I only took these photos today. But we did set the time-lapse camera the night before. My favorite part is that the kids were all like, “Oh, we just got out and took a look at the presents for a few minutes, that’s all.” But, I don’t know about you, but I see a whole lot of investigating going on.
A fantastic American Girl, Star Wars Lego, skateboard deck, car radio, whole lotta family time day was had by all.
As is tradition, we went to the Museum with friends on Christmas Eve. It’s always been empty, and we have the run of the place.
Except this year they moved the downtown train exhibit to the Museum, and we suddenly found ourselves fighting a crowd. I have no idea what we’ll do next year.
But in the meantime, we managed to find that moment when there was no one in line for Santa, and Ellery had him all to herself. He spent a huge chunk of time listening to her list and introducing her to his reindeer.
Magic moments, I tell you. Magic.
It’s the first day of winter break. No longer the student, Ellery has decided that her stuffed animals could use a little instruction.
You know, on the anatomy of the brain.
I don’t mean to brag, but I really do have the most amazing bunch of parents in my preschool class. My guess is, by the end of the year, each one will have come in to share their knowledge or talent with us.
This is mammal week. In the Montessori science curriculum, the horse is the animal that represents mammals. In an ideal world, you investigate a live animal and then move to the more abstract learning works. This has not been terribly difficult as we’ve explored insects and birds. But when one of our parents offered to bring her horse to school for the morning, I have no other response but…YES, PLEASE! As a bonus, each child got to take a ride around the campus.
Seriously…who gets this lucky?
Today the whole school went to the local Senior Center and sang for them. They love seeing all the little faces, singing their hearts out.
As this is the first year of the preschool, we were first-time participants. We’d been practicing our songs for weeks, and I’m so proud of them.
Neko and Shep did a great job singing with the older kids, which makes me smile, as I remember the year when Neko was a kindergartener, hiding under a chair so she didn’t have to sing.
When we lived in the Big City, we tried that drive-through holiday lights business at the local park. Traffic was bumper to bumper, and we all began feeling a bit claustrophobic.
When we moved to our little town, we found out the local sculpture park had a similar thing, so we decided to give it a go.
Of course there were a few less lights, but there was also no traffic. The kids were in awe, noses pressed to the windows, not wanting to miss a detail. This year, Ellery cried for the last five minutes of the path because “it’s going to be oooooover!”
I adore this moment that occurs each year. It’s such fantastic, small-town, schmaltzy family time.
