Chilly Beach Trip

Our post-Thanksgiving beach trip was very nice and relaxing, even if a bit chilly. We only stayed for a day and a half, so there was no swimming pool or other trips out of the way. Instead, we stayed close to the cabin, and the weather cooperated with clear, sunny skies and hardly any wind. When we went to the beach, thinking we'd only be there a few minutes before freezing, we stayed for over a half hour. The kids were thrilled to dig in the sand. Tor kept asking to go into the water, so we had to remind him that it was too cold. This photo shows the kids soaking in the sun.

The Long Road

Continuing from the previous post:  They worked during the whole Husky-Cougar game to add to their city.  At half time they had Daddy come out to ride the maze of roads with them. I think Jillian made all the roads while Bridget added some pretties to the scene.

Thanksgiving Program and playing

 Bridget and her best friend in pre-school at the Thanksgiving program.  They did many poems and songs about Thanksgiving.  After the program everyone was served a delicious soup and Bridget passed out yummy pumpkin bars that they had made in class.  Papa Ken and Bev, Papa Bob, Grannie, Greta, Tierney, Mom, and Dad all enjoyed the festivities.

 Afterwards, when Tor was napping, they had a rousing game of UNO with Tierney.  Jillian had devised some elaborate score keeping system as they played many games so she could rate them at the end-Great, Good, and Star.  I'm not sure who got what....

When Tor woke up it was outside time.  It was so cold but they didn't seem to mind as they all worked on a road and town.  This was just the beginning and when it ended up there were houses, flowers, playground and much more.  When it was finished they rode their scooters on the road.  They probably stayed out there with Tierney for a couple of hours and Tor cried hard when I made them come in because it was getting dark.

Bridget's 4-year Pre-school Picture

We had worked on Bridget's smiling for the camera before picture day, trying to get her to show her teeth. When it came time for photos, though, she went for the typical Bridget smile. Even so, her dimples are really showing.

Battles, Basketball, and Cookies

All boy, it's battles most of the time.  He has a bin of Super Heroes and they battle the bad guys.  Or even the trucks have to crash into each other.  He especially likes the construction trucks.

 It was so cold out but it was time for a basketball lesson from Brock since Jillian will be playing after Christmas.  I don't think Jillian got as cold as Brock as he gave her a tough workout.  A lot of it was working on dribbling fast with each hand without looking at the ball.  When Jillian came in she said she was sweating.  She was most excited about getting the ball away from Brock when she was working on defense.

 It was Bridget's turn to cook something, so her and Jillian collaborated on Hershey kisses peanut butter cookies.  Jillian would read the directions and get ingredients ready while Bridget poured them in and stirred.  Then they got to roll out the dough and after they were done baking, they put on the Hershey kisses.  And they had to wait until after dinner to have one which was the hardest part.

Star Wars Saber plus Art

 This is Tor trying to make a fighting face while holding his new Star Wars saber.  He wouldn't put it down or share easily.  We did have to make a rule that if he hit someone or something with the saber, he would lose it for awhile, so he was very good at following that rule.

 With the rainy days, Play-doh gets a lot more use.  Here Tor is concentrating on building a basketball player.  Somehow or other, things must be related to basketball.

 They all wanted to water color and were surprisingly neat and careful.  They each did several pictures.  Tor got the hang of it but only used blue the whole time and his were very abstract.  Some of the girls pictures are below.

Divers and Coloring

 No school, so Jillian got to join the bath fun.  They all wanted goggles or a face mask so they could dive for the pennies and change I threw in the tub.  Even Tor wanted goggles. He put them on himself and went underwater.  He just has to do whatever the girls are doing.

They were thrilled that Rielee came to play.  I printed off these grown-up coloring pages and they were all over it and they took their time to do a good job.  They would color for awhile, play, and then come back to color some more.  I thought I had Bridget in the photo but she backed up to hold out her picture and in doing so put it in front of Rielee.