The *Official* Christmas Shot :)

I wanted to "recreate" a picture from the first year that there were 5:

My subjects were quite cooperative!  The best one:

Photo Shoot Time!

Better late than never, right?!  :)  It was a long December with germs, but we managed to haul out the lights and get some good photos last week!

We had some nice individual shots and different sibling groupings, and Lincoln had some pretty funny expressions on occasion too... :)

Kingdom Builder

Bentley likes to play strategic board games. For Christmas and for his birthday he always has a new one on his wish list. This Christmas we gave him Kingdom Builder. Each player has 40 settlements (little houses) that they strategically place on the game board, trying to maximize the points they will earn at the end of the game. Players earn points for placing a settlement near a castle and then they have three other goals which change from game to game. A goal could be placing your settlements next to water or a mountain or connecting your settlements to each other or spreading across the board vertically or horizontally or settling in all four quadrants of the board evenly or having the most settlements in a quadrant.

To win the game you must keep in mind all four goals. You must place your settlements where they will earn points towards more than one goal. I have learned that playing a strategy game against a child who has spent hours playing chess (training his mind) is humbling. When it's his turn he always has a well thought out plan in mind. When it's my turn, I dither, I vacillate, I hesitate. Bentley gets frustrated with my indecisiveness. I get frustrated with my indecisiveness! I just want to win occasionally against the 11 year old. That should be doable, right? Fortunately there is an element of luck to the game, so even if his strategy is superior to mine, I still have a chance, if I get better terrain cards!

Our Newest Readers!

This fall Lincoln and Evan have been learning to read using the Headsprout program that the older kids all used.  They worked hard every day, and we had a party when they completed it.  Now the fun work begins - reading, reading, reading, and more reading (and some phonogram memorization!)  They're off to a great start.  :)

Everyday Life: December

Viva made a Christmas tree cake at Grandma Karen's.

Lots of Magformer creations! 

Three days later there is a new set of Magformer creations.

V, J, & B playing Minecraft on their iPads.

L & E each doing their own floor puzzle.

Lincoln loves to doodle/draw.

Christmas Amaryllis

Viva making cake pops. She likes to work independently.

Not sure what was going on…dance party? 

Trumpet Boy

Every year Matt has a company mandated week off at the end of December.

Here he is putting it to good use helping Evan make snicker doodles.

December brings lots of packages to our door. 

Lots of packages mean lots of packing materials.

Lincoln is deflating the air bags so we can throw them away.

Advent Calendars are still a big hit at our home. 

Last year Kara tried just buying them for L & E, but the older kids protested.