St. Nicholas Day!

Our 2008 Christmas tree: I didn't even try directing the kids' decorating of it to space the ornaments evenly. :) The kids had a great time on their own organizing them onto different branches: the silver hearts on one, the balls on another, etc. We had a great time! (We also liked the height a couple boxes as a base gives the tree!)















In our family, we enjoy celebrating our German heritage by participating in St. Nicholas Day, in which each family member puts out a shoe, and St. Nicholas comes during the night to fill it with treats. It started in my family, continued between Josh and I during our freshman year, while he served his mission, while courting, and on through married life, and our kids are quite happy to continue celebrating it.
Of special mention this year, is the fish tank which St. Nicholas brought to us! (Not usual, but timely with the generosity of our friends the Webers.) It is a 30 gallon tank that he retrieved for us from our friends house, complete with 5 fish!
St. Nicholas also left some cash to buy a new fish for each of the kids, and we went out this morning to pick them. The final picks were
Cremecicle lyretail molly, a.k.a. Sissy. (This was Anna's pick.)
Silver molly, a.k.a. Melanie (Betcha can't guess whose fish this is!)
Sunset Fire Wag Platy, a.k.a. 'Oof-'Oof. (This is Jonathan's fish, and on the ride home, this is what Anna got out of him to name his fish.)
We also already had 3 pristella tetras
1 neon rosy barb
and an unidentified silver fish with a faint neon blue and black strip the length of it.

White taking a game break tonight, Josh and I discovered the wonders of the aquarium and our full-spectrum lightbulbs. Don't get sick...
The effect is much more spectacular in person, but it is pretty neat to see all of the colors of the rainbow in the shape of your lightbulbs!













For Family Home Evening tonight, we made "ornaments" out of popcorn balls, frosting, candy canes, and m&ms (idea courtesy of Family Fun magazine) to give to friends and neighbors. Everyone had a blast and they turned out great.









And in closing a couple stories from a week ago.

We came in from taking Anna to the school bus for preschool, I made PB and honey sandwiches for Melanie and Jonathan on the counter in the kitchen. I put them on plates, turned my back for a second, and soon found Jonathan on the floor with his sandwich, devouring it! Well, I guess he was hungry, but normally I opt for a bib! He was blissfully happy though.


















Melanie and Mommy had block time together while Jonathan was sleeping, and she had a great time with a mom who shouldn't play with blocks for that long a time... But she loved the end result. :) I should've studied architecture. :)