December 27, 2011

Tidings of Joy!

Merry Christmas!



Hoping you and your family has had a blessed Christmas!  We've been having fun, with all of us together.  There's nothing like having all three offspring boisterously singing in the back seat of the car on the way home from church!  



One of our traditions is that the kids get to open a gift from another sibling on the 23rd and 24th.  This lets them focus on their brother or sister instead of the exuberance of Christmas morning.    This year Chris chose to give Hannah a Lego Fire Truck set. A perfect match.  Chris is a mastermind Lego builder, having a good 15-16 years of Lego engineering.  Hannah is slightly obsessed about becoming a Firefighter when she grows up.

Hannah has played with Legos, but mostly free-form buildings and space ships.   There is a lot of fine motor skill required to build a set, and quite a bit of attention to follow the directions.  Chris did an outstanding job of mentoring her through the construction--just enough help so that she didn't get frustrated, but supporting and encouraging her as she wandered through the pile of 200+ tiny pieces.


Victory!



I know that Hannah would not have tolerated my help if Chris wasn't there (it's that teenager-independent-from-mom-thing).  Thank goodness for siblings!

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Kate has been busy documenting some NanTalk (since I seem never to write her silliness down these days). Here's a sampling:

Hannah discovers a cardboard cracker box in Kate's wastebasket as she's taking out the trash....

Hannah: "Kate? I found this, and you didn't finish it."                                               
Kate: "They're stale. That's why it's in the trash."
Hannah: "Dad! Look at this mistake of Kate's. She doesn't know how to recycle."
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(Antecedent information: Hannah is fixated on the Disney World Haunted Mansion--she's never been there, but she both loves and hates it.)
Kate, saying goodnight to Hannah at bedtime.
Hannah: "Kate? How do you think they made the Haunted Mansion?"
 Kate: "Well, I think they use robots and lights to make those scary things."
Hannah: "Like a blood-curdling ghost?"
 Kate: "Yes, but it's just pretend."
Hannah: "A pretend blood-curdling ghost?"
 Kate: "Yes."
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A joke:
What is red, wet, and lives in a jar?
Pickle-me-Elmo!!!

3 comments:

Sabrina Steyling said...

Merry Christmas! That Lego set Chris got for Hannah was a very cool gift; the finished product looks awesome! Hannah ought to be very proud of herself for putting it together because I know that I would NEVER have had the patience for 200+ pieces! I probably would have started it, gotten frustrated or tired, and put it aside for a couple of days before going near it again. ^_^

P.S. The Pickle-me-Elmo joke was great! :)

Becca said...

Wow, great job on the fire truck!! Love Hannah's jammies, btw. :-)

Susanna said...

Guffaws!! Hannah's humor always makes me laugh!!