A Surprise

Claire admires herself in the mirror

A beautiful dress from Aunt Betty and Uncle Brad

The surprise location...we secretly decorated an area downstairs.

A Winter Wonderland theme with icicles hanging from the canopy.

Claire was very pleased and surprised!

Cookies, sandwiches, snack mix, and hot cocoa were on the menu.

Of course, Claire's BFF Lauren was also a guest of honor! We told the girls we were doing something together but didn't tell them what it was. We got them in the truck then told them we needed to go back inside for a minute, and that's when they walked into their party. Afterwards we visited Santa and looked at Christmas lights.

Pinkies up, darling!

Me and my sweet Claire-Bear.

Perseverance

A portion of Claire's book for school last week was about sewing, so we tried a little project. She made a tiny heart pillow. She made a pattern, cut it out, cut out the material, pinned it and started sewing. She was persistent and persevered even through a few needle pricks.

Big Kid

Kate insists that she is a big kid too! The kids wanted to eat lunch watching a movie, and Kate was tickled to be a part of the action.

Jack-O-Lantern

Claire has lost the teeth equivalent to a jack-o-lantern. Pretty cute!

The Non-Poser

With Sam it's either hiding from me or

Being a goofball. So there you go, a lovely 9 year old.

Renaissance Claire

Peeking from her castle window, Renaissance Claire takes a moment to pose for us.

She studied the Italian Renaissance this week, and also had time to build this castle.

We learned about stained glass, and made stained glass cookies (which did not taste good.) Also, here's a tip: When teaching Italian Renaissance art, it is a good idea to preview the art book you hand to your child to explore. Renaissance artists were very into nudity we soon discovered. Lots of it too. What an eduacation Claire got this week!

Still Winning

Sam's football team had a float in the Christmas parade last night, and they won 1st place!

It was a football field with a goal post and had their trophy on display.

It was really cute...and they won $200! Larry did a lot of it because it was his trailer being stored in his shop. That is also him pulling it in his truck. I guess these guys are just winners in whatever they do ;-)