Three times this month!

We have snow AGAIN! Unlike the storm on Christmas Eve, this one was huge, gentle, falling straight down snow. So peaceful and beautiful.
If this keeps up, we will have to actually buy winter apparel for the kids. Rainboots just don't cut it for too long.

Solstice

Today we celebrated Solstice.
This all came about because of our Immigration unit that we just finished. During the course of the study, we discussed where our ancestors came from and how we can honor their traditions. Obviously, with the German side of the family we are covered with German dancing. The kids wanted to know what we did to honor the Irish side of the family. We decided that observing the Solstice would be nice.
The kids came up with what we would do (after some research). We decided that we (the kids) would open one gift from under the tree...






Make birdseed necklaces to hang out for our feathered friends...








Make sun cupcakes...


Ken and the kids went on a nature hike yesterday to gather some bling for a yule log...


I, by chance, had exactly the ingredients that I needed to make pinecone firestarters...


Watching the firestarters was an amazing viewing opportunity...


They are pretty though...


The Yule Log...


And if you noticed that Joseph was conspicuously absent from all but the top picture, it is because he sat back in the corner playing with the his marble track all.day.long (the girls did GOOD picking that one out)....

Swim Lessons in December

About this time every year (a month or so after the pool closes for the season), the kids start asking about going swimming. So, I registered them for swim lessons this month before they could even ask.
One of the employees took some pictures of them the other day to potentially be used in the summer program brochure and she sent me copies of them.

Firefly Dance

The two kindergarten classes come together to perform the Firefly dance.

First Place!

Caroline receiving her certificate!

End of Semester at Chinese School

Today was the last day of Chinese school for the semester. Each class did a performance and they recognized the students that did well in the Talent Competition last month.
Guess who won first place in the Kindergarten class?
:D
Our very own blue eyed, curly head girl!
Here she is receiving her gift and her certificate for First Place.


And here she is with her certificate.


After the awards, each class gave a performance to show what they learned. The kindergarten class did a song about a firefly.
(Alex took video, so hopefully I will be adding that to the blog.)

Hats!

Joseph and Caroline are reading A House of Tailors  to go along with their study of Immigration (which has them fascinated!) in Moving Beyond the Page.
Today's assignment was to create a hat.
The protagonist in the story is a seamstress, but she really dislikes sewing...or so she says. She LOVES to design and make hats though and eventually finds her niche as a milliner.
Here are the hats!

It SNOWED!

That's a big deal in North Texas at ANY TIME, but in early December it is very rare.
It started at about 7 am and snowed really hard for about 45 minutes and it was melted by 9 am. It did snow long enough to get a bit of a dusting and give us enough to make snow angels and a tiny snowman.