Sophia has a new room color – Brittany Blue – that she picked out. She explained how her mom taught her to choose a shade or two lighter than what you actually want. This photo does not do justice to the actual color.
Avery and I made Candied Walnuts.

At Leah (Lenin’s sister) and Jeff Kral’s.


When it’s time to open presents, everyone stakes out a location in the room or on the stairs. Carson chose to sit between my legs on the lower steps 🙂 He waited patiently while all the presents were passed out.

Carson thought my trivets made a great hat:

As Sophia explained to me, “This is Superman when he was a baby and we are his parents.”

At St Ignatius. The students sit at the back of the church in their grade-level groups. Sophia and 4th grade classmates:
It’s very crowded. Arriving 30 minutes early and getting in line before the doors open is a must if you want a seat closer to the front.
I used to try to get really close to take pictures of each group, kneeling on a cold floor for too long. Now, I briefly stand up, zoom in as far as possible, and hope for the best. Sophia is in the first row, far left (I think).
Our crew:
The last song, “Go Tell It on the Mountain”, all students stand in the aisles, and everyone sings.

Avery and Carson

Sophia is #5:
Carson was so focused on what was on the screen, he never noticed Avery playing with his ear:
“Grandma, take my picture!” Only if you smile.

I love this season. More opportunities to see the grandkids. Tonight was Thais’ company party.

We always play until all the squares on the big board are covered. I always ask, “Who’s turn is it?” It’s my turn about 25% of the time. LOL.

I stayed with Carson for a couple of hours while everyone else had other obligations. Yay!
Of course, we played Bird Bingo.

More fun. Today I watched Sophia, Avery, and Carson. Carson is about to let Sophia know she may NOT sit on this stool:
A game of Bird Bingo of course:
Avery demonstrated how to slide a long way while also catching a self-thrown ball:
In a moment, Carson will fall over and cry for about 15 minutes:

I watched Sophia and Avery this afternoon. Their neighbor Kellen came over to see if they wanted to jump in a pile of leaves. After the leaves had been raked up.
Leaf angels:

Thais (and Lenin) tried to take pictures for my Christmas card. Here are two of the best – out of about 50!
Later, in the evening, Thais and Sophia went to a King’s game and Lenin had a coaching clinic, so I came and stayed with the boys. After playing Beyblades for a while, Carson and I played Bird Bingo. He knows quite a few of the 64 birds, his favorites seem to be the Hoopoe and Blue-footed Booby.