The "W" in Christmas

I stole this from someone else's blog. I love it.



The "W" in Christmas

Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations -- extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas. My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six-year-old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's "Winter Pageant." I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.

So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment - songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title.

Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row-center stage -- held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love." The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down -- totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W." The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W." Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:

"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"

Christmas festivities

I just love watching Raegan dance. She is such a natural on stage. She gets that from Russ. She gets a lot of things from her daddy. The ability to pick up on things so quickly and making them look so easy. I wish I could say that it is me--BUT nope all Russ--and I am so grateful. She LOVES to dance. This year she was able to be in the Christmas Spectacular at the town's 12 days of Christmas program. It was a lot of fun for her. She loves getting to wear make-up and getting her hair curled. She is just too stinkin cute. We just love her. *She is hard to see in the video. Her face is all white and that big black speaker is right in front of my camera. But she is the one in the front row on the far right. (the cutest one)

Gingerbread houses with Ninna

We are so lucky to have our Ninna live so close to us. She is such a blessing to our family. Russ and I can go out when we need/want and we always know Ninna will be there to watch our kids. And love them as much as we do. But that is not the only reason we feel so blessed to have her. She loves my kids so much. She is wonderful with them. The girls LOVE to sleep over at Ninna's. She is soooo patient with them. Last night Russ and I were SUPPOSED to go out so Ninna said she would help the kids make gingerbread houses with graham crackers. The kids were so thrilled. They love projects like this. Reese was so fun to watch. She placed each little nerd and piece of candy in the perfect place. Thanks Ninna for helping them and being so wonderful. We love you.

I'm not tired

So my Reese is convinced that she is DONE with naps!! UGH!!! She hasn't taken "naps" for about 2 months now. She doesn't really get super grouchy until about 5 or so at night. She will just veg out on the couch and watch a movie for about an hour which is really nice. One day last week my friend Sandra and I took Reese and went to lunch. She was perfect the whole time. When we got home and Sandra and I were talking she started getting fussy and whinny. Next thing we know she was CRASHED!! Standing up next to the couch. HAHA it was so cute. Once in awhile I guess I get lucky with a short little nap--hey I'll take whatever she will give me.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Today the kindergarten kids did their Thanksgiving program. It was so cute. Raegan's class were pilgrims. They did a poem. Raegan has been practicing that poem for a week now and has it memorized. All the classes sang two songs together. The last song "Under One Sky" is so cute. I remember getting teary eyed when I heard it with Riley's class. This year was no different. Raegan told me yesterday "Mom the last song is gonna make you cry." It did. I tell you what--I haven't ever been much of a crier BUT seeing my babies get big just sends me into a crying frenzy. It's awful. We are so proud of our Raegan and we love watching her be so big and learning new things.

This Thanksgiving day I hope that we all reflect on our many blessings and GIVE THANKS for what we have. Our family is so blessed and we can always be better at showing our gratitude.

Raegan goes to the dairy

The kindergarten classes went on a field trip last week. They got to go the the Sunrise Dairy here in Snowflake/Taylor. I was very excited to get to go with them. It was very interesting. We saw all the mommy cows and how they line up to get milked every morning. We got to see the way they hook all the cows up to the milking machine. OUCH!! We saw how they put the milk into cartons and the huge fridge. All the kids got to have a chocolate milk. Then we got to see the baby cows and got to feed them some hay. It was a super fun little trip. These are the cute kids that were in my group--they are super good kids and stayed right by me the whole time.

Mr. Snowman

Isn't he cute? I love how he turned out. The only bad thing is that he is too top heavy and won't stand up on his own. He has to be propped against something else. Oh well it works. He is made out of 2x4's and scrapbook paper.

Thankful Trees

The kids had Veteran's day off of school. It was a LONG day. They all started to get pretty board and then they get naughty. SO I thought they needed a project. I cut some leaf shapes from my cricut. I had them paint a tree with only the branches. Then I had them write on the leaves some things they were thankful for. Then they glued the leaves on their trees. Riley was thankful for toys, family, army guys (he had just visited the Veteran's at the cemetery), and ice cream. Raegan was thankful for her family and that was the only thing she could write. Reese didn't write anything but she was talking as she scribbled. She said, mommy, daddy, sissy, brother, Ninna. It was good for them to do a project and it is good for me to hear what they are thankful for sometimes.

Proud to be an American

Riley's class did a flag ceremony last week--it was the day before Veteran's day. The parents were invited to go and watch. It was so touching. It was a wonderful sight to see the boy scouts march the flag in and everyone stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance. I'm so grateful to live in a town that we are able to raise the flag and sing together the National Anthem in our school. What a wonderful experience for Riley and all that were present. It did bring tears to my eyes--I know I'm getting OLD!!

Raegan looses her first tooth

Raegan has been waiting and waiting to lose a tooth like her brother. Her front two teeth have been loose for a really long time. Actually we are all kind of surprised those front teeth have lasted this long. When she was little she would fall A LOT and EVERY time she would bang those front teeth. There were a few accidents that I thought there was NO WAY they were ever going to be the same. BUT they made it. The dentist said last time we were there that they had hardly any root left. Of course she is super excited that the tooth fairy brought her a whole dollar. We think she looks pretty cute.

Riley's first piano recital

My hunny boy is so amazing. He was SOOOOOO NERVOUS at his piano recital. Can you tell?? Look how he is sitting. He was so nervous he didn't even adjust himself on the bench. Poor little man. He seriously ALMOST started crying when he had to say his name and the songs he was playing. But he said he looked over at mom and that made him not cry. He played two songs--"Come To My House" and "Christopher Columbus". The one you actually hear on the videio is "Christopher Columbus". Yeah I pretty much suck--I couldn't find the record button until his second song. DANG IT!! He really does LIKE playing the piano. I usually never have to argue or fight with him to practice. He was just so nervous. I was so nervous for him BEING so nervous. I know how hard it is to get up in front of people who you don't know and have EVERY ONE watch you. Russ and I are just so so proud of him that he wanted to play and that he went threw with it. Way to go buddy. Our friend Sandra Carter came with us to watch and support him. After the recital we went to DQ for some ice cream. Everyone was calmed down by then and I hope it will be a good memory for him. Next recital maybe he won't be quite so nervous. I lOvE yOu RiLeY!!!

Happy Halloween 2010

This is our Halloween in a nutshell. We didn't carve pumpkins until FRIDAY night. YES this is the longest I have ever waited to do pumpkins. The kids asked almost everyday if today would be the day. And they stayed paitent until it was the actual day. This is Riley's 7th year doing pumpkins and again this year he was totally grossed out by the pumpkin guts. It's kindof crazy. When I MADE him do some of his own guts he would wash his hands like 3 times. Too funny. He wanted a vampire pumpkin. Of course mom had to do most of the work but he was pretty proud of it when it was finished. Raegan is a trooper. She dug right in and cleaned hers out. SHE CARVED HER PUMPKIN ALL BY HERSELF this year. I was really excited about that. It turned out adorable. Way to go Rae. Reese was just happy to be there. While I was helping the other two she was trying to draw a face on her "baby pumpkin" with some chalk. I love her.


Costumes this year were the eaisiest and cheapest we have ever done. Riley wanted to be a vampire. OK easy--church clothes, black hair color, white face paint, and a borrowed cape--total of $3. Raegan wanted to be a witch. My good friend Cassie MADE her an amazing black and purple skirt, black dance leotard, black tights, black and green hair color, witch hat from the dolloar store, and fake eye lashes. Total of $3. Reese--well I figured that this may be the last year I can TELL Reese what she is going to be. Anyone who knows my Reesie knows she has an OBSESSION with Q-tips. She has since she was a small baby. They are like her binkie I guess. In fact she is holding one now as I type this. SO I thought it would be super funny if I could dress her like a Q-tip. She was MORE than happy to comply. She would tell everyone that she was going to be a Q-tip for Halloween. Her costume didn't turn out how I invisioned in my head but it was still super funny. Total cost--$1 for a stocking hat from the dollar store. Grand total--$7 for all 3 kids costumes. DANG that is awesome.

Our Halloween Party

Last night we had a fun Halloween party. Everyone that came dressed up which was so fun. I'm so glad everyone came and had a good time. Russ is always the life of the party and kept everyone laughing. We will for sure have another one next year. Don't you LOVE Melindas costume?? So cute. It was perfect.

Halloween cake pops

I made these Halloween cake pops for the kids teachers. I do try and SHARE stuff with their teachers because I really appriciate all they do with my kids. It is truly a relief to know that their teachers care about them and want them to do well at school. They both have wonderful teacher. HaPpY hAlLoWeEn.

Fun stuff

I made this pumpkin and tree for some fun decorations. They are made out of 2x4's and scrapbook paper. Held all together with Gorilla glue. That stuff it awsome.

What little girls are made of

My girls are SO fun. I am so glad that we have two girls right together. I remember playing with my sisters for HoUrS. Raegan is every girls dream BiG sIsTeR. She is so good to Reese (who in return is not always so nice back). Raegan has AlWaYs been a girly girl. She is very into dressing up and wearing make-up. I think Reese is following in her footsteps. The other day they wanted the make-up down. After they both found the perfect outfits *yeah you like Reesie's? That would be one of Rae's old dance costumes* The two girls had some fun with their make-up. It brought back such fun memories of me and my sisters. I love these sweet faces. You girls look FaBuLoUs!!