Zoo Lights

We had a very cold but fun night at our annual trip to the zoo lights in Portland. We have a tradition of giving a ticket to a random person waiting in line so they can get in free. This year the person was excited so it was awesome! 

 It was very cold and Fieldin was an ice cube most of the night so we didn't stay a long time

It was pretty packed even though Christmas was over which surprised us. We got out of there after a quick walk through bypassing the cold train and got some warm dinner. 

Our Science Kid & Our Engineer Kid

If you know us well, you know Jeff and I are pretty strict on the use of technology in the house. 

They usually get a half hour and if they are REALLY lucky a hour ... I'm not saying electronics are bad but I like these two to keep busy with other things if possible. So, all Christmas legos have been put together and he has a pretty impressive Star Wars collection these days. 

 And Greta got the owl pellet she asked for this Christmas.. yes owl pellet. She spent many hours one afternoon dissecting it, very very slowly not to break any bones inside. 

 it was alot of work, she spent alot of time taking off layers with tooth picks unlike me who would have broken it and stabbed at it. 

 These were all the bone pieces she found...From the pieces she could tell the pellet contained 1 and 1/2 rodents..ugh.. but cool.. So now she is going to work on putting the bone pieces together after she cleans them. It was entertaining for me to watch but Fieldin was thoroughly disgusted and had no interest. 

 so he went to work drawing out plans for new ships and going to work on them.. I should have gotten my own work done since both kids were busy in their own little worlds for hours but I was having too much fun watching them.

Merry Christmas

We had a nice Christmas Eve bring able to spend time with friends. It was a full happy day. 

The kids FINALLY got to open presents some time after 7 p.m.

 As you can imagine Fieldin was READY.. Greta is getting more subdued these days but you could see excitement in her eyes. 

 Fieldin was out in the rain feeding the reindeer food which is pretty much oats, glitter and marshmallows.. 

 cookies and apple cider for the big man.. with their yearly note to him. Lots of thank yous and nice words to sweeten him up.. 

 Before bed.. they were so tired yet so hyper. 

 Fieldin slept in this morning until 7:45 which we consider a Christmas miracle. Every other day of the year he gets up around 6.

 playing with his dinosaur robot "boomer" 

 Greta building Legos this morning. 

After his stocking was emptied he delved into a box of legos and would not stop working, not even for breakfast.. This is the finished product, an awesome battle cannon ship that looks like a spider. 

Merry Christmas! Love to All! 

Hermit's Emerge

We haven't been out to the beach since the summer, which is strange for us. 

We decided to take a day trip to get out of the house. Jeff and I always associate snow with the holidays. We rarely get snow here and not even the random flutter here this year. Since we moved here we have spent alot of time in the winter at the beach..I think the sand has replaced our snow. I came home feeling a bit more in the holiday spirit after seeing some sand. 

 

 At the aquarium. I was having trouble photographing this "speedy" seahorse.. I couldn't keep up with him/her with my camera. 

 In a life jacket "fishing" then he had to weigh his catch. He would have stayed here for hours.. 

 I love the sea nettles below.. my favorite

 Love this.. Fieldin was the grumpy otter.. Greta still says she wants to teach marine biology one day, so she loves this picture. She loves the aquarium. For her birthday she wants to adopt a sting ray with her birthday money. 

 This kid loves watching fish and trying to figure them out. 

Cookie Making

 I think we have perfected gluten free gingerbread cookie dough finally.. So excited to eat it again. 

Fieldin rolled it out for us and the kids went to work with the holiday cookie cutters. 

 It smelled amazing in the house. I feel like it just smells like sugar in the kitchen lately. With the kids and Jeff baking and old gingerbread houses laying around... and I feel like I am only eating sugar for every meal :) 

 I stayed away from the baking part but hopped in for the decorating. We all had fun with the decorating and next year I need to double up on icing.

 Fieldin threw on his apron and was in his element.  

 The finished product and the annual Santa bribe. Some have been eaten but Fieldin is making sure there are enough left for Christmas Eve. 

Christmas Hermit's

Wow.. since school was out Friday, we have not wanted to leave the house. 

Winter hermits we are. We left the house twice over the weekend to go on a walk and to go watch  A Christmas Carol play. Other than that we stayed inside and time flew. 

 making breakfast.. 

 he's going through a whole box of popsicle sticks making "train whistles" 

 The kids made self portrait ornaments. Greta made the one of Chompers. They are all hanging on the tree. 

 The cat doesn't stray far from his tree. 

 Going to watch a Christmas Carol. So glad Greta was up to going. She was still getting her strength back after being sick. 

 She opened her school recorder that came in the mail.. We were lucky enough to listen to that for an evening....

 Presents were finally put under the tree... they weren't excited or anything. 

 lots of play time and craft time this weekend....

 These three took on the project of building a working roller coaster with K'nex pieces. They were missing ones they needed but improvised. 

 She finished her cat ornament...and little sleepy Fieldin by his little tree light.. 

 lots of perler bead work.. we love perler beads

 and I have been making 3-4 soups a week. I love making them. We are trying new ones each week. Greta helped me make a hungarian mushroom soup. She liked cutting up ALL the mushrooms which I was thankful for:) 

 A working roller coaster that is very cool. It survived the cat knocking it over a couple times and there was alot of searching for pieces that might work.  

And here we are at Monday. It is noon and the kids STILL don't want to leave the house....