell that he is learning a lot.

Danelle and I went to a gingerbread house making party at our friends' house on Friday evening. Below is a couple of pictures of our entry. While we are pretty proud of our first entry, first prize went to the couple who made a scale-replica of Jeld-Wen field (the stadium where the Portland Timbers play).

Conversations with Kellen

Dad: Kellen, what are you going to tell Santa that you want for Christmas?
Kellen: Oh, the things that I want.
Dad: And what do you want?
Kellen: The things on my list.
Dad: What's on your list?
Kellen: It's a secret.

Kellen had the hiccups the other day and was telling us about it. A little while later, I started sneezing. Sometimes it is just one sneeze, but other times I can get going for between 5 and 10. So I would sneeze, and then Danelle or Kristin would say 'Bless you.' And so, after about four sneezes, Kellen asked me if I had the 'Bless yous'.

Today on the way home from church we stopped at a red light and noticed that a giant snowman was being inflated as an advertisement for a Christmas tree lot. It as neat the way the bottom of the snowman inflated first and worked it's way up the snowmans body. Kellen was enthralled by this when a huge monster truck pulled up beside us and blocked our view. Kellen's response was immediate: "Awwww, Maaaahhhhhnnnn!" It was the first, and probably last, time that he has ever been disapointed to see a monster truck.