8

How can it be? 8 years old today!  

A very proud and confident 8.

An eight-year-old who impresses us with maturity (most of the time),

who is kind, thoughtful and creative.

A girl who has a big heart.

One who blows us away with creativity and invention.

Your attention to detail and memory is tremendous (for better or worse).

You amaze us with your ability to try new things.

You love to sew and are eager to learn more.

You think things through, you plan, you organize.

You are still an artist through and through.

You love to bake and decorate and are hungry for more.

Your love of Legos, building and architecting new things remains.

You go, go, go...but when you are tired, look out!

You are a good friend.

You are serious but there is a silly side in there too.  

You are a rule follower but don't like to lose.

You love your cat (and your brother) but mostly your cat.

It's fun to see you nurture Luna and see the love she has right back for you.

You are growing up to be a pretty incredible kid.

We are so very proud to call you ours.

Happy Birthday to you, Carmen James.

Happy Tuesday

A little silliness to start the day...courtesy of our Elf, Red!

Holiday Concert

Carmen participated in the holiday sing concert at school again this year.  

It's a musical event for the first and second graders.  

There is singing, dancing and musical instruments.  

It's so fun to see all of the kiddos dressed up and really giving it their all.  

This year Carmen had a dancing part for one of the songs, Snow.  

She was super excited to perform on stage.  She practice a lot and really took it seriously.  

She was so serious about remembering her moves that she forgot to smile.  :-) 

She did a great job and enjoyed sharing the stage with so many of her friends.

You can see her in action in the video below.

Christmas is coming...

We are trying to embrace all things Christmas and get in the holiday swing.

Although, I feel we are running out of time to fit it all in.  

So much fun to be had.

Thus far we've:

Carefully selected and decorated the tree.

Put up the outdoor lights.

Ensured our elf, Red, came on December 1st.

Saw the new Grinch movie.

Attended some holiday parties where Santa made an appearance.

Went to Enchant to walk the amazing light maze.

Decorated several gingerbread houses.

Shopped for teachers, friends and family.

Listened to more Christmas music than we can count. 

Saw Santa and locked in the wish list (sewing machine for Carmen; Star Wars Legos for Max)

Carmen went caroling with her Girl Scout Troop.

Watched the movie Elf along with all of the Holiday Baking Championship episodes.

We are still going strong with several more items to enjoy and check off the list...

Chess

This Fall Max learned how to play Chess.  

He has always been interested in the game and learned a few rules early on but got the chance to learn the game at an afterschool enrichment class.  

Today was his last class and he came away with a first place trophy, a key chain and a new T-shirt.  

He was over the moon.  

He's looking forward to continuing to learn and play more Chess. 

Choices

It's always interesting to me some of the choices our kiddos make.  

This week for library they each came home with a festive book choice.

It is now December.

Can you guess who's is who's?!

Field Trip Time

Today I got to accompany Max's Kindergarten class to the Pacific Science Center for a field trip.  We rode the bus downtown, learned about and built tops, saw butterflies up close and personal, blew bubbles, learned about planets, saw dinosaurs and did many, many other fun activities.

Basketball

Carmen is trying basketball for the first time.  

She was adamant last year she did not like basketball and was in no way interested.  

This year however she was more open minded and decided to give it a try.  

She is the newest member of the Shooting Diamonds.

She's only had a couple of practices but so far so good.

She loves her coach and her teammates and is really enjoying it!

It must be the new shoes...

Happy Thanksgiving

So much to be thankful for.

Nutcracker

These girls couldn't wait to see the new Nutcracker movie and they finally got their chance.  

A school half-day made for the perfect time. 

SOCKS

We just attending the annual Sock Hop at school.  An event the kids (at least Carmen) look forward to.  There was food, cotton candy, music and a photo booth.  Clearly, a fun time.

Socks are also collected at the event for families in need.  It was overwhelming to see the generosity of the school community.  Over 1,100 pairs of socks donated!  The kids had a fun time sorting, organizing and counting them all.  

Halloween Happenings

Halloween was celebrated with many, many fun events this year.

Bonfire and corn maze.

Costume parties.

Pumpkin carving.

 

 

 

 School parties.

 

 

Trick-or-Treating

 

Cheese

Big smiles from our Kindergartener and Second Grader.

School pics!