Merry Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas a day early this year. We figured it would help our kids focus in church tomorrow, rather than have their minds wander back to the presents at home.

The kids woke us early in the morning. Analeigh set her alarm to 5:00 a.m. However, the alarm only woke David, as Analeigh slept right through it. We told David he should just go back to sleep, but he was too excited, so he woke the other kids, resulting in us not being able to turn back. However, we have learned our lesson - we're just going to turn off everyone's alarm clocks before we go to bed next year.



Overall, it was a great Christmas. Corah got a classic Fisher Price Cash Register that Santa found on ebay (the ones they made back in the day are much more durable than the "retro" versions you can find in stores these days). Cailainn got a Lambie doll (from the Doc McStuffins show). Analeigh got a LEGO Friends set. David got the Forbidden Island board game. Everyone came away happy in the end.

We received a number of family board games, which allowed us to spend a lot of time playing together throughout the day. Here we are playing Pitchcar (which is a dexterity game where you build a track, then race each other by flicking your race car discs - making sure you stay on the track and don't bump others off, otherwise you have to go back to where you started).

You Can't Stop Me

Long ago we were given the idea to put our Christmas tree (and all presents) inside a Pack 'n Play, which would protect those items from the prying hands of small children. But we made the mistake of underestimating Corah's resolve - and the window ledge next to the tree.

Butterbeer

We recently finished reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, so the kids got to watch the movie this evening. Since butterbeer is mentioned in the book, we found the following recipe online so that we could enjoy the drink while watching the movie:

Ingredients:

• 1 quart butter brickle or vanilla ice cream
• 1/4 cup butterscotch syrup
• 32 oz of your favorite cream soda

Directions:

• Place 4 (16-ounce) glasses in freezer and chill for at least 20 minutes
• Mix ice cream, syrup, and cream soda in a blender until combined
• Divide between the frosted glasses
• Top each glass with whipped cream, if desired
• Serve with spoons and straws

The result was delicious!

Happy Thanksgiving

Ben's older brother, Steven, and his family joined us for Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time together and enjoyed great meals. But rather than focus on the traditional meal of turkey, this year we will share a picture of us while a breakfast of waffles is being made. Enjoy!

Polyjuice Potion

In an update to a previous entry, the kids continue to love "reading" the Harry Potter books by listening to Jim Dale's audio recordings. We recently finished the second book and therefore the kids got to watch the second movie.

Elizabeth read about a recipe for polyjuice potion, which was just lime sherbet and Sprite. However, our local grocery store did not have lime sherbet, so we used rainbow sherbet instead. The kids did not seem to notice or care - they just thought it was delicious.

Service Project

Our church has a service project to beautify the landscape around the building. Analeigh and David insisted on coming with their dad, which he agreed to allow, provided that they work the whole time (without whining about being tired or bored). Impressively, they both did an excellent job.

Cosmosphere

Today we visited the Cosmophere in Hutchinson, Kansas. We all enjoyed learning more about the space shuttle program and space exploration in general.