Christmas 2010

We had a really great Christmas this year! Starting the Friday Alex finished school, it was a busy week of anticipation, counting down the days until Christmas. Thankfully, we had Grandma and Papa here to ease some of that anticipation, and we had plenty to keep us busy! When Christmas morning finally arrived, it was a great start to the day! Alex burst into my bathroom that morning, almost shocked that Santa came. It was too sweet! He was thrilled that Santa brought him the Minotaurus Lego game.

Addison was pretty fun Christmas morning too. I still don't think she really understands the whole Santa business. Regardless, she sure loved all her gifts. Her doll house was a huge hit! She loves it and all the accessories.

Addison was pretty funny opening her gifts too. I swear it took her 20 minutes to open each present. Once she got the wrapping paper off, she would ask to open the gift. So it took us what seemed like an eternity to open 4 presents.

We headed over to my parent's house next to open gifts with them. My mother told me that she was "scaling" back this Christmas. I thought this was fabulous news! They are so generous throughout the year. Almost too generous. My kids don't ever go without! So I was happy to hear that they wouldn't be too spoiled this Christmas. Addison got this princess dress from my parents, and she LOVES it! She wore it all Christmas day, and then put it on first thing the next morning. So cute!

Alex was thrilled to get this spaceship from my parents. He just thought it was the greatest thing ever that he put this on his Christmas list, and Grandma bought it for him. He's really enjoyed playing with it too.

And I guess when my mom told me she was "scaling" back this year, that didn't apply to Roger and I. Yes, that's me with a new laptop. I couldn't believe it! I was teasing my dad about getting a new Mac, so I could have his old one. Never in a million years did I think he'd buy me a computer. I love it! I'm still trying to get used to working on a laptop, but it's so awesome! It's so fun to have access to a computer, not matter where I'm at in my house. AND all the letters work on the keyboard! So we were extremely spoiled and blessed this Christmas! More Christmas posts to come!

If There's A Stool. . .

I think Addison's new motto in life is "if there's a stool, there's a way!" From very early on, she's learned to scoot my kitchen table chairs to get things such as scissors or pencils. Lately, she's branched out and started moving the stool in the bathroom to other rooms in the house. Or she'll use the stools at other houses, such as my parent's house.

And sometimes, Addison doesn't need a stool at all. She just needs her parents to be doing something, anything, other than keeping meticulous tabs on her. This time, she just reached up and grabbed my makeup down. Apparently, this is "dot dot, not a lot!" I laughed because it reminded me of a reindeer. Truly, she keeps me on my toes. But I love her, stool and all!

I Did It!

I volunteered to be Addison's room mom this year at her preschool. I guess after Alex was there for three years, I felt confident enough to handle this little assignment. It's been really fun and easy so far. This week, my duties picked up a bit. Today Addison's class is having their Christmas party. And the kids get a goody bag today. So I had all the parents sign up to bring different goodies for their goody bags. The parents were so generous! I had so much stuff, I ended up running up to Kroger late last night to buy bigger bags! I think they turned out pretty cute, despite the last minute change of bags.

I also volunteered to make a special snack for Addison's class. I really wanted to make Christmas tree sugar cookies. So I stayed up into the wee hours of the night icing cookies. It was so fun! I really enjoyed myself...it was quiet, I could take my time, I could try to be creative and I had no distractions. I'm not a professional by any means, but I think they turned out pretty festive. And regardless, I know the kids will love and appreciate every little bite! The best part was Addison woke up this morning and said, "Mmmmm." Then she asked, "For me?" I told her yes, for her party at school. That made all the hard work so worth it!Finally, I put the teachers' gifts together. Addison has two teachers this year. So I collected money from all the parents in her class and bought them both a few things for Christmas. I also picked up a couple pans of homemade cinnamon rolls for them. I hope they enjoy the gifts.

So my first big job as room mom is done. I did it! I'm thankful I can be room mom this year for Addison's class. I may not be able to do something like this every year, so I'm glad I can do it this year! And with that, Addison begins her two week vacation for Christmas. We have some fun things still planned, so I'm excited for the Christmas break!

Polar Pajama Party

As we've come into the holiday season, I really tried to find some fun, festive things we could do with Alex. I've said this before, but we used to do so much during the week. So as I was searching for a fun Saturday activity, I discovered at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History something called "Saturday Polar Pajama Parties." The museum shows The Polar Express on Saturday mornings on the big Imax screen during December. And it's a pajama party, complete with free hot chocolate and other museum fun. So I jumped on the idea, and decided to coax my sister into coming too. Alex had never seen the Polar Express, so I thought he might really enjoy the movie. And enjoy the whole Imax experience. So I bought tickets for Alex and Cadence to watch the movie, and I volunteered to take Addison and Caitlin into the museum to play. I didn't think the girls were quite old enough to sit through the entire movie. And of course, we bought the crew all matching jammies! And in the end, Roger was able to come along too. It was a really fun morning!

Alex and Cadence with Dynamo. They all match :)

Enjoying some hot chocolate before the show. Neither one of them was real impressed with the hot chocolate, but at least they both tried it.

Posing for one of many photo opps!

So while Alex and Roger, and Cadence and Tamara went to see the Polar Express, the girls and I hung out. I started by feeding them a snack. Everything goes smoother on a full belly! Then we headed into the children's museum to play. It went really well! I'll admit, I was a little nervous about keeping track of the two of them. And Caitlin sometimes has separation anxiety when she's away from Tamara. But they both played really well together. We didn't have any incidents. I was able to keep track of both of them, and keep them entertained. I even managed to get a few pictures of them.

We were just running out of things to do, and Caitlin was just starting to really miss Tamara when the movie let out. Phew! We all enjoyed lunch together and played a while longer at the museum. It was a really fun morning together. I think everyone had a really good time. And Roger enjoyed the movie so much, we purchased a copy of it later that day. I think Polar Express is officially the newest holiday tradition in our family.

Gingerbread House Tradition

Last year, I thought it would be fun to make a gingerbread house with Alex. I think I was looking for something to keep him busy while Addison napped. He LOVED it! He's been counting down the days until he could make one this year. And thus, a new Christmas tradition is started! So this year, I ended up buying two. That's how it goes with two small children. We really enjoyed creating the houses. Most of all, I loved seeing Alex's creativity!

Addison was really more interested in eating the candy than decorating with it. But I managed to convince her to do a little decorating!

The work in progress....

Each one wanted to take a picture with their finished houses. Not sure what's up with the props (the football and the barbie lotion?)

So, Addison pooped out on me pretty early. So "our" house is the one on the left..Alex's house is the one on the right. I love how decorated his house gets! It's so fun to see him be creative with all the candy and colors. Thanks to the gingerbread houses, our real house is beginning to look, and smell more and more like Christmas!

Addison's Christmas Program

This has been such a fun week! We are really getting into the holiday season, and it started off with Addison's Christmas program at her preschool on Monday. It was so cute! They have a program for all the children who are 2 and 3. Each class gets up and sings a couple holiday songs. The two-year olds are super cute! They just stand up there, quiet as can be, staring out into the vast audience of parents. It must be truly overwhelming for them. As the kids get older, and especially the older three year olds, they really get into the songs. They sing, some sing extra loud, and they dance. It's fun, and really a sweet way to start off this crazy, busy month. Something so sweet and peaceful about the children singing. I love it!

This year Addison had her cousin and BFF, Caitlin, in the audience. I think Caitlin really enjoyed the program too! Afterwards, we took advantage of the beautifully decorated preschool for some holiday photo opps!

Addison loves her Aunt Tamara! This is one of my new favorite pictures of Addison. So sweet! Now if I just could have convinced her to take a picture with her Mommy!