First Grade - Awards

**June 4, 2013 - I haven't written a blog since December. I suppose it's time to get caught up. Unfortunately, details will be seriously lacking since it's been six months!

 Braelyn received an award in January for being a hard worker and for having perfect attendance through the first semester.

(I'm also having hard time learning how to use our new computer - a mac - so this is the only picture I could get to show up on this post. Boo!)

Advent Activities - I think I bit off more than I can chew.

In November, I posted my list of activities I had hoped to do with the family throughout December. I'm pretty sure I bit off more than I could chew. It was a great plan, and we did get some of it done, but as you know December tends to be busy all on its own. Here are a few pictures of the things we did get done:

Cookie Decorating w/ the neighbors

Feeding the reindeer w/ reindeer food that was made at a neighbor's house :) (Thanks, Jill!)

Each of the kids wrote letters to Santa. Gene, our elf, typed them up nice and pretty for the kids to mail off to Santa.

We also made paper chains to count down to Christmas.

There were a few others that we accomplished, too, but not all of  them were documented with pictures. We'll try to do better next year. :)

White Christmas? Yes, please!

This year, we had a white Christmas. I can't remember actually ever having a white Christmas. I'm sure I've lived through one in my younger years, but this was so much fun! We even got to have a snowball fight Christmas evening.

I don't think Donny remembers playing in the snow a couple years ago. He thought this was great! I think he thought it was frozen milk all over the place. At one point he even said, "It tastes like milk." :)

Even Aunt Amy got in on the fun. She got a surprise attack from her big brother, but she got her revenge, too. :)

I got to throw things at my kids FOR FUN! It doesn't get much better than that. :)

And, of course, you can't have all this snow around and not make snow angels. They're a thing of beauty!

We missed Grandma W this year. It was our first Christmas without her. I liked the thought that Aunt Amy said earlier Christmas Day - Nelda (Grandma W) now has an 'in' with the Big Guy and asked him to make it snow. She got the white Christmas she always wanted.

Christmas Morning

Just a quick post to remember what the kids got for Christmas this year.

These were the kids' big gifts this year.

Donny got a keyboard. He loves playing the piano at Grandma and Grandpa Drummond's house, and he enjoys playing the organ at Grandma J's and Aunt Amy's house.

Braelyn got a guitar...a real one. You can see from the picture how much she loves it! Now, we just have to find someone to teacher her lessons.

Saying "Good-bye" to Gene

We had a lot of fun with Gene this year.

He did a lot of fun things this year such as:

* brought snow donuts straight from the North Pole

* decorated the tree with toilet paper

* went fishing in the toilet with goldfish crackers

* brought us a new book about Jesus and Christmas

* brought us new Christmas movies

* sat in a bowl of Cheerios - he even made a mess on the counter for Mommy to clean up!

* napped in the cake tray because he was sick :(

* sat in a bowl of marshmallows and took a bite out of one of our sugar cookies

Just like last year, he got permission from Santa for the kids to give him one hug and kiss each to say 'good-bye' before he had to leave Christmas Eve. We can't wait for him to come back again next year!

2012 Advent Activities

**Updated on Jan. 4, 2013 to note which activities actually got completed

Dec. 1 - Make a paper chain to count down to Christmas; Christmas Parade & Tree Lighting (done)
Dec. 2 - Write a letter to Santa (done)
Dec. 3 - Adopt an Angel (done - we adopted 2)
Dec. 4 - Make Smores
Dec. 5 - Indoor picnic by the tree (done)
Dec. 6 - DQ Peppermint Blizzard (done)
Dec. 7 - Take goodies to the neighbors (done)
Dec. 8 - Go out to dinner - kids' choice (done)
Dec. 9 - Pictures w/ Santa (done)
Dec. 10 - Make paper snowflakes to decorate the glass door
Dec. 11 - Make ice cream sundaes (done)
Dec. 12 - Play a game
Dec. 13 - Nighttime walk to look at neighbors' Christmas lights
Dec. 14 - Get new Christmas PJ's (done)
Dec. 15 - Cookie decorating w/ neighbors (done)
Dec. 16 - Buy a gift for your teacher (done)
Dec. 17 - Breaksfast for dinner (done)
Dec. 18 - Hot chocolate w/ marshmallows & sprinkles (done)
Dec. 19 - Hunt for chocolate kisses while listening to Christmas music
Dec. 20 - Read a Christmas book (done)
Dec. 21 - Neighborhood hayride/kids' gift exchange (done)
Dec. 22 - Christmas movie w/ treats (done at a later date)
Dec. 23 - North Pole Express train ride (SOLD OUT) :(
Dec. 24 - Make reindeer food to sprinkle in the yard (done)

This is the first year for us to do something like this. I'm so excited about it! Do you do this with your family? I'd love for you to share your ideas. :)

Adventures in Potty Training

Conversation with Donny:


Me: Donny, go potty.
Donny: It came out by itself.
Me: Then go change your pants.
Donny: By myself?! (in shock that I would even suggest such a thing)
Me: Yes. You're big enough to know better, so you're big enough to change your own pants.

And, yes, he did change his own pants. Thank you.