Ice skating and a belt testing…

"I tried ice-skating and wasn't very good at it."
-Anton Yelchin

We had the opportunity to go ice skating this weekend and the kids were eager to go.  Ashlyn and James got their legs under them fairly quickly.  Isla needed the buckets but had a great time flying across the ice with someone pushing her.

James tested for his senior orange belt this weekend.  We weren’t sure he was going to be ready, but he put in a lot of practice in the days leading up to the testing.  The practice paid off and he passed each of the tests without being asked to repeat anything.  Congrats, James, two months to go until your green belt!

James was challenged with memorizing all this Kindergarten sight words, and if he did he would get an ice cream treat.  The thought of ice cream must have been a good motivator, he memorized them quickly and got his ice cream even though it’s cold outside.  His sisters got to share in the spoils too.

Zoos, kick-a-thons, and advent calendars…

"Zoo: An excellent place to study the habits of human beings."
-Evan Esar

James’ karate studio hosted a kick-a-thon to raise money for a local charity.  James kicked a target 81 times in a minute, which resulted in a $80 donation to Santa Cops.  James was happy he was able to participate and felt pretty good about the number of kicks he was able to do.

Nina and Papa gave the kids some advent calendars at Thanksgiving Dinner and they have been waiting ever since for December 1st to roll around so they could open them.  Now each morning has become a race to see who can find the elf first, followed by a dash to open up their advent calendars.  Needless to say, I think Mommy is looking forward to a less crazy morning routine after Christmas.

Ashlyn had a birthday party for a friend at the Fort Worth Zoo, which is always fun.  We’ve been plenty of times before, but unlike the last time we went they let the kids feed the giraffes.  The giraffes must have been hungry, because they came right up to Ashlyn and ate out of her hand.  That was the highlight of the visit for Ashlyn, she’s always loved giraffes.

A bike ride and a Christmas tree…

"No brown potatoes for me!!"
-A screaming Isla

When Thanksgiving ends, the Christmas decorating begins.  The kids decorated the tree almost completely by themselves, and it was Ashlyn’s turn to top the tree.  And, as a bonus, all the ornaments survived.  Now we just have to keep Sadie from eating them.

James decided it was time to take off the training wheels this week.  Before we knew it, he was riding around our cul-de-sac like a pro.  He only fell a few times and got back up quickly after each fall.  Great job James!

We have a great neighborhood and one night this week our cul-de-sac had a marshmallow roast where the kids could make s’mores.  Ashlyn and James had fun making theirs, and Isla had fun catching her marshmallows on fire.

Ashlyn and James each adopted an Angel from the Angel Tree this year.  They chose a boy and a girl their ages with similar interests and helped pick out gifts to give them a good Christmas.  Both Ashlyn and James did their best to pick out gifts they thought the kids would like and they seemed glad they were able to do something good.

Donations, jell-o, and games…

"Whoever said nothing is impossible obviously hasn't tried nailing Jell-O to a tree."
― John Candy

PePa came over for a belated birthday breakfast and the kids made some cards for him.  They also made sharks out of paper which they like to use to scare adults.

Over dinner we talked to the kids about Christmas and how not all kids are as fortunate as they are.  The next day they brought down a bin full of toys and stuffed animals to donate.  Good for you, kiddos.

Thanksgiving at Nina and Papa’s was early this year and it was our turn to make the jell-o surprise.  We selected something called “broken glass jell-o” which involved making five kinds of jell-o over a two day period and mixing them all together.  The kids thought it was fun, and it turned out looking pretty neat at the end.

The kids had early release one day this week and they thought it would be fun to go play laser tag.  The place was empty, but the worker said the kids were too short to play.  They were disappointed, but the worker gave them passes to play games for free which more than made up for it.

A tooth, a skill, and a birthday…

"Why is there a rope in the fridge?"
-Mommy

PePa came over last weekend and I didn’t use the pictures then, but I wanted to use them now since this week was his birthday.  And what better way to kick off a birthday week than playing dolls with Isla.  Happy birthday PePa!

James has had a loose tooth for almost a week now and it finally decided to come out.  James and the kids were excited since it was his first tooth.  Even the hamster wanted to get in on the celebration.  James forgot about the Tooth Fairy the next day and it wasn’t until after lunch before he remembered to check under his pillow.  I suspect he’ll remember quicker next time.

Ashlyn has been working on her windmill skill for a while now.  She was practicing on her new bar this weekend and managed to do it.  Then she did it again, and then again.  She finally figured out the trick of using her legs for momentum, and she was excited about it.  We’re excited for her, that was a lot of work to learn that skill!

The kids were getting stir crazy at the end of the week with the cold weather so we took the opportunity to get them out of the house and over to Chuck E. Cheese.  Say what you want about Chuck E. Cheese, the pizza is awful and the prizes are cheap, but the kids have a lot of fun running around and playing games for an hour.