Seven and a Half

We have had such a busy week!  Addie and Will were with us through the weekend and we had a great time with them.  Seth and I took all 3 kids to the Children's Museum where they left no stone unturned, no corner unexplored.

Grocery shopping at the Children's Museum

The girls are repairing the car

Working on the farm

Then Granna and I took the kids to see Frozen II on Sunday night.  This was Evie's (and my) third time to see it.

I'm not sure if Will is trying to be Kristoff (the man) or Sven (the reindeer)

Then it was finally time for the cousins to part ways.  Evie had spent two days straight with them and we had to come home and get re-set for school to start again.  So we welcomed the first Sunday of Advent and also started our Christmas movie watching with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Monday, Evie was back to school.  I've learned that it was a bit of a bumpy week for her.  Her teacher told me when I picked her up yesterday that she's been having a lot of anxiety and getting upset at her fellow students for being loud even though the volume isn't as loud as it has been in the past.  I'm not sure if there's something else going on that Evie's not talking to us about (Seth and I both still wonder how much Grampa's death might be affecting her even though she doesn't talk about it much), or if it's just that she gets irritated and has a hard time tuning out unnecessary noise (because Seth and I certainly have those issues too).  I ordered her some noise-canceling headphones at her teacher's suggestion, and we talked about different ways to try to tune things out, take deep breaths and calm down, find quiet corners, etc.  We also have promised her that if she can make it for 7 of the next 10.5 days of school without a big incident and without driving her teacher crazy about the noise level, then we'll take her to do something fun.

Evie told me on Monday when the weather turned a little bit colder that she missed "the old good days".  I said, "Which were those?"  She said, "Spring."

Thursday night, we decorated our Christmas tree.  Evie was super into it this year and I was also impressed with how careful she was with everything, cautious about not breaking ornaments and putting them in places where the dogs wouldn't be tempted to get them.

She got so tickled with herself

My favorite moment of the year

We had a big event at our church tonight which I spearheaded and the kids seemed to have loved.  Last year, Evie and I went to a Las Posadas celebration at an Episcopal church and thought it was very fun, so this year we hosted it at our church.  The kids go around the sanctuary doors looking for a place for Mary and Joseph to stay, the congregation sings hymns, there's a little dialogue, some scripted and some improv, and they eventually find the manger.  Then we ate Mexican food and did crafts and piñatas.   Everyone seemed to love it and Evie definitely had a good time.  She also turned seven and a half today!  Where is the time going?!

Evie as Mary and Lydia as an angel

Sleeping beauty