Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Christmas Card

Just in case anyone didn't receive our Christmas card...here's yours! :)


Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Bells will be ringing

Today John had his Christmas concert at preschool. Before any singing began, Pastor Liz came in to tell the story of Christ's birth. She opened with a question, "Do you know who's birthday we are getting ready to celebrate. It's someone very important." John promptly raised his hand and replied, "MINE!" Yes John, your birthday is coming up, and yes, you are very important. She was looking for Jesus though. :)

After hearing the Christmas story the kids got down to singing. They all had jingle bells to ring throughout every song and there was excitement all around when the bucket of bells was passed to the kids. They all did very well, singing all the Christmas standards. John said his very favorite was Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. After singing the parents left and the kids got down to business with their Christmas Party.



Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Dear Santa...


Today the kids and I braved the mall for our trip to see Santa. The whole way there we talked about how nice Santa is and how there is no reason to be scared of him. This was all fine until John saw the jolly old elf. He said Santa looked weird and he refused to sit with him. This is the same Santa we see every year, so I don't know why he thought he looked different this year. Natalie was a little shy, but sat on his lap no problem. Rebecca I had to sit with for a moment and then make the handoff to Santa and bolt out of the picture. I'll have to scan the picture and post it later. Natalie is sitting nicely (with her fingers in her mouth) and Rebecca is wailing. John is nowhere to be found.


After that we went down to Macy's where they have a letter writing area and a mailbox to send a letter to Santa. John wrote "Rocketship" and explained that Santa will know that he means a rocketship with a remote control with no fire coming out of the back. Natalie drew a baby doll and Rebecca drew a baby doll bed. I am hoping Santa can make sense of their scribbles.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Today was the church's Christmas Pageant. John had the role of the goat. He did a wonderful job of saying his line, "I am the goat. Baaa." :) The parents of the barnyard animals had been told to make ears for the kids, but John was the only one with them on that day. He may have looked a little out of place, but adorable none the less.

After dinner tonight I finally gave in and brought out the gingerbread house to decorate. I took the easy route and bought a pre-baked, pre-assembled house that came with pre-made frosting and candies for decorating. The kids had a great time decorating it, and trying to sneak the candies in their mouth without Mike or I noticing.

Once decorations were complete I decided to do a little decorating of my own.
Arthur helped with the clean-up


After baths to clean all the frosting off the little ones we sat down and watched a bunch of home movies. The kids were so confused asking who all the babies were.

Oh, and John had another belt test in Tae Kwon Do last week and he moved up to a red stripe. I don't have any pictures of him with it though. They are on holiday break until January, so he won't be in his uniform any time soon.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Seriously????

This is what I found when I got them up from their nap. The window shade was just put up yesterday because the previous one they had torn down and destroyed like wild animals, I mean toddlers.

The suspects - caught Sharpie handed

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Conversation with John

John: I love you.

Me: I love you forever.

John: I love you forever.

Me: I love you forever and always.

John: I love you forever and holidays.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Clever Owl and the Fashionistas

John had his Native American festival at preschool a few weeks ago. They all had Native American names and John chose "Clever Owl." The kids sang songs showed the parents all the Native American crafts they had made over the past few weeks. Some of the songs they sang I actually remembered from when my brother went to school there almost 20 years ago!


On Thanksgiving this year we had 2 stops to make. We started the day at Uncle Dennis & Aunt Barb's house. The regular crew was all there minus my cousin and her family. Sickness kept them away. We had great food as always and lots of fun with the family. We also got some great news. There will be 2 new additions to Thanksgiving dinner next year. We already knew my cousin Niki was pregnant with a little boy, but we also found out that my cousin Patrick and his wife Megan are pregnant with their second baby!
Rebecca giving hugs to baby Chaney (the big sister to be)

John flying planes with Uncle Dennis on the computer



Natalie and Rebecca enjoying the cupcakes

After lunch there we headed to Maw Maw June and Grandpa Bud's house. We had a full house there and a ton of food, including my favorite coconut cream pie. It may not be a traditional Thanksgiving dessert, but Mike's mom makes the BEST pies and this is always my fave.


The girls are starting to want to pick out their own clothes and it is driving me crazy. I know I should let them express themselves, but sometimes their outfits end up looking like this...luckily we weren't going anywhere




Today John had his Tae Kwon Do Holiday party and performance. The demonstration team had a performance that included some sparring and board breaking. Before they got into all that though the little ones had a small performance of their punching. John did great, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures because one of the instructors was standing right in front of me. He was so proud when he came back to the table and got all his congratulations and hugs. After a small dinner they had an awards ceremony. John got a participation certificate along with the rest of his classmates. It was pretty impressive listening to the older kids and adults getting their awards.

John recieving his certificate - he has one of the mean mommies that won't let him wear his uniform after performing...white and 4 year old boys do not mix well

When we got home from Tae Kwon Do we set about decorating the Christmas Tree. Natalie was a fabulous supervisor and told the other 2 where to put everything. She was scared of a nutcracker ornament and didn't want to get to close to the tree after spotting it. The offending ornament has since been removed. I may have to go back and rearrange a few things now that they are in bed. 90% of the ornaments are about 3 feet high and under.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Christmas List

John has decided he wants a gas station for Christmas. If anyone knows of a Shell Station or Circle K for sale let me know. :)