Christmas Trees and Baby Chick

This evening our family took a little drive . . .

. . . back to the Washington DC Temple.  Daniel wanted to tour the Visitor Center after our photo shoot yesterday, but we didn't have time so we promised to come back today.

Here are Daniel and Anna showing off their "Junior Missionary" stickers in front of the Christus statue.  At the last moment, Joy decided she did NOT want to be in the photo, and tried to exit stage right.  I ultimately persuaded her to come back for a few more pictures, but I'll spare you the ironic photos of a sulky child named Joy.

The Visitor Center was decorated with several beautiful Christmas trees.  Is there such thing as a Christmas tree missionary in charge of decorating trees in visitor centers?  I could totally see my mom being called on a Christmas-tree-decorating mission someday.

One of trees had dolls representing different nations of the world.  It was fun to find the dolls for Uruguay, where I served my mission.

During our visit we were treated to a Christmas choir performance . . .

. . . and we got to see our friends the Leavitts, who happened to be at the Visitor Center at the same time we were.  I love calling their youngest daughter by her nickname: Baby Chick. :)

Portraits + Kids = The Usual Silliness

I've been wanting to take a new family portrait, and I decided that the Washington DC temple would be the perfect place to do it.  The grounds there are beautiful, but more importantly I wanted the temple in the picture to remind us that a family sealed together in the temple can be together in heaven if we live worthy of that blessing.

The temple posed nicely for the photo.  The kids . . . were kids.  When you ask kids to smile, some overdo it, some underdo it, and some just look at you weird.  We got every single one of those reactions in this picture, and it was the best shot we managed out of half a dozen.

We had better luck when we loosened up and tried something fun.  We told the kids where to stand, then told them we were going to kiss and they could react any way they wanted.  The temple picture is more traditional and symbolic, but this one is more natural and fun (plus, I got to smooch Phillip, which was a nice bonus).  We're not sure yet which picture we'll hang on our wall.

Maybe we should just use this one.

Service with a Spike

Three wards meet in our church building, and they take turns cleaning the church.  It was our congregation's turn this month, and today was the day for our family to help out.  We got a late start, but I was determined that we would still go and do our part to help clean the church.

We arrived to find that the other families had already finished cleaning, and had set up a volleyball net for a youth activity later that day, so we spent some time setting and spiking the ball to each other before we headed back home.  I guess we were blessed for trying.

Turkey, a Dance Pad, and a Dog

Happy Thanksgiving!

One of many things I'm grateful for is the slow cooker turkey breast recipe I found on the Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog.  Hooray for an easy, reliable turkey recipe!

Over lunch we played the Thanksgiving Alphabet game, then we took turns trying out a Stepmania dance pad Daddy recently bought for exercise (and fun, of course).

Our friends the Martins invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner.  We brought our turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and kale salad, while they provided the pies and rolls (Susann Martin loves to bake).  We had a nice time (and found two of Anna's beloved toys that have been missing for months), but somehow the only picture I took was of Phillip playing with the Martins' dog.

Pokemon at the Mall

The kids are off school for Thanksgiving break today.

They spent the morning reading . . .

. . . then Joy asked me to reinstall Pokemon Go on my phone.  She and Leila saw someone playing it the other day, and they wanted to hunt for Ratattas and Weedles around our neighborhood.

The kids kept looking for Pokemon when we went to the mall, and they caught several in Macy's.  They agreed to take turns--each time someone caught a creature, they handed the phone to someone else so they could search for Pokemon.  Todd's aim with Poke Balls is a little iffy, so when he found a Pokemon he asked Joy to help him catch it.

After we ran our errand, Todd and Anna played with real, live humans at the indoor playground . . .

. . . while Joy, Daniel, and their new Pokemon competed at a virtual gym nearby.  The big kids found the gym a little disappointing, possibly because they haven't leveled up any of their Pokemon enough to be serious contenders in a match.  All in all, it was kind of fun to find Pokemon today, but I was glad that when we got home the kids stopped playing with virtual creatures and went back to playing with each other.

Scooter Time

The big kids arrived home from school early today because it is parent-teacher conference week . . .

. . . so they bundled up to play with the neighbors and ride their scooters. 

Actually, technically, Todd doesn't scoot--he straddle walks.  Different strokes for different folks.

A Custom Sundae and Green Pizza Dough

For weeks, Todd has been asking me to take him to a pizzeria near our home.  Since he received some money for his birthday, we agreed that a pizza date would be a fun way to spend it.

Todd enjoyed sipping his cup of milk, but he didn't enjoy waiting a long, long time for his pizza.

To keep him occupied while his pizza cooked, the waiter gave Todd some green play dough which was basically pizza dough with food coloring added to it.  Todd wasn't very interested in playing with it himself, but he liked watching me shape some numbers with it . . .

. . . and write his name.

In the end, we agreed that the pizza wasn't that great, but Todd loved the complimentary birthday sundae.  The ice cream was yummy, and it came with little cups of toppings so he could customize his sundae.  His siblings were a bit jealous when they heard about it, even though we basically do that same thing at home every Sunday evening with twice as many toppings.  I guess things feel more glamorous when you're sitting in a restaurant and someone else is serving you.

Space Derby 2017

Every year, cub scout troops distribute little kits for making wooden "Pinewood Derby" cars and "Rain Gutter Regatta" boats.  This year was our first experience with a cub scout race I'd never even heard of before: The Space Derby.

Daddy and Daniel basically had to design and build a simple rocket with a rubber band-powered propeller.

Daniel's younger sister asked to take an Anna's-eye-view picture of the project . . .

. . . and a picture of herself, apparently.

Daniel is showing me his rocket-decorating handiwork (i.e. he chose which numbers to stick on the bottom) while he awaits his turn to race.  Joy apparently decided that shoes were optional for this pack meeting.

It's race time!  The boys wound up their propellers about fifty times, then suspended them from long strings and let the rockets go.

Daniel's rocket made it all the way to Venus!  NASA would be proud. :)

Todd Turns 4!

Our little Todd is . . .

. . . four years old today! 

For his birthday dessert, his big sister Joy helped him make gingerbread hearts.

She even decorated them with some of the candy corn she won at the Trunk or Treat a few days ago.

Just for fun, we put on glow-stick necklaces and bracelets, then turned the lights out while we sang Happy Birthday to Todd.

His birthday presents included a new set of colored pencils, an Elephant and Piggie book, and some Halloween candy from his generous siblings.

Happy Birthday, Todd!  We love your cheerful smile and your awesome math skillz!

Day of the Dead with Jacob Mehren

We celebrated our little Hendrickson version of Day of the Dead today.

At our home, that means I tell my kids about one or two of their ancestors while we enjoy our traditional Day of the Dead gingerbread skeletons.  'Cuz traditions are always more fun if yummy food is involved.

This year, I told the kids about Jacob Mehren, my mom's great-grandfather.  Jacob was born in 1857 to German immigrants who lived in Chicago.  He was an electrician and inventor who held nineteen U.S. patents, mostly for improvements he devised for the city's fire alarm system (Chicago hired him to manage it a few years after the famous fire destroyed about a third of the city).  Jacob spent a lot of time tinkering in his basement after work, often inviting his kids to work with him on his projects.

Here he is with his wife Elizabeth and their twelve children.  My mom's grandpa Clarence is the little boy in the dark suit on the front row.  As I've shared stories about our forebears with my kids these last few years, I've been deeply indebted to my dad, who compiled short biographies of numerous ancestors when I was young and shared them with our family.  I have about seven left that I haven't shared with my own kids yet.  I guess that means in seven years I'll need to either persuade my dad to write some more, or dust off my history major skills and learn how to create them myself.