A Night in Bethlehem

Last night's Family Home Evening found us in Bethlemhem. We put on our best Mid-Eastern inspired clothing and took some hummus and veggies to be a part of this fun night.

Some observations from last night...

-Ben requires authenticity in everything. I love his enthusiasm for all things dramatic, but, "We don't own a red bathrobe, Bud, and no, I cannot go buy one right now".

-It's a slippery slope from shepherdess to drunk rockstar as evidenced by Sadie.

-The dreidel game has no end which sometimes isn't the best thing for competitive siblings.

-Kids in dress-ups are the sweetest.

-live babies and an off-key 'Away in a Manger' are an absolute must for any future nativities.

It was a fun evening. We ate, and sang, and felt the spirit of Christmas. I think the kids really enjoyed it. Especially Ben, our little method actor. I was putting away the costumes and found some blocks in his satchel.  On one he had written 'goat cheese' and on another, 'bread'. 

Charles Dickens summed it up best.. 
“For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.”  


  

A Candy Bomber Christmas

At the library recently, a flyer caught my eye with the statement, "come dressed in your best 1940's attire or uniform."  I did a double take and saw it was actually advertising an activity about Col. Gail S. Halverson, the Berlin Candy Bomber. 

We made it to the community center just in time.  The children entered behind a fence where a man pretending to be Mr. Halverson described the scene in Berlin July of 1948.  He offered them two sticks of gum and asked what they would do with only two sticks because there were so many kids behind the fence.  They immediately broke them in half and shared until everyone had a miniscule piece of Wrigley's Doublemint. We learned this same behavior prompted the Candy Bomber's actions after the war.

After a short film they made their own parachutes, wrapped their own candy packages, made paper chains, and decorated a cookie.  But the best part was the "airfield".  A room with airplanes, paper and balsa wood, and plenty of space to practice flying and dropping parachutes.

I loved how this story inspired a Christmas activity even though it happened during the summer.  Ben and Alan came home asking tons of questions about Germany, and history and even wanted to look at the WWII uniforms tucked away in the coat closet. Merry Christmas, Mr. Halverson! Thank you for being an inspiration of giving this season! 

Summer, 2015

 
In an effort to catch up, I lumped all our summer activities into one huge post.  I realized it's mostly a catalog of Instagram posts, but that's ok.  It will be nice to have a record of our summer doings in both places.

We hadn't been out of the car 10 minutes when they were begging for Park Lunch and to see Packham's chickens...

Swimming at Grandpa and Grandma Marturello's

Night games were added to our summer favorites this year.  It had been a long time since Lake Street had seen a good game of Kick-the-can.

Dad joined us on the fourth of July!!!

His first 5K had him feeling anxious and underprepared, but there's always next year.

Bottle rockets and hikes were two of our favorites this summer

Time with cousins, of course...

Ben would never forgive me if our Summer didn't include theater camp and Treehouse.

Playing the harmonica with Mr. Wes

Alan got to participate this year... His costume has him looking like the main character from Breaking Bad, but he enjoyed his part.

Another first for Alan, Mutton Bustin'.  He took second overall and couldn't have been more pleased with himself.

Seven seems to be this magical age where you get to be a part of so many new adventures.  This was also Alan's first night at sleep away camp.

 Finally, we made it to Arizona.   Thanks again to Grandma and Grandpa for keeping the kids while we settled a few things in.

This Summer was a tough one to beat.  They're already planning next year. I can't wait!