Christmas

Christmas is always a crazy time of seeing everyone.  We went to my parent's house on Christmas Eve for the McGinn/Sheehan Christmas celebration.  I always think of it as the McGinn Family Christmas as it was always at my grandmother's house when I was growing up.  I never remember a time when we didn't go to Grandma's house on Christmas Eve.

The cousins (minus Aiden who was anti-photo)

 Now the tradition continues but it is the kids turn to go to Grandma's house for Christmas Eve and they of course know it as the Sheehan Family Christmas.  It is still just as crazy as it was when I was a kid and just as fun.  We head down to my parents house in the afternoon so that we can exchange presents with my parents and brothers (with their families) before the mayhem really gets going when all my aunts, uncles, and cousins arrive at 6pm.  Once everyone is there we celebrate with about 30 people.  Dinner is served buffet style and once finished with dinner it is time to dig into the gifts.  The opening of gifts in my house was always a crazy mayhem of paper.  No one really watches anyone but rather everyone tears into their presents with unrestrained glee and shouts of "thanks Auntie _____" or "thanks Uncle _____".  It gives me joy to see this tradition maintained.  I remember being so excited and happy on Christmas Eve and I'm glad my kids get to experience that as well.  After everything is opened the kids go back to running around and playing, my aunts and uncles leave and we give my mom a hand with clean up before heading home to put the kids to bed.

Christmas morning is more laid back.  This took time for me to get used to with Jason as he grew up with a slow opening of presents and one person opened at a time.  I appreciate it now.  It gives me time to enjoy seeing the kids faces as they open every present.  We always come downstairs together as a family and head to the stockings.  After opening the stockings we take a minor break so that Jason and I can get some coffee and we all have some holiday sweet bread.  We need some sustenance to continue with the presents!  Once all the presents are open we have breakfast and laze about for the remainder of the day.  This year instead of just having our family dinner we drive down to my brothers for Christmas dinner with my brother's family and my parents.  The girls were excited to spend more time with their cousin and I was happy to be with my family again.  We had a nice meal and then headed home.  It was a very easy relaxing day.




After all the gift opening the girls say a final good-bye to Christopher Pop-In-Kins because he has to go back to the North Pole.  They each gave him a gift and a hug and we put him back on the mantle so he could leave when he was ready.

First Gymnastics Meet

Ali had her first gymnastics meet.  She was very nervous for the meet but like her sister seems to do well under pressure.  Ali was the first person to compete for level 3 so not only was it her first meet she had to go first!  I was very worried about that but after the meet I asked Ali about it and she said she was glad she was first so that she could get it out of the way and then enjoy watching her teammates.  Ali started on floor then moved to vault, bars and then beam.  She did well in every event but took 3rd in vault and 1st in bars.  We are so proud of all the hard work she has put in to gymnastics and we are glad that hard work paid off for her at the meet. Here is the video of her bar routine.

Chorus

In fourth grade the kids have the option to join chorus.  Sofia was very excited to join.  She has told us some of the songs she sings and as time neared for her first concert she began singing the songs more at home.  She was very nervous and excited for her first concert.  It did make me laugh though since she seemed more nervous about singing in a group of people than she has seemed getting up in front of an audience and playing piano.  There is no disguising a mistake at a piano recital but a chorus concert nobody would notice.  Oh well, she was nervous and when Sofia gets nervous she starts bouncing off the walls so it is just a test of my parenting to find a way to bring her off the walls and to soothe her nerves.  Usually this just means keeping her calm until she arrives at the event because it is something in the anticipation that gets her riled up.  As per her usual we got to the high school and she ran off with her group and her nerves came right under control.  The chorus did a nice job and Sofia was very proud.   it was nice to see the nervous replaced with a sense of accomplishment.

Thanksgiving

One of the things we have missed coming back to the States is getting together with our friends to celebrate Thanksgiving.  It is so much fun to be surrounded by those we call friends and we have found some really good friends here.  This year we decided to celebrate and give Thanks
for those friends with a pre-Thanksgiving party.  Since most people that are here celebrate actual Thanksgiving with their families (unlike expats) we held our friends Thanksgiving the weekend before real Thanksgiving.  It was a blast!  We ended up having 13 adults and 12
kids.

There was plenty of food and the kids played well together and all our friends had great conversation. We invited friends from all parts of our life.  Some are friends from Church and some are friends from high school and some are friends we have met through our kids.  All of them are kind, caring people so everyone got along well and everyone had a good time.  We will definitely be keeping this tradition going!

Chore Chart

The time has come to institute chores.  The girls are very active and do not have a lot of time but we have decided that there is a minimum level of help they have to provide around the house.  They aren't quite old enough to clean the bathrooms (with all the chemicals) or mow the lawn (they aren't heavy enough to keep the riding mower engaged) but they are old enough to not be slobs.  Jason came up with a points system where they can earn enough points to earn a small prize.  They can also earn money for additional chores done around the house that are not part of their point system.  If they earn enough points they get a prize.  There is a level where they get no prize and then a level where they get no prize and own us a chore.  They have to complete their chore list every night and at the end of the week Jason counts up the points.  It has worked amazingly well.  Jason is also responsible for the chore payouts so that it is not just another thing I have to nag the kids about.  I also don't have to listen to their whining if they don't earn a prize.  Well, I guess I hear it but it isn't my problem to deal with which is all that matters. :)

Halloween

This year we went to my friend Erika's house for Halloween again.  We don't get to see each other as much as we would like so it is always fun when we get together.  The girls love being with their friend Chloe as well so it works out well for our families.  Erika and I catch up, the girls play and then the guys get home from work have a quick snack and take the kids out trick or treating while Erika and I man the house.

By the time Halloween is over the girls are already discussing what to be for next Halloween.  I'm sure the girls went through 30 options but for this year they settled on a Greek goddess and a skunk.  Last year the girls were pretty similar so it made me laugh at the stark differences between them this year.  They both fit their costumes well and looked perfect.  Ali wanted to be a skunk because they do handstands to spray people.  She thought that was hysterical and then she could do handstands while trick or treating and it would be fitting with her costume.  Sofia reads a lot about fantasy and wanted to stay on the same theme as last year with a combination Greek goddess/vampire but since she was Cleopatra vampire last year she decided to go as just a goddess this year which also required no makeup.  This was a positive for her since she had redness around her eyes for days last year.

Halloween at the Gym

For Halloween Ali's gym had a dress like someone in the gym day.  As parents we all laughed at this because they all look the same.  They all have their hair up and they all wear leotards.  How on earth were they going to dress like someone else in the gym??  Well, we were all wrong!  The girls actually managed to look like other people.  A few of the kids dressed up like coaches but the rest just dressed like another gymnast.  It was shocking to see the small changes that really capture another gymnast.  They actually are NOT all the same! :)  Paige is one of Ali's best friends and here they are (at right) dressed as each other.  They swapped leotards but the big difference was in their hair.  To a person not used to seeing the girls they wouldn't look that different but to those of us who see the girls every day the difference all of a sudden stood out.  Paigie has her hair slicked back with gel to make no frizz and hair tight against her scalp which is how Ali wears her hair.  Ali has her hair back in a pony tail with a headband held in with two barretts which is how Paigie usually wears her hair.  The kids had picked up on these little differences but it wasn't until the kids made the switch that these minor difference stood out.  It amazed me how the kids had no problem envisioning being someone else in the gym but as parents we missed it until the kids showed us.

Pumpkin Prom

Our PTA holds the Pumpkin Prom (a father/daughter dance) every year for girls age 5 to 5th grade.  This was the first year we had heard about it since it was held at Sofia's school.  We debated if Jason would bring just Sofia or Sofia and Ali but we decided he would just bring Sofia.  I am all about fairness and while I know that life isn't fair I do strive for fairness as much as possible.  With that in mind I reasoned that if Jason brought Sofia this year and both of the girls next year and then just Ali the year after that then they would each have one father/daughter dance alone with Jason and one with him together.  It seemed the most fair way and that way they would each get solo time with their Daddy.

I took Sofia out to find an outfit for the dance.  I knew there was no way I was going to be able to find a dress that she would approve of and would fit her with out her help.  We headed to The Children's Place since I knew there were dresses there.  I was fortunate in that Sofia liked a couple of the dresses so she tried them on and then added shoes to the outfit and we had a winner.  It was all very easy!  She was excited to get home and show her Dad what she was going to wear.

The night of the dance was so cute.  Sofia was so excited to go and Jason was clearly happy as well.  It is so nice to see those Daddy/daughter bonding moments.  The girls both really adore Jason.  We took some pictures inside and outside before sending them on their way.  Jason told me they had a great time and danced most of the night.  They arrived home happy.

Swimming Update

Sofia is still really enjoying swimming.  She practices 4 days a week and has seen some ups and downs this season.  She had a great 100 yard freestyle race where she really pushed herself and took 8 seconds off her time.  It was a huge accomplishment.  It was a chance for Sofia to push through the mental challenge of feeling tired.  She has been struggling with "what is 100%" effort.  She struggles with pushing herself to the point of discomfort and actually racing versus just swimming laps.  She is also a talker and during practice has had trouble really focusing since she loves to chat with her good friend Cici.  We have spoken to Sofia about focus during practice and from that her friendship with Cici has really grown.  She asked if she could see Cici outside of practice so they would have time to talk outside of the pool.  We love that she is making good friends.  She has had sleepovers at Cici's house and it does seem to make a difference.  Whether that is because they have more time to talk or they both know it won't happen if they are messing around in the pool I'm not sure but either way it seems to be working.  I'm spoken with Sofia's coach about how to get through to Sofia that she needs to push herself to get better and her coach said that she thinks Sofia is a kid who has to fail in order to make that step.  I think she is probably right.  Sofia is going to have to really want to win and not just want it in the abstract.  It will be interesting to watch Sofia for the rest of the season.  She says she wants to make the time cut in order to go to championships but she will have to dig deep to get it.  As a parent it is very difficult to sit on the side lines and watch helplessly when you know your child is capable but just isn't connecting the dots to reach their goal.