Christmas Tree Decorating 2011

I have a confession. I like to decorate for Christmas early. I think it’s in my blood. When we were down at my parent’s house in October, their house was already decorated and we helped finish up the big tree. So waiting until after Thanksgiving this year was rough. But really, there just wasn’t a good time to do it before then. I did a little bit of Black Friday shopping then came home and we got the tree and the rest of the decorations up.

Getting the star up.

Hanging up the bride and groom ornament

The Yacht Club ornament

I think this might have been our new Jax Zoo ornament.

Her first Minnie Mouse ears ornament

Charlotte eagerly watched and occasionally tried to join in

Ben was a great helper

Getting everything organized and ready.

I haven’t taken a final photo or new ornament photos yet. But we had a good time getting the tree up and putting up a few other things in the house. Now Ben asks multiple times a day, “It Christmas time?” Followed by, “It Christmas night?” :-)

Thanksgiving 2011–Charlotte’s First Thanksgiving

What a full month November has been! Amidst all the hustle and bustle, it was so nice to spend a day with family. This year was the Peine Thanksgiving year so we headed down to Clermont for the day.

Charlotte was up and ready for her first Thanksgiving.

Tim and MIchelle hosted and Janice cooked the turkey. The sides were divided up among us so we just had to bring green bean casserole, Publix pumpkin pie, hot spiced cider, and cranberry bread.

We read Cranberry Thanksgiving this week as a part of school and at the end of the book there was the recipe for cranberry bread so Rosemary, Benjamin, and I made a couple of loaves. Despite how tart the cranberries themselves were, the bread turned out very good.

Rosemary loves to play dress up with her cousins.

It was gorgeous in Clermont that day so the kids…and dads too…enjoyed some time outside before it was time to eat.

Olivia set the table.

Lots of crock pots going

Both Rosemary and Ben enjoyed horse-y rides from Matthew.

Matthew snapped a few shots of everyone

I think my kids ate all of the olives and I’m pretty sure Ben at all but a few of the tomatoes.

Hanging out before the meal starts

These rolls are SO good. I look forward to them every Peine Thanksgiving. Those and the peanut butter pie are my favorite parts of the meal.

Ben looked through the snake book…after Matthew brought a snake INTO the house! It was little, but it was still a snake so I’m pretty sure my blood pressure rose a bit.

Charlotte’s first Thanksgiving meal consisted of potato rolls and some green bean casserole.

In true Peine form, when a discussion came up regarding whether midnight was 12:00am and noon was 12:00pm, Tim and Matthew pulled out reference books from the bookshelves behind them. And we learned that Jonathan was right, midnight and noon are neither am nor pm. (Check out this article on the Confusion at noon and midnight if you like).

After lunch, Tim, Jonathan, Zach, Matthew, and Olivia headed out in the canoe. While they were out the other kids played outside so Michelle and I played some Scrabble. Once everyone was back we played some Bananagrams.

Little Charlotte was so proud of herself for climbing into the lego basket.

At the end of the evening, the kids enjoyed watching Nim’s Island.

To wrap up the day, Joshua and Rosemary had some dinner. For Rosemary that consisted of only mashed potatoes and gravy.

We drove home that night and got the kids tucked in bed. What a full, wonderful day!

Two Little Indians (well, one isn’t quite so little)

Last week, Ben celebrated his Thanksgiving Feast with his friends at his preschool. Richard and Janice were in town to help me get Ben to speech and watch Charlotte while Rosemary and I were at our homeschool co-op. I missed the feast, but from what Ben said, it sounded like it was fun. And he sure made a cute little Indian!

He was so proud of his vest, headband, and necklace.

Sweet boy.

And while Ben was dressed up as an Indian, I was too…just one from a different continent.

It was my turn to do the co-op lesson and I taught on India. I have really amazing friends and they let me borrow some clothes, tools, and other items from India that they had to use as a part of the lesson. I even made the kids eat curried chicken and rice with their hands. I think the biggest hit was the Darjeeling tea and sugar cubes. The kids literally ate the sugar cubes directly off the plate. I tried one and it was so gross! But it was so fun to put the lesson together and teach the class and I think the kids enjoyed it too.

Italian Dinner Night Through Rosemary’s Eyes

A few weeks ago we read Papa Piccolo as our Five in a Row book for the week. It was one that I wish we could have gotten into more since it’s set in Venice, but it was just a busy week (which is pretty much the norm for us these days). We did manage to have an Italian dinner night with bruschetta, homemade pizza, and tiramisu as part of our week though.

We had Pizza Margherita (which we’d learned about in co-op too) and a white pizza. I didn’t make the dough from scratch. That came from Publix.

While I was getting the food ready, Rosemary enjoyed taking some photos around the house. I thought it was really interesting to see our home through her eyes.

This is Sheep. Rosemary LOVES Sheep.

Our school clock.

I need to put a picture of Charlotte up there…

Rosemary’s handprint from when she was about a year and a half old. I love this. I should probably have Ben’s and Charlotte’s done too through Jilly-beans.com.

At dinner, I got the camera back for a bit.

Rosemary wanted to be the “Rock Star Queen” while she ate her pizza. I think she ate two pieces that night, which is unheard of for her.

Ben enjoying his pizza.

No pizza just yet for Charlotte.

Enjoying some tiramisu.

Ben enjoyed his too.

After dinner, Ben propped himself up on the couch with one of the catalogs that has flooded our mailbox in recent weeks.

He looks like such a big boy!