Wren and Ever played in a piano recital.
Back at home, we tried to record Ever for Certificate of Merit (but never did it well enough, so Miss Amber ended up doing it during a lesson). This is a better, full view of the first song she played in the recital.
Ever helped me make some cute little jars for ministerees that contained ingredients/instructions for mint chocolate chip cookies. Since I am the most uncrafty lady, I thought they were pretty amazing.
Wrenzy had a class field trip to the art museum by the Dove Library in Carlsbad.
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| Wren = far left. |
They also went to Annie at the Star Theater in Oceanside.
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| Wrenzy = far right. |
Jim took Ever to Coronado really early on Saturday morning for the Coronado Cup (annual soccer tournament). The morning was rainy and windy and FREEZING, and the first game was a most miserable experience. Jim made it better by taking Ever for crepes and hot chocolate afterward.
On another Soccer Saturday, Tiny wore her hat in a very jaunty way.
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Wren's class had a PJ day before Christmas break. Wrenzy always refuses to dress up.
We invited Coach Kenny (the Scottish soccer coach who was staying with us) to the ward Christmas party, and he came! People were really nice to him, and he was so good about chatting with everyone.
Ever turned 12 on Sunday, the day after the Christmas party. I have no record of her birthday other than these photos of her opening presents in the morning.
Coach Kenny gave her a card and candy, which was so nice and thoughtful. The Scottish soccer coaches like to call their players "muppets." I don't totally understand what it means, but it seems to be a lovingly derogatory term.
An all-star team photo with Wrenzy and Coach Kenny.
We went to the Rondos' annual brinner/Christmas carol sing-along party. (Ever's in braids and plaid PJ pants in the middle. Tiny and Wren are in the back by the fireplace.)
Susan organized a little girls' night at Texas Roadhouse. The participants were Amelie Oddou, Alina Karner, Elle Oddou, Cora Sorenson, Tiny, and Wrenzy. My girls ate a bunch of rolls with honey butter and ordered baked potatoes with bacon for dinner, and they thought it was the best meal they'd ever had.
Dylan and Emalyn went to Leela's for a birthday party/sleepover. (Leela's birthday is the day after Ever's.) They planned to watch an inappropriate movie the night of the sleepover, so Ever was going to come home before that and sleep at home (also because we don't do sleepovers). But the movie was changed, and Ever was over so late that I ended up letting her just sleep there. Ever was shocked and ecstatic. They Twistered in the morning.
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| Ever's in the green and white shirt and black pants. |
Toots and Pops arrived! We made classic gingerbread houses using graham crackers.
Tiny had a hard time getting her house to stay up, so Tutu pitched in.
We enjoyed our caroling and reading and one-present-opening on Christmas Eve.
Christmas morning, we opened presents and had wonderful waffles, as always.
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We visited Grandpa Kringel at Heritage Hills.
Tutu and the girls and I made a trip to the mall. Sisters holding hands = my favorite.
All three girls had fun on the play equipment while Toots and I ran back into JC Penney.
We had to get Baskin Robbins for Toots.
No one in the world can eat an ice cream cone as slowly as Tiny.
We went to Candy Cane Lane in Poway. I had hoped that Toots would love the lights, but I don't think the experience was her favorite - maybe because it's so crowded. I didn't attempt to take any pictures but this one.
We went to Oceanside Harbor and walked down the pier. I couldn't get Wrenzy and Tiny to look at the camera at the same time.
On our way back, we came upon a group of elderly Asians doing choreographed dances at the end of the pier. I loved it so much. We had to watch for a while.
We did a turkey dinner for Christmas. Ever thoroughly enjoyed the leftovers.
We had a lovely visit to the botanic garden in Encinitas.
Tiny is always climbing.
These plant people were amazing. There were a number of them.
Wrenzy was obsessed with the plants. Like, all the plants. She hijacked my phone and took about 100 photos of the plants she liked (pretty much all of them) so that she could remember them for future acquisition. She took a close-up of the sign and then took a photo of the plant. She doesn't even eat bananas, but she desperately wanted a number of banana trees and was sure she would like their fruit. Here is a sample of her work:
There were lots of fun plants and pretty flowers.
The tree house is much fun.
We went looking for golf balls one afternoon/evening. Pod did some good bushwhacking and found a number of balls, which he took home with him. Jim helped the girls wash ours so they'd be ready to sell.
We went on a walk around Calavera.
The highlight of the outing for the girls was trying to climb up the side of the big drainage ditch. At first they were running down and then only making it a short distance up the other side. They kicked off shoes and kept trying, and eventually Ever made it up by stopping on a plate near the top and then carefully climbing up from there.
Then Wren made it. Ever tried to help her with the top section.
Coming down was difficult, and Jim went to spot/help.
Tiny finally made it to the top. She even ended up going up another spot to the left and not using the plate as a way station.
But then getting down was a problem, and the girls decided to go up the dirt bank. That was sketchy.
Jim went to assist. Note Tiny at the top of the ditch to the left of the big bush.
Jim followed Wren up, while Tiny made her own path to the left.
Eventually everyone made it safely up the bank, and we finished the hike.
New Year's Eve, we stayed up until midnight playing Phase 10.
