christmas in oregon!

we spent Christmas in Oregon with all of my family. it was magical and busy and a little bit of kid chaos. coen's big santa gift was a kindle fire, and marin's was a wooden doll pram. having all the kids together was the bestest part of the whole holiday.

 

the BIG surprise!

since we had not planned to go home for christmas we decided to keep the last minute plans a big secret from coen. i did all the packing and prepping while he was at school or asleep and the morning we left we started giving him clues to guess his big surprise. we videoed the whole thing, and it was so cute and i will some day upload it for you. in the end it was really fun to surprise him, but i learned that he, like myself, is an anticipator and he would have loved the planning part too.

 

 

we left warm hawaiin and arrived in frozen oregon, but to a very warm welcome! 

 

before christmas happenings.

as you all know, we took a big surprise trip to the mainland for christmas. we didn't leave till a couple days before christmas, so we had a lot going on while we were secretly packing for the trip. here are the highlights.

 

 



one night when i went to check on c before i went to bed, he must have been doing some bible reading. love.

 

i sorted the laundry, turned my back for 2 seconds and look what the monster Herself had done! 

big kid nutcracker date! coen kepts saying, "those ballet girls are just beautiful." 

beaching before we freeze!

c fell asleep beachside. NOT like him. turns out he had strep throat. POOR boy. he recovered just in time to preform in his school play and head off to the mainland. 

the original playgroup gang came over for a book exchange. 

so proud of this little donkey! he sounded out and wrote this note for his teacher ALL by himself :) 

moon garden farm school chritsmas play!

alright, so it is valentine's day and i am just now getting to the photos from moon garden farm school's christmas play. you are going to LOVE this post.

the class sang an array of christmas songs and then preformed the play, 'the friendly beast.' it is the nativity through the perspective of the animals. i found it fitting, since preschoolers are kind of like animals. coen was the donkey. (insert donkey jokes here.)

 

 

Jesus our brother, kind and good
Was humbly born in a stable rude
And the friendly beasts around Him stood
Jesus our brother, kind and good.

"I," said the donkey, shaggy and brown,
"I carried His mother up hill and down;
I carried her safely to Bethlehem town."
"I," said the donkey, shaggy and brown.

"I," said the cow, all white and red
"I gave Him my manger for a bed;
I gave Him my hay to pillow His head."
"I," said the cow, all white and red.

"I," said the sheep with curly horn,
"I gave Him my wool for His blanket warm;
He wore my coat on Christmas morn."
"I," said the sheep with curly horn.

"I," said the dove from the rafters high,
"Cooed Him to sleep that He should not cry;
We cooed Him to sleep, my mate and I."
"I," said the dove from the rafters high.

"I," said the camel, yellow and black,
"Over the desert, upon my back,
I brought Him a gift in the Wise Men's pack."
"I," said the camel, yellow and black.

Thus every beast by some good spell
In the stable dark was glad to tell
Of the gift he gave Emmanuel,
The gift he gave Emmanuel.

 

 

coen has a really magnificent voice. he kind of blew us away. after the performance the class exchanged gifts and their teacher, aunty mae had hand made each one them a super hero cape. apparently early in the school year they all gave themselves super hero powers, so aunty mae stitched their powers onto the backs of their capes. coen was lightening.

 

we absolutely love moon garden farm school. it is a perfect fit for coen and he has learned so much since being there. we will miss the farm very much next year, when C is off to kindergarten!