Merry Christmas

The boxes have been broken down.  The paper tossed.  Batteries loaded and new toys broken in.  Yes.  It is official, Christmas came.  What a wonderful time of the year (so the song says...) What is it about a string of twinkling lights that fills you with wonder?  With all the craziness that can and has taken place in this world, Christmas time always manages to bring joy, hope and a feeling of peace to me--this year without fail.  That is the miracle of this holiday.  I am sure a lot has to do with the Christmas cheer--the cookies, elves, trees, lights, carols, Starbucks Peppermint Mocha (limited edition) and don't forget the Lifetime Movies (I can't help but to watch them...the shame!)  But the real magic comes from doing all those things with the ones you love the most.  I am very grateful to be surrounded by the most beautiful children, husband and family.  Merry Christmas to you all.  God bless you Jack and Bronwyn.

Oh and Santa rocked it this year!



I saw Bronnie kissing Jackie Clause...

Bronwyn wasted no time.  She made a b-line for her new crib.

She unwrapped every one of her presents on her own...and then took them to Pop Pop saying, "get it out for me, Pop Pop!"  So he did :)

Her favorite gift appears to be this stroller from the North Pole.

But this Princess loved her Princesses too!

Spy boy. 
His sister gave him a spy alarm to go with these spy goggles. 
He is using this high tech gear to sister-proof his room...ha!

All I want for Christmas...
Jack got wonderful gifts from everybody and was excited about each one.  But 3/4 of the way through I heard him mutter "I sure do hope I get what I asked for..." as not a single Lego had been unwrapped.  Once it was...pure joy was seen all over this Lego loving elf's face!

Jack surrounded by the evidence that he indeed was a good boy this year.  And this is before he unwrapped his big gift from Santa...a Lego Cargo Train! 

Merry Christmas Jack and Bronwyn!  Mom and Dad love you (and apparently Santa too!)

Disney Family Vacation 2012

Jack Wishes You A Merry Christmas

Six months ago, Jack began piano lessons.  Last weekend he played in his first recital. He was nervous, and adorable.  Very proud of you, Jack!  You're quite handsome too :)

 

Jack's Lego Birthday Party: Part Two

What do you get when you combine a Lego Fanatic and a Birthday Party?  Well, keep reading to find out!  Jack turned six and there was not a question to ask when it came to picking a theme for his birthday party.  Legos, legos, legos.  Ah...dejavu?  Well, he did decide to change up the theme a bit...we went from Lego Minifigures to Lego City Police.  Come celebrate with us...

You know you are in the right place when you see this on the door!  Jack and I made it together.  It is so fun and easy!  How?  Take a $3.99 straw wreath.  About 500 balloons and stick pins and just start pinching and pushing, repeat until hand cramps, crippleing you or you run out of balloons.

Reduce, reuse, recycle!  We used last year's Happy Birthday Banner made out of red felt and letters in the LEGO font traced with yellow marker. 

The snack section.  We didn't do a full meal this year but heavy snacks for those that didn't get a chance to eat before coming.  New printables and the same lego cardstock from last year helped us dress up the snacks!

New touch this year...lego lanterns.  Inspired by watching Tangled one too many times with the kids.  Plan to hang these in Jack's room as decorations. 

A few repeats from last year with slight twists. 

1.  Changed the art to this Lego City Mural.  Gary made the frame by breaking up smaller, less expensive black frames and sealing them together.  Smart guy I married, huh? 

2.  Marshmellow pops...now all Police Men...

3.  Lego candy in Lego boxes. 

4.  Gift bags.  Filled with Lego crayons, lego minibags, and lego barretts for the girls!

5.  Lego frames and Lego pictures.  We used these as place settings as Jack had a bit of an opinion about where everyone should seat.  He was quite thoughtful too, ensuring children who got along the best sat next to each other.  Cute!

But a party isn't a party without a bit of fun (you thought I was going to say cake, didn't you.  We had that too!)  A wonderful man from Buildfun.com (Mike) lead the kids in three builds...a spaceship, race cars, and a free build!!!  Super fun!

Happy Birthday Jack!  You have filled our lives with joy!  We are so proud of the boy you are and the boy I know you are on the path to becoming! 

Love you forever,
Like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

Mom

Lego Party Take Two

We had so much fun with the Lego Party last year...can we say RERUN!  Of course, just to challenge me a bit...Jack decided to not just have another Lego Party...but to have a Lego CITY party.  So here we go...

Apparently in 2012 Balloon Wreaths are all the rage.  We carried the blue, gray and silver balloon theme with the typical balloons up the banister thing we do here each year :)

The kids had so much fun creating their lego scenes--the also made a lego robotic and race lego cars of their own creation.  COOL!!!

After games it was time to eat.  Jack and Dad built the Lego police centerpiece.  We did place settings with homemade lego frames and lego pitures (pixels) of each child--which they took home as one of their party favors!  It was a lot of fun seeing the kids walk around trying to figure out which pixelated photo was of themselves!  Check out the amazing lego plates...cool!

The lego marshmallows repeated but this time we made all lego police faces (Dad did great!!!)  

Bronwyn tested.  

Jack approved.

This was a fun decoration.  Filled this paint cans with legos. and hunt front the chandelier.

Let there be cake.  Happy Sixth Birthday.  Hope you wished for something more than 'every Lego in the world'  :)  :)  :)

 Looks like you had fun at your party.  I know your friends really enjoyed celebrating with you!

We had a bit of time left before everyone's parents came to get them...who knew this many Kindergarteners could fit into your clubhouse :)

Happy Birthday Jack!  You have filled our lives with joy!  We are so proud of the boy you are and the boy I know you are on the path to becoming!  May you have the most fantastic year!!!  (and can we find a new obsession...I'm done with Lego parties)  ;)

Love you forever, 
Like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

Mom

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!  From these scary creatures of All  Hallows Eve!

Day started with Centers in Jack's Class.  We charted spiders, explored fall senses and played Halloween Bingo.  This is Jack's teacher reading Frightfully Funny Stories.

But the fun began at 5:15 pm, when all the ghosts, goblins and ghouls gathered on the neighbors' lawns to play and eat pizza (and some just played with their pizza...) before the candy gathering tradition began.

Our Street's Kids!

Jack and his Best Bud Devin!

Bronwyn and her future babysitters!

Have you guessed what the kids are for Halloween yet?  Jack went as a Fighter Jet Pilot.  He explained to his class that,  "My weapon is a B-2.  You may not know but "b" stands for bomber.  I don't know what the 2 stands for.  But, I fly in stealth mode which is sort of like flying invisible as I evade radar."  That's our Jack! 

Bronwyn LOVED being Cindy Lou. This costume was decided a year ago when she was first spotted in pigtails. It clearly was her destiny! She was the hit of the pizza party!

Halloween was ushered in with a few scary sight at our home.  This giant spider is one of many...a new form of time out too!

The kids did great!   Here's Bronwyn's first house.  Clearly she has no issues with strangers as she was trying her best to bypass the candy and see what was in  the fridge!

And their loot!  Three piles.  Their personal stash, stash  for Halloween Witch, and the confiscated peanut butter stash.  We only got one popcorn bag and no raisins ;) It was a good night!

Family Date Night

Saturday night was family date night.  And we had a special treat in store for the kids.  Movies, schmoovies...Disney on Ice was in town!

First up was Dinner!  Now, eating out is not new to our children.  Matter of fact Jack used to think eating IN was a special treat.  YIKES!  I've improved that situation.  But still, the kids had a blast eating in the CNN center.  Then we entered the arena.

Do you see that unbridled enthusiasm?  Partly in anticipation of the show but mostly because this was right in front of them.

Every five feet another booth with the exact same over-priced but oddly captivating souvenirs was found.  Jack picked out a sword and Bronwyn a light-up princess globe.

Three minutes later they switched toys, much at Bronwyn's insistence!  A duel followed :)

Our seats were right on the ice, which was exciting (and cold!)  hee-hee.  The pre show was almost as good as the real show.  What was the pre show?

 

Cotton Candy and Pop Corn!  The next night at bedtime Bronwyn sang out randomly, "I ate ALL the popcorn.  I LOVE popcorn!"  Time for the show to begin!

Now Bronwyn loves Mickey Mouse.  She talks about him daily.  Multiple times a day.  She wore her Mickey barrette with pride.

And then she saw him on ice.  With those big ears and those big eyes!!!

And she exclaimed, "I no like!  I no like!"  and promptly used her dad's hands to cover her face.  Not to worry, once the shock of seeing a giant mouse wore off she began to enjoy the show.  Next up...the princesses!

 Ariel!

Rapunzel with Maximus.  How did that horse survive on the ice?  Amazing!  :)

 

 

Blurry shot of Merida and the triplets.  She was fantastic on ice!  Pop-pop, better learn who she is as she may be part of your next Disney World quiz ;)  Two red heads to keep straight.  The misery!

 

 

They saved our family's favorite for last!  Beauty and the Beast--complete with the show-stopping number, Be Our Guest.  So did Jack enjoy?  He did...all the princes were there and enough humor to make up for the show being largely about princesses (ick)!  What about Bronwyn?  She eventually peeked out from behind Dad's crab-like fingers and liked what she saw.  She enjoyed the rest of the show (minus a loud, explosive noise here and there...hee-hee!)

 

 

 

 

 



Jack's First Report Card

Tonight was the child-dreaded parent-cherished teacher conference.  Our very first.  It went super.  Boy, Jack needed the good report as he got a yellow check today on his behavioral chart for collaborating with another boy to turn math manipulative's into terrifying carnivorous dinosaurs that went on the attack.  His teacher also found three locks of hair under his chair last week.  We are just thankful they were Jack's and not any of the girl's at his table...yikes!

Now that I ratted him out, indulge me in a bragging moment.  Jack did AWESOME this first quarter.  The teacher had this to say about Jack:

• Only child to get an exemplary mark for responsibility!  She called him a go-getter and said he was her hardest worker!
• All 4s (exceeded expectations) in academics. 
• Said he participates tons!!!  and gets along with everyone!

Way to go Jack!  Keep it up!!!

Pumpkinpalooza Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain Pumpkin Festival 2012.  Weather was perfect--low 70s and a nice breeze.  Kids took a train ride around the mountain, did crafts and watched a Yogi Bear 4-D movie (which scared Bronwyn to death and she now emphatically declares, "I don't like Bears!!!") They also were in a dancing parade and saw a family get pie in the face.  Good times, people.  Very good times!

Entering the Pumpkin Festival

Crafts

Feeling the Wind!!!

Sitting on a Rock

A Perfect Day!