Sarah is 9

Just call us the Incredibles!

Our whole family has been doing tae kwon do for over a year. We are now green decided belts except for Sarah who is a blue belt. Once we hit blue belt we will start sparring. I can't wait to beat up Erik!

I've sold almost all of my jam inventory. This is all I have left. It has been successful. I'm not sure I made that much money but I had fun. And I've already thought of several new jam flavors I want to try. 

my left over jam

 Sarah is 9! She had her birthday on the 23rd. Happy Birthday Sarah! Her birthday meal was meatloaf, mushrooms, and pickles. It's an interesting combination but it is what she wanted. She also did not want a cake but instead wanted a caramel cheesecake. I got her a t-shirt that says "All I need is cats and books". Jenna was very jealous because that is exactly the shirt she would want too (we got her one for her birthday in a few weeks!).

Sarah's cheesecake cake

 The next day we went to Christmas Eve service at church. Sarah read a Bible verse in front of the whole church. She did a great job and jumped up and down on stage. Everyone laughed and it was cute. I tried to get a picture but they were all blurry :(.

Christmas Eve service

 Every day after school the neighbor boy comes by and trades pokemon cards with Sarah. They are obsessed with pokemon so I made a pokemon cake. His birthday is Dec. 29 so it was for both of them.  His sister comes over every day also to play with Matthew. He is in 5th grade and Audrey is in 1st grade so they love playing with Sarah and Matthew.

Sarah and Alex

 We made our annual gingerbread house. The kids love decorating it and always make a mess.

Gingerbread house

 Sarah's friend birthday party was Thursday the 29th. She had a light up pokemon cake. At her party we made flubber (glue, borax, and water) and slime (cornstarch and water). The kids really liked it and the house wasn't as messy as we thought it would be.

Sarah's cake

flubber

 Last night we went to see Transiberian Orchestra. The concert was fantastic. I love Wizards in Winter and Carol of the Bells. The light show was fantastic.  The kids really loved it.

TSO

The kids have had a great break. It's hard to believe it is almost over and back to school!!

Christmas time is coming!

On Saturday Erik sold jam at the Made Local Marketplace craft show. I had to teach so poor Erik had to sell my jam. And sell my jam he did! We sold about 170 jars and would have sold more but ran out of three types: Christmas jam, Habanero Apricot, and Raspberry Jalapeno. Many people said they were gifts for men. I thought spicy jam might be a good market for me. My top selling jams were:

• Vanilla peach bourbon
• Cherry Amaretto
• Strawberry Jam
• Blueberry Lemon
• Raspberry 
• Raspberry Jalapeno
• Christmas jam

It will be great next year when all three kids are in school but I have enjoyed this time with Matthew alone while the other two are in school. We have gone to the zoo, COSI, playgrounds, etc. It has been so fun.  He is also doing an Art of Music class he really enjoys since he loves music.

Matthew at the zoo

 Next week Erik, me, Jenna,and Matthew test for our green decided belts. After that will be blue belts and we will start sparring. Sarah has been working hard on breaking her board with a knife hand strike but only broke it once. She has to break it to get the next belt.

Sarah (in the red) sparring at tae kwon do

 Matthew has been taking an Art of Music class on Mondays. They offered a one day art class for Jenna and Sarah as well. All three kids love the art class and they create some amazing projects.

Matthew with his art creation - not sure about that face though!

Jenna and Sarah with their pop art

 We wanted to ride the Polar Express in Cleveland. However it sold out immediately! So we went on the hocking valley santa train ride. It was great to ride the train and see the mostly dead trees in southwestern Ohio. Actually this ride would be beautiful in the fall. It was still nice now and the kids had a great time. Matthew wanted to explore the train but we had to stay seated.

Halloween with Saatvika. Matthew is pikachu, Sarah is a poodle skirt girl, Jenna is a coke can (yes that is my costume!)

Jenna and her friend Marissa served cupcakes to underprivileged kids at Miracle on Williams street a few weeks ago. She helped kids decorate cupcakes (that she baked) and had a great time serving!

Jenna serving cupcakes

Another Art of Music creation

 Jenna had her saxophone recital last weekend. She played Hedwig's tune from Harry Potter and a duet with her saxophone teacher to The First Noel. She did a great job! Listen here.

Jenna playing the saxophone

 I've made some Christmas cookies but not as many as usual. I've been focused on making jam. We decorated cookies the other night and I have big plans for cookie making this weekend. All the teachers get jam and cookies as gifts :).

decorating cookies

Jenna's recital

Our church had the Christmas smorgasboard and children's program on Sunday. Matthew really sang loud as usual. He is not shy at all. See the link here: https://www.facebook.com/erik.cooper1/videos/10154876465652318/

So I'm in finals week now and then moving on to a two week break. This has been a fantastic session and really not too difficult for me. Next session will be fine too. I love my job!!