Call Day #134, 12/12/12

What do they want first thing in the morning?  Chocolate from their advent calendars, of course.  But sometimes it's hard to get out.

 I don't know how but they managed to forget to do it yesterday, and Eleanor was excited to get TWO pieces today.

 Breakfast with a view.  A new house being built on the lot behind us.  Can I say how much I LOVE the entertainment it provides?

 Waiting in the van while Eleanor and Daddy run in to the post office.

 Yum!

 When Daddy doesn't have to go in til the afternoon, what do you do?  Go to Chick-Fil-A, of course!

 How I found Claire when I woke her.  She had gathered everything (nativity, step stool, etc) off the floor of her room and piled them all on her bed.

 Because they both slept in til 8:30 (That never happens, and on the same day too!!!), we did our craft tonight.  Claire pulls out the supplies.

 Dying rice in bags.

 Spreading it out to dry.

 Eleanor helps Claire by heating her food in the microwave.  Not a big deal that she can do it, but that she wanted to do it.  We're really trying to help Eleanor learn to look for ways to help others to keep her focus off of herself and always wanting her way, etc.

Filling up a jar with the rice.  It also has two little marbles in it to represent Mary and Joseph among all the other people crowded into Bethlehem to be counted in the census.  Then, you get to shake it around and find them. 

 Tonight we walked around to see the Christmas lights in the neighborhood.  We've been doing a lot of walks around nearby streets just because they have so much pent-up energy in the winter, but having the goal of finding lights made it even more fun.  These poses crack me up!

 Lights down low where they can see them up close.

 This was the place I thought they might most want to see, "the crown house."  We can see the lights from this from far away since it is way up on a hill, but they'd never seen the actual house so it was fun to find.

 In front of the Hyde Square Christmas tree, in the nearby roundabout.  Light hunting was a great end to the day!

Eleanor posing by her chart of good and bad marks.  She has been trying hard for the past week to get good marks for serving others and being respectful.  Today she had a lot more good marks than bad and has met the goal we set for her to earn back having Christmas lights hung on her bed frame (which is super cool when you're 4 years old!).  Proud of her efforts and happy we can return the fun lights!