Flint Hill Elementary School was having a holiday craft fair on December 6, so we took the girls to go check it out! The school is the elementary school that I attended growing up, so it was nostalgic to walk through its halls again, decades later and with my own young children. Our primary purpose of going was to see Santa Claus, since we had read that he was going to be making an appearance there, but sadly his visit had been cancelled. (This seems to happen often with us.) Mio was discouraged, but she got to enjoy some holiday crafting before we left:
Mio with an ornament she made.
She looks perplexed.
Decorating a pinecone ornament this time.
She was fascinated by all the older kids around her.
Carefully placing the pompoms…
“Where’s Santa? I need to tell him I want pink octopus for Christmas!”
Alas, visiting Santa would have to wait until another day…
It’s that time again… for one of our favorite holiday traditions: building and decorating the gingerbread house! I’m finding that it gets more and fun with every year, as Mio becomes more capable and involved in the decorating process… she placed a lot of the candy herself this year, and gave us some art direction! Mirei was asleep this year (probably for the better, since she probably would have tried to wreck our creation) but maybe next year she can help decorate, too!
Getting ready to start the gingerbread house! (Mirei asleep in the background)
I see you eyeing that candy, Mio…
Watching it all come together…
Mio placing the candy all over the house.
She loved being able to do a lot of it herself!
The completed gingerbread house – a collaboration between Mio, Dan and I. I love that it has character!
Mio admiring (read: drooling over) her creation.
In the days since, she’s been asking if she can break off a piece of candy off the house to eat almost daily. Eating it is part of the fun, too! π
See past years’ gingerbread houses: 2013 • 2012 • 2011
Thanksgiving is much anticipated in our household, and this year Dan took the reigns and handled most of the cooking, while I helped out here and there as sous chef. My mom didn’t have to lift a finger, and we got a delicious Thanksgiving dinner on the table for all to enjoy!
Our Thanksgiving dinner! And this doesn’t even include dessert…
The amazing spread
Mirei’s first Thanksgiving
Mio with Auntie Miwa on Thanksgiving
Mio with Daddy on Thanksgiving
post-Thanksgiving dinner selfies with Mio
I’m so thankful that these girls are healthy. That as a family, we laugh often. That despite all the ways I stumble along, they make me feel like I matter. That my husband is gentle, loving, and patient. That we have friends to love, who also care about us. That we have food on the table and a safe place to fall asleep each night. It makes me wonder how I’m worthy of so much. I still don’t have the answer, but oh, my heart could burst with gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
The leaves have been turning colors and falling to the ground, there’s a chill in the air… it’s definitely fall, and the girls have been reveling in it the past few weeks.
We realized that we have very few family photos of all four of us… so we set up the tripod and took a couple!
Mio helping us rake the leaves
Mirei watching from the window
Mio talking to Mirei from outside.
Making funny faces to make her little sister laugh…
Silly girl!
Temperatures are quickly dropping and as Thanksgiving nears, we’re definitely starting to experience more wintery weather!
Our local youth group organized a Halloween party and Trunk-or-Treat for the kids, so we took the girls to be a part of the fun on Halloween night! Dan decorated our trunk for Trunk-or-Treat, and was excited to show off his creation while handing out candy.
Our little Fit turned into a monster for the night!
Owin and the youth group leaders did such a great job of decorating!
Mio shouted “skeleton!” “ghost!” “bat!”, naming each decoration she spotted.
She REALLY wanted to go inside the “mystery room” that was locked up.
Peeking in.
Mirei was her typical exploring self, crawling everywhere.
Crawling and walking in the kitchen:
Mio participating in Trunk-or-Treat
Happy to get more candy!
Getting a photo with zombie hunter Owin
Mirei standing tall!
They had set up fun little games and activity stations outside.
Mio playing the fishbowl game.
Mirei crawling with baby Alex, who is a few months older than her.
My sweet little shrimp!
They had a photographer at the party, who took photos of everyone against a backdrop… Mio took full advantage — she kept going back in front of the camera, and even jumped in front of other people getting their photo taken and ruining their photos! She was so hyper at the party! (Special thanks to Yuseki Ota Photography for the pictures below.)
I realized that photos of the four of us are rare these days… so it was nice to get a family photo!
Showing off the girls’ sushi costumes
Posing like a pro in front of the camera!
There were a bajillion photos of her at the end…
She demanded, “Take a picture!” to the photographer. Little Miss Bossypants…
This might be my favorite!
A group photo with everyone who was in costume.
Thank you to Owin and all the other youth group members who did such an awesome job planning and organizing the Halloween party! Our whole family thoroughly enjoyed it — Mio didn’t go to sleep until 11pm that night because she was so excited from it.
