Week 16 with the Peanutcracker Ballet, Rose completes 4th grade Math, and Christmas celebration day

This was our last week of school for this semester.  On Tuesday, we took a break from studies to go see the Peanutcracker Ballet.  It is a shorter and narrated version of the Nutcracker.  We went to it see last year and we really enjoyed it both years!

The big news this week was Rose finishing her 4th grade Math (she is in 3rd grade).  Yay, Rose!  To celebrate, we went to Build-A-Bear.  Congratulations Rose.  She is going to try do all of 5th grade Math in the spring semester.  She is a diligent worker.

We had our Christmas Celebrations this week as well.  Chad was going to be at a conference next week, then the following couple of weeks we would be in Kentucky an North Dakota visiting family.

So on Thursday evening we went  to view the house with huge lights display.  You know the kind, where they use a radio station to dial in to for the music and the lights are crazy over board....but oh so fun to watch.  Lights of Tanea.  

After the lights, we came home and Rose got to open a couple of presents.

 

Then Rose and daddy watched the meteors before we all headed to bed.  (They turned the lights off and had a great view of the sky from this 2nd story window)

The next day was THE Christmas Celebration Day.  We started with the stockings...

...then presents

...a thankful heart...she said 'thank you' and gave big hugs after each gift.

 

We spent the whole day together.  We sang carols, shared the Nativity story, and played lots and lots of games.  We just received our grass fed cow half.  So with a freezer full of beef we decided to have steak instead of turkey for our Christmas meal. yum.

We were missing some of our Christmas traditions that we had in Atlanta (especially going to Stone Mountain Christmas with the Davis family)  but we think we may have started some pleasant traditions here, as well.   Rose asked if we could go see Lights of Tanea the night before Christmas celebration day every year.  I think the Peanutcraker Ballet and a steak dinner may also be new traditions.

It was a great day to remember God's gift of His Son, being thankful for our family, and spending time together.

Week 15 and a mid week vacation

This week we went to another Christmas show "Miracle on 34th Street".  Here are some clowns that are in the Macy's Day parade part.  It was fun to have Carissa go to the show and lunch with us.

This week in our studies we continue to learn about Europe and different people groups there.  Rose is working hard in her language arts and math as well.  

This week we spent a few days at the Grand Sierra Resort here in town.  We were very thankful for our complimentary room.  

I was planning on just taking our school work with us to do there, but Rose doubled up at the beginning of the week so she could be school-free while staying at the hotel. Rose and daddy played Laser Tag and went to dinner together the first night.  The next two days Rose and I enjoy the hotel while daddy was at work during the day.  

On Saturday we went to a Christmas Craft and Meet Santa fundraiser.  Rose loves crafts and it was nice having teenagers help her while mommy chatted with other mommies on the sidelines.

Afterwards, Rose used one of her Book-IT certificates for a free personal pan pizza.  (She earns a free pizza each month for reading, compliments of Pizza Hut.)

Week 14 and a visit from Uncle and Auntie

Oh what a fun week!  Above is Rose and Tigris in front of the fire.  Below is this years Christmas photo.  Our semester is starting to wind down and we are spending more time on Christmas activities.

When we are out and about, Rose enjoys listening to the story tapes that grandma and grandpa Anderson gave her.  She loves listening to the story and following along in the books.  

Here we are enjoying a Christmas dance that our friends performed in.  It was a great show.  

 Rose likes to help in the kitchen.  Notice the swim goggles she uses while chopping onions.

This weekend Uncle Cullen and Auntie Sarah came down from Boise, ID.  We enjoyed playing games, visiting, and watching the UNR vs. Boise football game.  (Boise won)

Week 13 and Thanksgiving

This week we continued to learn about Northern Europe's farming and industry.  In science we studied seasonal changes and seasonal behaviors.  Rose enjoyed all the Thanksgiving themed books!

We went ahead and started our Christmas decorating.  Chad strung the lights, I strung the beads, and Rose put on all the ornaments on our tree.  Since we are going out of town for Thanksgiving, we thought it would be nice to come home to all of our Christmas decorations.

Rose and I even baked some Christmas cookies.

For Thanksgiving this year we visited Chad's brother and family in Lancaster, CA.  It is about an 8 hour drive south of us.  Rose did a lot of sewing in the car.
Once there, Rose had a fun time playing with her 4 cousins.  We enjoyed their hospitality, playing games, eating, going to parks, and an airplane museum.  It was a very nice Thanksgiving!

 
 
 
 

 
We have much to be thankful for in our lives!  We thank God for all His care and abundant blessings.

Week 12 and finally her 8 year old photos

It is always so much fun to start the week with a playdate!  Rose and Carissa playing the Wii...

This week we learned about Northern Europe and studied Norway.  We learned about northern evergreen forests and winter in northern forests.

Rose's favorite book this week is Kingdom Tales - book 2.

On Wednesday evening we hosted a viewing of the movie 'Monumental' Rose had previously seen the movie, so she and Carissa played, which included dressing Tigris up like an ancient Egyptian cat goddess.

Rose was on a melty bead kick this week and the pile for me to iron got backed up.  This is the current collection sitting on the ironing board waiting to be ironed.

We finally had her age 8 photos made.  I had scheduled several times during the year at Portrait Innovations (my favorite studio) but each photo day she would end up with a face scratch from Tigris or a fever blister.  So, I kept canceling or rescheduling.  Then our local Portrait Innovations closed.  We tried to take some ourselves...but ended up with not good lighting.  So we decided to try JCPenny's.  I was pleased with how they turned out and will probably use JCP again.  The first photo is the main photo.  The 3rd photo is crazy.  The photographer told her to make a silly face.  When Rose saw it on the screen, she loved it.  Feeling generous, I spent the extra $4 to let her get a sheet of wallets of her crazy pose.