On the first night of Hanukkah....

!!!!! Grammy (Don's mom) is Jewish. She grew up celebrating all of the Jewish Holidays. I asked her if this year she would teach my kids about Hanukkah and celebrate it with them. So, we are celebrating Hanukkah this year. One day when Katie was in school, Alex and I went and bought some menorahs and the candles. We've been lighting our Advent wreath for 3 weeks now, and they've been excited to get to light the Menorah too. I didn't know that each night the candles on the Menorah are supposed to burn all the way down. I figured it was like our Advent wreath and you'd just blow them out. Tonight, we learned a little bit about Hanukka, lit the Menorah, opened the first Hanukkah presents, and played Dreidel. Tomorrow we will lite the Menorah, search for Gelt and make Latkes. It's really fun to see Grammy so excited and for the kids to get to learn more about the Oppenheim side of the family. Katie is a really lucky game player. She won the Dreidel game. Here's a quick video.

Thankful!

Katie's KidShine performance was on Friday night. She did very well during her speaking and signing solos. However, for most of the performance she was playing with her hair and the ribbon on her dress. I'm not sure what got into her. The performance was in the gym this time, so I'm not sure if that played a role. I didn't get a shot of her during her singing solo, she was on the other mike and her teacher was blocking my view. Hopefully Don got it with the video camera or some other parent taped her. My favorite song was when the kids all danced. We are looking forward to another season of KidShine, or Music and More as it's now called.

Gingerbread men live in houses

Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!

Today at school, Katie made graham cracker "gingerbread" houses because it's a tradition in Sean's family. She couldn't wait to get to eating it, and of course, Alex had to help as well.

It was time to decorate all the gingerbread men we made the other day. Turns out most of the time it was a task best suited for mom to do while the kids watched Word World. Can you find the NAKED gingerbread man? It was made on the kids' request.
Here's a hint, he doesn't have any buttons, only a belly button!


Then came the most ambitious project of the day. Decorating our own gingerbread house. Alex had the most fun eating all of the candy. Each kid decorated their own side of the roof,their own tree, then they both worked on the path and the big tree.

Magical Forest

Today we took the kids to Opportunity Village and the Magical Forest with their school. The best part of the visit is getting to visit with Santa. Alex LOVES Santa and couldn't wait to have a turn on his lap. He told Santa he wants the Scooby Doo Haunted House game. Katie wants the Barbies from "Barbie and the Diamond Castle" movie.



Of course the kids love riding the train and riding on the giant slide. Alex insisted on going on the slide by himself, but he's kind of small and the small kids go really fast and tend to catch air. He was so sure of going by himself that I let him, and he did end up hitting his head. For the next ride he had Daddy go with him!

Breakin'

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Oppenheim Elves

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Valley of Fire

Over Thanksgiving weekend we took my sister, Erin, and her boyfriend, Kevin, to the Valley of Fire. If you've never been there, it's worth the drive. It is truly stunning. The kids have so much fun climbing on the rocks and finding Petroglyphs. We take a picnic lunch and just explore the different areas. The kids love seeing the chipmunks at the Mouse's Tank picnic area.