Primrose Party

The Friday before Christmas, Oliver and Kellan had holiday events at school.  Oliver's class had a Pajama and Polar Express Party.  We snuck in on him to see what he was up to and they were eating snacks.  Mmmm!!!

The primary reason for being at the school early was to attend Kellan's Christmas party.  It's always funny to see the contrast between the two boys' parties.  Oliver's parties are loud and chatty.  Kellan's parties are very quiet as the kids usually stare at the parents in confusion as to why the parents are standing around watching them eat.

Mama wasn't shy, she saddled up right next to her boy for a picture.

Kellan looks like he's saying to himself "come on, Mom, you're embarrassing me in front of my friends.  I'll just play it cool like I don't know this lady."

Kellan in the middle with his hands on his head as if to say, "Really, Mom, another photo?"

Mmmm Snacks!

While Kellan ate, we admired his wall art.

While we looked away and then back again, Kellan was diving lips first into a big cookie.

He also tried a candy cane, which he proceeded to spit out after much thought about if he liked it and how he would get rid of it. (We gave him the free pass to spit it out.  I suspect that's not acceptable classroom behavior by the look on his face.)

After snacks, it was time to exchange gift books.

Kellan LOVES books and he was very pleased with the book he received.

Happy Christmas Party, Kiddo!

Gum Drop and Gingerbread Dreams

Saturday night of Grandma and Grandpa's visit we were going to go to Zoo Lights.  However, Grandpa and Kellan had been fighting cold's and we decided that a night in sounded better than a night out in the cold.  It's a good thing because we had to wake Kellan up from his nap for dinner!  He's been taking a lot of monster sized naps lately.  So instead of Zoo Lights, we stayed in and put together a Gingerbread house we had bought at Costco.  It was SO much fun.  The kids LOVED it and the paparazzi were out, so this event is getting its own post.

We started by creating the tree, which Mom was in charge of squirting the frosting on while the boys placed each piece one at a time.

Next up, we tackled the house.  Once again, Mommy put the frosting in place while the boys followed with delicately and strategically placing small pieces of candy.

Tiny Fingers decorating a Tiny House.

Kellan admiring his masterpiece.

"Watch Mama"

"I DID IT!"

"I DID IT"

Piece by Piece

Over and Over

Oliver had his eye brows squinted and was in high focus on his side of the house.

As the boys continued to place each decoration, Mommy went back to decorate the tree.

Time to landscape the yard with bushes.

Check out those lips on Kellan.

Ta Da... The finished masterpiece.

But we're not done here!

Daddy and Grandpa came over to admire the masterpiece before demolition.

Oh that's right, we told them they could eat it.

They stared at it in disbelief for a while.

Oliver giggled nervously and Kellan plotted how he was going to eat the top of the tree.

Lips first, apparently.

MMMmmm???  

....  Not bad??

Oliver went for the roof line.

Kellan went back for seconds on the tree topper.

Oliver was still working on the roof line.

I love this one.  Tongue Out, DIVE DIVE DIVE!! 

"That's right Mr, Snowman. You're next."

....

"Or... maybe I'll save you for later."

The boys loved it.

Decorating and Demolishing.

Don't worry, they didn't eat too much of it.  It was actually quite hard and not very tasty.  It was fun to try though.

Spreading Christmas Cheer

On the Friday night that Grandma and Grandpa were in town, as luck would have it, Oliver had his Pre-Kindergarten program.  It was PERFECT!!  After spending a day running around town, we topped it off with this show.  We were all beaming with pride, especially his Mommy.  She may have been heard saying, "This is what having kids is all about!  This makes up for all of the sleepless nights, temper tantrums and time outs!".  Yes... even Oliver has had his not-so-easy moments.  What kid hasn't?  This night, this was a big one.  Looking back at the video, it may appear like more than 40 4 and 5 year olds screaming but if you have watched the movie Elf, you know one thing is true.  

"The best way to spread Christmas Cheer is Signing Loud for ALL to hear!"

Surely, these kids spread A LOT of Christmas Cheer this night.

This group is made up of 4K1 and 4KII.  The difference is age.  4K1 is the younger group (spring/summer birthdays) and 4KII is the older group (fall/winter birthdays).  Being an October birthday, Oliver is in 4K II on the right.  He's just to the right of the middle, in the middle row.

A star is born!

For your viewing pleasure, the show!

There was one song sang by just the 4K1 class and I didn't record that, but the rest is here.  Be sure to maximize the screen size to get a good shot at our blossoming performer.

On Monday morning, Grant (blue tie in front of Oliver) said "Oliver was singing loud, right in my ear."  I told him that was because he knew every word and he wanted to make sure that everyone could hear them.  Grant wasn't kidding, Oliver was one of the loudest ones in the bunch.  His parents were beaming with pride.

Just in case you want to know all of the words like Oliver, here are the words to some songs you may not know:

The Merry Hula

When it's Christmas day in Hawaii
All the little elves do the hula
Their work is done and it's time for fun
In the tropical island sun
When it's Christmas day in Hawaii
They dance and play their tiny ukuleles
They've made the toys for the girls and boys
Now they sing of Yuletide joys, and they sing:

Ho ho ho and a ha ha ha
Ooo we love to do the Merry Hula
Tee hee hee and a tra la la
Ooo we love to do the Merry Hula
The gifts are spread beneath the tree
Little children jump with glee
Ho ho ho and a ha ha ha
Ooo we love to do the Merry Hula

When it's Christmas day in Hawaii
Santa takes a break to do some surfin'
He looks real cute in his swimming' suit
And waterproof rubber boots
When it's Christmas day in Hawaii
And all the gifts for kids have been delivered
He lands his sleigh for a holiday
Where the palm trees swing and sway, and he sings:

Ho ho ho and a ha ha ha
Ooo we love to do the Merry Hula
Tee hee hee and a tra la la
Ooo we love to do the Merry Hula
The gifts are spread beneath the tree
Little children jump with glee
Ho ho ho and a ha ha ha
Ooo we love to do the Merry Hula 

Ten Little Angels

One glorious Christmas morning
Ten angels did appear
And each one held an instrument
Carefully made by hand
First they counted off to ten
Playing one by one
Then they played together
In a joyful Angel Band

There was one, there were two,
There were three little angels
There were four, there were five,
There were six little angels
There were seven, there were eight,
There were nine little angels
Ten little angels in the band.

Oh, wasn't that a band, Christmas morning
Christmas morning, Christmas morning,
Wasn't that a band, Christmas morning
Ten little angels in the band