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Not long before Christmas, Sk8-r-ina wrote me a note and left it on my pillow. She wanted to know if she could get her ears pierced. She claimed that “everyone” she knew had their ears pierced. Perfect logic to an 11-year-old, right?

She had *never* mentioned anything about this before. Never been particularly interested in jewelry. Or even brushing her hair. So, this seemed a curious request.

Artman and I talked it over, and we sent her a return note asking her to count how many girls in her social studies class *actually* had their ears pierced. This girl loves a challenge, so within 48 hours, she had surveyed *all 4* core classes (math, science, language arts, social studies) and made us a chart outlining how many in each class had pierced ears. Turns out, “everyone” was close to 80%. Not bad.

Next, we asked her to wait a couple of weeks and if she was *still* interested, we would find a time to have it done. Again, she insisted she still wanted to do it. As someone who didn’t get her ears pierced until college, and only then because it was something to do on a Friday night, I wasn’t completely convinced.

However, a promise is a promise, so Sk8-r-ina and I headed out for the mall on a Saturday morning. She selected the earrings she wanted, sat in the chair, and the technician made purple dots where the holes would go.

Before...

Then, a couple of quick “snaps”, and it was done! No tears, all smiles.

After!

This face says, “Mom, stop taking my picture. You’re embarrassing me!”

Afterwards, we stopped by the Cheesecake Factory and picked up a slice of red velvet cheesecake to share. Yummmmm….

One of the perks of being a teacher is that I get to enjoy a little extra time off during the holidays when the kids are at home. It allows us to do things as a family that we don’t have a chance to do while I’m working.

BioHazard Baby has the best pre-school. Ever. His class made Christmas ornaments and his teacher worked with a local bank to allow the kids to take their hand-made ornaments and decorate the bank’s tree! We stopped by one afternoon to check it out.

Because Christmas in Oregon tends to be rainy, we spend a lot of time indoors. So, we play a lot of board games. This year, we pulled out the Star Wars Monopoly. Artman and I used to play it a bit, but it has been in storage for several years. Now that our boys have been exposed to Star Wars and Danger Boy knows more than I do, we thought it would be fun to play!

We forgot that Monopoly last forever. And ever. We played it for a few hours over several days. There was a lot of drama, and at times the jail was packed.

BioHazard Baby was on mom or dad’s “team” sometimes. But mostly he found other ways to occupy his time.

In the end, we finally had a victor.

Danger Boy, AKA Mr. Money Bags, was the eventual winner.

The Oregon Zoo is one of the best around. And we go pretty regularly throughout the summer. One of the cool things that the zoo does in the wintertime is called ZooLights. With over a million lights in the shapes of animals and various scenes, it is pretty spectacular.

This year, we decided to take the kids to see it a few days after Christmas. We have been several times in the past, but it has always been either (a) unbearably cold, (b) overcrowded, or (c) snowing.

This time, we decided that instead of waiting until dark, we would head to the zoo BEFORE dark so we could see a few animals and enjoy the lights. Even though it was spitting rain, we bundled everyone up in hats and raincoats and headed over.

 There are a few parts of the zoo that have indoor areas. One of those is the “farm.” Normally not my favorite spot as I am not a huge fan of petting farm animals, on this day it was a warm spot where we could hide from the rain for a few minutes.

As we continued walking through the zoo, the darkness continued to fall and the lights became brighter. One of the newer additions to the zoo is a few animatronic dinosaurs.

I guess the winter rains are not good for the animatronics, so they got replaced by a few light-up outlines.

After taking in most of the animals and lights, and then enjoying a ride on the train, we were tired and ready to head home.

Someone was tired of having his picture made…

As teachers, Artman and I are lucky to get extra time off around Christmas. Without those few days, I don’t know how we would get everything ready in time!

So, in the week leading up to Christmas, there was a lot of activity around our house. We were able to finish most of our shopping early, so we only had a few last-minute things to look for. Our activities included putting together and decorating our gingerbread village:

Getting the Christmas cards folded, stuffed, and mailed:

And some Christmas baking:

Chocolate Peppermint Brulee

Finally, it was Christmas Eve and time for Santa to pay us a visit.

After the children got up, we all wandered downstairs to see what Santa left and to open stockings.

Hidden inside Sk8-r-ina's new dance bag was a new coat. In the pocket of her coat, a pink iPod nano!

Danger boy *finally* got Buzz Lightyear!

And BioHazard Baby got Bullseye. Ride 'em cowboy!

After a breakfast of cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs, we opened the wrapped gifts.

They thought they were done, but Artman led them to a door where they found a clue:

The Chamber of Secrets!

Once they figured out the clue, they opened the “Chamber” where they saw…

They had to turn on the black-light to read it!

It says, "Inside this box are tales of magic! From: Dumbledore"

Now that all 8 Harry Potter movies are out, we decided to get the children the complete 8-volume set. They were SO excited!

After a couple of hours to play with some of their new things, we hosted my extended family for lunch and a few more gifts. It was a fun day and everyone enjoyed being together.

Sk8-r-ina has been taking ballet since first grade. Her studio is about 6 miles from our house and, though she was initially hot-and-cold about dancing, it is now one of her favorite things. She loves going to her twice-weekly classes and has made some great friends at her studio.

Each winter, her studio works together with the pre-professional troop that shares studio space and teachers, to perform a kid-friendly version of the Nutcracker. The more difficult parts (Clara, the Sugar-Plum Fairy, the candy dances) are done by the older students. However, the show also includes lots of children from the studio. The childrens’ parts are assigned by age and ballet grade, though students do go through a tryout process in mid-October. Performers are also required to commit to all rehearsals (every Saturday starting in November, then 2 full-dress rehearsals on Thursday and Friday before performances begin) and the older children also participate in *all 6* performances.

This year, Sk8-r-ina was a soldier again. Though she really enjoyed doing the part for a *third* time, I am looking forward to seeing her perform a new role next winter! She does make a very cute soldier, though!

After back-to-back performances for 3 straight days, and several late nights, we were glad when our winter break really became a break!

Back before children, Artman and I would get a tree and host a trim-the-tree party, complete with food, drink, and fun, crafty ornaments for our guests to create. However, the year Sk8-r-ina was born, we barely got a tree at all and there certainly wasn’t time or energy to host a party.

Since that time, though, we’ve been able to get a little bit of our groove back and have fun with “hunting” down our tree (at a Christmas Tree farm, of course) and getting some decorating done. Usually, though, we’re getting pretty down to the wire with it all. It is often the middle of December or later when we get the tree, and one year it sat in the stand *un-decorated* for over a week.

Somehow, though, this year we have managed not only to find our *perfect* tree on a sunny Saturday afternoon (between Danger Boy’s scout activity and Sk8-r-ina’s Nutcracker rehearsal), but we’ve also had time to decorate the tree AND do our other bits of decorating in the downstairs of our house!

Found it! Now, dad, cut it down and let's go...

Mom went to pay for it while Artman and Sk8-r-ina got it loaded…

Sk8-r-ina thought it needed a pretty bow for the ride home!

After the kids went to bed Saturday night, the elves put the tree in the stand…

Let the decorating commence! First the lights…

Danger Boy was helping to test them all out...

…next we put up the angel…

Careful - don't fall!

…and *finally* it is time for ornaments!!

This one mine.

Sk8-r-ina did a lovely job with the mantel, arranging the stockings and put out our nativity sets.

Danger Boy also helped take out and test out our Christmas Village pieces – a happy little house and a Santa’s toy workshop.

It works!

Then, we picked up our mess (mostly) and ran off to our church Advent Festival! The kids love having the tree up already, and are enjoying our variety of ways of counting down to Christmas.

Danger Boy is a Tiger Cub Scout, the very first level in the Boy Scouts where the youngest children get their start. He has been begging to do scouts for the last couple of years, so he’s thrilled now to be a part of it!

In addition to twice-monthly den meetings and pack meetings, there are a variety of other events that the boys can participate in. Some of those are with groups of scouts of all ages, some are more specific to his individual den or the pair of dens of 1st graders here in our town. Because I’m new to scouts, I’m still trying to learn all of the correct terminology so…be patient with me!

This past Saturday, the Cascade Pacific Council of the Boy Scouts, which is the larger body that our little group falls under, encouraged all scouts in our metropolitan area to participate in the annual “Scouting for Food” drive. This event, which boy scouts across the nation participate in with their own local councils, has a variety of purposes. First, it helps to keep food banks stocked so that they can help as many families as possible. It is also a great way for children to do community service AND learn about the needs of people less fortunate than they are. In Oregon and Southwest Washington alone, over 160,000 children (under 17) received emergency food assistance last year. That’s a lot of young people!

Danger Boy was not overly excited about the prospect of wandering around a neighborhood (at 8:30 a.m.) in the below-freezing temperatures ringing doorbells and asking for food. However, after a few houses, he was having a blast and was more disappointed when no one answered the door.

His best "haul" from the morning!

I, too, thoroughly enjoyed the morning. We bundled up with lots of layers and took warm drinks (DB had hot cocoa, I took my coffee), and I hung back with the other moms enjoying getting to know some of them better and watching our boys have fun doing something great for our community.

In the end, our community’s scouts collected OVER A TON of food just here in our little town. Wow! Nice job for only a couple hours’ work.

Just one more...

And on the short drive back to our house, Danger Boy said, “That was a lot more fun than I thought it would be!” Whew. Glad we did it, and can’t wait to do it again next year!

This past week has seen a variety of holiday gatherings and celebrations. We started on Tuesday with a pre-school Pilgrim Feast. Teacher Vicki organizes great gatherings for all holidays – not just the big ones, but also St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and all of the ones in between!

Because the older children had no school the week of Thanksgiving, all of us were able to attend the feast. The pre-schoolers had made pilgrim hats and turkeys and a cute candle holder gift for mom and dad. After a couple of crafts, the children enjoyed a small meal of “traditional” Thanksgiving fare (corn, turkey, cranberry) along with fish, a little different for most. Teacher Vicki reminded us all that fish was a part of the first thanksgiving meal.

Sister helping BioHazard Baby create a pine-cone turkey.

On Wednesday evening, we headed to McMinnville to help Artman’s mom get ready for turkey day. Thursday, we shared a feast with extended family.

Artman carved the mashed potatoes into Devil's Tower.

Friday morning, the kids and I caught the train into Portland to watch the local Macy’s Christmas parade. Lots of high-school and middle-school bands, inflatable floats, and Santa signaling the end of the parade. After the parade, we walked around downtown a bit, wandered over to Pioneer Place mall, and waited for Artman to pick us up. After we were all together, we headed out to lunch. We planned to go to the Delta Cafe, but as we drove that way, Artman spied Pine State Biscuits, another “legendary” local joint rumored to have good food. So, we parked and walked to the door.

They close at 2 p.m. and we arrived at 1:57. But they let us order and even stay to finish eating! It is a tiny place with seating for 14. Total. Luckily, a group of 7 was just finishing up and we were able to snag their table. The menu consists of biscuits, biscuits with egg and cheese, biscuits with sausage, biscuits with fried chicken, biscuits with jam…you get the picture. Not a lot of variety, but oh.my.goodness. Good biscuits!

Smiley ketchup on the sausage biscuit.

Artman and I got biscuits with fried chicken, the boys got sausage, and Sk8-r-ina chose egg and cheese. Yummm. Oh, and did I mention that these biscuits are not small, but HUGE!

On Saturday, it was my family’s turn to have a Thankgiving gathering. My parents hosted and the grandkids all had fun together. After the meal, Artman and I took our boys and our nephew for a walk around the neighborhood. When we arrived back at my parent’s house, it was time for dessert and healthy dose of silliness by the children.

BioHazard Baby wearing his pilgrim hat while Danger Boy peeks over the back of the rocker.

To round out our week of holiday fun, we stayed after church service today to help with the “Hanging of the Greens” where we decorate the church for Advent. Artman and I strung the lights on the 10-foot noble fir, while the kiddos added lots of ornaments. Another family with young children was there helping, too, along with a few other folks from the congregation. The boys were having so much fun that they didn’t want to leave when we were done!

Now, to get our own home decorated…that will have to wait for another day!

A couple of weeks ago, Artman got to work on straightening up our garage so that it could be the “bat cave” for Danger Boy’s birthday party. We’ve never really parked the cars in there because (a) it’s a small garage and our two big-ish cars don’t really fit [at least not at the same time], (b) we have too many outside toys and bikes for aforementioned cars to fit, and (c) it has really become more of a playroom and art studio complete with rug [for playing], pottery wheel and kiln.

This week, Artman pulled out some clay and started throwing again on the wheel. When he worked at the high school a few years back, part of his assignment was to teach a clay class. Though he doesn’t have any formal training, he successfully taught himself the basics and has continued to get better over time. In fact, a couple of years ago, we purged most of our store-bought mugs and replaced them with some of the gorgeous ones he made. Not only does he make really nicely shaped mugs, but he also has an eye for colors and style when glazing. They are quite simple, but beautiful.

A few of the mugs Artman made a couple years ago. This photo was taken after they were glazed, but before the glaze firing so you can't see the color yet.

Over the last couple of years, though, Artman had taken some time off of throwing. Mostly this was due to his taking care of our 3 children and all of their associated activities. Now, though, our BioHazard Baby is in pre-school 2 days a week, and all 3 of the children are much more independent than they were a couple of years ago. So, with a freshly-straigtened garage and a little more time for creativity, Artman is back concocting cool clay creations.

Of course, the boys LOVE clay, too, and will sit and watch Artman at the wheel, asking lots of questions and begging for his scraps.

He is very patient with them, and eventually they get their scraps and go to town with all the cool tools that dad uses to sculpt his clay.

We just love having such a creative dad. And I think those genes made it into all 3 children. Whew.

One of my dearest friends, Rebecca, has found true love. Artman and I had the opportunity recently to celebrate their wedding with them. It was a fun evening and I am so thrilled for them and their future! Jeff is a great guy, and they are a winning pair. Congrats!