Homeschool Christmas party, the Nutcracker, Christmas tea, Gingerbread houses, and Christmas lights...oh MY!

We have joined a local homeschool community and they had a small party hosted by different families for the holiday season. Each family brought a favorite cookie and Christmas book to read aloud. I was really proud of Miss M for reading our book, The Nutcracker, out loud to the group. Speaking of new traditions, we continued our tradition of the mother/daughter date to the Nutcracker ballet in Denver. We went with our neighbors/good friends who moved here from Kentucky two years before us. It was so magical and special and both moms and daughters enjoyed a nice evening out to kick off the Christmas break. We also hosted a Christmas tea for the little girls in our neighborhood that play together and their moms. The girls exchanged books as a gift and had a lot of fun eating cookies and drinking tea with lots of sugar. We decorated gingerbread houses, looked at Christmas lights with neighbors, played at a park without a coat on...all before Christmas!

Georgetown Railroad

We are trying to create new traditions in our new home for the holidays. We decided to take the Georgetown Railraod train ride with Santa this year. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains and the kids had fun, although they could not figure out why the train was so slow. I like creating new traditions and memories for our family. Another activity we have taken up in Colorado is skiing. The first pictures here are the kids after our first day on the slopes. They were quite exhausted but they are doing great and we are really proud of them. We got season passes to a local mountain and are trying to go as often as we can.

Scrapbook Day 12/16/16

Scrapbook Day this month fell on our last day of homeschool for the semester, a Friday. We played games, baked cookies, and did some fun Christmas worksheets to help us review our first semester. The kids are progressing well with homeschool and did really well this first semester. I am proud of them. Also on this night the husband and I went on a double date with some good friends we have made from Georgia. The food was great and it started snowing while we were there so we had some beautiful scenery.

Thanksgiving 2016

We are staying put for the holidays this year and we enjoyed our week off for Thanksgiving. We spent the week relaxing, eating, taking walks, taking care of our friends basset hounds, and just enjoying one another. It was great. The kids loved the basset hounds and are begging for a dog, but we will hold off on that. I do not mind dog sitting but I am not ready to make that commitment yet. Our neighbors across the street invited us for thanksgiving dinner. It was a lot of fun. The girls performed a song for us and everyone got along so nicely. We took the girls on a turkey trot in the morning which was also a lot of fun. Our first Thanksgiving in Colorado was a huge success. We are glad we did not go far and did not have to fight all the people traveling. We simply enjoyed a quiet week.

Miss M turns 8!

It is hard to believe our first born is now 8! We celebrated with a Rapunzel themed birthday party and frozen yogurt cake with her friends. On her actual birthday we went to Denver and purchased her first American Girl Doll, whom she calls Stella. It was so fun celebrating her and I am thankful she had friends to celebrate with since we recently moved here. She is turning into such a sweet girl. She is an avid reader and loves all things astronomy. She is sensitive and in tune with the feelings of others. As much as she and her brother fight, she loves the K Man and he makes her laugh. She takes care of the J Man and likes it when he gives her a kiss. She has done so well with our transition and I am so grateful God gave us this gift to parent and entrusted her with us. Miss M, you light up our family and add such beauty to all of us. We are so blessed to have you in our family and that you made us parents for the first time.

K Man and sports

The K Man is all about sports. After finishing up his first season of flag football he moved into basketball buffs at the YMCA. I cannot say enough about how much we love the YMCA and their sports programs for kids. I love how intense he is with everything and how he listens to the coach and will do exactly what the coaches say. He got pretty good at blocking in football so his teammates could get a clear run. In basketball he always has his hands up on defense and is following the ball. He loves to watch all kinds of football. He will watch a bit on tv and then run downstairs to the basement and practice. We are lucky the basement is large enough for him to run around and we do not have any furniture so it is perfect to practice sports.