S'more from Christmas!

Ivan has been saying he wants to use "adult" plates (ie. breakable plates), then I saw the idea on pinterest to "print" onto plates with a jiffy marker and the oven, so that made me think of Christmas gifts, where possible.

I realized that I didn't get pics of my kids and their plates.  They decorated a plate on their own and also got a plate with their name and name meaning.  Imogen means "in the image of".

I commissioned Brian to help me on the Wallaces' plate because I knew they'd love it.  I love how his cartoon of them came out!

A few hands helped Isaac hold his "adult" plate for the picture.  Isaac means "laughter" which they had chosen as a name before his birth, not knowing that she would literally laugh her way through labor (and not because of any laughing gas either!)

Brian also got the kids "uncle Brian gifts".  Which was so cool.  They each got a card he made and lego figure grab bag.  Brian makes our kids cards all the time for their birthdays, and Valentines'.

We weren't the only ones creating for Christmas gifts.  Ivan made a calendar for us at school and wrote in cursive on the back!  He is loving learning cursive and we are truly thankful for that because he hated printing and that was a constant battle.

Dominique bought a heart for Ivan at the garage sale.  The joy and love they showed each other was amazing!  I wish I could capture it and dispense it for all the times they fight each other.  I also hope they will be close as teens.   I wouldn't doubt it, although I'm not counting on it either.  They do have a special bond.

The girls got some hair clips they were quite excited about, so day 1 at home, they opened them up and put them all in!  Oh yes, so pretty, the more the merrier, is the way it works in their books.

Part of the reason the idea of the plates caught my eye is because Nana has a plate displayed in her house by the front door, that Brian had drawn when he was in kindergarten or maybe grade one.  So I knew she's love having a plate decorated by her grand kids too.They put a lot of care and attention in each of their drawings.  It was fun to watch.

Can we say SPOILED!

Not just them, I'm spoiled too.  I got several dance workout games as did the kids.  Here we were doing Just dance kids.  So fun!

I missed getting a pic of mom and dad with their plate- so they got this pic for me!  It's our family tree thus far with Ian and Ruth carved into the trunk.  There are three branches off the main trunk with their 3 kids' names and then branches off those with grand kids.  Brian's name is on the tire swing (which he calls a noose and it's not a noose!), John's is on the kite and Andrea's on the bird- cause she had to fly in to be a part of this mayhem!

Tomorrow is Nana and Papa's last day here.  They are planning to get the kids from school and take them to donuts.  The story on that is that 2 years ago, when they came, they'd pick Ivan up from school and take him for a donut.  Dominique not only remembered that, but mentioned that she was SO excited because now she is in school and Nana and Papa will be able to pick her up from school and take her.  So that's the long awaited for plan.  I guess I'm making them carrot sticks for supper to round out the calories (ha ha, just kidding!)

On another note, I got to do zumba 2 days in a row with some amazing people and I feel like a million dollars!  I don't know why I don't just make the time to exercise regularly, because my highs off them are really high and I even have tons of energy later.  I'm hoping I can keep it up- so thankful for the SCC making this happen so that I have 6 weeks of classes to look forward to!