Christmas!

We don't quite fit on our bed anymore ;)

{the Lego set in Eli's stocking almost got thrown away with the recycling before Christmas...thanks to Colin, it was rescued}

Egg casserole and coffee

There were a few bigger presents, thanks to Ben's homecoming and his love for gift giving.  Eli got a new desk chair.

And Colin a new electric guitar

The one he's always dreamed of

All the presents were wonderful, but the best gift was being together.

The rest of the day was spent playing and eating

It's not Christmas if there isn't a Lego set to build.

Ben made the fluffiest zweibach we have ever had.

The two guitar players have a little jam sesh:

Alison basically finished the puzzle herself and jumped into games here and there.  I lost track of how many games we played, but it was a lot and we had lot of fun.

It was a absolutely fantastic Christmas!

 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve morning, Alison and I went to get coffee.

I was fighting a cold and a peppermint mocha really hit the spot.

It was a perfectly rainy day to set a cozy mood.  We turned on Polar Express and finished the puzzle...and learned a big lesson: don't eat on top of a puzzle!  We were missing 14 pieces!  I found them later, stuck to the bottom of a cutting board I had served bread on the night before.

Ben and Eli played some chess

And we read our advent book and opened sacks.

We went over to the Schulte's for dinner and unfortunately, no pictures were taken.

 

This is how we winter break

This is how you do winter break in SoCal: Farmer's Markets by the water and acai bowls at the harbor.

We made gingerbread cookies

and worked on a couple of puzzles with Christmas movies.

 

Happy 22 to us!

This is the first year of my life that I've had to stop and really think how old I am and how long we've been married.  We tried to gather pictures of us from every year we've been together and I found that some years we only had ONE picture...so thank you Alison for taking a picture of us that isn't a selfie.  And mostly, I'm just thankful that we can take a picture together this year.  I made a reservation at a restaurant we've been talking about for a long time, on the off chance that Ben actually made it home.  I'm so glad I did and it that it actually worked out for us to go!

We went to dinner at Campfire in Carlsbad.  They knew it was our anniversary and gave us a card and champagne from the restaurant.

 

Our school day

It's been too long since I've documented school.  But to my credit, my students don't want pictures taken, so that makes it kinda hard.

This year has looked slightly different.  Our daily routine has stayed pretty much the same, but Alison is no longer my student and the boys are pretty much independent in their work now.

Maya starts the day sunbathing in her dirt patch

and the boys start math.  Both are doing Denison Math, which is on the computer and only need me for test grading and the occasional question.  Colin works at the table and Eli at his desk.

They are both doing history and literature out of book curriculum that they do on their own.  They don't need me to do this, but some days I read to them their books for literature.  I choose to do this because it's a way we can still stay connected in these higher level grades.  It also helps me know what their book was about when it comes to writing their papers.

We don't always sit outside, but it's a nice perk to this California life.

They both do Journey science on the computer, but Fridays are lab days.  Colin is doing Physical science and Eli is doing Physics.

We finished this day at the pickleball courts.

 

A little throwback fun

We thought it would be fun to recreate this classic picture from Ben's last deployment.

Last time, we were giggling at Maya for plopping herself down in the picture and stealing the spotlight.  This time, we were giggling because she kept trying to lay down! and the back drop kept falling over because everyone is adult size.

I like this one, because it's a pretty classic Colin face.  

  

Also, for the record, I requested pants be changed, but some teen boys were convinced that wasn't necessary.  

I love that we took these because it makes me laugh every time I look at them!

I couldn't get a good picture of Colin because Maya wouldn't stop licking his face! 

I thought standing might go better...

I was wrong.  But I love this one the most

Always and forever thankful for my 3

Decorating for Christmas

Decorating looked different this year.  First of all, I broke all the rules and I don't have a single regret.  When Ben was supposed to be coming home and then China was stupid and he got stuck in the Philippines for indefinitely, I decided we needed a little Christmas, right this very moment and decorated the house in early November.  Scandalous, I know.  But it was also an amazing distraction and gave the house a cozy feel, which is just what we needed.  We watched Christmas movies while we waited for phone calls and found it fun to find Christmas treats out in the store, instead of being annoyed.  It probably helped that we traveled for Thanksgiving and you have to pretend that it feels like winter here anyway.  We bought matching Christmas jammies and Alison and I got Christmas bedding.  I even put a little, live tree in our room...this is what the deployment crazies will do to you.

It was a great project for us all to work on together.  On a trip to Hobby Lobby, we found these Nutcrackers you can paint yourselves and decided it would be fun to add that to our decorations. 

I didn't want to put up ornaments without Ben and lucky for me, he came home before Christmas!

Every year we say it will be the last year for this to happen...