Playdate

Today the boys had a play date with their friends Logan and Caleb.

They ran around the house playing something called "Ambush" with their Nerf guns, and mostly played with their Nintendo DS games.

We also invited our neighbor over to play as well.

Yes. We had a play date with five boys.

Caleb and Logan ambushing each other


Casey and Tanner


Brett

Honoring Great-Grandma

The funeral for Great-Grandma Sylvia was held on Sunday afternoon. The day before, the family met with the rabbi and we reminisced about Great-Grandma so he could write a eulogy for her service.

We recalled how stylish she was and that she loved clothes and shopping for them. She had many pairs of matching shoes and purses. Dan's mother told about finding several pairs of turquoise pants in her closet when they moved her into her apartment at an assisted living facility.

So in honor of Great-Grandma, several of us wore turquoise to the funeral.

My niece, Sophie, and her turquoise turtleneck


Me and my sister-in-law Serena.
I was wearing turquoise earrings.


Dan, wearing his turquoise tie, and Brett


Grandma Harla and her turquoise earrings

For those of you who may not be aware, Dan's mother's side is Jewish and his dad's is Baptist. Although we celebrate a few of the Jewish holidays such as Passover and Hanukkah with Harla's relatives, I had never been to a Jewish funeral.

It was similar in many ways to a Christian funeral, with a few differences such as the family visitation, called Shiva, occurring after the funeral instead of before.

In this case, friends and relatives will gather at Harla's brother's home on the night of the funeral and for the next two nights as well.

On Sunday night, the cousins got a chance to play together, which was nice since they don't get to see each other a lot.

Casey read a book to one of his youngest cousins, Maia.


Casey, Brett and our youngest niece Maggie


Cousin McKenzie

Uncle David and his granddaughter Maia

Sleepover

Tonight Brett is going to his first sleepover. It's a birthday party for his friend Jack.

Before he left, he gave Casey a hug as he was worried about Casey sleeping in their room alone tonight.

Brett and Casey hugging it out


Brett and all his gear

Great-grandma Sylvia

Dan's grandmother, Sylvia, passed away this morning at the ripe old age of 94.

This is one of my favorite photos of her. It was taken on her 90th birthday when Brett was three or four.

She loved her great-grandchildren. We always had to caution her about not picking them up because they were too heavy for her, but she never listened. She really was the quintessential Jewish grandmother—always fussing over all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

She had a great sense of humor and a great heart. She will be sorely missed.

Martin Luther King

Apparently Brett's class has been talking a lot about Dr. King this week (or as Brett calls him "Martha Luten King").

For the past few days, he's been coming home and randomly dropping information on Dr. King and his vision.

Last night, he told me about how Dr. King "risked his life so he could die," and that Dr. King didn't think it was fair that only people with green eyes could join a club. He thought everyone should be able to join.

Tonight, just before bed, he let loose with a torrent of information about Dr. King and what he did for black people in America. He even had a story about Rosa Parks and her famous bus incident.

According to Brett, all the black people had to ride in the back of the bus, but this lady told them that she wasn't going to ride in the back and sat in the front one day. Because of this, people couldn't use bikes, buses or cars for 105 weeks.

Isn't it great that Brett and his classmates are learning about the important men in history?

Chores

Over the Christmas break, the boys began really showing an interest in doing chores to get an allowance.

After negotiating the allowance of $5 per week, (Casey thought $4 per day was fair), I assigned them a few chores and we made a chart for the refrigerator where we could keep track. I was especially impressed when they even made their beds, without being asked, on school days when it's really hard to get them out of bed.

Last Friday was the end of the first week, and the boys kept their end of the bargain.

Tonight, they received their first payment, and boy were they happy!

Pay day!

New Year's Eve

Tonight we all went over to the Avery's to celebrate New Year's Eve. I invited our friends, the Dillons, to join us, and we all had a blast.

Chris manning the margarita machine


Ford and Suzanne

Aunt Charlotte ventured out into the cold, cold night and shot off fireworks for the kids. Since it was too cold for them to go outside, they watched through the window.

Missy and the kids enjoying the fireworks


A pre-midnight Hot Damn salute


The kids whooping it up


The Tiki Party girls
Janette, me, Missy and Beckie


The Tiki Party guys
Dan, Mike and Captain Don


Beckie and Captain Don make the mimosas for midnight


Happy New Year!