Lego Christmas Village

We set a goal to start building around JP's birthday this year and we had the whole thing set up by December 1st!  

Santa's Workshop

Mail Truck

Post Office

Tree in Village Center

 Now let's get a closer look at the tree . . . and the lady standing on it. She is supposed to be on the ladder putting on the lights but it is hard for all of us to not constantly play.

Bakery 

Tree Delivery

Skating Rink

Toy Store

Santa and Mrs. Claus

 And this guy is by far my favorite!

Awwww.

Is there anything sweeter than this?

Friday Night Lights

Tonight Pickle had one of those opportunities that I think she will remember forever. And I know I would have really enjoyed it when I was her age so it was something I did not want to pass up. Pickle participates in the Cheer Club at her elementary school and they were invited to cheer along side the high school cheerleaders at tonight's Homecoming game for the first quarter.

The high school cheerleaders had stopped by Cheer Club practice last week to teach the young girls a few key cheers and Pickle has been practicing non-stop. She was so excited to put her practice in action tonight and although I am biased, I think she nailed it!

This is Lily - her buddy for the night.

The started the game by cheering for the players running on the field.

These girls were so excited to be at the high school and on the field. They were pumped & ready!

Earlier in the day the Cheer Club performed a dance routine at the school assembly and then got to march in the Homecoming Parade. This was her second year to do this!

 Smile on Picklicious!

Wild & Free

All good things are wild and free. 

- Henry David Thoreau

Labor Day Camping

Third year in a row camping for Labor Day and the group has grown! Two years ago I believe we had 4 families and this year was 10 (or so). There were 22 kids - not counting the strays from other sites that wandered over - and their corresponding parents. The weekend was filled with food, drink, debauchery, and campfires. There were bike rides (and races), a whiffle ball game, teepee building, forts, wood collecting and chopping, face painting, and games.

 Jeremy led an expedition into the woods to collect wood for the fire as well as for building a teepee. The teepee didn't last long. The male urge to chop and saw wood overtook several of the grown up boys and they had the pile whittled down to fire wood in no time!

It is fun to catch up with families and see the kids grow from year to year. To be honest we didn't see much of the kids as they found some great spaces in the woods to be build forts and there were a few battles between the boys and girls from fort to fort. P-man also started a trend of not wearing a shirt and by the last morning even the little guys had gotten into the spirit.

What? Is there a problem?

The communal living allows for a lot of down time when others are preparing the meals and we really ate some great food all weekend including plenty of snacks and shared cocktails. Activities were also shared including paints that ended up on faces - think war paint for the boys and full on face color for the girls:

Yellow Face

First days!

  Another summer has come to an end and that means the kids go back to their regular
jobs during the day. Pickle is lucky enough to go to school with a couple of children from her Kindergarten class at the Montessori school. Since first grade the kids come over and join us for the walk to school. It makes good sense because so many parents drive the first day of school that parking is almost all the way to our house and it is a nice tradition to boot. This year there was a new kid as another younger sibling joins the older at Big School.

  For a reason not explained to me, nor important enough for me to question, New Kid's school did not begin until Tuesday. This afforded her an extra day of following me around and delayed my breakfast date with my wife. But Tuesday finally came and New Kid made the jump to Kindergarten. It is ridiculous that the time has flown by so fast! She has made it, or maybe we have, though and now there are some real expectation. They are all her expectations! She expects me to go on all kindergarten field trips, to be included on the chore chart and get an allowance, and to not sit in a booster seat at the dinner table.

New Kid Turns 5

Hard to believe this thing -

Is now 5!

She has her moments of being so grown up but is definitely the "baby" of the family; I guess she always will be. It has been a momentous year for her. She learned to ski and to ride her bike with out training wheels and started playing soccer. She learned to read and has jumped way ahead with her math skills at school.

Keep smiling New Kid! We love you!

New Kid's Flower Light

 What we have here is a picture of a boring ol' flower light on the wall. That wall is next to New Kid's bed. And the light went up today. It has been planned for some time but it not being hung was not a product of my procrastination. New Kid was in charge of when the light was to be hung.

 That light next to New Kid's bed means that New Kid is a reader! She was told months ago, when she first asked for a flower light like Pickle has, that as soon as the books came home from school she could have a light. Well, the books came home last week and she is a real reader. She still has troubles with some sounds but is blowing through books already. She doesn't quite have the ridiculously voracious appetite for the written word like The Boy has but she can read on her own and that is where it all starts.

Soccer

Soccer season returned again in January and New Kid decided she was ready to play. She convinced her Dad to sign her up by agreeing to drop swimming from her agenda (poor third kid totally gets that we have to limit each kid). She has really enjoyed her time especially because one of her classmates is on her team - and he happens to be a pretty impressive four-year-old soccer player.

Here they are down field ready to score:

And here they are after scoring a goal . . . C cheers for all!

 And here they are getting some coaching . . . I promise they have other players on their team!

 Here C is taking it down field to score!

 She seems to be pretty pumped about soccer . . .

 Or maybe just has something stuck in her teeth?

And then there is this one:

 The pictures show a lot more effort and interest than she actually demonstrates.

Actually, this was one of her better games.

Which is hard to believe with the picture below ... notice which way she is looking and where the ball/ action is happening.

And finally the big guy who moved up to 7-on-7 in the fall. This has been a great move for him and he has showed tremendous improvement in his skills. There is not much interest from others to play in the goal so P continues to volunteer. The day I had my camera he spent a lot of time in the goal and with good defense there wasn't much to photograph!