One foot in front of the other

We are just making progress in getting the house settled and getting used to everyday life. Adam's teacher is very nice and well-meaning, but she harps on how he is behind. Many kids are reading (these are 4 year olds mind you), and have started doing addition problems. So we have been doing homework every night and he is trying hard so that is encouraging. But he brought this paper home (sorry I can't figure out how to turn it and it is driving Dave crazy):

Good job Adam! Hopefully he will grow up to be a rocket scientist and we can keep this paper around to make him laugh. 

One of our Christmas traditions is to make from-scratch sugar cookies and icing to eat and hand out to neighbors (or should I say "neighbours"). We do this right before we decorate the tree. In case you haven't done this in awhile, it is messy and a lot of work. The boys really enjoy it though (although they eat half the dough). I also put way more effort into the taste rather than the appearance of the cookies.  Below are some of the finished products.

When Dave saw them he said, "Um, are you doing to apologize to the neighbors about how they look all crooked because the boys did them?" I was like, "Um, no! I was the one who cut them out and decorated them... the boys were long-gone from the kitchen at this point so it was all my work! Thanks dude." No cookies for him!

Working hard

And below is a picture of my little "no helper." She loves pulling everything out of the cabinets these days. At least it keeps her entertained!

Caught in the act!

One thing that has been neat for us here in school is that they really celebrate Christmas. They talk about it, decorate for it, and sing songs about it. It is not censored like it is in the States. And this isn't even a church of England school. However, because I am an American and friends with some people of other faiths, it makes me wonder how those people feel int his school when there is so much Christmas celebrating going on. Maybe they are able to be except from some of the festivities? Not sure how it all works.

Lastly, we are currently in the very dark days of winter. Sunrise is at about 8:00  and sunset at 3:45. Dave has done a good job of taking the boys out to see the bright stars at 4:30 or 5:00 here. We just have to be tough and make it through! December 21 begins the march to summertime!

Cheers!