Christmas 2010

Our last Christmas in Misawa. Here are A FEW pics of Elijah's gifts....he had a great Christmas!

Karate Kid collection (yep the originals) 1, 2 and 3!

Lego World Racer set....he loves putting these together

WWE wrestling ring

WWE wrestler action figures (not dolls -- he corrected me earlier)

Pirates of the Caribbean 1, 2 and 3

Computer to hook up to his keyboard....please notice me on the right hand said of the pic. By this time, Elijah had been opening gifts for at least an hour (I am not exaggerating). He hasn't caught onto the 'RIP OPEN YOUR GIFTS AS FAST AS POSSIBLE" thing yet.

Happy EARLY Birthday to Elijah!!!!

No, no , no you didn't miss his 9th birthday :) We celebrated early (Dec 28) because friends that he has celebrated his birthday with for 3 years are PCSing next week, so Elijah wanted to celebrate with them before they left. After gathering the gang, this is what we did:

Took or met all the kiddos at the Weasel's Den

I 'think' I got everyone in this shot????

Each child had a specific request about where they wanted pictures taken....hmmm those were the ones that made the final cut :)

Pizza making at home --the kids LOVED this part! I did too....SUPER cute!

Enjoyed their creations:)

He was a bit apprehensive about the sparkly, relighting candles. Yummy, Yummy Baskin Robins ice cream cake!

So my plan for his actual birthday is to make a football shaped cupcake cake for him to bring to his classroom.....cross your fingers that it works out well :) It's going to be hard to top last year's classroom birthday cake.

Christmas Cookie Factory

As noted before, Elijah enjoys cooking with me. Since we are officially on Christmas Break (woohooo) we rolled up our sleeves and started baking for our family and the neighbors.

This year we made cashew brittle and sugar cookies with sugar sprinkles, hazelnut and cinnamon sprinkles and decorations. We put each of the desserts in Christmas ziplock bags and placed them in Christmas canisters for our neighbors. My little elf, Elijah, always delivers them to everyone.

rolling out the sugar cookies.........also known as making a great, big, gigantic mess :)
taste testing the first batch.....he gave it one thumb up!
Sidenote: I think parchment paper was one of the BEST inventions ever! Sprinkles up front and hazelnut-cinnamon in the back.
Elijah took all the leftover sugar cookie dough, rolled it out, formed himself the largest cookie he could make and threw a ton of sugar AND sprinkles on top. He waited an extra long time (in kid time) for it to be done (8 whole minutes). He gave this one 2 thumbs up!

Hmmm what shall we bake next??? Any suggestions?

Elijah in school

Can you spot Elijah? He has on a Pokemon shirt and red pants (disclaimer: he picks out his clothes himself).

Click here!

We really like Sollars Elementary School!!!

TOO much of a good thing

Elijah L.O.V.E.S. boiled eggs! So tonight as I was cooking dinner he let me know that he was REALLY hungry and asked if he could have some boiled eggs to hold him over (sure....no problem I said)

He got the boiled eggs out of the fridge (I have to keep them on hand), peeled them and then proceeded to season them according to his 'liking'!

I was facing the stove and all I heard was, "Ooops". The poor kid grabbed the GARLIC SALT instead of the regular salt and POURED it on top. I told him that he used way too much and that he needed to rinse the eggs off under the faucet and start again........fearing that his beloved boiled eggs would go to waste his response was, "No Mom, it is okay..I like my eggs that way." After one bite this was his expression.........
Lesson Learned Today By Elijah: read the packaging very carefully and SPRINKLE not pour.

Making a Snoopy Gingerbread Doghouse

Elijah had a friend spend the night last night and they made a gingerbread doghouse. They ate more candy than they put on the doghouse......isn't that what it's all about anyway? :)

white icing came with the kit, but Elijah asked if we could use chocolatenbecause it kinda looks like dog poop.......oh boy!
I am pretty sure the gummy worms were holding the roof together....

Our trip to the Big Buddha

What an amazing site to see! We decided to go on a day road trip to Aomori, Japan to see the Big Buddha! NO --- we are NOT converting to Buddhism - we just wanted to see it for Pete's Sake! We still believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior!

Elijah decided to skip the raod trip to go to his friend's birthday party/sleepover. Oh, such tough decisions to make as an 8 year old!

That's a lot of arms!
Before you go into the Buddha, you are supposed to get those ladles, dip it in water and wash your hands. After you washed you hands, you are supposed to pour a bit of water into your hands, sip it and clean out your mouth.

I ♥ that this one was bundled up for the cold weather

The main attraction......(drum roll please)......The Big Buddha! Notice how high it is above the tree line. We went inside of it too.

Japanese Pagoda House