December Happenings

Happy December everyone! 

If you've come here because you just knew it was Martin Van Buren's birthday and you were totally excited to read about him (You know you didn't), I'm sorry to disappoint you. We will get to that sometime next week, as nobody was quite feeling up to it today. I do have some sad news to report. You might remember back in July we had to say goodbye to our dog, Gracie. Yesterday, we had another heartbreak as we had to say goodbye, very suddenly, to her sister, Sophie. I mean, just a couple of days ago she was happily watching the family snow ball fight. And she was days away from her 12th birthday. 

I don't do so well with sympathy, so I didn't facebook post about it. Plus, I think right now my heart can't take her picture showing up again and again on my newsfeed, as all my (very thoughtful) friends give us some love to help us cope with our loss. But, really, I'd just like to remember the very awesome nearly 12 years we had with her and Grace, frame a lovely picture of them on the wall, and I just would rather not talk about it, that's all. Doesn't mean I love them any less. 

And while it is very sad around here, it is Christmas time, and whether I feel like it or not, we're going to try and continue on with our usual Christmas traditions, and some other fun projects we have in the works. 

I posted our Christmas punch board above, so we've been doing that the last few days. We have a new activity each day. 

Tuesday we had our annual indoor snowball fight. 

Tuesday we made our reindeer wall hanging. Thanks Target Dollar Spot for the quick but fun craft. 

(Peyton and Hayden thought it'd be fun to make it look like they hunted the reindeer with nerf guns). 

Wednesday we did pinecone Christmas trees. 

Dipper REALLY liked the fact the boys used pipe cleaners. They are his FAVORITE. 

Left to Right: Peyton's, Hayden's, Calib's.. 

Asa judged them (without knowing whose was whose).

And Hayden won, the prize was a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. 

Yesterday we had our candy ball. I wrapped all kinds of candy in a giant tape ball, and the boys each had a 10 second turn to unwrap it. They got to keep everything they unwrapped, and then we kept passing it around from kid to kid until it was gone. 

School work is pretty hit and miss around here between Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially when you throw in a trip up north- and so we've got our usual daily staples- reading, Khan Academy, ect... But, there's another project that just happened to show up. 

The Fenderson's are back! And this time, it's the little sister trying to steal Christmas. 

The boys were shocked to find a letter from the home office. 

But, they were all back on board to be Super-Secret Secret Spies. 

Over the next few weeks the boys will be learning about Christmas in various countries... 

...and making files on those countries, in an effort to save Christmas all around the world. 

They have a board ready to go to track their clues. 

Speaking of the board, we do have December's birthdays up. Sometime next week we will get to Van Buren. Nobody was up for it today, and I can't say I blame them. Our next one isn't until the 28th, so we have some time. 

And, it is exciting that it's our last three! 

Plus, I really like the books I made for them. 

 Oh, and our Elf on the Shelf is back. Except my kids are a little too old for the elf. So this year we're doing something a little different. Each night a different family member puts the elf somewhere new. On Christmas, we'll post all our pictures- and people can vote for their favorites. The winner gets a Target gift card....

...Gift cards that I got for buying all of this. We spent $21 out of pocket on Tuesday at Target's big personal care sale, but we got $15 back in gift cards. So, basically, I got everything here for $6! 

That's it from here. It's been a tough week, and I'm just kind of hoping the boys will perk up for all our usual Christmas activities, I hate that this happened so close to Christmas. Ugh. 

Next Up: We have a Home Bucs game tomorrow, and we still need to get our tree and have a Disney Christmas Day, but it's all pretty optional at this point. We'll see how it goes.