November and December in review

I just downloaded the photos from my camera (I know, so old-fashioned to be using a camera and not just a smartphone) and realized I haven't shared anything since Henry's birthday in mid-November. So, here are a few highlights.

 Well, this wasn't a highlight. This was a major project. We had our main waterline replaced. The city will maintain the water lines to the meter box and then you are responsible for the line from there to the house. Unlike many houses (short connection to the front yard), our line goes out the back and across the whole backyard and under our stone wall. The plumber was able to do it without damaging the stone wall, but in the end he just dug through the lawn and the sprinklers and everything. We knew it was starting to leak, and when the plumber connected the line, he said we were catching it just before it broke completely and flooded the basement. We will deal with the repairs to the yard after the snow melts.

Henry turned 4 in November. He got a green Lego cake. He loves Legos. When he refused to do something, I said, "I will take away your Legos." He looked at me and said, "I go play with Andrew and Edward's Legos." Did I say he loves Legos? He builds amazing creations (spaceships, houses, cars, and so on) that are all perfectly symmetrical.

 Edward turned 9 in December. He wanted a volcano cake. If you put the candles close together, they will start a roaring fire. It is impressive.

 Later that week, Edward got a friend birthday party. It was a "science" party. So we floated the "M"s off of "M&Ms," exploded Ivory soap in the microwave (only do a small piece of a bar unless you want your microwave really cleaned), did blobs in a bottle (lava lamps), made "elephant's toothpaste" or exploding hydrogen peroxide/yeast/dishsoap, and made slime. The elephant's toothpaste reaction turns into harmless stuff so they can play with it.

 The slime was very popular and they played with it for days afterward.

 Of course, we also did a piñata. As you can see, this was before winter set in. We were still outside without coats in mid-December.

 This is one of the six pies I made for our ward Christmas party (two chocolate pecan, two blueberry apple, two caramel apple). Then I made another pie for us to eat--pear-pomegranate. So I made seven pies in 24 hours. It was quite a bit. The ward party had good food and a so-so program.

 Christmas morning we had a nice breakfast before opening any presents. We ate cinnamon twists and fruit.

 The children had a great time even if the number of presents was reduced from previous years. They each got a model to build with Kirk's help.

 Lucy made a cute car (Sally from Cars).

 Henry insisted on a fighter jet. He also insisted that it get put together on Christmas Day. He followed Kirk around all day until Kirk sat down and constructed it.

Kirk got a model of the Chilean ship Esmeralda. Edward is working on a Star Wars space ship and Andrew is putting together the Wright Brothers' Flyer. They spent many, many hours over the break working on their models. They made good progress, but aren't done. Kirk has been painting incredibly tiny parts on the boat. Andrew has been stringing rigging and Edward has been gluing his star ship together. So, we had a quiet holiday, especially since the weather got cold and we got a lot of snow.