Socks, Straws, and Crepe Paper

 One of the highlights of our cabin stay was a "Minute to Win it" competition Mom and Dad arranged for last night.

We started out knocking down water bottles with tennis balls in pantyhose attached to our heads.  It's tougher than it looks.

Daniel agreed to put the sock on his head, but decided that swinging it around was out of the question.

Uncle Sean rocked the "Straw and M&M" event, . . .

. . . then we threw crepe paper around the room as fast as we could (I even tossed a roll over the antler chandelier).

Ah, good times.

Woo hoo!!!

A Walk in the Woods

It hasn't snowed much in the local mountains lately.

A snow man was out of the question, but Anna and I managed to make a snow smurf yesterday (complete with acorn cap hat).

The weather was great for a walk, though.  We strolled along the stream . . .

. . . and threw a few rocks in (it's easier to achieve proper tossing form if you have a little parrot on your shoulder).

We found a pixie in a tree.

Beware - there are zombies and ogres in this forest, too.

Group photo!

Legos, Wheels, and a Foosball

We headed up to the cabin last night for a few relaxing days in the mountains.

Joy helped Daddy assemble a Lego Star Destroyer . . .

. . . and Daddy helped Joy get rolling on her new skates.

Anna went for a short hike, . . .

. . . then this evening the big kids teamed up with the uncles for a foosball game.

After it was over, Daniel decided to play a few solo rounds.  It takes a truly skilled player to defeat himself.

Christmas Gifts

Merry Christmas!

I'm pretty excited about my new camera (here's my first picture--kinda want to frame it, doncha?).

Phillip's excited about his new tire inflator.

Joy's excited about her new roller blades . . .

. . . and the Magic Tree House books we gave her.

Grandma thinks Todd's the best gift we received this year.  I have to agree.

California Snowballs on Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents' home this evening.

Mom's dining room table looked festive, as usual.

We sang a few carols with Phillip accompanying, . . .

. . . the kids played with Grandma's nativity set, . . .

 . . . and played Snowball Toss (the only way you can in Southern California - with felt snowballs).

"Nice toss!  Gimme five!"

Colors

We've been having fun with colors around here lately.

Daniel and Joy collaborated on an art project today: Daniel cracked nuts to eat, and Joy painted their shells.

Joy picked one of her colorful carrots to snack on . . .

. . . and was surprised to learn that the inside of a red carrot is still orange.

Nothing makes you feel more like a super hero than a colorful costume.

Colors are awesome!

Four Loves

These days . . .

. . . Joy loves reading . . .

. . . Daniel loves green smoothies . . .

. . . Anna loves playing with a couple of our ornaments (and drinking green smoothies, too) . . .

. . . and Todd loves sitting in his rocker looking cute.

Preschool Party

Daniel, Anna, Todd, and I attended Daniel's preschool Christmas party today.

Daniel and Anna cut out salt dough ornaments . . .

. . . and Daniel was really excited to sink his teeth into a doughnut--until he discovered that it was actually a sesame bagel.

Fortunately, he found a sweet concha in the buffet.  Yum.

The Hendrickson Boys

Daniel loves his little bro . . .

. . . and taking random photos with our camera.

Todd wore Daniel's painted bow tie onesie to church today, and looked pretty snappy, I must say.

Cuckoo and Goats

Joy's piano teacher holds "play parties" once a month during the school year.  They are casual recitals hosted at students' homes.

Joy's teacher, Mrs. Manners, introduced each student . . .

. . . then the student performed a number they had chosen and prepared beforehand.  Joy selected "Cuckoo," and did a good job with it.  After all the students had played, we adjourned to the kitchen for refreshments.

Occasionally the goats got into the house, which always livened things up.

Grandma's Memorial

My mom's dear mother passed away this month . . .

. . . so Todd and I traveled to Portland with my parents and brother Andrew for her memorial service.  It was wonderful to honor Grandma and hear about her rich life.

It was also great to spend time with my aunts, uncles, and Great Aunt Elizabeth (everyone lovingly called her "Naughty Betty" when I was a kid, and but she prefers "Elizabeth" now and I always have to remind myself that that is her real name).

On the way back to the airport, we stopped by Grandma's old house.  I visited it twice as a child, and I recall it being a place of good cheer and interesting new things to experience.  At winter time there were icicles on the eves, and Dad went ice fishing with Uncle John.  In summer I sampled rice candy (wrapped in paper you could eat!) and watched a spider fight with a wasp in Grandma's garden (I forget who won).  Any time of year, it was fun to see Grandma's little dachshunds, Heidi and Fritzy.  All these years later, dachshunds still make me think of her.

I love you, Grandma.  I'm sure you're excited to be in Heaven blessing others, since you loved to do that so much in this life.

Ornaments and Bubble Wrap

The kids and I decorated our Christmas tree last night.

We have a couple buckets of child-friendly ornaments the kids can hang on the lower branches . . .

. . . which is just as well, because by lunch today our tree looked like this.

Daniel was mainly interested in the bubble wrap some of the ornaments were packed in (and apparently he didn't want that documented).

He also took a few pictures while we decorated.  I think Daniel may have a career ahead of him photographing driver's license pictures at the DMV.

 Todd slept the whole time.  Thank you, Todd.