Ariel

Here's my parting shot from 2010 - Kate performing a duet with her "Ariel" necklace:

Christmas Part 3 - More Fun with the Veermans

We had a great week with the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins!! We even enjoyed a few extra days with Paul and Darian due to airport-closing snow in the Northeast, and we packed lots of fun into our time together. In addition to much eating, drinking, reading, game playing, laptopping, and flight-rescheduling, here's a little sampling of our holiday:



Climbing
We spent one morning at a huge indoor facility. Nate and Bethany are real climbing aficionados so it was fun to see them in their element and they enjoyed sharing a hobby with all of us. It was such a hit with everyone that we went back for more after Chuck, Crista, Kylie, and Tyler arrived.

N & B show us the ropes.

This is the children's area with an auto-belay system. Before playing around here, Meg, Nate, and Kate made it all the way to the top of the (really high!) main wall. Meg is completely hooked; she learned to use the color-coded routes and just couldn't get enough.

Goofing around

Atlanta's first true white Christmas since 1880 (not counting a dusting in the 1970s). It started falling late Christmas afternoon and everything was covered by morning. Fun!

Kylie brought her new video camera and the kids had fun directing, filming, and acting in dramatic and silly productions.

Zip

Relaxing

Cousins

Tubing

Christmas Part 2 - Christmas Day

waiting to open stockings

Meg gave Grammy and Grampy her artwork from the class she took this fall.

Christmas lunch: grilled pheasant from Erik's hunting trip in October, served on his new platter (thanks Lynn and Dianne.)

Meg's friendship bracelet kit from Aunt Bethany and Uncle Nate

Caleb's tangram puzzles from Grammy & Grampy

(little) Nate's snap circuit set from Mommy & Daddy

Erik's beer making kit (actually from last year.)

Nate spent lots of time with the electric set.

Kate's Ariel jewelry from Daddy

Nate's chess set from Uncle Nate and Aunt Bethany

Christmas Part 1 - Pappy and Mema

My mom and dad came to celebrate with us the weekend before Christmas. We packed many festivities into 24 hours. They arrived in time for a quick supper, after which we attended the Georgia Boy Choir Christmas concert--a stunningly beautiful performance! The next morning after breakfast and advent wreath we opened gifts. Then we went to Meg and Nate's basketball games and each of them scored a few points, much to delight of the kids and grandparents. From there it was back here for lunch and then back to Birmingham for Pappy and Mema.

My first attempt at homemade donuts. So yummy and not quite as much trouble as I expected. Definitely worth making again!

It is hilarious to see what the kids select as gifts for others. The day before I had taken them to the dollar spot at Target with handfuls of coins stuffed in wallets and purses and pockets. Usually when they purchase something I have them do all the work at the checkout. But this time to give the clerk (and myself...and the people behind us in line) a break and avoid 4 separate transactions involving all quarters, I decided to pay for everything and have them reimburse me at home. Anyway, they were delighted to watch Pappy and Mema opening their presents. Very cute.

Meg and Mia with their new nightgowns

Kate's fishing pole

(Not pictured: Caleb & his race car set; Nate and his Legos.)

Nutcracker Field Trip

Meg, Nate, Kate and I also went to the Atlanta Ballet's children's production of the Nutcracker at the Fox. What a fun morning! We semi-dressed up, enjoyed the excitement of the big city as we walked from our on-the-street parking space (hooray for meters that take credit cards!), watched an abbreviated (perfect for Nate!) version of the ballet along with an informative presentation about the logistics of wardrobe, lighting, and scenery changes in the beautiful Fox theater. A good time was had by all.

Nativity Collection

Our first Christmas field trip was to a local church with a collection of 250 nativity scenes. A parishioner had personally collected about half of them, which he donated to the church on the condition that it would display them each year. They came from many countries and were fascinating in their diversity. Each was displayed with a portion of the Christmas story from Scripture and information about the origin or interesting details of that particular set. The first photo shows the second half of the collection which has been donated by various other parishioners over the years. I'd like to go again next year (without Caleb) and take more time to examine the scenes. I recommend it to Atlanta-area friends with kids 5 yrs. and up.

Our Favorite - from Laos

This photo is for the Faulls :)

Fall Poetry Recital - Part 1

After Thanksgiving dinner the kids put on their fall poetry recital. My parents' good friends the Maynors had joined us for the afternoon, which worked out well since we want the kids to practice "performing" in front of more than just our immediate family. The selections were:

Meg and Nate - Psalm 84
Meg - Thanksgiving Day by Lydia Marie Child
Nate - The Elf and the Dormouse by Oliver Herford
Kate - The Little Elf by John Kendrick Bangs
Caleb - The Children's Catechism questions 1-4

I hope you enjoy these excerpts.

Fall Poetry Recital - Part 2

Meg had the most to memorize and she did a lovely job.

Fall Poetry Recital - Part 3

This year Nate chose the poem that Meg recited last spring. He really already had it memorized from hearing her practice, but it is such a cute poem I let him do it anyway.

Fall Poetry Recital - Part 4

This was Kate's first year to recite a poem. She did a good job and seems very comfortable "on stage" (no surprise there).

Fall Poetry Recital - Part 5

After Kate finished, Caleb automatically assumed he was next. He went running up to the "stage" and then realized he didn't know what to do once he got there. He managed a few shy, silly answers to my impromptu catechism questions. Now I know to have him prepare for next time.

Thanksgiving in Birmingham

working on a hole

Kate practicing phonics with Pappy

petting zoo at Oak Mountain State Park

Caleb and Mema hiking through the woods

out for Sunday dinner