Merry Christmas...

We're about halfway through he day...Lukie and Lex are busy playing...but here's a recap of the day for far...

Of course it starts with the tree...

Then Lex found her stocking and 'Swimmer' was there...apparently, Santa was at a recent hockey game in which Lex grew attached to a penguin, but through it over the glass as a donation to kids with cancer...

Lukie gets candy, a Legos kit and other small items from Santa...

Lex going through her stocking...

And then the chaos of opening gifts began...

Lukie enjoyed the headset for the playstation...

It gets fast and furious when opening...

Most pictures are a blur of arms moving...

Paper left behind are the remnants of what ever has just happened...

Lukie and Lex saved the last present for last...this one was for all three kids...

Then it was time to 'play' with some of the presents...her Lex is waiting patiently for a 'Hatchimal' to hatch...it was glowing and making noise...

Lukie got started with a Lego kit...

While waiting for the egg to hatch, Lex got started with a Lego kit of her own...

But then it started to hatch...

Then Lukie needed to start playing the Playstation...with his new headset...

And he definitely liked the new VR headset...

He was playing a game where he was flying an X-Wing from Star Wars...and loved it...Lex is still putting her Lego set together...

Off to Craig's house soon to continue the chaos...

Advent Calendars....

Lex was given an Lego advent calendar last year, but since it was the middle of December, I never gave it to her, I just stored it...then we saw a Lego Star Wars one on clearance for $7 at Target...we bought that and it was time for Lex to get hers...

And since we got the one for Luke...this has been their morning routine...

Lukie puts his together and then stores it back in the compartment it came in...

Lex has everything out and sets up a scene...

It is the first thing that they ask about in the morning...'can I open #....'

They ask, but they need to have breakfast, teeth brushed/flossed, dressed, etc. before they open it...

They are counting down the days...

Door Decorations...

We went to a hockey game this evening and before we left Delano, we had to stop at school and get some things...

Lukie and Lex liked my door decorations...Lukie had never seen this one (except in pictures), Lex and I stopped last year and she saw it...

A new one was put on this inside of my door this year...

And no...I'm not artistic enough to make it myself...another staff member makes them for me, I just keep them.  If she makes four more, I'll be able to rotate through them over the course of six years so that it'll appear new every year for our 7-12 high school...

Christmas Tree...

I guess the season is officially here...we got the tree...got it set up...and as of tonight, have hung the ornaments...

We got the tree Saturday morning (Luke and Lex were in charge of selecting the tree), we set it up Sunday and hung the lights...the lights have been moved since this picture yesterday...

Then tonight it was time to add the ornaments...and they probably went pretty heavy on the ornaments...

Both Lukie and Lex enjoy looking at ornaments their grandmother made for them and making sure they get on the tree.  Like this one that was made for Kieran (and Lukie and Lex both have one pretty similar)...

These are the ornaments that will be on their trees in some distant future...

Lukie found an 'old' ornament...from 1980...

And then the quest began to find the oldest one they could...Lex beat him with one from 1978 from my grandparents Mary Lou and Pete...

Then Lukie found a couple that were more recent...baby's first Christmas for Lukie and Kieran...they're on the tree...

But then Lukie won the 'oldest' ornament contest...one from 1977...

And then the tree was done...

We also set out their pictures and frames that each of them made while in 1st grade...it's going to be fun watching these as the years pass by...

What do we have!?!  Two weeks...

Delano Girls Hockey...

So yesterday (Saturday), Luke had a basketball tournament at Central, the plan all along was to go to the tournament games at 1:00, 2:00 and 3:00.  Then, I was given this by a group of hockey players...

Even with that, the plan was still to go to Lukie's basketball games (I go to a lot of hockey games anyway), but then Luke saw the card in the car Friday.  Paraphrasing, he said 'you should go, you'll be at all of the other games.'  Kieran said something similar in the spring of 2017 when I was asked to go to a choir concert...so I quick asked another parent if she could be a 'go to' person if Lukie would need it (and trust me, if I was there for three hours, he would've avoided me...except to ask for money, which I gave his some) and Lex and I were off to the game...

It was also game where girls team supported the Pinky Swear Foundation.  Donations are given and there is a 'teddy bear' throw after the first Delano goal.  Teddy Bears' are given children with cancer and donations are used by the foundation to help the families.

Lex was set...we had bought a penguin that she agreed to toss over the glass after the first goal...I asked her to not get used to it...

Well...near the end of the scoreless first period, I saw this...

She was making the 'heart' symbol to it and apparently named it 'Swimmer...'

I thought it would be interesting what she'd do when they scored...but, Swimmer went over the glass immediately...

You might be able to see it facedown, just to the right of Lex's hat...

As the team came out to sweep up the donations, Lex paid attention to where Swimmer was...she gave it up...it was a good day even though the Tigers lost 2-1...

Hoarfrost...

It's been a busy day and now Lex and I can finally settle down...but it began with a science lesson...

When we awoke...everything was covered in hoarfrost (yes, hoarfrost...not whorefrost)...

It looked like a winter wonderland.....

As Lukie, Lex and I discussed, hoarfrost forms under a specific set of conditions.

You need:
1.  sufficient water vapor in the lower atmosphere.
2.  cold temperatures.
3.  dew points at or below 32 degrees fahrenheit.
4.  little or know wind.

If you have those conditions, water will go directly from a gas to a solid, forming intricate patterns on every surface...

All you need to do is touch the object and the frost falls off...

We enjoyed it for the few hours it was around...

Lukie Basketball...

Yeah...the winter sports season has begun...not my favorite season (it lasts forever...)...

But, Lukie's excited to play basketball and after two practices, he had his first two games this past Saturday...

He's #44 and has a lot to learn about the game (I give him suggestions while we're at the gym and depending on his mood at the time, he accepts them or doesn't)...though the coach this year I think will really help (he immediately pulled to boys to the bench after they were getting 'chippy' with the other team's players to discuss the situation) considering he's coached at the varsity level.

This is not the best picture because I had to zoom in so much from across the gym, but apparently Lukie is in it for the friends...one of his good buddies is to his left wearing the pink socks...Lukie is not exactly paying attention to the action on the court (feet resting on a ball)...

But he's happy and looks forward to practice and games...he does like wearing that 'Raider' name on his jersey too...

Well...here we go...two games every Saturday until February and a practice or two every week...but he likes it...