Deich Christmas

Today we went to Uncle Tony and Aunt Rachel's house for Christmas! We had a great time; it was very relaxing and lots of yummy food!!!


Cousins! Simon, Kennedy, Kaylee, Sawyer, Cameron and Mason



Aunt Rachel helping Sawyer open his present from them. Sawyer and Mason both received a Green Bay Packer Pillow Pet from them! Uncle Ben and Aunt Holli got Sawyer a box set of Curious George books and Mason received a Thomas the Train book that makes sounds; both are huge hits already.



Mason proving the theory once again that really all you need to get a kid for Christmas is a box!



Sawyer giving Great-Grandma Deich a hug after saying Thank You for the iced animal crackers she gave him. Mason got goldfish from her.


Cameron and Mason playing trucks together.

Christmas Unit

We took the entire month of December to focus on Christmas for school. We did a lot of different things to keep everything fresh and interesting. We had our normal Advent calendar (see picture below), a Jesse Tree, our countdown list (where we did something each day; well was suppose to - I started slacking towards the end due to being so tired and exhausted with Carter getting bigger each day) and school projects.


Tracing Letters! (November 29th) I was really impressed with how well Sawyer traced these letters on his first try!


Hot Chocolate Day! (December 5th) Both Sawyer and Mason loved this and the marshmallows that went with it!



Colored Popcorn Day! (December 7th) How could you go wrong with Jell-O and popcorn mixed together?!!!



Hand print Sheep! (December 7th) We talked about how sheep where there the day Jesus was born. Sawyer really liked this because he was a lamb in one of his Christmas programs.




Root beer Float Day! (December 11th) Sawyer thought it was really cool how the root beer would fizz up to the top after pouring it over the ice cream! Alright I will admit I still think it's pretty cool too!



Practicing our Cutting Skills! (December 26th) Sawyer is doing better but when asked to cut along lines then he still needs help holding the paper.



Our Advent Calendar! Sawyer put all the pieces on by himself; I think he did a great job!



Our Jesse Tree! Each day we had a little devotional that took us from the very beginning of the Bible to when Jesus was born. We really enjoyed doing this. The one that Sawyer still talks about is the first day when God created the world. We will cover our eyes so that we see nothing and then uncover them to see all that God created!


Our completed Christmas Unit!!!


Focus Books:
"The Littlest Christmas Star" by Brandi Dougherty
"Christmas in the Manger" by Nola Buck and Felicia Bond
"The Crippled Lamb" by Max Lucado

Resources:
2 Teaching Mommies
www.1plus1plus1equals1.com
www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

Christmas Programs

Sawyer was in his first two Christmas programs this year! He did an incredible job memorizing all his lines and songs. He was able to say both of his parts completely while we practiced at home. He did get a little stage shy at the performances but he still did great!


This isn't the best picture but we did get it on video. This is the Christmas Program at Mie Mie's church on December 18th where he goes to Rainbows. He had to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Jesus Loves Me". He also was suppose to say "My name is Sawyer and Jesus Loves Me" but he got a little stage shy.



This was our "Nativity Celebration" that we had at our church on December 23rd. Sawyer was a Lamb and I was a Sheep (we were a little short handed on kids).



Sawyer saying his lines into the microphone along with the actions that we made up for him so that it would be easier for him to remember. He said "I'm just a little lamb, but I can plainly see, a King in the manger, born to set me Free!"



Sawyer holding up the letter "S" while the Christmas poem was read.


Sawyer holding his "Joy" sign while the song was being played.

D5 Christmas

Today we had our family Christmas and we woke up to SNOW! The boys were so excited that right after breakfast we headed outside to do some shoveling.






Since we had our family Christmas on a Thursday due to Tom's work schedule (Christmas is on Sunday) we decided to take advantage of going out to eat for lunch at a restaurant knowing that it wouldn't be busy. We went to the Log Cabin in Baraboo and it sure was YUMMY! We took the back country roads coming home and stopped alongside the road so that Daddy and Sawyer could look over the bank and check out the river.




Sawyer and Mason taking their picture together before we opened up our presents. I just love the brother bond that they have already built between each other.



Sawyer opening his present from his Rainbow teachers (Miss Donna and Miss Sherri). This is right at the moment where Sawyer turned to look at me and yelled with excitement "It's God!" when he saw that it was a Bible Story coloring book.



Sawyer also was able to "buy" presents at Rainbows to give to us for Christmas. Daddy got a ball (it was actually a round candle), I got green nail polish, Sawyer gave himself two bouncy balls, Mason received binoculars and Carter got a stuffed bear. Sawyer was very proud of the gifts he picked out for everyone.


One day while shopping at Kohl's with Mie Mie I was standing in line for the check-out and Mie Mie and Sawyer were bringing up the rear taking their time walking to the check out lane. I turned and noticed that they were looking at some jewelry when all of a sudden Sawyer comes running to me and says "Mommy these are for you for Christmas!" According to Mie Mie Sawyer stopped all on his own, picked out a pair of earrings and when Mie Mie asked him if he was going to wear earrings Sawyer replied with "No these are for Mommy" and then he took off running. How could I say no after he brought tears to my eyes. (Good thing they were on sale and we had a coupon!)



We ended the FUN day by playing with all our new toys/games. Here is Sawyer and Mason playing with the game "Trouble".

Schoessow Christmas

Today we celebrated our Schoessow Christmas at Aunt Toni's house! We sure did have a lot of fun and Aunt Toni had a lot of cool things planned for us to do!


Cousins with Mie Mie and Papa! Treyton, Alexa, Brenna, Mie Mie, Audrey, Papa, Mason, Sawyer, Ava and Emma.



Mason opening a gift from Mie Mie and Papa; he was pretty excited that he got a pig!



Sawyer's books from Mie Mie and Papa; I really don't think you could have found two books that fit Sawyer so well. He loves his Garbage and Recycle trucks!



Aunt Toni got all the kids bath bubbles from LUSH. Here they are all watching the ball turn into fizz in the water. Sawyer now request for Aunt Toni's bubbles whenever he takes a bath.


After all the gifts were opened, our bellies full of lasagna and balloons sent to Trent we headed off to Green Bay for a walk-through light show. It was really cool! There was a lot of people so to get to the beginning a school bus picked us up at the parking lot and took us to the front door. Sawyer loved riding the school bus and Mason sure did enjoy all the lights and the train set at the end.

D5 #9

Our D5 this time was a two day event! Our adventure was to pick out our Christmas tree and decorate the house for Jesus' birthday!!!


Our 2011 Family Christmas Tree from Miller Farms!


Everyone say "Cheese"!



Daddy cutting down the tree. Sawyer is holding Mason's hand to make sure he doesn't get to close so that he stays safe; he is such a good big brother.



Sawyer putting the Star on the top of our tree - reach Sawyer!



Mason sure does make an impressive supervisor. We did get him to help put a couple of ornaments on the tree though.



When we told Sawyer we were going to put our tree up he said "and the train!". Tom and I both looked at each other wondering if the other person had mentioned anything to him about the train around the tree; neither had. Sawyer remembered the train going around the tree by himself from the previous year. We are pretty impressed by his memory skills.

We celebrated all our hard work by getting pizza from Papa Murphy's!!!