Angels, Shepherds, and Cleaner Uppers

We had a fun time at the Christmas party at church last night.

All the kids dressed up as angels and shepherds, and sang "Away In a Manger."

Here's Anna the angel, getting ready to go on stage.

Afterward, Daddy helped take the decorations down . . .

. . . and the big kids followed his example by helping clean up chairs.

Then they hitched a ride on the push broom.

"In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun."

Tide Pools

Exploring tide pools has been on my bucket list for years . . .

. . . and today we finally decided to take a family drive out to Leo Carrillo State Beach.  At first I was kind of disappointed to see what looked like fifty square yards of boring rocks on a beach . . .

. . . but on closer inspection we found that the little puddles caught between the rocks were full of surprises.  We saw tiny fish, hermit crabs with shells in a variety of shapes, sea slugs in several different colors, and even a little starfish.  Joy asked if we could take a hermit crab home, and I reminded her that one had clamped onto Papa's tongue when he was a kid.  She promptly dropped the subject.

We explored the tide pools for a while, then the big kids went climbing on the rocks . . .

. . . while Todd toddled around with Daddy then sat on the beach tossing sand around.

We all had a great time--until Daniel slipped on a rock and fell in the water.  Fortunately it was a shallow spot, but he was soaked through and rather chilly . . . 

. . . so it was time to head home.

The Happy Girl Club

Joy and Anna have decided to found The Happy Girl Club.

The "clubhouse" is in Joy's top bunk, with her blue snake peeking over the top of the blinds to guard against trespassers.

The girls made some Happy Girl Club signs yesterday.  I'm not exactly sure what the club does, but I'm glad they're happy.

When they were making the signs, Todd felt inspired to create some artwork, too.

I guess you could say he has a taste for art.

Grateful Turkeys

Anna and Daniel both made paper turkeys at school recently, and listed some things they're grateful for on the tail feathers.

Anna is grateful for home, family, Dad, and Sister.

Daniel is thankful for his family, the beach, balls, and the park.

Since I was taking pictures of the kids, Anna asked if she could snap one of me, too (holding a kitty magnet, for some reason).  I'm grateful that my kids are thankful for our family, and I'm grateful for God's love for us and every single person on this Earth.

Lots to Be Thankful For

Hooray, hooray, it's Thanksgiving Day!  We Hendricksons have a lot to be thankful for this year.  We're all healthy, Daddy successfully defended his dissertation this month, and he has accepted a great job at Northrop Grumman which we're all excited about.

At my parents' home today there were a lot of chefs in the kitchen, as Mother would say.  While I love to cook new recipes, I find it very comforting to see the same family Thanksgiving standbys year after year: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, Mom's Fall Salad, rolls, and strawberry jam.  Dessert is usually a few kinds of pie, but this year we had apple crisp, pumpkin pie bites, chocolate sheet cake (because this morning Joy begged me to let her bake something to contribute), and a box of assorted See's Candy ('cuz you gotta take your vitamin See's regularly).  The apple crisp and See's were my favorites--I must remember that for next year.

Uncle Nile brought the turkey this year, and did a good job preparing it.  If you've ever tried to cook turkey, you know that it feels like a small miracle if the bird turns out well.

While most of the adults were bustling around the kitchen, Papa opened a marble track set to keep the kids occupied.  The original plan was to let the kids unleash their creativity and design their own track, but Papa couldn't resist adding a few ideas of his own.  After all, papas are really big kids at heart, right?

Anna also played Dinosaur Legos with Cousin Ethan.  The game basically involved the allosaurus repeatedly attacking the Lego people, who fled for their lives.  The Lego people always escaped, for which I was grateful (being a fellow non-reptilian biped, after all), but I confess I feel some sympathy for the dinosaur.  What a bummer to go hungry on Thanksgiving Day.  Perhaps we should have offered him some turkey.

Scooting and Skating

Thanksgiving Break continues.

This morning, the kids and I decided to stroll, scoot, and skate to the library. 

After months of strictly riding her scooter, Joy opted to strap on her rollerblades today.  She was a little unsteady at first, but she soon got back into the skating groove.

We arrived to find the library closed for the day, so we played around the big tree instead (Joy had brought some shoes to change into).

At one point, Anna twirled around to transform into a superhero named Word Girl.

Ta da!!!

Sharks and the Space Shuttle

The kids are off school this week . . .

. . . so we paid another visit to the California Science Center (with Daddy this time).

My favorite part was seeing the Space Shuttle Endeavor.  It was amazing to get up close to that enormous, incredible shuttle, and learn all sorts of interesting things about it.  The kids were ready to move on after a few minutes, but Phillip and I could have happily poked around that exhibit for an hour.  I still vividly remember seeing the shuttle flying over our town on the back of a 747 on its way to the Science Center three years ago.

Another favorite exhibit was the giant aquarium.  The kids were particularly intrigued by the eel and the sharks, and it was fun to watch those creatures swim over us as we stood in the transparent tunnel.

Joy and Anna also loved pretending to cook in one of the Discovery Rooms.  Like mother like daughters.  Meanwhile, Phillip took the boys outside to an exhibit that sprays water everywhere.  To each their own.