Skiing and our stay-cation...

This last week has been like a vacation but of course it was a "stay-cation."  We went skiing, to the movies (at the new theater) and slept in.  

The movie theater is pretty cool.  The screens are HUGE, almost too huge.  They make a person completely forget the world and space around them.  They seem to fill up the peripheral vision space so that when you are looking directly at the screen, watching the movie, you don't see the room around you unless you move your eyes or head.  It's a little freaky.  I like to be alert and aware of what's going on around me so it was a little unnerving when I noticed a span of time had elapsed where the world around had disappeared and I was completely caught up in the movie.

"What movie did we watch?"  We saw Rise of the Guardians.  This was a movie the Scientist wanted to watch and after researching the reviews I was all for it.  I really enjoyed it.  Great animation, not much peril or scariness and other than the cheesiness of the "Man in the Moon" it was very enjoyable.  I would say, it's worth mentioning that my children are grounded in what is make-believe and what is real.  This movie did not confuse them. 

But this post is suppose to be about skiing and so here are a few of those pictures.  (snow is a tricky thing to get right in pictures.)

Mom & The Professor

  
The Architect

 The Scientist

Professor riding up by himself.  He enjoys the quiet.

A brief bit of blue sky!

The boys have ski lessons coming up in January and February.  Six Thursdays in a row of getting up super early and getting to the mountain on time.  I just hope we don't forget anything.  This last trip up *we*  ;-) forgot the poles and had to go through the huge process of filling out forms just to get poles.  It has been noted that we need a checklist.  Yes, I will be making one soon.

Thank you Auntie Jodie and Grammy & Wayne for our movie trip and skiing trip. 

Making Christmas Presents . . .

Now that all the presents have been opened I can share what my boys made for gifts this year. Back in October they worked on ceramics.

The Architect making his fish.

Grammy is the happy recipient of this beautiful fish plate.

This little ornament was painted by the Scientist and sent to California for Grandpapa.

A shell dish was made my the Professor.

Three stepping stones were made also.

We had to wear dust masks so we didn't breath the cement dust into our lungs.

Once the boys were finished designing they had to wait 2 days for them to dry.

The result were awesome!

Happy recipients of a stepping stone.

 

The boys loved seeing everyone open the gifts they made.  I wonder what we will make next year.

Merry Christmas 2012

Thank you Auntie Jodie!

Getting Their Exercise...

One thing I realized early on in our home school journey was that I don't have it in me to teach PE or get the boys to exercise the way they need or like.  So, for the past 3 years the boys have taken one or more sessions of PE at GymStar Sports Center.  It kicks off school for us in the Fall and gets us through to winter time.  Their current class is 70 minutes long and they are tired when they're done.

This activity is called the snowball fight.  This is how they warm up before stretching.

They also do tumbling, spring board and rope.

The rope swing is probably the boys' favorite with the trampoline a close second.

Christmas Party - Scout Style...

 The Professor had a Boy Scout Christmas Party last night.  The Senior Patrol Leader planned a full 2 hours of fun and games for the scouts.  One of the games was your traditional memory challenge.  

Items were placed on a table...

Everyone gets 1 minute to look at them...

and then they gathered in patrols to write down as many items as they could remember.

Lots of cookies were consumed and boys went home with sugar in their veins. 

Holiday Baking . . .

I'm only making two holiday treats this year, Ginger cookies and Sugar & Spice Nuts.  In years past I've made 3-4 different types of festive cookies, packaged them up and sent them to six different family members out of state.  I just can't do that any more.  The deadline of cooking and sending out packages so they arrive in time for Christmas, sucks the Christmas spirit right out of me.  That's not fair to the guys here in the house.  So, I've downsized and it feels good.

Making Ginger cookies.

Sugar & Spice Nuts.

Sea Turtle Science . . .

This is one of our Science curriculum this year.

Each chapter gives us an in-depth look at an amazing creature.

During the course of a chapter the boys try to create the creature being studied. (Art combined with science.)

Creating Sea Turtles was a bit much for the younger boys so they stuck with just turtles.

This one with red feet is a bit disturbing. 

 The oldest was able to form flipper feat that resemble the sea turtle.

These are the "Ocean Boxes" they made the second week of school.  So far they have a whale and a sea otter.  Now, we messed up by creating a sea otter.  We should have created a seal or manatee but sometimes I get side tracked and the finer details get overlooked.  The boys are happy with them and that's good enough for me.

To Russia With Love...

Dear Russian blog visitor,  I'm happy that you have taken such an interest in my blog, going through it page by page.  Please leave a comment so I can learn more about you.  What part of Russia are you from?  Do you have your own blog?  Thank you so much and God Bless.

Before & After...

 Before.

After.

The boys are getting so fast at decorating the tree.  I barely get to do anything anymore.  My only job is to slow them down enough so they don't break anything.

He's BAaaaaack...

The Elf is back and I'm not happy about it one bit.  He creeps around the house and brings my kids treats like donuts. 

I'm not sure about this Elf.

A Count Down to Christmas Actvity . . .

With the help from Grandma Patty I was able to complete a fun countdown to Christmas activity.  

 The boys helped me gather up all our Christmas books. 

We all pitched in wrapping them up.

And each day we will unwrap one and read it.