Compared to most people, we don't really have many Christmas parties to attend this year. Somewhat last minute, my extended Buursma side planned a party, but that's it as far as "extra" parties (aside from immediate families on Christmas Eve and Christmas). We don't have any work parties since Joe's employer doesn't have one and mine doesn't either for some reason (ha, kidding, I don't have a job). We only see my Buursma side once a year at the most, so it's always good to catch up. I do however, occasionally now see my cousin's wife, Carissa, at school from time to time. They have a son that is also in the Mandarin class at ZCS, so Layla and Gavin now know him which is fun. They think it's pretty cool at school to have so many cousins (2nd or 3rd or whatever they are) in the same class since there are so many sib sets in their class. They were very excited to get to hang out with Jake outside of school!
Not sure why Greta has one finger up--probably b/c sometimes to make her smile I say, "where's the camera?". Or she may still want people to think she's one since she enjoys being the baby :-).
I copied Joe's family's Thanksgiving Day game of doing a "cake walk" as an easy and active way to distribute gifts to the kids.
I seriously attempted like a dozen times to get a good pic of them smiling and Greta was the most cooperative. Gibs and Layla claimed they were trying, but for some reason neither could manage to put on a "normal" smile.
Layla and Gavin had their Jingle Jog today at school. Since I am new to this whole elementary school thing, I had no idea what that was, but was told that parents could come. ZCS I guess every year, has the kids run for a certain amount of time (I'm not really sure how long it was, Layla thought 11 minutes, but that may not be entirely accurate--somewhere close to that) through the gym and around the hall and then back through the gym, while being cheered on by parents/siblings/grandparents. They collect money from sponsors and the money then goes to their sister school in the Philippines. Parents and siblings are also welcome to run with them for some laps if they want to. All the kids wear Christmas apparel for the jog.
Since all the kids had Christmas shirts on today, it seemed like a perfect opportunity for a picture and it turned out to be MUCH more successful than my attempt last Friday night! Greta cracks me up recently with just how much she loves all things "pretty" as she says, especially wearing skirts. I took this skirt off of her for lunch and supper so that she wouldn't spill on it (since she now thinks she's too big to sit in her booster or high chair) and as soon as she's done eating, she wants it right back on.
