Christmas 2009/The Christmas Cat

Sky LOVES cats. She has a gazillion stuffed animal cats, all of which have names, and she is frequently seen meowing around the yard. She has asked us for a cat but we have always said no for a few reasons:1. We've had a few cats over the years and it hasn't been a good experience and 2. We have really full plates just taking care of the 3 kids, never mind pets.
Anyway, one day while Sky was outside having a kitty picnic in the yard, this cat showed up. We have no idea whose it is and it has no collar. At first we assumed that it was someone's in the neighborhood but as time goes by, it is evident that this cat has no home. The family across the street from us lost their home to foreclosure last month so maybe it was theirs. We really don't know.
Well, Sky won it over and is very attached to the stupid thing now. She even named it Peanut.

This is what we see every morning when we open our back door. It even tried to get into our house once. Ugh. But, yes, we are now feeding it and Sky is totally attached to it. I actually bought cat food at Target the other day. What does this mean???

Recently I tried my hand at cutting Ken's hair and here's how it turned out. A little too short but I'll know better for next time. Ken is a brave soul! We figured that during break, while he's not teaching a class, would be a good time to try.

Christmas Eve

Now that's cute!

We had such a nice Christmas this year! No one was sick (last year vomitting began on Christmas night) and the kids are at such a great age to enjoy the presents and the magic of the season while also understanding the true meaning of Jesus' birth. Thanks to many of you wonderful family for sending wonderful presents or money for us to buy great presents. There was sooooo much!

We've been trying to start some Christmas family traditions and we did something really fun this year that I think will be an annual tradition. I created a scavenger hunt (with clues) for each kid to find 1 present on Christmas Eve (we all helped Lila find her present!). The kids had so much fun figuring out the clues and finally finding their gift. Brad got that motorized quad (in the above picture) and he loves it.

We are really enjoying having Ken around more too as he gets to have 2 weeks off from work. We were able to enjoy a nice date lunch a few days before Christmas as some friends of ours watched the kids for free (except for Lila) and we used a gift card for the Cheesecake Factory and spent some time walking around the mall (I can't remember the last time I did that!). It's always such a treat to have alone time and the opportunity to finish conversations without interruptions!

Great Music

Recently our cd player and surround sound system went kaput. Since then we've been listening to music on our laptops via a website www.pandora.com which is totally free. You can click on one of their genres (their contemporary Christian genre is especially good) or you can create your own station centered around an artist or genre that you like. It's fun to have some music on while working on the computer! Hope you will enjoy it too!

A Very Busy Month!

Sky's class had the traditional Thanksgiving feast a few days before Thanksgiving. The students made Indians and Pilgrim costumes and were able to choose which one they wanted to wear for the feast. Sky and I made the stuffing for the feast. My mom and Bill attended the feast with Sky. While they were here, I was able to volunteer in Sky's classroom a bit because they babysat Brad and Lila. It was fun to be back in the classroom and also to get to know some of the other students in Sky's class.
Every month Sky's school focusses on a different character trait and compassion was the trait of the month for November. The teacher chooses a student that exemplifies this trait and that student gets to have a special reading time with the principal. Well, Sky was chosen for being compassionate and she received a very nice certificate as well. We are very proud of her!

My mom and Bill babysat Sky and Brad so that we could get together with our great friends from Cincinnati, Joyce and Gary Sallquist. They were vacationing in southern California and they came to our house for lunch one day and we went to their vacation home on Balboa Island one day (without Sky and Brad). It was such a treat to see them!

One night we made gingerbread houses. I think this is becoming a family tradition. It's so much fun and the houses come out so great that they make wonderful Christmas decorations.

Bill loves to plant and grow flowers so while he was here he worked on planting some flowers and sprucing up our yard for us. It looks so much prettier now!

Bill thought it was pretty cool to be able to plant flowers in late Nov./early Dec.

We usually have students here for Thanksgiving dinner but this year it seemed as if all the students I asked already had plans. My mom's husband's (Bill) birthday landed on Thanksgiving this year so we decided to go to Downtown Disney and have lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe. It was loads of fun and we even had a lava cake to celebrate Bill's birthday.

My mom and Bill at the amazing Leggo store in Downtown Disney.

The Christmas tree at Downtown Disney.

One day the kids and I were able to attend a Gymboree class for free through the Moms Club. They had so much fun that day!

Sky has been begging for a tire swing recently and Ken and I keep trying to explain to her that we don't have a suitable tree for it. Anyway, she was in her glory with this tire swing at Gymboree.

It has been a very busy month for the Ways! My mom and her husband Bill were here over a

2 1/2 week span and we had lots of fun with them! They came to help me out while Ken was gone to his annual SBL (Society of biblical literature) conference. This year the conference was held in New Orleans and Ken was able to try some alligator. He roomed with a good friend of ours from Cincinnati, Russ Mack (also a fellow Hebrew Union student). Lila was so cute when Ken returned home from being gone for 5 days. I think she really missed him and was so glad to see him.