Best of Friends

After a few rocky months on the sibling home front, these two have become much closer these last few weeks.  They love to play together, laugh together, bathe together, and have even begged to sleep together on many occasions.  Amelia is really an amazing big sister when she wants to be and Henry wants nothing more than to be just like her and do whatever she is doing (and saying).  

I know there can't always be nothing but love between them, so I'm going to make extra efforts to catch them in these sweet, sweet moments.   

School Christmas Party

I don't have too many pictures from the kindergarten class Christmas party, but I was so happy that I got to come and enjoy it with Amelia.  I was in charge of running the Bingo game, so I only got a minute or two to snap some pictures with my phone.

Amelia DOMINATED in musical chairs (doesn't she look fierce?)!  And, in the end, she beat out one of the priests to take home the Musical Chairs Champion Trophy (which may or may not have been a mini bag of M&M's).

She thought this cupcake was great!  Then, she licked most of the icing off and was on to the next station.

This is the whole kindergarten crew this year and her teacher, Mrs. Bell!  It is hard to believe that the year is halfway over!

Amelia's Bed

.....is Henry's favorite place to sneak off to during the day while she is at school.  If all is quiet and I cannot easily find him, I always check here first.

New Shirt

 I made Henry a new shirt!

 It's perfect for patroling the playground...

taking the stairs....

staring down fish....

and knocking down trees!

Class Clown

Henry was yelling for my attention from the backseat and this what I saw when I turned around. It is unclear where the spoon came from.

Reindeer Cookies

It's been a few years since we've "made" these cookies.  We decided to do it on kind of a whim so I didn't have all of the exact right ingredients, but I still think they turned out cute and delicious!

Sticker Surplus

Is it just me or do all of you other parents of young children have a ridiculous number of stickers for your kids?  I rarely buy them, but some how we are sticker magnets.  To be clear, I am not complaining.  I love stickers (it is different than hoarding them, I swear) and we are always putting them on letters and papers and our clothes.... 

So when I saw this idea on Pinterest, I knew it was meant just for us!  I cut out a gigantic tree from an old cardboard box we had laying around and had Amelia paint it one day after school.  Then, the next day, I gave Henry and Amelia some of our sticker collection and let them decorate the tree.  Turns out, old address labels make the perfect garland! Amelia made a star for the top and then I hung it on the inside of our front door.  I made need to recreate this activity for every holiday as we hardly made a dent in our sticker surplus...

Our visit to the Man in Red

Another year, another visit to Mr. Claus.  We were later this year than we've ever been, but that didn't dampen our spirits a bit!  Amelia was all about telling Santa what she wanted and Henry was following her lead.  Surprisingly, he didn't bat an eye climbing on to Santa's lap.  They both did great!

Despite the 45 minute line wait behind us, Amelia was determined to make sure Santa was very clear about her letter.

What letter you ask?  The one she painstakingly wrote to Santa several days before our visit.  She worked SO hard on it!  And she didn't hesitate to correct Santa when he mistakenly read the wrong thing.

Translation: "What I really want for Christmas is a princess Barbie, magnifying glass, Kit doll, and binoculars.  My brother wants a blue car for Christmas.  Your Friends, Amelia and Henry".

When she was satisfied that Santa understood her letter, we took a ride on the carousel.   As you can see, it was a hit!

Luckily a prompt and thoughtful elf made a quick copy of Amelia's letter to Santa so that we can keep the original for years to come. I have a feeling Amelia may enjoy looking back at it one day....

Back to Pre-School

Amelia had a Wednesday off of school in early December.  I thought it would be the perfect chance to visit her old pre-school teachers and share how well she is doing in kindergarten.  When I emailed her old teacher to inquire about a visit, I assumed we would be coming either during lunch time or after school so as not to disrupt her current class. 

Turns out, she wanted Amelia to come and talk about life as a kindergartener and field questions from the kids getting ready to go to kindergarten next year.  This, of course, is right up Amelia's alley.  She was so excited when I told her and had a running countdown in her head of how many days were left until she got to go answer questions for the pre-schoolers.

When the time came, she did great!  She told them ALL about her day, favorite subjects, recess, and other the other ins and outs of being a kindergartener.  She even insisted on bringing a sticker to pass out to each child post-talk.

 I really cannot not enough about Amelia's pre-school--and her teacher in particular.  She has taken so many opportunities to put Amelia in leadership roles and build her confidence and self-esteem--even when she is no longer a student there! 

It is so hard to believe that I will be registering Henry next month to attend the same pre-school (although it will only be one day a week).  It will be nice to have another little Duckling there for awhile!

Making Progress

Jason's family has a tradition every December of holding a progressive dinner.  We visit 3 houses during the day and stuff ourselves silly with delicious food.  It is a whole day event and always one we look forward to.  It is nice to hang out and chat with the family in such a relaxing environment.  Sure, we see the same people on Christmas, but we are always running a marathon from house to house that day and hardly get to talk much at all.

This year Baby Owen was a big hit with my two.  Henry even got a chance to hold his bottle and he was thrilled!  Amelia enjoyed dangling things in his face all day.

Despite the food being great and the company being great, the pictures on my camera were definitely not great.

I guess we will try again next year....