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Leah participated in the First Grade Bumble Bee at school. It was impressive how well these kids that haven't been spelling for long did in such a stressful situation. It was a standard single-elimination style spelling bee, and Leah did great, making it to the 5th round (which was when the words got hard, knocking out all but 3 students).

Here is a compilation of each of her words.

She did so great. I was worried when she stumbled on the first word, but she conquered her nerves.

Since his birthday is on New Year’s Eve, Grampa was in town for his birthday. Jen made Grampa a chocolate lava cake to celebrate his birthday.

Happy birthday, Grampa!

Christmas kept going with G’Mom and Grampa in town. That meant more presents.

Jen got G’Mom and Grampa mugs from Greenbridge Pottery, which were sold to aid the recovery of a coffee shop that had been flooded in old Ellicott City.

Leah looks happy to get this Roominate.

Three days after Christmas, G’Mom and Grampa arrived to continue the fun. Jen came up with a fun activity to do when they were in town. We made the trip down to Tyson’s Corner to go to the American Girl store. The girls were quite excited. They both had a bunch of gift cards they had been saving up for some time, and it was time to spend them.

Here they are with a couple of their chosen items.

This place seems to inspire joy in these girls.

Here they are with bags full of fun in front of the store’s Christmas tree.

The morning after Christmas was our first chance to try out the new BB-8 waffle maker Molly and Leah had gotten me for Christmas. They were of course delicious.

The next day continued the Star Wars fun. With everything going on in building up to Christmas, we had not had a chance to see Rogue One: A Star Wars Story yet despite being big Star Wars fans. So, we resolved to see it soon thereafter. It was Molly’s first time getting to sit in the fancy reclining movie theater seats.

After opening presents at our house, we headed to Grams’s house to keep celebrating. First we ate breakfast, then it was time to open some more presents. As youngest, Charlie of course went first.

And he got a bit of snuggling time with Grams.

These are American Girl pajamas, and the girls got matching sets for their dolls.

A present so big it needed a bag.

Jen made Charlie a dump truck pillow.

Charlie immediately needed to test out the pillow.

Jen says Yay for a tray.

Jen made Grams tea towels. They have a Southern theme, including a fleur-de-lis.

Charlie is studying this elephant ball popper intently.

Leah was very excited about these Princess Ponies books, especially since they each include a charm for a bracelet.

Grammy had quite the haul of Christmas presents as well.

Molly got the entire set of The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan. She’s already read the entire Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and The Heroes of Olympus series by him, so she was excited to read this new series. She was so excited that she started reading in the middle of opening presents, no longer interested in what she might get.

Jen created an LSU-themed fleur-de-lis for this insulated tumbler for Aunt EA.

Sometimes, the box is the most fun toy - even for the oldest of the children.

Charlie came to visit Molly in her box.

It was so much fun to celebrate with everyone.