Daily Snippets

This week has not been extra busy but it's been very steady.  My main goal was to finish school and that was a little hard with Christmas on all of our minds.  All of the local kids are out of school right now (their school year goes from January thru October).  Cruz has been playing every afternoon with all of the neighbor kids that live by us.  It has been a struggle keeping him focused during school this week because he wants to be out playing with everyone else.

We have had several movie nights this month watching Christmas movies.  The boys have really enjoyed these snuggle nights on the couch with the Christmas tree lights sparkling.  On Monday we watched Home Alone 2.  They love all the "traps" that Kevin sets for the bad guys. 

On Tuesday night we watched the Presidential Debate.  We have watched all but one this year.  Before this year I do not think I've watched one in my life.  ha  We have enjoyed following the race for the White House this year even though it has been a crazy one. 

My boys love to build.  Cruz was very excited one afternoon this week to show me this tower he made.  They are going to be excited when they get another set of Jenga blocks to go with these for Christmas and a set of Lincoln Logs.  Oh the things they will build!

And like all little boys, the best part about building something is knocking it down.  Here he is in action.

 Do you think he enjoyed that?  You bet.

I should also add- Oh the messes they will make. ha

 I finally got around to baking some Christmas cookies this week.  They were very delicious.

On Wednesday we had a reindeer themed day.  It started with this pancake breakfast.

the boys got these reindeer ears and light-up noses to wear

enjoying the holiday season

my sweet Ben

 lunch was these reindeer shaped PB&J sandwiches

we made several reindeer crafts in school 

(note to self, buy more black paint)

reindeer ornaments

another reindeer ornament 

These are now hanging on the boy's own tree that they get to decorate each year.  It's a fun tradition we have.

another day this week we had these tree shaped sandwiches

We also had gingerbread shaped sandwiches.  I use my cookie cutters to make them.   I saw an idea on facebook where you can use a gingerbread cookie cutter to make gingerbread shapes or reindeer shapes.  Just turn it upside down.  I love this idea and used it for sandwiches and cookies this week.  It's been miserably hot (near 100 degrees) every day this week so I gave our gingerbread man a sunshine shaped with cheese.

On Wednesday night we hosted the Lubecks for supper.  I made a crockpot of pulled BBQ chicken and she brought a pan of homemade yeast rolls to go with it as our bun.  Yummy!  I also made a batch of Christmas Crack and some delicious peanut butter fudge.  

 our family with the Lubecks

Isn't this a sweet picture!  The Lubecks love to sing so I had asked her if we could sing carols together after our meal.  She brought her keyboard and played while we sang.  It was a really fun time together and I hope we can do it again next Christmas.

 A short video of us singing.  It's gets a little blurry but you get the idea.

 David and Cruz singing Christmas carols

We had Bible study in Muyurco on Thursday afternoon.  Before getting started all the kids had some fun climbing in the trees. 

Cruz climbing

  here is a short video of Cruz climbing a tree in Muyurco

David taught the story of Zacchaeus so it went great together.

David got to carry this sweet baby girl back down the trail to our car.  She is from the village of Nearar.  We had picked her and her mom up on the way to Muyurco to go to Bible study with us.

Finally Friday!  Here is Cruz giving two thumbs up when we finished up our homeschool semester that morning.  We were both all smiles!

I spent the rest of the day grocery shopping, cooking, and packing for a trip into Guatemala City that we are making today.  We are looking forward to attending a Christmas gathering with our IMB mission family there this weekend.  I am also looking forward to a doing some Christmas sightseeing, shopping, and eating out.  I anticipate a fun few days ahead!