Our December #4-Church Christmas program

This year I had three kiddos in the Church Christmas program. Cheyenne had a speaking part and Sierra and Landon were in the choir. They started practicing in November and it paid off. This was one of the best kids' Christmas programs I have ever seen!

The night of the program, they were pretty excited, as you can tell.

Cheyenne got to wear a headset mic and thought she was pretty cool.
The play was about a group of kids who were going to throw birthday party for Jesus and wanted to invite their whole town. They went to see a TV news reporter who thought it was silly. In the end, he comes to report on their party and ends up accepting Jesus. It was so sweet!

Cheyenne played the part of the little girl who kept track of how many "RSVP's" they got for their party.

Landon and Sierra did a great job in the choir! We practiced those songs until I could hear them in my sleep, but it was worth it because they knew every word.
To be honest, I didn't think Landon would last through the whole program. I expected him to come down off the stage or to get upset after a few songs. I completely underestimated him. He did such a great job! I was very proud of him!

Sierra is a lot like her mom in that she does not like the spotlight. She was so nervous. A few minutes into the program, I noticed she was holding this little girl's hand. She kept holding on almost the whole time. The little girl let go for a minute and Sierra grabbed the bottom of the little girl's dress. Toward the end of the program, I saw her whisper to herself, "I'm okay." I'm so proud that she stuck it out, though.

Cheyenne got to sing her first "solo" too. She sounded great!

Cheyenne also had the part of Mary near the end of the program. She took the part very seriously.

During this part of the program one of the little girls Sierra's age sang "Happy Birthday, Jesus." She did a beautiful job! I had already heard her sing it in practice but hearing it during the program was so powerful! It brought tears to my eyes! I know her mom was so proud of her!

The last song was the kids' favorite because it had actions. Can you tell Landon's enjoying it?
All the kids did such a great job. After the program, they had ice cream sundaes. The perfect way to celebrate their hard work.

I can't wait to see their program next year!

A girl, a guitar, and another lost tooth (or two)

Within the last 6 months or so, our kids have started receiving allowance. It's been interesting to see their different personalities when it comes to money. The older two are asked to tithe on what they receive because they get more. We don't check to make sure they do it because it's ultimately between them and God, but so far they have been pretty responsible for getting their 10% to church and have done so willingly.

The rest of their money is theirs to pretty much spend how they want. So, when they see something on TV or in the store they think they must have, I just say, "If that's what you want to spend your money on..."It's amazing that suddenly those things don't seem quite so cool anymore when it's their money being spent.

Dakota is the biggest saver. She hardly spends any of her money at all. She has a goal of buying herself a new laptop and she's pretty focused on it. But, she is also very generous with her money. Dakota gave money to Cheyenne and Sierra for their birthdays. She also bought her own ticket to see the David Crowder band in concert with the youth group.

Sierra is a window shopper. She gets this from me. Sierra loves to look at things in the store and ooh and aah over them, but doesn't actually buy anything. She'll be looking at something at the store and I'll say, "well, you have money if you want to buy it" She'll say, "I know," and put it back on the shelf.

Landon is like Dakota in that he is generous with his money. He's always trying to give it to someone. Last week, he went to bed and forgot to put his tooth under his pillow, so I did it for him. The next morning, he brought his tooth fairy money to me and said I should keep it since I'm the one that put the tooth under his pillow. He will spend it on something he wants, though.

Cheyenne is a spender. She can hardly stand to have money and not spend it on something. She's always asking if we can take her money and go to Wal-Mart. My answer is always, "When you know what you want, we'll take your money and go get it." Mostly, this is because I HATE walking up and down the toys aisles for hours waiting for them to pick something and because I can't stand to see them buy something they don't really want just because they want to spend their money. But also, I want her to learn to save.

Cheyenne got a pretty good lesson in the value of saving your money this week. She decided a couple of weeks ago that she wanted a guitar. She and Daniel have been researching them on the computer and looking for used ones on Craig's List. They had found one she liked that was in Tulsa, so Daniel sent an e-mail to the seller hoping we could check it out while we were there on Thursday. So, after we left Chuck E Cheese, we went guitar shopping.

The seller from Craig's list never called us back that day, but it worked out because she found a pretty good deal on a brand new one at the music store. It came with everything she needs to get started-guitar, strap, amp, bag, stand, and a DVD with some basic instruction. She was pretty excited!

When we stopped at McDonald's for dinner, she said she couldn't wait to get home to play her guitar. I told her that she didn't get a guitar and she had just dreamed it. She said, "No, I didn't, because I've already pinched myself to make sure." It was so cute!

As soon as we got home, she had it out of the box and ready to go. She played it for a little while, then Daniel showed her a thing or two.
She let everyone have a turn, but Landon and Sierra could only play it if they were sitting down on the couch. It's her baby!
After we finished Sierra's birthday cake, everyone else went off to do their own thing while she played her guitar some more. I was sitting at the computer and noticed that it got very quiet in the living room. I looked over and Cheyenne was sitting on the couch with the guitar on its stand and she was just staring at it. I could tell by the look on her face that she was dreaming of being in a band someday. Our church is just starting up a 5th and 6th grade band, so maybe after a little practice, her dream will come true!

Now for an update on Mr. Gappy...
Just a few days after he lost his top front tooth, he was eating a piece of cheese for lunch when he jumped up and started yelling, "Somebody get some salt water ready! Somebody get some salt water ready!" Apparently, his tooth on the bottom next to his front tooth was looser than I realized. That made two teeth in a week. I was pretty impressed!

On the way home from Tulsa on Thursday, he had a package of sweet tarts. He said, "Look, I'm a video game and this is my token," then he pushed the sweet tart through the gap in his teeth. He cracks me up!

Then yesterday, I was sitting at the computer (shocking, I know) and the kids were "cleaning" their rooms. He came running out of his room carrying a toy truck and telling me to "get the salt water ready" (it's what we use to rinse their mouths with they lose a tooth.) and handed me his other front tooth. He said it just "jumped out and landed in his truck."

If you're counting, that's three teeth in 11 days! Too many more and he'll have to drink his meals through a straw!

He has one more loose tooth that I know of, the bottom one on the other side of his front teeth. I wonder, how long before that one "jumps out" too?

My baby girl is 8! How'd that happen?

It's hard to believe it was 8 years ago that this sweet little baby came into the world.

She was a happy, content baby from day one.
Nearly everyone who meets her ends up calling her "smiley", especially Pops. Can you imagine why?

First thing this morning when Sierra woke up, Cheyenne made sure the birthday princess had her tiara on.

We had a special birthday breakfast of chocolate chip muffins and sausage. This girl loves chocolate (as you'll see in a little while)!
We stopped doing birthday parties with friends a couple of years ago. Instead, we all go out and do something fun together as a family. Sierra's choice this year, again, was Chuck E Cheese. The kids love it there!
Here's a little secret if you're going to take your kids to Chuck E Cheese. When they open, there are tickets and tokens spread throughout the game area that the kids can pick up, so it pays to be there early. We got there around 11 and were the first ones there. The kids had over 300 tickets and at least 10 tokens before we even started.

I really think we need to get one of these at home. It's a giant hamster wheel! Dakota set the high score on this today!

The best part of Chuck E Cheese is the games, of course.

After we left Chuck E Cheese, we went guitar shopping. Cheyenne has been wanting a guitar for a while and finally saved enough money to get one. More on that in another post.
Then, it was time to head home. On the way, we stopped at McDonald's for dinner. They had these fun Ronald McDonald smiles and I couldn't resist getting the kids' pictures with them.

And this is my most favorite picture I took all day. It makes me laugh every time I look at it. In fact, I printed it off and have it on the fridge!
When we got home, it was birthday cake time! Sierra's requested cake was a quadruple chocolate ice cream cake. It was a two-layer chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream between the layers. We covered it with cool-whip mixed with Nesquik and then added chocolate chips to the top. I told you the girl likes chocolate!

I love shopping for gifts for Sierra because she truly loves everything she gets. She was so excited about this hair stuff! She always makes you feel like you got her just what she wanted.

All of the kids are going to be getting these Tae Kwon Do hoodies for their birthdays (Cheyenne was the first to get hers last month). Grandma P puts their TKD nicknames on the back. I love them!

As a surprise, Dakota slipped some cash in the pocket for her. It was so sweet and Sierra was really excited to find it.
Today was a really fun day!
Happy birthday Sierra!

Our December part 2-homeschool skating party

This summer, we were invited to join a homeschool group in our town. I was so excited because all of last year, while I had a lot of online homeschooling friends, I didn't have any in-real-life friends who homeschooled. The group has been such a blessing!

We get together with the about once a month, sometimes more, to let the kids play or to go on a field trip. It's a lot of fun for the kids and also for me. It's nice to get to talk to other moms once in a while.

My kids' favorite thing we've done with the group, so far has been roller skating. We've gone a few times over the last few months and the kids really enjoy it. I've been really surprised at how quickly they've learned (and that no one has broken anything yet).

In December, our group decided to do our Christmas party at the skating rink. The kids got to skate, play games, and eat cupcakes. Then, we played dirty santa for our ornament exchange. The kids were so cute! Some of them had pretty good strategy for ending up with the ornament they wanted. A couple of sisters worked it out so that they each had the ornament the other wanted and then they traded after the game was over.

Landon loves to visit the snack bar. Since our group has the place all to ourselves, the snack guy always makes us fresh popcorn. Yum!

Sierra's little friend loaned her some knee and elbow pads. They just made her even cuter!
It's dark out on the skating rink, so this is as close as I could get to a picture of them actually skating.

I love our group's shirts. The group name is "Tranformers for Christ." The verse is Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

We had a great time at the party! Can't wait to do it again soon!

Our balloon solar system

This year we are all doing Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy together (Dakota is also doing Exploring Creation with Physical Science on her own). I'd been wanting to get this book since last year and finally was able to get it (thanks to birthday money and a sale at Mardel) at the beginning of January. We're only on lesson 2 so far, but we're all really enjoying it.

Today, we backed up to the end of lesson 1 and did the balloon solar system model. We had so much fun with it! The book suggested that you use markers and construction paper to decorate the planets, but I decided to keep it simple. I mainly wanted them to learn the order and to get an idea of just how big the planets were in relation to one another.

Our first step was to blow up the balloons. This was Landon and Sierra's favorite part.

The book gave instructions on how big to make each balloon so that the sizes would be relative. Pluto was only 1/2 inch diameter while Jupiter and Saturn were over 25 inches.

We attached ribbons to the tops of the balloons and hung them from the ceiling in order. Dakota is the tallest of the four, so she got the job of hanging them.
Here they are showing off their creation. Landon wanted to "hold up the sun." Dakota put her hand around the "Earth" and said, "Look, I've got the whole world in my hand." The one Cheyenne is holding (and Sierra is helping with) is Jupiter.
While we were working, this song popped into my head and it's been stuck there ever since. Anyone else remember it?