King Tut

For the last day of the year, I finally got to go to the Pacific Science Center and see at least some of the King Tut exhibit.  The girls have heard so much about him from the billboards, ads, and everyone talking about it that I had really hoped to see the exhibit in person.  Unfortunately, the cost was a big factor in not going.

Luckily, a friend (Jennifer) told me that by going to the Pacific Science Center we could see most what we wanted to see from King Tut without paying for the whole exhibit.  So we watched a lot of Netflix documentaries about Egypt and King Tut, we read a few books from the library, and we headed out.

Before seeing the free part of the exhibit we did our usual tour of the Science Center, which we never get tired of. 

Here Tabatha, Madison, Natalee and Olivia are eating at the “Big” table.

We saw the butterflies (and had a few land on us), we watched a fun Science presentation, used a Harmonigraph to make a new Poster for Alicia’s room,

and ran away from the larger than life dinosaurs.

But the new, much anticipated Tut exhibit is what they really wanted to see.  Outside of the museum gift shop, we saw an amazing replica of King Tut’s tomb.  We saw pictures and read descriptions of the excavation on the walls, and truly got a sense of what it would have been like in Egypt when they found the hidden tomb.  After reading “Lady Almina and The Real Downton Abbey” which speaks of the trials leading up to the King Tut discovery, I was just so glad to share at least some of the history with my daughters.

But what is going to a museum for kids if you don’t get a few silly pictures to remember the experience.  So here are the kids as they show themselves as miniature “King Tuts".”

Here are “King Madison & King Tabatha” (and in Egyptian a female leader was called a King).

 

King Alicia and King Natalee

King Natalee and King Olivia

As we perused the gift shop, we saw replicas of all the items we missed in the actual exhibit, got a gift book with pictures of everything we may have missed, and purchased individualized hieroglyphics with translations of the girls names on them.  It was almost like we saw the whole exhibit, and if you went and saw the whole exhibit, I am still jealous, but we did the next best thing.

Finger Puppets & Headbands

When Christmas is over, the wrapping is put away, and the day is open to do anything you want to do, what would you do?  Well for my daughters, it would be craft, craft, craft.  Luckily a few craft inspired presents kept these girls busy for most of the days after Christmas.  

The first were finger puppets that I had hoped to do as a craft day with friends.  Since I never got that put together, I decided to give it to the girls for Christmas instead, and they were a big hit.  Here they are making their new favorite creations, the finger puppets.

These were a big hit, and I am finding them all over the house as they play with them constantly.

The other large craft project involved headbands.  With the hot glue gun ready, we made 10 headbands for each girl, 30 unique and sparkly headbands made with a lot of thought and consideration.  It took hours, but they never wavered in their creative suggestions and their willingness to try new ways of decorating.  We have leftover supplies, we may be making more headbands soon.

Our neighbor gave us chocolate dipped pretzels for a Christmas gift.  The plastic jar was perfect for making a headband holder for all of these hair decorations (and the inside is perfect for all the new hairbands we have as well).  So if you need headband decorating ideas, let us know.  We have some experience making headband bling.

Christmas at our House

On Christmas Eve we had a nice evening with my parents, brother and his wife and children.  They came over to our house and we had a simple pizza dinner and opened a few gifts.  It was nice to have them there as we gave them our gifts, since a lot of times we miss each other on Christmas Day.  We even had Isaac over, which I think is the first time he has been over in a few years.  My parents gave the girls a lot of books (which they LOVE to read) fairy dress up for Olivia, and a scripture case for Tabatha and stationary to write on. Ken and I even received a gift of a date night for next year (which we will be doing soon) and a family gift of a Discovery Pass (so we can use all the WA state parks without a fine).  The girls opened only one gift from us, and that is the traditional homemade pajamas I made.  They didn’t take them off until the day after Christmas.

Matt & Ilea and family got our gifts, and so did my parents.  Along with dinner, we hope they enjoyed coming over.

We ended the night reading the Nativity out of Luke 2 and even the story of the wise men in Matthew 2.  The girls asked a lot more questions than they have in the past, and I think it is because of our ward’s Journey to Bethlehem night that they are so interested.  Thank you all who put that on.

We set out the homemade cookies for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer and we all went to sleep for the big day.

The next morning, the stocking were magically filled and Santa presents were on the couch.  Here the girls are opening them up.

 

The girls got what they wishes for.  Olivia got a Leapster 2, Alicia got an ipod with Hello Kitty headphones, and Tabatha has a new camera. 

The girls continued to open and wore hair accessories from the DeCremers, opened homemade gifts from mom and dad (it was a homemade Christmas around here) and opened gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Hale who were unable to come over since they were in Eastern Washington with Ken’s sister. 

We spent the day at home (the first in our 12 years of marriage) except for one quick trip to my parents by me to drop off a forgotten gift.  The girls spent the day putting together headbands from a kit, listening to Selena Gomez on their new CD, Alicia couldn’t stop listening to her Ipod and looks like a teenager doing it.  They wanted to make snow from their blizzard making kit, eat Christmas cookies, and play with all their new things.  I even had some down time to call everyone in my family to wish them a Merry Christmas, even my own Grandma and Grandpa High who I don’t connect with enough.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures Tabatha took from her new camera of the day. Tabatha’s new infinity scarf and Peace sign necklace & Shirt & earrings (the shirt is over her pajamas so she wouldn’t have to take them off).

Peace signs are a big hit with Tabatha.  She insisted on putting up her new Peace Sign in her bedroom, she even took this picture of it hanging right by her bed.

Alicia listening to her songs.

Olivia on her Leapster.

Me talking to Grandma High in Idaho.

We had Ken’s brother’s family over for dinner – the traditional ham, potato, rolls, devilled eggs, and orange jello salad.  We had gluten free apple or pumpkin pie, or traditional sweet potato or french apple pie for dessert (topped with ice cream or whipped cream). 

The kids couldn’t stop running around playing.  We could barely get them to sit and eat.  Tabatha got a few pics of them too.

I couldn’t have asked for a nicer family Christmas.  If you weren’t here, I missed you but I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Christmas Wishes

From our home to yours, Merry Christmas. 

PS If you haven’t received your card yet, write a comment and I will make sure it gets to you. 

Discovery Sing-Along

Olivia’s school (which only has Preschool, Kindergarten and 1st graders) does a Holiday sing-along every year.  This is the first time she has been a participant not on our lap.  She proudly wore her elf hat we bought this morning at the dollar store (it was a mad dash to the store before school started) as she sang the 5 Little Gingerbread.

Here she is with dad before the singing started.

The video began a little late, it should have been 5 little gingerbread, but I started at 4.  I think Olivia is adorable, and she will sing it for you anytime you ask.  She loved being the center of attention.

Third Grade Gingerbread Houses

When Tabatha was in Third grade they made gingerbread houses at her school.  This year Alicia is lucky enough to have the same teacher that Tabatha did (we love Ms. Haines – if you ever see her let her know), and this year they made gingerbread houses again.  I had time to help hot glue the base together – two used milk cartons per house - last Friday (it took a few hours to do them all) but since I was with Olivia for her sing-a-long I missed the assembly of the houses. 

Alicia was very proud of her creation and took numerous pictures from different angles when she got home.  She knew it wouldn’t last long!

They had a lot of leftovers for their snow underneath, so she piled on the extra candy.

Olivia came home with a special gift from her teacher too.  Her Kindergarten teacher chose Orca whales for their class mascot, so Olivia received her own killer whale as a Christmas gift.  His name is Jumpy and he has been flying all over the house today.  Olivia calls him her best friend (that’s an orca of course).

Flamingos in December

When we woke up this morning, we found some new friends in our front lawn.  From left to right we have named them Ella, Olivia (the flamingo, of course), Santa Bomb, and Florence.  The kids love having a reminder of the flamingos from the San Diego Zoo, and it is a cute addition to our front lawn.

We did have a discussion on if they are real or not.  It went something like this:

Alicia: “I think they are fake”

Tabatha: “No they are not they are real”

Me: “Well I think they have metal legs”

Tabatha: “They are artificial legs, but they are still real” (says this with a laugh")

Me: “Well then why do they stay still, why don’t they fly away”

Tabatha: “Well they must be sick, we should take them to the hospital”

We didn’t take them to the hospital, they are still pink and cheerful in the middle of our half dead lawn (it was a hard summer for the grass). 

***As an update, we didn’t know who had given us the flamingos until two days before Christmas.  My father-in-law remembers Ken saying he had always wanted flamingos in his lawn when he grew up.  When he saw them at the RV store, he thought of Ken and bought them.  Ken doesn’t remember saying this as a kid, but we appreciate the flamingos and will be keeping them as long as they hold up.  So thank you dad.

Journey to Bethlehem

This year, our ward tried something new for our Christmas party.  We were asked to come in costume in order to get the feel of being in Bethlehem.  Booths were set up, and vendors were giving out food, crafts, and teaching dances from the time of Jesus. 

To help be part of the group, I decided to make our costumes.  Thanks to my moms sheets (she would have given them to DI if I hadn’t used them) I transformed us into a High’s Priests family.

Our eldest.

Our middle daughter (before I hemmed it)

And our youngest.

Ken got the High Priest hat because it was in my McCalls pattern for the costumes I made.  He was the only one with a hat, and Ken told everyone that we were upper middle class.  It was fun.

 

We brought a blanket and ate on the floor. 

The girls got to make a few crafts such as clay lamps and these paper driedels.

The also were given gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to remind them of the gifts given to Jesus.  Yes, the gold was in a takeout container, but it is the thought that counts.

The kids Sang Away in a Manger with the rest of our Ward Primary, and although the night went later than we expected, it was a great experience.  So glad we came and the girls enjoyed acting the part of pilgrims to Bethlehem.  I hope we do it again next year, but maybe with chairs.

Scholastic Warehouse Sale

If you live near Auburn, WA, you should know that if you are bookophiles (like my family is) the best place to buy books for your children is at the Scholastic Warehouse Sale.  Twice a year I buy boxes of books for pennies on the dollar to fill stockings, get the kids extra books for the summer, and get phonics specific books for my youngest.  I buy a lot, but I have never regretted having extra books in the house.

This year I brought my mom, sister, and sister-in-law to the warehouse sale.  We had fun seeing all the books and stocking up, but for our daughters, they had one thing in mind.  They had heard Clifford was there, and they wanted to see Clifford.

We saw a large inflatable, but that wasn’t what they wanted.

Luckily, a warehouse worker heard that they wanted to see Clifford, and she mentioned she might know where he was taking a break.  10 minutes later, she walked up to the girls with Clifford behind her.  You couldn’t have seen two more excited girls.

Aubrey and Olivia couldn’t sit still with all the jumping up and down, which means my pictures are a little blurry, but they didn’t care.  Aubrey and Olivia are very happy, but little Makenna did not like the new stranger.  She had to be move farther away as her sister and cousin enjoyed uninterrupted love from the Big Red Dog.

With high fives and hugs, we ended our warehouse trip with very excited girls.

Gingerbread Houses

One of the things I love growing up was the tradition of making Gingerbread houses.  Last year, our local Milton library started doing gingerbread decorating as part of their “Friends of the Library” activities.  It is a perfect way to let the girls have fun with others they know.  They have paper gingerbread houses made, and they just “glue” the graham crackers to the paper outline using frosting.  Tabatha can’t eat the finished project, so we made sure she had other candies when we got home.

Olivia at one point dropped her Gingerbread House on the ground while I tried to take her picture like the one above.  Luckily it landed right side up and we “glued” it back together.  Besides that little mishap, it was a successful creative outlet for the kids and the tradition, just a little tweaked, lives on.