Thursday, December 29, 2011

Christmas Vacation Schedule

We've followed somewhat of a schedule during Christmas vacation because things run smoother for the littles if they know what to expect. We start with group devotions like we do on school days but at 8:30 or 9:00 instead of 5:45. Everyone has up until that time to be dressed and eat breakfast. We always go over the daily schedule at this time. We do that during the school week so everyone knows where they are supposed to be that evening--tumbling, dance, counseling, church choir etc.

We are actually reading through some devos that are for my next book this week. Then we have Bible quizzing and read a couple of Christmas books. We then listen to one Adventures in Odyssey episode but people with unmade beds or trashed rooms are excused to clean.

At around 10:00 Adam takes the little three out to run. There is a church 5K/1 mile run in January so that's motivation for them. He does exercises and tumbling with them after that. Then they play for an hour. They often play Wii with Tyler during this time.

After that we have lunch followed by a rest time where people who've earned extra privileges can watch a movie. The others can color or read books on their beds. The older ones often listen to iPods or go online with kindles, phones etc.

After that we do a little math and reading. Then it's job time (about 15 minutes at most), drum practice etc. Once everything is done, it's play time until supper.

After supper we do games together followed by a movie. The twins go to bed after that. The others may go back to playing Wii or split into groups to watch movies.

Jessica and Adam both work some hours during the week.


This is Kayla playing the Wii game Grandma Sims got us for Christmas.
Jasmine
Tyler

Jeff. The bigger kids are pretty good about playing with the little ones as long as they get time to themselves later.

Tyler and Jeff caught the trolley to the theater to watch Real Steel, and then came home and played with the littles.
Adam got stuck with the new pink remote cover : )
Jeff just looks so thrilled. I think his mind was on packing up. He flew back to TX this morning.



The guys watching a movie in Tyler's room (which is now Jessica's room when he's at college)

Tyler is 21, Jeff is 18 and Adam 16, and they have similar interest in movies. Today we had Chinese for lunch. I wanted to do this before Jeff left but we ran out of time. Jessica's favorites are sweet and sour chicken and orange chicken (spicy).

Jasmine's favorites are egg drop soup and sweet and sour chicken.
Tyler's favorite is orange chicken.

Kayla's favorite is egg drop soup.

Adam was at work and Kaleb had just peeled a large chunk of paint off his wall so he was sitting in his room during these pictures! His new thing is ripping covers off of books and peeling paint off of walls! The room was just painted a couple of years ago so in very good shape still.

Jessica, Jasmine and I went to "We Bought a Zoo." It was an excellent story, but I was disappointed at the language. Among other things, the dad and son swear at each other. The boy yells b--- s----. and they both use d--- at each other. Other characters swear also. If it weren't for that, it would be the perfect family movie. In the same category as Dolphin Tale.

I think we would all fit in well at the zoo! I was shooting in the dark so not even sure what I was taking pictures of!

So what has your family been doing this week?

And for those of you with adopted children, do holidays trigger behaviors for yours or not?

Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas

We all went to the Christmas Eve service. There were issues with one child, but I'm not going to go into it because overall it went amazingly well.

When we got home, Jessica read the Christmas story. Then everyone opened stocking presents and kid-bought gifts.




Jeff bought Jessica a Kindle Fire!




It's Caspian's first Christmas.





On Christmas morning we opened the other gifts. Tyler





Jasmine





Adam





Jeff (a couple of his gifts weren't here yet)





Kaleb He's still young enough that he judges his gifts by size. So he was very happy!





Kayla also still judges gifts by size so she's happy with hers.






Jessica. She's holding an underwater camera I got her.









Ty playing his new Skylander game.





Jasmine trying out a new scooter. She's getting quite a collection!





Jessica is trying to run Jasmine over with my remote control tank that shoots air pellets.





Kayla on her pogo stick.





Everyone got to make their own pizza for lunch. This is Jessica's with ham, pineapple and hard salami (?).




Birthday cake for Jesus. We usually do this and sparkles (for Jesus is the light of the world) on Christmas eve but that didn't work out this year so we did the cakes Christmas afternoon.







Girls' cake done



Boys' cake done

We save the presents from my mom to open later in the day after everyone had a chance to try out all their other presents. She buys a combined gift which is usually games everyone can play together. This year it was two Wii games, an extra remote and accessories.


So that was our Christmas.


Today all is calm, and everyone is hanging out together. Two work later. Jeff flies back to TX on Thursday and Ty heads back to college sometime before the 9th. The rest go back to school on the 4th.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

You just have to love...

...those old photos!

December 1964









December 1966




This is at my grandma's house with three of my cousins. Guess one wasn't born yet and one wasn't adopted from Korea yet. Not sure what year that would make this.




Not sure if there are other old photos around. If my brother or sister got them first, there probably aren't : )

Friday, December 23, 2011

Just Hanging Out

We are doing a lot of just hanging around reading, watching DVDs, playing with the dogs and cleaning. Jessica and Adam have some work hours this week. Jessica works both Christmas eve and Christmas day as usual.


Caspian is very helpful when it comes to Facebook.

Tyler is home for a month. He and Jasmine are catching up on Wii time.


We're going through the puzzles and any missing pieces are getting tossed.



Scrappy has really gone downhill quickly. We thought we were going to lose him a couple of times. He has heart worm that he's being treated for but we found out he also has arthritis and a bad back. He has a tracheal cough and wheezing too. We got him summer '01 and he was 2-3 years old at that time. Caspian has become very attached to Scrappy so I hope he pulls through. Scrappy tolerates Caspian very well too. Sometimes Caspian will join Scrappy in his kennel rather than go into his own. Tacos for lunch

We had volcano tacos too. The brave ones tried them.









Some people ate two volcano tacos. Hehe.


Pets who don't appreciate baths should not dig in the mud!

Everyone is helping clean. When we moved every three years, things got sorted out and cleaned. We are going through and decluttering, washing down every shelf and cupboard in the kitchen. We do this at least once a year. Three bags full of clutter have gone to give away and three bags of trash to the curb. There is lots more clutter out in the sheds! And closets too I'm sure.

Utility room


Jeff flies in tomorrow. Jessica works 12-8 tomorrow and then Christmas evening. We'll open stockings after the Christmas eve service along with presents the kids bought. We'll open the rest Christmas morning and hopefully spend the rest of the day trying out toys, watching movies and playing games.