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| Meeting Clifford the Big Red Dog at the elementary school book fair. (12/3/19) |
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| Thinking very hard about how many counting bears are in the jar. (12/3/19) |
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| Calling home from Chicago to talk to Elaine... and be shown lots of things by Wesley. (12/5/19) |
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| Family Day at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. (12/7/19) |
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| Powerful works of art. (12/7/19) |
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| An acapella rendition of "Lean on Me" at the Roosevelt Middle School Orchestra/Choir Concert. (12/11/19) |
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| The gym bleachers at
the concert were very crowded, and the concert was very long... but the
acapella performance was very beautiful. (12/11/19) |
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| Watching a new Christmas classic -- Noelle. (12/13/19) |
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| What better way to start a Saturday morning than with a little gymnastics? (12/14/19) |
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| Harmony Roadhouse Christmas recital. (12/15/19) |
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| Patient in the pews. (12/15/19) |
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| Wesley invents a
game where he shuts himself in a dark closet, assembles an outfit by
touch, and then comes out wearing it. (12/18/19) |
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| Saying, "Hey, dude," to his reflection in the glass door, and then, "Hello, I'm Grandpa Ralph!" (12/18/19) |
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| Making paper chains together. (12/21/19) |
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| So festive. (12/21/19) |
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| An elf in the wrapping department. (12/21/19) |
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| A giant snowball. Apparently. (12/21/19) |
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| Jumping into a snowdrift. Made of blankets. (12/21/19) |
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| An elf in the baking department. (12/21/19) |
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| Ready to watch Beauty & the Beast at the Actors Cabaret. (12/21/19) |
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| At the end, Elaine
went up to congratulate their friend who played Chip, and Wesley
continued trying to play Rock/Paper/Scissors. (12/21/19) |
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| Christmas coloring on the floor. (12/22/19) |
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| Taking a break from coloring to theorize about what's in his presents. (12/22/19) |
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| Threading popcorn and cranberries into a chain. (12/23/19) |
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| Slow, meditative work. (12/23/19) |
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| A festive snack for the birds and squirrels. (12/23/19) |
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| The different styles of playing Bananagrams -- serious and... icerat. (12/23/19) |
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| Last minute present wrapping. (12/24/19) |
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| Time to make cookies. (12/24/19) |
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| Gingerbread cookies. (12/24/19) |
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| And now for gingerbread houses. (12/24/19) |
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| The extra candy from the houses can help decorate the cookies from before. (12/24/19) |
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| A lovely little gingerbread village. (12/24/19) |
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| It turns out that Elaine is very fast at Bananagrams. (12/24/19) |
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| Reading The Night Before Christmas. With a dinosaur. The dinosaur insisted on being included. (12/24/19) |
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| They each wrote a letter to Santa. Wesley's is mostly stickers. (12/24/19) |
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| You'd think they'd go to bed so Santa could come... but instead, this. (12/24/19) |
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| Patiently waiting for hours, Wesley quietly read cookbooks on the floor until the rest of us woke up. (12/25/19) |
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| Wesley thinks that
Santa's elves should do a better job of wrapping presents next year, as
he found a corner where the paper doesn't quite line up, and he can see
what's underneath. (12/25/19) |
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| Troves of delight. (12/25/19) |
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| As
soon as we agreed it was time to open presents, Wesley INSTANTLY
unwrapped his biggest one. It wasn't at all what he expected, but
he was very pleasantly surprised. (12/25/19) |
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| Wesley ripped his presents open; Elaine was more methodical. (12/25/19) |
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| Half of the fun is
watching everyone else open their presents -- especially since some of
them had been wrapped in creative ways. (12/25/19) |
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| So many treasures -- piles of books, rainbow suspenders, and a ball that lights up when it spins. (12/25/19) |
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| Quietly reading their new books and playing with their new toys. (12/25/19) |
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| How to spend the weird days between Christmas and New Years? Riding bikes and decorating cookies. This cookie the Doctor... somehow brutally murdered by a pile of sonic screwdrivers. (12/26&28/19) |
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| Getting ready to ride into a new year. (12/27/19) |
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| The kids made pizza from scratch. It turned out kind of weird, but also weirdly delicious. (12/30/19) |
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| Looking at the pictures of themselves on Christmas. (12/30/19) |
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| A lovely tableau, ripe and ready for... DESTRUCTION! (12/31/19) |
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| Punching and chomping houses. (12/31/19) |
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| Cookie carnage. (12/31/19) |
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