Ben’s Preschool Christmas Program

Last week, we attended Ben’s Christmas program. In the years Rosemary attended the shows were in the morning with just her class or one or two others, but this one was a whole school combined program. We arrived and dropped Ben off in his classroom then waited for the show to start. While we waited, we took a few pictures.

Rosemary took this one of us.

Miss Jan narrated the program

The kids marched in from the back. This was the best photo I got of Ben. He walked in with his hands in his pockets. So cute.

Our friend Evan

And Megan

Once the kids were on stage the parents filled the aisles to get photos. It was crazy.

Ben was over in this area and around the corner, so we couldn’t see him at all. But he did stay on stage the whole time and one of his teachers told me he sang the songs. We’ll take her word for it. :-)

Our handsome boy

We enjoyed some cupcakes and punch

Ben with Miss Debbie and Miss Judy. Ben loves his teachers. So do we.

Sounds of the Season 2011

Last weekend, Jonathan and I celebrated the 10th anniversary of when we started dating. His mom and dad came up to watch the kids on Sunday evening so that we could go out to celebrate. We started out with dinner at Northwest Grille then headed down to the university to see the Sounds of the Season Concert.

We arrived about an hour early and found this line. We easily made it in, but it was surprising to see just how many people were there.

I was part of Women’s Chorale while at UF so it was so enjoyable to go back. When I was a student, this concert was held in the University Auditorium, now it’s at the Phillip’s Center. It has a very different feel now and I missed the ambiance of the University Auditorium, but it was still a wonderful concert.

The last time we attended, Dr. Young was still the president and he referred to UF as the University of California…twice. Dr. Machen didn’t make the same mistake. And Jonathan saw several people that he knew from the university. Gainesville’s a small enough town that it’s hard to go to any kind of large event without seeing someone we know.

The concert was so enjoyable. Many of the songs were familiar from Christmas concerts that I had been a part of in high school and college. In fact, during Betelehemu (you can listen to a version of it here) I was so flooded with memories I had tears streaming down and I’m not really a crier. So many good memories and quite soul-stirring. I love that so many praises go up from what is typically such a secular setting.

When we got back, we got a quick picture. Not one of our best, but it was a great night out.

First Book Report

We are a part of a homeschool group that meets twice a month. Most meetings are parent-taught. The December meeting, however, was a chance for the students to share book reports. Rosemary chose to do her report on Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin.

This is the poster Rosemary made. And she really did it pretty much all on her own. I drew the lines to separate it into sections for her and held the yarn while Rosemary cut it for Mr. Whiskers’ beard.

The top left picture is of the Thanksgiving table with mismatched spoon, cranberry bread, and turkey. Then there’s a picture of a cranberry bush and cranberry bread. The last at the top is Mr. Horace. The book says Mr. Horace smells of lavender and Rosemary wanted to make her poster smell like lavender. We had some lavender scented oil that she dabbed on her poster. The bottom has Grandmother, Mr. Whiskers (with a tie under his beard), and Maggie. Rosemary wanted googly eyes for each one. She glued them on earlier in the week but we had to re-glue them at the library the day of.

Rosemary did a great job giving her report in front of everyone. Most of the kids are older and that didn’t seem to faze her a bit. I asked her questions about the book and she answered them. She wanted to make sure everyone laughed when she showed them Mr. Whiskers’ tie and they did! She didn’t like the microphone but tried to speak loudly so everyone could hear.

Rosemary and her friend, Lucy

After the reports, we headed to a nearby park for a Christmas picnic with the group. I feel like we’re now starting to get to know the other families better and Rosemary actually looks forward to co-op days!

MOPS Crafts

This year, in addition to just being a part of MOPS, I am on steering team serving as a discussion group leader and on the craft team. One of the crafts we did this year was a glass pendant necklace. Caryn, one of the other members of the craft team, had made them with another MOPS group she was a part of and suggested them for our group too. It was a fantastic idea. This past week my MOPS group got to make their pendants. It was rainy so things didn’t dry as quickly as we had hoped so I took them home to just glue on the bails; which also gave me a chance to snap a few pictures. The ladies were so creative! I love how they all turned out.

Also, for birthdays I’m making fabric corsages for each of the moms…all 78 of them. Thankfully, birthdays are spread throughout the year! I’m pretty sure I’ve never made that many of one thing ever before. I tend to get bored making the same thing over and over, but so far I’ve managed to stay on top of this and have about 50 done. I’m trying to make sure to have lots extra so no one has to take the last one. And since I’m just using up scraps, it’s been fun making them and remembering where each bit of fabric came from and items I made with it.

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.