Christmas 2014

 Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Gingerbread House 2014

Gingerbread house building took place earlier in the month of December. 

All my boys decorated this year.  That was nice to see.

This year something interesting was taking place during the decorating.  Somebody showed the boys how to poke a whole in the roof and fill the whole house cavity with candy.

Multiple trips were made to the candy table to load up and fill the houses.  A stash for later.

 The Scientist's

 The Architect's

The Professor's

The kids had candy for days after bringing the houses home. 

Blossom Turns One!

This sweet baby girl turned one year old this December and we made sure it was a special.

Along with the grandparents we invited one neighbor family.  We wanted a small crowd of birthday wishers to share cake with and help us sing happy birthday.  (We also sang "If your happy and you know it"..., because that's her favorite song.)

 Have you read the news?

"You say it's my Birthday!?"

 "Oh,...."

"That's wonderful!"

She took a great nap and was just waking up as the first guests arrived.  A quick change into her party dress and she was ready for her gathering of well wishers. 

She recieved a great assortment of books, one outfit, a first baby doll, and a ride on/ walking toy.

She loves books!

She's pointing to the fish because she has recently learned to sign and say fish.  It sounds like, "shhh."

I think she'll be cruising around with this very soon.  I like that it's two toys in one and the wheel base is very wide.  She's not likely to tip it over.

 For her first cake, I made a sugarless banana cupcake and put RediWhip on top.  

 She was plenty happy with it. 

"This was a GREAT day!"

McMinnville, Oregon

We took a little road trip and vacation to McMinnville, Oregon to see some family from my side.  What a cute little downtown this place has.

A tasting room of sorts in every few storefronts.  They were even giving wine samples at the little health food store at check out. I guess this is wine country.

 We found a few recognizable faces while walking around.

 My boys enjoyed cousin time.  It was so heart warming to see these kids take to one another.

The Scientist got in a chess game with his Grandpa.  This was his first time meeting his Grandpa from my side.  He use to live in Alaska and a Johnson family trip to Alaska just never happened. 

One of our evenings was spent at the Oregon Gardens Christmas Lights display near Salem. 

Our family also took a day to visit the Evergreen Museum. 

I had planned for us to enjoy the water park after lunch but I didn't notice while researching online that during the winter months the water park is only open on the weekends and we chose to go on a Monday to avoid the crowds.  Wow!  Score one for mom for avoiding the crowds.  A big scratch for messing up our plans to play at the water park.
We did enjoy the museum and nearly had the place all to ourselves.

Our last thing to explore before we left the museum grounds was this big monument.  A nice place for Scouts to gather.

Science Kits...

 I've been a fan of Exploration Education Science kits for 5 years.   This year the Architect is doing the advanced physical science curriculum.  It took over two weeks to build this glider so that he could experiment with it but it was well worth the effort.   It's sturdy and even survived a couple nights of pouring rain stuck on the roof of our shed. 

He's had a great time flying it over and over again.