Christmas Presents

Last week we spent a night working on teacher christmas presents.  I wanted something the kids could help with so we decided on chocolate covered pretzels.

We did white chocolate and semi-sweet.



I let the kids toss the pretzels into the chocolate and then I fished them out and set them to harden on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper.



On some of them we drizzled melted butterscotch.  I let them sit in the fridge to harden for a while and then we put them in cute bowls and wrapped them up.  Of course I forgot to take pictures of the final products.



The kids also worked hard to write their own Christmas cards.

Homework

Now that both Jon and Michael have weekly homework for school, one of Jon and Becca's favorite games to play has been "homework."

They get out a notebook and go to work.



When I asked them what they were working on Jon said he was writing notes and Becca said she had made a maze.  :)

Christmas Tree

The kids were so excited to put up ornaments on the tree this year.  Michael is old enough to remember a lot of them - especially those he made.  So he was going through the boxes to find his.  Becca followed suit, pulling out different ornaments including things like glass bells, and announcing, "I remember when I made this!"







The other cute thing that happened was that we had the ornaments out all day, but didn't have time to decorate until the evening.  So Becca had fun during the day decorating other things while she waited.

Pasta

Pasta with red sauce is one of my kids' favorite meals.  They eat it down and always ask for seconds.  Unfortunately their mama likes to change up the sauce every once and a while, and since she is the one doing to cooking, well everyone else just has to go along with it.  Last night it was Alfredo.

We started eating around 5:45.  At 6:15 the older three members of the family left the table and the kids were instructed that they needed to eat, do evening chores, get pjs on, and then if there was time they could watch TV.

At 6:45ish Michael was ready and turned on the TV, and here is what Jon and Becca were up to: (Please note that at this point I think they had each maybe eaten 1 bite.)


Boy was it hard to stay calm and not scream "It's still PASTA - just put a bite in your mouth."

After going to his room to scream and cry for about 10 minutes Jon finally finished around 7:20 and Becca by 7:45.

Funny thing is, I don't think they actually disliked it that much when they actually ate it - it was more a battle of wills.  :)

Hot Chocolate and Settlers

Over Thanksgiving weekend we tried to get the kids out to play a couple of times but it was pretty cold.  And of course, every time they go out in the cold they want Hot Chocolate - Michael's and Becca's with marshmallows in it and Jon's on the side.  Since we have had Aunt Katherine with us for the weekend we were also playing a lot of games.  So what could be better than having both hot chocolate and a game of Settlers on a cold day?!

Mine Craft

As an early Christmas present we bought the kids a second Mine Craft account so two people can play together in the same world.  So over the weekend, this is what I find:



Tim and Michael are playing in a world together.  Jon is on the iPad playing mine craft and taking breaks to watch Michael.  Becca is cheering on her dad!