Merry Christmas!

We had a good Christmas, and hope you all did, too.  Bethany and Mari were thrilled to discover that their baby-dolls had pacifiers.  Mari spent most of the rest of the day carrying her baby around, patting it on the back and kising its head.  It was really cute to see her.  Christopher was excited to get the fourth Harry Potter book, which he has almost read twice during the Christmas break.  Michael's alligator grows quite large after 72 hours in the water.  Mark enjoyed the six-sided puzzle Christopher and Andrea made for him, and the kids had fun with the foam blocks Andrea made for hut-building, jumping into, and general pillow fights.

Nativity 2011

Here are some pics from this year's Nativity play.  Mari, as the angel, loved holding the baby Jesus and patting it gently, but was not too excited about giving up the baby to Mary, played by Bethany.  She also found something chocolate and managed to spit it out onto her white costume just before the picture.  Bethany did much better this year than the previous year, when she refused to play Mary becuase she was Bethany, and not Mari.  We had a good time and laughed at the not-so-perfect parts. 

Michael's Birthday

Michael had a pirate birthday party.  We had a fun pirate treasure hunt.  I made my first ever "pirate cake" and rainbow jello, which I was pretty proud of.  Michael is really into cats right now, so he got some "cat food" (Trix cereal), a cat costume, and a "cat house" he could build out of PVC pipes and connectors.  The cat house turned out to be a bit more complicated than Mom and Dad intended.  It needs adult help to set it up!  Michael was also pretty excited about the pencil sharpener he recieved and sharpened every pencil in the house.

Bethany's Birthday

Bethany had a princess party for her birthday.  We had a tea party, princess games, and crowns to decorate with stickers!