Author: brookeshelf

Katie’s preschool class did a Christmas carol program, and I got to go see it.  The director of Katie’s preschool said that all they really expect of kids this age “is that they keep their clothes on and not run away.”

Mission accomplished!  Well . . . one little boy in the front row raised his shirt and showed off his belly a few times, but otherwise, Mission Accomplished!

I took pains to get a seat on the front row, but Katie ended up being on the opposite side of the stage from me, so my pictures were still lousy.  She was so excited to be on stage that she kept jumping up and down between songs.  Adorable.  I love how her pigtails kept swinging back and forth.

Afterwards, we had punch and goodies upstairs (always delicious, Lutherans know how to bring the baked goods).  On the way out, Katie wanted me to take a picture of her with the Christmas tree by the front door.  One of the other parents there noticed and offered to get a snapshot with both of us.  I think it turned out great.  I love my baby girl.

Last Sunday I was spending a pleasant hour reading in the library when I received a tap on the shoulder.  I looked up to see Eleanor, apron on waist and baker’s hat on head, holding out a liquid measuring cup.

“Mom, how do I measure brown sugar in this?” she asked, holding the cup out to me.  I explained how she needed a dry-ingredient cup, and she left.

A few minutes later, she was back.

“Is this a teaspoon?”  No, it was a novelty set of measuring spoons for things like “a pinch” and “a dash.”

When she returned for a third time with a question about spatulas, my curiosity got the better of me, but Eleanor refused to fill me in on what she was doing.

“It’s a Christmas surprise,” she explained, “and you are NOT allowed to come in the kitchen!”

After signaling to Brian that he needed to keep an eye on things, I went back to my reading, and about 45 minutes later, I got my present:

Eleanor bought the tin from the dollar store for me, and made the cranberry-oatmeal muffins all on her own, using a recipe in a children’s cookbook.  I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten a more amazing present from one of my children.  Love it.  The muffins were tasty, too — we ate them right after dinner.  Katie picked the cranberries out of six of them, and refused to eat anything else.  Yummy little cook!

HEY THERE GINGERBREAD FANS!  ARE YOU READY TO RRRRRRRRRUMBLE??

THE ARENA IS READY!

MAXIMUM SWEETNESS . . . AND GOOOOOOooooooOOOOOOO!

Silliness aside, I’m rather impressed that we managed to make houses this year.  I decided to go for 1 big house per family, instead of a little house for each kid.  This simplified things immensely . . . until I realized that the dough recipe didn’t make quite enough for two houses.  We ended up a roof short.

So, both we and our friends who we invited talked it over and decided to split the roof we had between both houses, and just leave one side open.  Then we made sure to create a little candy diorama inside the house for people to see when they peered in.  Our house featured a candy fireplace, and a little gummi bear sleepign in his gingerbed.

Not as crazy as the creations made by Brian’s family (Occupy Candyland, anyone?) but still fun and sugariffic.  And that’s all that really matters, right?

Watching ships with Christmas lights cruise around Puget Sound is a Seattle tradition, apparently.  I’m always a fan of taking up local traditions, especially when I’m a newbie to the area.

Last year we went to see the Christmas ships, but it was dismal.  There was rain, so only one ship, and we were homesick and lonely.  It wasn’t a good outing.

This year, however, was a much better experience.  Warm weather, no rain (well, a drizzle) and so many more ships to see!  The main Argosy ship had a choir onboard that serenaded all of us at the Edmonds pier.  The great thing about being on the pier is that the sailboats were able to cruise by right next to us and wave hello.  Add to this combo a thermos of hot cocoa and you have a great Seattle evening!

Oh, and Santa Frog was there again.  I didn’t take a picture, but Santa Frog is a guy dressed as a giant frog in a santa suit.  My kids remembered him and were asking if he was going to be around.  It was good to see him again in all his glorious eccentricity.

The LDS congregations out by the Seattle Temple have been doing this amazing over-the-top activity for the last few years called the Festival of the Nativities.  It lasts four consecutive evenings.  Last year I went and forgot a camera, and kicked myself afterwards because my verbal descriptions weren’t adequate in portraying said festival’s over-the-top-ness.

It’s essentially Seattle’s “Christmas on Temple Square,” intended for the general public to attend.  I know many of you have been to “nativity festivals” in your wards and stakes, but trust me: DID IT INVOLVE A DISCO BALL IN THE CHAPEL?  If not, then YOUR ACTIVITY WAS NOT THE SAME.

The disco ball was to provide a “falling snow” lighting effect over the ongoing live music, okay?

And the hallways!  Even the hallways were gussied up!  Who decorates a church hallway?

Who paints murals so the “Children’s Nativity Room” has a completely different look and feel from the main exhibits?

 

And let’s not forget the beautiful “Christ Room,” with an art gallery/diorama display with scenes from the Savior’s life.  Here’s Wim & Katie in front of the “manger.”

And here they are peering down into the “tomb.”  One of the festival hosts told me that this is the baptismal font on non-festival days.

There was also a “Movie Room” where guests could watch LDS-produced Christmas films, a children’s craft room, and a photo booth where families could dress up as Nativity characters and get a picture taken.

The plan was for all the kids to be in the picture, but Eleanor was off doing a scavenger hunt with a friend.  Then Katie saw the Wise Men crowns and insisted on wearing one (“I the QUEEN!” ).  So guess who had to be Mary?

Yeah, that’s something I hope to never do again.

And of course . . . the main nativity exhibit.  Katie was especially interested in the “living” one with a real baby:

Eleanor and her friend posed in front of this giant version of the old pop-up that used to come with Primary manuals when I was a kid:

Meanwhile, William and I spent time finding and taking pictures of our personal favorites.  Here’s what we picked out:

I like doing Christmas-centered Family Home Evening activities in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but I always feel pressure to make them more “spiritual.”  I guess my problem is that I keep reading books like A Christ-Centered Christmas, which while being fine and good in its own little universe, always implies that a Spiritual Family does religiosity in only one way: quietly, usually with the reading aloud of a lengthy story and much silent pondering.

In case you haven’t guessed, my kids aren’t much for silent pondering.  So, our lessons on the Nativity usually involve Katie screaming for attention until she gets to be Mary:

I reckon Mary never had such a beloved pink blankie on her head.  (Excuse me — Katie would have you know that this is her “ABC Blankie,” because there are letters spelling out the word “baby” on it.)

The lesson about shepherds invovled a lot of roughhousing until we made the candy-cane cookies.

Which turned out . . . wrong . . .

Obviously I need to Be More Chill when it comes to FHE, and leave those prissy  “spiritual Christmas activity” books alone.  As Katie would say:

Whew, Thanksgiving was hardly in the can before the Christmas stuff came barreling in.  Considering that the holiday has been making its presence known in stores since October, it was quite a feat to keep it at bay for so long.

We were lucky that Brian’s parents were still here on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which is our traditional day to get all the holiday decorations up.  (If we don’t do it then, it will never happen at all.)

I had purchased a whole bunch of new “unbreakable” ornament sets at 90%-off after last year’s Christmas, and had . . . kind of forgotten about them.  So it was a delightful surprise to find all these shiny new things to put on the tree.  Many thanks to patient grandparents who helped stick ornament hooks in the darn things.

Each ornament set came with a few garlands of red tinsel.  I’m not a big tinsel fan, so I let the kids choose something else in the house to decorate.  They chose the fence around the front yard.  Right now, there’s scads of red tinsel woven in, out and around the white picket slats.  Very festive.

Meanwhile, Eleanor has written out her Christmas wish list.  I found it stuffed under the covers of my bed one evening.

She later explained that this was an either/or list.  She’d like a “watch with hands,” but if that’s not possible, then a charm bracelet, and under the dire circumstances that that isn’t possible, she’ll gladly settle for everyone to just have a good time.  I’m happy to hear that she has such an easygoing Plan C.

This weekend, the children were in a Nativity pageant as part of the church Christmas party.  William is in the yellow-orange headpiece on the right hand side of the front row.

Eleanor is not there, because she was singing with the Seattle Children’s Chorus that morning.  Jeffrey’s not there, because he had asked to be the “stage crew,” and operate lights and curtains.  Seriously, as soon as he got wind of the pageant, he walked up to the Primary president and specifically asked for that job.  They made sure to have a special curtain call just for him.

Santa was also there.  (According to photo evidence.  I was at the choir concert with Eleanor.)

Eleanor was miffed about missing the pageant and Santa, but then took heart: Santa was also at the neighborhood tree-lighting that same evening.  (He arrived on a fire truck!  Niiiiice.)  So, all was well.  “I got to ask him for a watch with hands!” she later reported.  Plan A is set to go!

 

And when I say “marathon,” I have two meanings:

First, we had a weekend of nonstop fun, with one activity after the other.

Secondly, Jeff & Ella literally ran in a marathon.  A kids’ marathon.

It was only 1.2 miles, finishing off a cumulative 25 miles they had run on their own.  Hooray for the ability to watch episodes of Ninjago while running on a treadmill!  Ella ran with Grandpa Randy and finished faster.  I think Grandpa kept up the pace and Eleanor had to work to stay with him.

It was a fun thing to do, but over so quickly!  By the time Grandma Kathryn, William, and I walked from the starting line to the stadium at Seattle Center, the first kids were already crossing the finish line.  I don’t know if we’ll do it again next year, but it was fun to do just once.

BUT ENOUGH WITH THAT HEALTHY STUFF!  BRING ON THE PHOTOS OF A TABLE!

AND THOSE PERSONS SEATED AROUND THE AFOREMENTIONED TABLE!

EVIDENCE OF ROLL-MAKING MESS!

AND SUBSEQUENT ROLLS!

Oh, hot buttery rolls.  I could curl up in you like a sleeping bag.

This is William’s “thankful turkey,” which he made in school.  He has decided that Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday, mainly because he likes to eat turkey.  Seriously, the first thing he did on the morning of Nov. 1 was bounce down the stairs in a brown shirt and orange pants, “because this is my turkey costume, Mom!” and then did a “turkey dance” around the kitchen.

I am especially proud of the Thanksgiving edible “extras” I made this year.  Such as: bichermuesli and pumpkin smoothies to eat with cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving breakfast (what else would you consume while watching all 3 hours of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade?)  News flash: my kids don’t like pumpkin smoothies.  Because they have taste buds made of alien cardboard, is what I’m guessing.

Also, I’m proud of the apple cider sorbet and “cheese” ice cream.   I told my guests that I had to choose between giving them clean bathrooms, or homemade ice cream.  They all thought I made the right call.

Later that weekend: a viewing of Frozen (I now cannot get the soundtrack out of my head)

The Sound of Music Sing-a-Long in Edmonds.  The kids went as “brown paper packages tied up with string”

Dinner at the Cheesemonger’s Table (our new favorite restaurant, where they bring you yummy little boards of assorted cheeses, breads, and roasted veggies)

Annnnnd . . . a viewing of the Nutcracker at the Pacific Northwest Ballet.  I wasn’t planning to go this year, but it’s really all Eleanor wanted for Christmas.

Grandma Kathryn and Aunt Kristen & Uncle Sven came along.  While I nodded off during Act One, Eleanor sat enraptured, applauding loudly after each dance.

While I nodded off during Act Two, she grabbed my arm and whispered, “Oh, Mom thank you so much for bringing me to the Nutcracker!”

And during intermission: twirling.  So, it was worth it.

And many naps were enjoyed by all.

 

Last week was “Meet the Mammals” day at the Burke Museum of Natural History.  I went on a whim; Brian was out of town for (yet another) academic conference, and I was up for anything to keep the kids entertained for the morning.

But, whoa!  This program was fantastic!  The museum staff sets up big tables of mammal stuff — bones, teeth, taxidermied specimens, pelts, etc.) and kids get to explore them all.  And when I say “explore them all,” I mean they got to touch pretty much everything.

As someone who has always hankered to pet zoo animals, this was very much a wish-fulfilling day.  Just so you know: giraffes are not velvety, and neither are zebras.  (They feel like horses.)  The cuddliest of all the animals is probably not koalas, but snow leopards.  Although the “softest fur” award should probably go to . . . bats.  Seriously, bats have extremely soft fur.

I was also incredibly impressed with the scads of museum staff and volunteers who were on hand to teach the kids information about the specimens (as well as to make sure that nothing got broken).  There were lots of hands-on experiments, like assembling an orca skeleton, or playing old instruments made from animal products, or filling the skulls of an ancient early hominid to see how much space there was for brains inside (guess what: a modern human’s skull has room for 50% more brains).

As for Jeff giving a tiger a belly rub . . . yeah, that happened.  The rule with the giant tiger rug is that you could touch it with anything except your feet.  So Jeff lay on the ground and rolled all over that thing, stroking it with the entire length of his arms and rubbing it with his belly.  (And if you’re wondering about the creepy mask . . . it was part of a craft project for kids.  It’s supposed to be a fox mask.)

See, it was the belly doing the rubbing.  Not the other way around.  Just to clarify.

 

You have a new customer, Ms. Tooth.  Sweet William has a gap! 

I knew his tooth was loose, but not that lose.  But apparently it was.  “I just reached inside my mouth and pulled out my tooth, Mom,” is how he explained it to me afterwards. 

Yoiks.  He’s way braver than I was at age six.