Cookie Decorating... Yep, it happened!

I promised myself this year that we would do gingerbread cookies.  With the boys gone to Hong Kong, I felt the motivation and made the delicious cookies.  The dough is divine, and I may have consumed a good portion of that myself.  Once the cookies were done and cooled, I made several colors of frosting and let the girls go for it.

I was astounded that the 4 of them sat nicely at the table and shared well.  They didn't fight or shout or mess with each other's cookies.  I couldn't believe it!  They frosted pleasantly and had a marvelous time!  They even got ALL the cookies done!  What alternate reality had I stumbled into?!!!

Delaney was delighted to carefully craft her gingerbread man.

Marian put a lot of time and effort into her creations.

Ryle just aimed to have as much frosting on them as possible.

I can't get the picture to turn, but here are some of their finish products.

Ryle took a break from cookie-making to lose her very first tooth!

Such a cutie pie!

Marian, showing off her cookie.

They had blast doing the "Ninja-bread" shaped cookies.  Aren't they fun?!

They were also delicious.

Udon noodles with my Girls

Dan and Joshua went to Hong Kong for 5 days and left it an all girls party at home.  We spent the Monday before Christmas hanging out and doing shopping.  And we went to lunch at their favorite noodle joint.  It was a really fun day and they all got along really well and it was so pleasant!  I love these girls!

All the girls got the giant tub-o-noodles, even Rylee!

It does look giant, doesn't it!  (It is not really that huge, the bottom is raised.)

They have the best tempura and rice balls.  Even Marian liked it.

Look at my little noodle-eating pros!

Callie did not want her picture taken, but I managed to get this special shot. 

Literacy Night

The elementary school held a "Literacy Night" and I thought it sounded like a fun event. Actually, they had me at "Cocoa and Cookies".  So I took the 3 girls who are still in elementary school, luring them with the same promise of cocoa and cookies.  I was a little disappointed.  Mostly because I didn't get my cocoa and cookies right off.

It started with a dramatic reading of The Grinch, and it was well done, but the cafeteria was jam packed with people and I hate crowds.  Next we broke off to visit different classrooms.  They had 6 or so different rooms set up with a story reader and you could choose which 2 rooms to visit based on which story you wanted to hear.  That probably would have been fun, but all the rooms were packed to capacity, and we weren't even late.  And I hate crowds.  The whole thing was too crowded for me.

We did get to listen to a fabulous "Pirates Night Before Christmas" which is now on my Christmas list.  I was less enthusiastic about the Gingerbread Man story.  And then when we all went back to the cafeteria for the promised cocoa and cookies, they had not anticipated such a crowd and lacked sufficient cookies.  I wasn't too sad because they were not great cookies and I didn't mind giving mine up.  The cocoa was yummy though and I enjoyed it.  The kids got a free book and they got a bookmark from Santa on the way out.  So I guess it wasn't a bad activity, just much too crowded for me.

Callie found herself the only remaining seat in the classroom!

Rylee was thrilled that her friends were there and she got to hang out with them for this story.

Rylee was willing to pose with Santa and Mrs. Clause.

Rylee's best friend Milly, photobombing her.

Delaney was the only kid of mine who wore pajamas to the event, although a lot of other kids did. And check out her choice of free book!

Pretty Miyajima

It is so pretty, and I have been working on my artsy photos!

Chaperoning Miyajima

 On December 15, I got to chaperone Callie on her field trip to the Miyajima Aquarium.  It WAS raining this time, but we went anyway.  I was prepared with umbrellas and ponchos, but the rain kept to a decent drizzle, so it wasn't too bad. I had 3 girls to supervise and the only one who could not
behave was my own.  Sigh.

It is about a mile walk from the ferry port to the Aquarium, and that left us with just over 2 hours to explore the Aquarium.  We did not have much time, after the sea lion show and the penguins, so we didn't explore all the aquarium.  It was more fun than I had anticipated.

 At the iconic Torii.  Callie is avoiding the school group photo.

Now she is trying to avoid me. 

She did NOT want her picture taken! 

 So I snuck this on on zoom.

And then I took Selfies, because I needed SOME photos!

5 Story Pagoda.... never gets old!

The sea lions were very cool. 

And quite talented. 

Did I already say talented? 

Callie loved the tide pools the best. 

And the dolphins were cool, and depressing to see. 

We timed it to make the penguin petting schedule.  Nice canned shot, hmmm? 

And they got to pet this one.