The 4 Webbs are staying home this Christmas. After our adventurous trip for Thanksgiving to Missouri we are preparing for our epic Disney vacation and cruise in February. That means it's time get our financial house in order.
We bought a real tree because we plan to buy a fake one after Christmas during clearance time. We decorated inside really well, but didn't do much with our outside. Could be my laziness, but with the cold, wet weather I wasn't excited about hanging from my gutter to add lights. Maybe next year.
Our neighbors are becoming close friends quickly as we do life together in ways we've never experienced before. Kendra hangs out with Amber almost every day, our kids go in and out of each other's house as if they were family, and I am hanging out with Simba more regularly than any other guy in our world. Even Ouma is getting in on the neighbor time as they love her as much as we do.
Easton and Layla are still best friends after all of these almost 10 years. In six weeks we will be parents of two double-digit aged kids. They both have extra warm onesie pajamas they wear all weekend long and every night to bed. I like their willingness to be silly.
Layla performed at the "winter solstice" figure skating event. It's Washington so they can't bring themselves to call it Christmas, but we do what we can to spread Jesus to an overly politically correct metro area of Seattle.
Anyway, Layla skated with Ivy, who is a cute beginner. Layla skated circles around Layla while Ivy just moved around being cute. It was just a simple routine to have some fun together.
The bad part is that my video camera didn't work... again. It's so difficult to know if it is recording or not. The good part is that Ouma was here to cheer her on and congratulate her afterwards. Seeing this three-generation picture is heart-warming for me.
In the midst of our Ouma week, my uncle Wayne came through for a few days as he waits on work to be done towards his house building project. Wayne brought the most basic of all family traditions to our house: dominoes. Growing up i remember dominoes being played at every single family reunion and gathering other than funerals and weddings. Easton and Layla picked it up easily and we had a great time playing and learning together.
Easton sat with me at first and I showed him the ropes. After a game he was on his own and scoring points.
Layla is catching up to Easton quickly when it comes to math skills. She is showing great improvement in the key measurements for 4th grade.
Reading is the other common skill besides math that seems to get regular attention at home and school. Easton completed 12 of the Warriors books and Layla is working her way through them to catch up. He started reading the series first, but then it caught Layla's attention. Now they are both soaking in these books as fast as we can buy them. The third series is in the mail to us already.
I took the twins to my gym when they had a kids evening. We played badminton and basketball as well as running through obstacle courses together. They are getting the hang of it, but they don't have the deep love for it that Oupa does, yet. I'm proud of them for trying and improving little by little.
Easton spends every spare second with our neighbors Kain and Tashinga. They play legos and video games and nerf gun wars. I regularly say, "where are them boys?" and invariably they are playing together from house to house doing a great job of staying out of trouble. I'm happy for Easton to have buddies close by.
Layla is at the point of testing for her next level in figure skating. She is finally getting in the harness to train her jumps. It's a big transition from being on the ground to in the air. Her passion for skating is unwavering. I'm impressed with her continual improvement and we'll do our best to support her in her passion.
Ouma brought the advent calendar tree with her to give the twins a special treat every day. Easton is the first one awake as always. He heads downstairs and opens the door for the matching date to find a piece of candy. It's Ouma's way of sweetening every day of the month. That other paper calendar next to it with "60 days" on it is our count down to Disney! we're ready to start counting down the days. :)
See you soon!
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