Professional Photos

 The wonderful Rhiannon Trask of Lollipop Photography did our photos yet again this year. Why am I leaned all the way over? 

This is the one we picked for the Christmas card: 

James is 8. He had a plaid sweater, too, but absolutely did not want to wear it. 

Leah is 3 and a half: 

And Amelie is 10. Sam bought her some fake frames so she wouldn't have a glare for the photos, but she could still wear glasses in them. 

For some reason, she likes this picture the best: 

Here's the link to last year: http://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2020/02/professional-photos.html 

Remote Learning Photo Catch Up

Here's an assortment of photos from learning at home from the first semester since the kids return (virtually) from their break tomorrow. There has been quite a lot of staring at screens. Look how long Amelie's hair is! 

Leah likes to see whatever's going on. 

I made James a letter board like the one they use in class. (Though he's a strong reader and I think he's basically done with it now.) 

Ipad plus beanbag equals second grade. 

Posture has been terrible. 

It looks like Amelie's doing Algebra in ST Math. 

Leah wanted to join in on her laptop: 

Amelie made a kiwi as an animal model out of things around the house. 

I have taken entirely too many embarrassing photos of zoom PE. As you can see, frequently other family members join in and Spark nearly always has to be put outside since the goings-on are just too exciting. Some of the workouts are hard - like this one where they had to get on and off the floor. 

Enough with the photos!

It appears James shares this sentiment as well. 

Leah is also hard at work.

We tried out having Amelie's class on the TV in an attempt to get her to focus on class and not click out of the app onto something else, but then we had to sneak around the corners of the room so we wouldn't be on the camera, too. Leah, again, wants in on the action. 

This was at school one day for one of the supply pick-ups. 

More zoom PE. They were supposed to hit the balls with rackets or sticks to practice striking. I believe Spark was put out immediately after this photo as well. 

Dentist

 I took the kids to the dentist for the first time since March 2020 - our dentist retired & the person who took over the practice was no longer covered by our insurance and then the pandemic hit and I drug my feet. And then when I finally decided on someone, it took a while for everyone to get in to see them. Leah and I had to wait in the waiting room while the big kids went back for their appointments. There was an area that I suspect might have had toys in the before times that was separate from the rest of the waiting room so we hung out back there and texted Nana Jana. 

Then finally it was Leah's turn. She enjoyed brushing the fake teeth. 

This was her second time at the dentist and once again she was an absolute champ. 

I didn't go back at all with James or Amelie and they had x-rays and cleanings and both got sealants, so it took them a while. James had 2 cavities and had to go back again to get them filled (Sam, too) but the rest of us were in the no-cavity club. One of my wisdom teeth is acting up and I'll get that pulled hopefully soon. 

Inspecting the toothbrush. 

She was quite pleased with it -- Winnie the Pooh. 

Apparently, James got to choose a prize after his fillings and while looking through them let the dentist know that, "Nothing in that box is worth getting a filling. Nothing." Bwahahaha.  

Christmas 2020

It's possible the Christmas letter reminded scores of folks to check the blog and here I am not making posts in a timely manner. Also! I published this last night, and it appeared to work fine on the desktop, but I was unable to see the photos on my phone. When I got back on this morning, there the pictures were on the desktop, but still not the phone. I'm not sure what the problem was, but I downloaded them all and re-uploaded them so hopefully you can see them. 

Sam's folks came on Christmas Eve with a bounty of gifts. It was so frigid all they could really do was take a quick picture and then leave, despite the festive outfits. 

The kids opened a special gift from them Christmas Eve night, which were wooden boxes that Papaw had made and Grandma Mary burned their names into, filled with treasures. 

We watched Christmas Eve service on the TV. The kids seemed marginally more interested than they are in the regular Sunday service on the TV. Maybe because we lit candles and sang carols and their dad was featured in a video, or perhaps because it was somewhat shorter. 

Sam's video: 

Spark was unbothered by the fuss and tree and surplus of gifts: 

Sam and I were up at least an hour and a half before the kids. 

Blurry family photo with the tripod and timer: 

Weren't they so patient? And didn't they get a truly ridiculous number of presents? The very large bag for Leah is just various stuffed animals that had been in storage in the basement since this summer. 

Leah's aunt and uncle in New Mexico sent this wonderfully large, soft elephant that she temporarily gave the unfortunate name of "Trump-o" to. You can see James is reading one of the books he got behind her. 

Amelie reading one of her book gifts in the middle of opening as well: 

Sam made cinnamon rolls and bacon for breakfast and we had Christmas Pizza for supper. (This reminds me that one year he accidentally put cumin instead of cinnamon in & then this year, I thought I'd grabbed the gold sprinkles to sprinkle on top of the gingerbread house but instead I had grabbed ... the oregano. I was able to blow most/all of the flakes off and didn't tell the kids, who didn't seem to notice.) 

We zoomed with my side of the family for Bingo in the afternoon: 

I found some sparklers from this summer and put them in the kids' stockings. They turned out to be a little bit of a dud but they enjoyed them nonetheless. 

I really should have taken a video of the kids opening their gifts - there was joyful shrieking for part of it, and I don't even remember which gift(s?) that all the commotion was over. They took quite a long time, as they wanted to stop and play and/or read everything as soon as it was unwrapped. 

Since I had to re-publish the post, I added two more pictures. One of Leah's gifts (I'm not sure who from - maybe Nana Jana?) was a snowman craft, which we made and hung up on the door. The kids got lots of art supplies and games, which we've been using on the break. Leah and I are the two most interested in the mosaic sticker puzzles, but there has been lots of Clue and Battleship and Sega Genesis mini.) 

And Amelie in her Christmas PJ's - this was back on "holiday sweater" day at school. 

Here's a link to 2019.