Kendama?

Can you figure out what is making this shadow??

See bottom of post to find out.

 

Kendama? Do you know what that is? Until last week I didn't.

That's when we were asked over to a friend's house to learn about this Japanese toy.

 

The kids got to learn from someone who could do quite a few impressive tricks ...

and he had some great ideas for how to help them learn and practice without getting frustrated.

 

'A' has informed me that he would like to find one of these in his Christmas stocking.

 

 

                                                         



                                                             Were you right?
                          Did you guess one boy and two birds?

School and Such

This is our third year using the Story of the World. 

After the fourth year we'll start back at the first volume and go through them again.

This first pass through (E aged 8-11yrs, A aged 6-9 yrs) is very broad stroke. Hopefully giving them some idea of great expanses of time, of repeating mistakes in history, of the commonality of people around the world, of feeling like the 'centre' of the world whereever you are.

The second time through, (E aged 12-15yrs, A aged 10-13) will be more detailed oriented.

 

Anyway, today we were talking about when the London fire of 1666.

It was suggested that they take some time to work on a 'project'.

They used Minecraft to create a London with crowded buildings that would easily spread fire and included a building with combustibles in the basement to increase the speed of the fire.



  

Well done boys.

  

This afternoon we had friends over to make gingerbread houses.

Another great holiday tradition.

E's Tuesday Meal

Using a new recipe E created a delicious dinner for us.

Tuna Flippers ... kind of like crab cakes but with mashed carrots, tuna, and lemon juice.

While he was cooking he asked me what I thought they would taste like with cheese and I told him there's only one way to find out. Add cheese!!

So he did ... and we loved them.

Little Bit of Christmas

All the requisite items were prepared for our Family Decorating Night.

We had chips, and cookies, and a homecooked meal first of course.

  

We have just a little bit of space this year but we are packing in as much Christmas spirit as we can.

 

We purchased one of those skinny trees so it would fit in the corner.

I looked when we were last in OTown but I couldn't find the tree topper. Sorry A.

 

I was able to find the Nutcrackers and the Advent Calendar.

 

Wherever we are for Christmas it feels just right after we've decorated.

Leafs

Why all the happy faces this a.m.?

  

They were at a Leafs game last night. We knew that the big guys were going but it wasn't until about 10 minutes before they left for the game that we were able to get tickets for the little guys too.



 

Not Decorating

The conversation went like this.

A: Can we put up the Christmas decorations tonight?

Grnny: Not tonight. I'm going to do that next week.

A: Oh. But those boxes over there have the decorations in them.

Grnny: Yes. I'm going to get to them next week not tonight.

A: But ... can I look in the boxes?
Grnny: Yes. But we're not going to decorate tonight.

A: Hm. O.k. But I can take them out and look at them?

Grnny: Sure. Then you'll know what I'll be dealing with next week.

A: Right. I'll just pile them here. Except maybe this one I'll put over here because it looks good here.

What about this one here Grnny?
Grnny: That looks great.

A: Well where should we put this next one? And this one?

And on and on ... until now there is a tree up and decorations everywhere!

 

And here's where E rests. Watching the hockey game. Wonder where he learned to do that?

 

Oh ... I see.

O Fun

How did I miss a chance to get a picture of the other cousin?
Sorry little A. I'll get you next time.

What a pleasure to see our chess club group.

 

Thursday

 We took an impromptu visit to the Ontario Science Centre on Thursday.
Right in the lobby there was a great area that we spent a load of time in.

  

This area here is supposed to be for kids aged 8 and under. And when we first entered I told E to lay-low and not draw any attention to himself. But it was a quiet mid-Thursday and nobody seemed to mind him in there. Which was a good thing because he was just itching to work the river/dam creation.

 

And when we knew that Granny was approaching the city we scooted him to be there when she arrived.

We'll be in the OTown area this week for another ortho appointment.



Update

Still doing our school thing.

 

One of the advantages of our smart tv is that I can pull up things on the laptop and it wirelessly sends it to the television so we can all see clearly.

Lucky lucky us got a visit from O-Town friends.

And Tuesday night is E cooking night. This week ... mozzarella sticks for an appetizer and then chicken in black beans, corn and salsa with peas.