Fun at Morro Bay

Even when the water is cold, the kids will still get in to play


While out geocaching, we came upon an amazing smelling restaurant: Sylvester's Burgers in Los Osos.  We already had dinner plans, but the smell was so amazing we just had to try some of these garlic fries.  I'm pretty sure no one wanted to get close to us for the rest of the day with our garlic breath, but they were sure tasty.  We'll have to try their other food on a different trip up.

We got to decorate gingerbread houses, and since the weather was AMAZING this weekend, we did it outside!

Ethan had a hard time with the temptation to eat all the candy.  Most of it was old left overs I have kept in my freezer (saving for gingerbread houses) from Valentines, Easter, Halloween...I can't imagine it tasted that great, but he sure liked it.

I'm sure the employee's eyes went wide when they saw this whole group walk into Bali's.  

Brielle loves hanging out with the 'Big Girls'

Ethan was so worn out from other activities, he slept through the whole thing!

jump roping on the beach with kelp

Lots of time bulding with lincoln logs

Watching the waves crash

On the way home we drove through Solvang for some shopping, geocaching and a treat of aebleskivers 

Our Thankful Tree

Each day during the month of November we each write something we are thankful for on a leaf every morning.  

The big leaf on the tree gave the kids a special announcment.

We didn't tell anyone about this pregnancy right at the beginning, because we wanted to tell the kids first.  We also didn't want the kids to find out by us talking about it to others.  We knew once the kids knew, everyone else would find out, so we waited for our 8 week ultrasound to make sure we had a healthy baby with beating heart and less chance of miscarriage before having our kids announce our families.

This is where Brielle told the whole Finlay group while up at Morro Bay on Thanksgiving.  We were out looking for crabs under rocks.  She stood on top of a big rock and after James got everyone's attention she made the big announcement.

I actually found out I was pregnant the last time we were at Morro Bay a month earlier, so this is where I told James the news.  Fun thing living in California and having gorgeous places for sharing exciting news.

Extended Family Thanksgiving at Morro Bay

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Morro Bay.  We were able to fit 26 people into the Morro Bay house.  It was cozy, but good thing we all like each other!


The Finlay Family Group.  The parents, 5 kids, spouses and grandkids

Yummy Dinner

The 'Adult' Table

The 'Big Kid' Table

And the 'little kid' table

The whole group also made it on a hike up Blacks Peak for a great view of the ocean and Morro rock.

A wonderful group to have a holiday with

These 4 kids have 4 great grandparents still alive on their Finlay side that they get to know and spend time with.  I love that they are making memories with them.

Our Family with 'Grandma and Papa Finlay', 'Great Gram and Great Gramp', and 'Vov and Yogi'

Advent

Because of this big event, I've decided to cancel anything and everything I can. My (semi) organized preschool is being put off until January as my supplies are being packed away, but I did want to make sure I am doing at least one thing a day to focus my energy on the kids and making Christmas fun.

We did an advent activity calendar last year, but Brielle was too young to really understand the concept. This year though I think she is going to love it.

Here and Here are some great ideas for advent activities, or think of some of your own. My goal is to focus more on the real meaning of Christmas and time together than crafts (since I won't have supplies on hand for part of the month).

Our Plans: (subject to change)

1-W-Paper Chain Countdown with Advent Activities

2-Th-Paper Snowflakes

3-F-Candy Cane Cookies

4-Sa-go to Papa's Christmas Choir Concert as a Family

5-Su-make chex mix to eat while watching First Presidency Christmas Devotional

6-M-FHE-have hot chocolate with marshmallows

7-T-Christmas Ornaments

8-W-Activities from The Friend

9-Th-Star Watching

10-F-(Moving Day)-Have ice-cream floats (rootbeer for those that like it, but I'm thinking Strawberry lemonade would be tasty and more christmasy)

11-Sa-(Moving Day)-Ward Christmas Party

12-Su-Set up Christmas Tree (Finally!!) and attend the annual Brush Christmas Openhouse

13-M-FHE-Decorate Christmas Cookies-give some to a new neighbor

14-T-Read Christmas Stories

15-W-Write a letter to Santa

16-Th-Wrap Presents

17-F-Duarte Library Storytime-making gingerbread houses

18-Sa-Christmas Movie/Popcorn Night

19-Su-Make Christmas Cards

20-M-FHE Drive to see Christmas Lights

21-T-Arboretum

22-W-Indoor Snowman treat and Craft

23-Th-Road Trip

24-F-Christmas Eve at Grandma's House!

25-Sa-Christmas Day!

I was talking to Brielle about Christmas being a celebration of Christ's birth. She asked how old he is turning. I explained he lives in heaven, but I guess he is 2010? She wanted to know how old Heavenly Father is. Try explaining infinity to a 3 year old!

J for Jewels

This was another no-picture week.  I think I go in spurts.

This princess was SO excited for this week.  These jewel stickers were a big hit among all 4 kids.  (Brielle was sad she missed out being at school and now as these stickers on her christmas gift list.)

We focused a bit on gems and rocks, but most of our activities were using jewels.  Brielle laid out all her jewlery on the table one morning before she went to school and said the younger kids good use if for learning.

We used the jewels for counting, patterning, and as shown, making the letter Jj.

I is for Insect

We started the week making insect jars.  Ethan was very excited about catching different kinds.  Through the week he had a pill bug, a few ants, a cricket, a (dead) bee and some kind of slug.  There was a fly in the house that both the kids were trying to catch with their jars as it flew around.  It was pretty funny.


After reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar we worked on patterns with the food.  I've used these before when we studied bugs. I need to look up where I got them from.

These pictures are ones that my mom had for us when we were little.  There are all different kinds of insects to match, identify and learn more about

We made butterly life cycles with pasta

Used stamps to create the 3 parts of an insect.  Then the kids drew the 6 legs.

Did an experiement to attract ants.  I had them choose a food item they thought they ants would like.  Elise chose tomatoes, Ethan went with cheerios.  I put out corn syrup to make sure the ants came out.  The kids kept running out to see the ants coming to eat their food.

And we had lots insect snacks.  'Ants on a log', buttefly shaped lunches, and insect dessert (shown above) with chocolate pudding, crushed cookies and graham crackers and candy bugs.

AALAS Trip

James was able to go to the AALAS  (American Association of Laboratory Animal Scientists) conference in Minnesota at the beginning of November to present his research.  The picture above is his poster that explains what he was working on.

In addition to attending meetings at the conference, James was forced to eat some pretty incredible meals.  Rough life.

He also had a chance to do a little bit of geocaching.  One led him to the Mary Tyler Moore statue.