For our 14th year of dressing up for Halloween, we chose a theme that is ideal for a group of 4:
The Four Seasons.
This is now our 14th year of dressing in costumes together. Our theme this year was "The Four Seasons" with Amara dressed as "Spring" (a butterfly), Jason dressed as "Summer" (a surfer), Felicia dressed as "Autumn" (a tree) and Blaine dressed as "Winter" (a snowman).
As always, all our costumers are completely homemade. Felicia sewed Amara's black shirt and leggings. Blaine constructed the butterfly wings using wire which Felicia covered in fabric. Notice how there are actually fore and hind wings (top and bottom). We then decorated the front and back with fabric and paint, constructed a harness from a deconstructed backpack and attached the wings. The wings were attached so that they could actually pivot back and forth like real wings.
Jason's shirt was sewn by Felicia using a shark-pattern fabric and matching fish buttons. Blaine constructed the surfboard using a foam core surrounded by cardboard, and added a tail fin to the bottom. The board was primed, then spray-painted yellow and finally the shades of blue and black were added. After all that dried, a final layer of urethane was applied to give it a nice glossy sheen.
Felicia sewed her vintage dress with a yoke and large scooping sleeves which were lined with a satin fabric. The dress was then decorated with strands of fall leaves. Felicia also constructed a headpiece with several additional leaves to complete the look.
Blaine's snowman costume started as embroidery hoops which were linked by curved wire. Additional wires were added to complete the shape. On top of that, he added felt around any wire ends and added two layers of batting with hot glue. Felicia sewed a couple of cylinders made out of fleece fabric with drawstrings on top and bottom. These were cinched up to cover each of the snowballs. The final details were a set of 3 large black buttons, a nose out of orange posterboard, a hat with added ribbon and winter berries and finally mittens and a scarf sewn by Felicia.
We won several individual prizes and as well as a prize for our group theme. Apart from that, it was just a lot of fun parading around and seeing people react. It was always fun when people finally put the puzzle together and figured out our theme.
It is that time of year when the 4th graders study the California missions and create a Mission Project of one of the 21 missions.
Our annual Christmas puzzle is available now. It's a fun maze in the shape of a snowflake.
As in prior years, the reward for solving is a video Christmas card, but you'll need to figure out the password by solving the puzzle.
To safely view the Transit of Venus, we set up a pair of binoculars and projected the image of the sun onto a flat surface. It was really exciting to see the image of the sun with a tiny black dot which was the planet Venus.
Christmas Day was started with everyone in their Christmas pajamas. First came the stockings which were overflowing with gifts from "Santa." Then we had a breakfast of homemade banana chocolate chip muffins, omelets, waffles, sausage and scrambled eggs.
Click the image to the left to see a smattering of photos we took on Thanksgiving Day. Dinner was at Mum and Dad's house and everyone brought something to enjoy; there was lots of scrumptious food! After dinner we had fun playing games (Blokus, Cribbage and Mille Bornes) and later on Hisae taught us how to fold our paper napkins into origami creations.
This is the second year that Alpine Meadows Ski Resort has opened up a tubing area called "Tubeville" just beyond the lodge. The tubing course consists of two steep, long lanes, each with a couple humps and a big half-pipe at the end. There's a moving "magic carpet" escalator to get you to the top of the hill and then a quick, fast ride down to the bottom.
Tanya came out to visit with the twins, Sydney and Sara. Obviously the kids had a great time playing with their cousins in the pool with lots of jumping, splashing, spinning and other water fun.
Rosemary, along with her classmates Will and J.P., came up with the following French commercial as part of a French class assignment. They had to create a commercial for a product and tout the positive uses (along with things to avoid). This was filmed over a weekend and then edited together with sound effects, titles, etc.
As part of Teacher Appreciation week at school, Jason's 3rd Grade class made a video thank you letter for their teacher, Mr. Fisher. 
Each Christmas we pick a fun craft to do with the kids. This year we made little felt mice with candy cane tails and handed them out to family, friends and classmates.
