School Party

 Rylee's class had a little party.  It was not a fun party.

It did have fun treats like these.  

But most of the party was the kids doing their normal school routine. 

They had carpet time and the teacher read "The Polar Express". 

And they did worksheets.  And then, at the very end of the party we got to eat treats.  I do not like that kind of party.

The school also had it's "Winter Wonderland" concert, where each class got up and sang a Christmas song.  I absented myself to avoid the drama of girls who did not want to sing in public.  They were just fine.

My friend sent me this of Delaney, hanging out, waiting to sing. 

And Callie's teacher sent me this, to prove Callie did not die on the spot like she claimed she would.

What I'm sewing

 I have been busy sewing.  I am suppose to be using up my stash faster than I am replenishing it, but tis not the case.  I end up going to the shop and seeing lovely kimonos and I have to bring them home.  It has made for some delightful creations though.

I liked these colors a lot.

Check out the pattern on this one! 

And I have been making infinity scarves.  Like this one. 

Delaney is my lovely model. 

Mostly because it is really hard to model and take selfies myself!

And let me tell you how gratifying it is to purchase a roll of obi fabric and get home to find this price tag rolled up inside of it.  I paid 500 yen for it and it was originally 48000 yen.  So, rather than paying $450, I paid $4!

Good Times

 Apparently marshmallows are not a thing in Japan.  Some of our missionaries really miss them.  So we had all 6 missionaries, plus the senior missionary couple, along with 3 young single adults come over to roast marshmallows and make smores with our tiny fire pit.  A good time was had by all.  Especially since my awesome friend Lynnette sent me some marshamllows to enure there was sufficient. She even sent the giant kind.

Rylee and her giant marshmallow.  She thought it was awesome.

Callie and Sister Mcnaughton working on perfection. 

Rylee's rather crisped and warped s'mallow. 

The next evening we went to the senior couple's house for a missionary farewell party.  Rylee and I may have participated in some shenanigans:

Finally Decorating!

 Last year the Christmas tree was in the area that I later set up my sewing machine in.  So there was no place to put the tree this year.  Well, there were three options- I could move my giant pile of fabric and figure out where to put my sewing machine and sewing desk, we could try to stuff the tree in the too-small area between the couch and the wall, or we could blatantly place it in the side of the room and take up all the space to walk through.  None were attractive options.  Mostly because I did not have anywere to move my fabric and sewing stuff to, and Dan wasn't a fan of losing more floor space to a tree.

The kids finally decided to try squashing it into the small space, because it was the most likeley to happen scenario.  The fit was.... snug, and the branches had to be bent down a little, but it was close enough.  So there it went, and there it stayed!

The kids were thrilled to put the ornaments on and to decorate everything.

I love this.  Look closely at the bottom.  I have no idea why Marian and Rylee were under the tree but you can see their legs sticking out.

Oh, no, this isn't staged at all!

So THIS Happened Today

I know.  I am a bad person, taking photos in church.  But my little girl just gave her very first talk in church!  She has always said no before and I do not know what happened that led to her acceptance, and I don't want to ask and mess up any future possibilities.

She wanted nothing to do with the writing process.  I showed her how to go to lds.org to look up her topic.  We reviewed a few articles and she just wanted to pick one.  For her first talk, I figured this was as good as it got.  So I selected one that was appropriate and short.  I should have gone shorter.

She got up, spoke very softly and read her talk (for the very first time) from the podium, looking just like this picture the entire time.  It was a 4-5 minute talk and she did it.

She was disgusted that so many people who never seek her out to talk to her would suddenly seek her out to compliment her on her talk.  Such a funny girl.  But I am super proud of her!