Christmas Crafts and Huge Trees

Of course- we've found even more uses for those craft sticks! To decorate my Grandmother's tree this year- each of the kids, grandkids (and great grandkids) were to make an ornament with a picture of them on it to decorate her tree. It reminds me of a great picture book we love to read at Christmas Time- It's called Great Granny Rose and the Family Christmas Tree. In the story a boy is helping his Great Granny decorate their tree. As the boy's dad places the tree in the stand, she comments how the tree isn't "alive" to which the dad replies- yes- it's a real tree, it's alive. Later the boy helps decorate, as they do, she has a short story or memory to go with each ornament, and finally when all those memories are placed on the tree, it's "alive" at last.

Here's Doodle's ornament- gotta LOVE glitter!
Ben's and My ornaments- paint the craft sticks green, decorate with assorted "ornaments" glue a stick on the back for the trunk, and glue on a ribbon to hang it with.

Next comes Bug's ornament- he didn't feel like getting out the paint- so he used crayons to color his sticks, glued them together and used a pipe cleaner to hang the ornament.
Then there is Roo's snowflake. Glue 3 sticks in a snowflake shape, Paint the sticks white, sprinkle with glitter, then glue on a picture.

On Saturday we went to cut down our Christmas tree. We went with Ben's sister Amber and her husband and their 2 little boys. We had a blast! The tree we found is HUGE!- sorry- you'll have to wait til it's all decorated to see it in it's fullness ;) But it's 20 feet tall! Yes- really and truly!

Bug and Doodle sawing down the tree

Big box fun

Now the bonus to getting a new water heater is according to some boys....THE BOX! So far the box has been:

The Mayflower

a pirate ship

a space ship

a rocket

an airplane

a house

a monkey cage

a clubhouse

a refrigerator

a coffin

a racecar

a great place to read a book

It reminds me of the picture book Christina Katerina and the Box where the girl gets so excited to get a new refrigerator, and she is thrilled with the box. Her mom isn't so glad to have the ugly box sitting under the apple tree, but Christina finds all sorts of uses for the box, a castle, a clubhouse, a racecar, a floor for a ballroom etc. When the box finally falls apart, the mother is relieved to get rid of it- only to find Christina's friend coming down the street with boxes from their washer and dryer for the kids to use as boats.

Bad things come in 3's-- where's the last one....

Ok- so 2 weeks ago- my oven went out- the element burned up, and it fried the control panel in the process. After 5 days without an oven the part finally came on Tuesday- and Ben got it fixed (my WONDERFUL husband!--- the kids always tell me= "Dad can fix anything!") Last night we looked and the water heater is leaking everywhere. Unfortunately- I think that comes under the things that dad can't fix. So I guess we're getting a new one today. So....what's Next?!

Way to go!

Saturday Bug and Doodle had their Karate belt tests. They take Karate classes from White Dragons of Bushido. They have a dojo in Ogden, and also hold some classes in Brigham City. Both boys enjoy Karate (well- most of the time Doodle does- but it's sure good for him to pay attention to someone else, to concentrate on the steps, to memorize forms etc) They both did awesome.

Doodle was certain after the test on Saturday that he had passed the test- he was testing for the Little Dragon's Orange Belt (white belt with orange stripe). He really knew his stuff. He was right. At class tonight they had the belt ceremony- and he got his orange belt. He was quite proud.Bug wasn't so sure- he was testing for Purple belt in the youth/adult class, and there were some complicated forms he had to do. I wasn't sure he was even ready to test- but the Sensei said he could give it a try. He did great! Tonight at class- he received his Purple belt. The belt ranking goes Yellow, Orange, Blue, Purple, Green, Brown, Red then Black. So Purple is moving up the ranking quite a bit!

How to get a good picture of 3 boys

Set them all down on a bench and say "Say Cheese" Take Picture---

Oh no! Roo- you weren't looking at the camera. Scoot together- act like you like sitting by each other! Ok- Try again. Line up 3 boys on the bench again (of course- they ran off while you were checking to see how the first one turned out) "Say Cheese"Bug! Doodle! Look at the camera with a nice smile on your face please! Roo- yeah at least You were smiling and looking at the camera that time.

Okay- Try again- 3rd time's a charm- right? Line up 3 boys on the bench again, come on- sit nicely, I'll be done as soon as I get a good picture. Come on- just one good picture- please!

Doodle! SIT on the bench! I can't see you when you lay like that! Come on- please! Just one good picture!

Finally- give up! Well, they are all sorta looking at the camera....

Field Trip Friday

We have a wonderful group of homeschoolers in our area. There are always SO many great activities going on. We have a field trip group that meets once a month to do field trips. Friday was our field trip. We went to visit the Standard Examiner newspaper. We got to see all sorts of cool things, and learned about how they print the newspaper. 3 silly boys in front of the Printing presses. We were disappointed that the presses weren't running- but I guess we'd have to visit at midnight to see that. After our visit to the newspaper, we went to a park, and met Ben for lunch. The kids played on the playground while we waited for Ben to get there.The park was right along the Ogden River- so some kids were excited to do a little exploring. They explored the river for a while.Then we went for a walk along the Ogden River Parkway. It was a beautiful fall day, and a great trail to explore. We didn't walk the whole trail- but maybe 1 mile or so. Bug found this cool mushroom along the trail.Doodle was looking for tracks- I told him he'd only be able to find Dog tracks- from people who walk their dogs along the trail. He proved me wrong- He found some Deer tracks going up a hill near the trail.

Hollow Legs

I can SOOO relate to this blog post . I definately have some Hollow Legged boys around here. I don't know what I'll do when they are teenagers- they already eat a ton! It never ceases to amaze me, I'll make a HUGE pot of spaghetti- thinking we'll have leftovers the next night....and they devour the whole thing!