Ellie has been busy with science kits [VIDEO]

For Christmas, Ellie got a few science-centric gifts. Her aunty Nicola got her an electric circuits set, and we got her a 3-month subscription to KiwiCo’s Tinker crates, where she gets a new kit in the mail every month with a new mini-engineering project.

She’s been having a great time over the last few months playing with them and is loving learning about physics, chemistry and engineering.

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Christmas 2019

For Christmas this year, Ellie got a nice little array of gifts.

She had asked for lots of books, since she’s really getting into chapter books at school.

Hands down her favourite gift was something that Santa got for her. Ever since going hiking with Daddy, she’s wanted a hiking backpack with a bladder in it for drinking water on the go. Well, Santa delivered and Ellie was over the moon.

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Ellie building a Lego yacht

One of Ellie’s main Christmas presents was a big Lego yacht: a 600-piece kit aimed at 9-14 year-olds.

Once again though, she proved just how skilled she is at abstract thinking. She did require a little bit of help with this one, mainly to correct a mistake, but aside from that, she built the bulk of this with very little input from any adults.

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December 2017

Last December, we were settling in for our first winter and our first Christmas in Oregon, and we certainly made the most of it.

We took a trip up to Mount Hood to go tubing and build snowmen, we took a ride on the Christmas train, we made gingerbread houses and generally had a jolly old time. Continue reading “December 2017”

Ellie’s 4th (!) Christmas

 

It always seems weird to count how many times a child has experienced an annual event, because it’s always one more than their age since their birthday is the last thing they do before turning another year older. Thus, even though Ellie is only 3, this is already her fourth Christmas, which just seems nuts!

We didn’t do too much over the holiday and just enjoyed each other’s company with few other commitments to get in the way. It was much needed. Continue reading “Ellie’s 4th (!) Christmas”

Ellie’s 3rd Christmas

Ellie is at the perfect age for enjoying Christmas with. She’s starting to be more aware of what to expect and you can see the excitement and anticipation in her much more than last year. It’s been a whole lot of fun – perhaps too much fun. It’s been a whirlwind and it was maybe a bit too excitement for her, but it’s only once a year and I think it was worth it in the end. I can’t get over how gorgeous she is!

Ellie was even kind enough to help Jack open some of his own presents and generally be a great big sister to him.

Jack’s first Christmas

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Ellie enjoying “The Snowman” [VIDEO]

Ellie doesn’t get to watch TV at all since we’re raising her in a “low media” environment. However, after doing a surprise Christmas in January for Martina, I decided that to make it really feel like Christmas, that we’d watch The Snowman together. Her reaction to the music and animation was quite adorable. There were several moments of her having a gaping mouth, in awe of the magic. Continue reading “Ellie enjoying “The Snowman” [VIDEO]”