Christmas 2013

Santa bought each of the boys watches... not digital!

Christmas lasted over a period of a few days for the Guthries, as packages slowly arrived from the States. Plus there was a lot of Skyping so family could see the kids open their gifts. First we Skyped with Grandma Nancy, Grandpa Mark and GG.

Thirty minutes later we were Skyping with Grandma Peggy.

We also opened the gifts the four of us gave each other.

And, of course, we had to get pictures with all of the boys' gifts.

Three days later, it was Christmas again, when we got packages from Aunt Jill and Uncle Luke, as well as an envelope from Aunt Vicky and Uncle Earl. Of course, we had to Skype them while we opened it all up!

The boys got Santa Bucks, which is a real $1 bill, but with Santa's face in the middle instead of Washington's.  The boys thought that was pretty cool.

A hypnotic event...

The entire Guthrie Gang went to the family-appropriate version of a hypnotist show tonight (Rodney and I went to the 18+ show last night, and had a lot of fun in the audience.). To prepare the kids for what they might see, I had them watch the video of me being hypnotized at the 1999 Yuma County Fair.

Will thought he might want to be hypnotized, but then we found out participants had to be 13 years or older. So, I offered to go and the boys were quite enthusiastic about that. Rodney was less so. But here are the highlights Rodney and Will caught on their iPhones:

Hypnotic

And before the whole "weak-minded" thing starts to be a joke, a Stanford study actually found that highly-intelligent, open-minded people who can make decisions easily and prioritize well are often the easiest ones to hypnotize. ;)

Christmas Performance

Will and Xan both sang in the M.C. Perry Elementary School Winter Concert. Will sang "Holly Jolly Christmas" and Xan sang "Jingle Bells," some of it in Japanese.

Yes, those are other 6th graders with Will. He is 5'6" now!

Christmas is up!

Since Rodney is leaving soon for an exercise, I worked to get Christmas up early... both so he could participate in the annual tree decorating the boys love, and so he could be my Christmas box pack mule. :) Here are some photos I took:

This year's ornaments from Grandma Nancy

Boxer ornament tree

Photo bombed

2013 Halloween Costumes

The boys were channeling the 1970s when it came to Halloween costumes this year. Xan fit in to Will's Elvis costume this year, and Will made up his own costume: a disco ninja. Rainbow afro courtesy of Grandma Nancy since we couldn't find one here! They also enjoyed the base's Halloween Carnival with our neighbor, Junior, and Japanese friends Kumie, and her 9-year-old daughter Yuu.