Merry Christmas | 2010

Merry Christmas Eve

Christmas Pre Game

Wednesday night we headed over to Jackman, ME with Brad's parents and in search of snow. We left rain, and green grass here, drove 2 and a half hours inland and up in elevation, to find a winter wonderland. This was our maiden voyage for what we have hoped will be our new family winter sport. We are all relieved that the kids loved it. Quote from Gwen: "Mommy, going on the sleds with Nana and Puga was Super fun. Really, Really, Super Duper fun!" They were all troopers and exceeded our expectations for the outing. Beckham proved to be a natural winter lover. He never once tried to get his helmet, goggles, mittens, hood, or balaclava off. He just sat on the front of Brad's snowmobile, harnessed in, loving the ride. Whenever we would stop, he would just tap Brad's leg and point forward again and again. When we stopped for a break, we just plopped him in a snow bank and he was in heaven. I loved having Liv on the back of my sled. She was great company as she giggled over the bumps and yelled, "WEEEEEEE" down the hills. And of course, everything is more fun with Brad's parents around. We love them and love everything about being with them. Plus they were a ton of help!

Lesson learned: Before we put on the tights, wool socks, long underwear, sweat pants, snow pants, 2 sweat shirts, mittens, and winter coats. . . make sure the girls go to the bathroom.

Trail Conditions: 32 degrees, packed snow underneath with 5 inches of fresh snow from the night before on top. Half of the trails groomed, half with those 5 inches still on top. Pine trees covered in those 5 inches, it reminded me of marshmallows.

Added Bonus: Brad's parents offered to let us go on a midnight ride after the kids were in bed. OK, it wasn't exactly midnight, but it was 10:00p.m. This was my first ride in the pitch dark, through clean, ungroomed trails. Three words to describe it: Peaceful, scary (a little bit), fun (a lot).

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A little bit of luck

Lucky enough to catch this view out our bedroom window

when we wake up at just the right time

Lucky enough to catch this view out our sliding glass doors

when the flock is wandering through

Lucky enough to spend our afternoon with Nana,

this time making reindeer food.

Parent teacher conferences

I just got home from Gwen's parent teacher conference. I have loved her preschool experience. I come home from picking her up and tell BR all about how her teachers are just as excited about the exploring, and creating as the kids. They love to play with the children, and it shows. I was further impressed as I sat and listened to the teachers tell me Gwen's strengths, and I could tell that they see her much the same way that I see her. With a class full of children, it takes a talented teacher to understand the children on an individual level. I am so grateful for these women, who nurture my little Gwen and love her while she is away from her home. Some of the things they had to say about Gwenabeanie are: She is adaptable, happy and comfortable in any situation. She is enthusiastic about learning and receptive to their lessons. She chooses an activity and easily focuses on that activity. She can sit down with any child and play with them. During free time, she always chooses the art project, and is very creative. She has an idea of how she wants her project to turn out, and carries out her plan. She has a great imagination and they enjoy the commentary she comes up with for her art projects. She always listens and obeys happily. She is a pleasure, all of the time. Although it appears that she gets all of the letters in her name out of order, if you watch her she actually writes the letters in order, but hops around the line while writing them, instead of continuing consistently from left to right. She knows that they go from left to right, but likes writing it the way she does it. If asked, she will write them in order. She recognizes and can write all of her letters and many numbers, and excells with patterns and rhyming. They said that she is very well prepared for Kindergarten already (which, if you have talked to me at all, you will know I have contemplated that decision since she was born. He birthday is right before the cut off.) What an angel this little girl is. Amazing, born with so many talents. I love you Gwen, you amaze me. Most everything comes easily to you. You have a way about you that is going to make your life great. They asked me a series of questions right after their assessment of Gwen, one of the questions they asked me was this:

What is the best thing about being a parent?

This is my answer: The best thing about being a parent is the opportunity I have to know these little spirits better than anyone else in the world, and the opportunity that I then have to teach them about how amazing they each are. I am so impressed with them, each of them absolutely beautiful on the inside as well as the outside, they teach me so much about how to be a better person, how to trust God, how to love unconditionally, how to handle my trials. With the opportunity to serve them comes an opportunity to love them more than I could have imagined was possible, which in turn makes me so happy. God knew what he was doing when he organized families.

Saturday| Christmastime LL Bean style

Sometimes we have a hard time coming up with a Saturday plan this time of year. Not because it is Christmas time, but because without snow on the ground, there is nothing to do outside. We decided that it was the perfect Saturday to go to Portland to see Brianna and Jon, Brad's sister and her husband. So, we looked into Portland Christmas festivities and came up with a day at L.L. Bean. It looked a bit like this:

Hot Chocolate by an outdoor fire,

20+ ice sculptures,

The big bean boot, as always,

sugar plum fairy ornament making,

Play house playing,

Face Painting at Cool as a Moose

Balloons from Santa's helper

A play of "The Christmas Carol"

Free Carriage rides around the city

Shopping

Chocolate eating

Valet Parking

A gigantic Christmas tree decorated in Sleds

McDonalds for lunch and dinner (I'm still laughing about that)

Christmas Lights

Christmas cheer

Sadly, something came up and Brianna and Jon weren't able to meet us in the end. We were all disappointed.

Before we headed out to Freeport, we had a yummy new breakfast (made by BR). PLOYES. YUM, YUM! They are buckwheat and fall somewhere between a pancake and a crepe. They were so good, that I made them again for Sunday Breakfast. SO Good.

P.S. What doesn't taste good doused in Whipped Cream, butter, and real maple syrup??

Do you have any fun activity ideas for the time between fall ending and winter beginning?

How about fun Saturday Morning Breakfast ideas??