Christmas Cheer Continues

To keep the Christmas cheer going, we went to the Chicago Botanic Gardens this weekend to see their Christmas display which involved lots of lights, plants and trains.

Jonah was trapped in his stroller, but got very excited every time he got close enough to touch something. Even though the lights were "eyes only", he couldn't be stopped.

It had snowed earlier in the day, so this was our first chance to try out our new boots and hats. I think we look pretty winter-ready.

In addition to lights, plants and trains, there was also a few crafts. Here daddy is helping Noah make a snowflake out of a coffee filter. We also made a bird feeder out of cranberries, lard and birdseed.

Jonah tried to get into the snowflake action, but he can't be trusted with scissors so he only got a coffee filter.

Here are our final product snowflakes. We were getting pretty hungry for dinner, so we were running a little short on smiles and picture taking cooperation.

They had 12 different trains running on various tracks around replicas of some of Chicago's most famous buildings. The one that I liked the best was a ladybug train that came right out to greet us. Jonah loved the trains and giggled in delight every time one came into his sights. This was a great event that we all loved and I expect that it's going to become an annual tradition.

Littlest Big Helper

Mummy started wrapping Christmas presents today. Noah loves anything that involves paper and tape, so he was more then willing to help. I love to see the action and crunching up paper, so I was able to be mummy's little big helper. I was more then willing to take the paper scraps and make creative projects with them.


Here we are, mummy's big helpers! Anna was too busy to be a helper. What was she doing you ask? She was pretending to be Mary in Bethlehem (the playroom) taking care of baby Jesus (Big Isabelle). She did take a scrap of wrapping paper to use as a blanket for her baby, which somehow seemed very appropriate.

On a side note, which explains my grouchy face, I had a doctors appointment today where I got 4 shots! It was just a regular check-up, which at a year during flu season means 4 shots! I did get some official stats though - 21 lbs 3 oz (somewhere between 25-50% depending on what chat you look at) and 31"(roughly the 85-90% no matter where you look).

Christmas Cheer

We had a great Christmas party at preschool this year! Mostly what made it great was that we got to decorate cookies and then eat them! I love a good holiday party to spread holiday cheer!

Enjoying my decorating efforts.

This is my class - 5 little girls and 2 teachers. We really have a great time and we all love cookies!

Shepherd Debut

We really did a great job with our Christmas play. We had a nice set, with a star that lit up and a whole cast. In this picture, I'm the shepherd without my staff.

Here's a better view of my shepherd costume. Conveniently, Anna was wearing white so I treated her like my sheep.

Let me introduce myself, Noah, the shepherd.

Jonah came to watch the play but needed some toys to keep him quite. I think at one point he thought he also had lines in our play.


This year at preschool we did a great Christmas play where I got to be a shepherd. Of all the parts there are in the Christmas story, I got to pick, and I picked shepherd. I don't know why you'd pick anything else, the shepherds are the only ones with staffs! Anyway, it was a great play full of songs, staffs and the story of baby Jesus.

Nature Explorer

At preschool we have an outdoor classroom to help us be more in touch with nature. To further our nature awareness, we have a Nature Explores Bag that rotates through the class. This weekend I got to bring the Nature Explores Bag home, so I explored some nature.

Since it was so cold, there was a dusting of snow to explore more closely.

While we were out exploring, we made the discovery of a secret passageway. We hadn't seen it earlier as it's a bit overgrown, but we may just trim the bushes back this spring so that it's no longer a secret and just a true passageway.

After all of that nature exploring while it was freezing cold, we of course ended with hot chocolate!

Cake

All good birthday parties involve cake, and mine was no different. When my cake was put in front of me, I wasn't so sure about how I felt about it, but as time went on I really got into it (literally). I love cake now and you'll be glad to know that all the frosting came off.

The Big One

Here are some of my friends who made it to my party. In the front row there is Isaiah, McKenna, Zach, Ashlyn, Ben, Autumn, Benji, Haley-Jo, Grace, Everet, Luke and Caleb. In the back row we have: Anna, me, Noah, Rachel, Cami, Callie, Solan, Regan, Emerson, Elijah and Nathan. Friends in attendance, but not in the picture include: Mire, Elyse, Nathan, Emma, Ally, Gavin and Tyler.

I'm holding court in the party room.

Here I am hanging out with Mr. Smith and Emerson.

Anna and Emerson crawling around one of the bouncy houses.

Mr. Swierczek and Mr. Andrews are both math teachers and couldn't help but compare notes and think about grading math tests during my party. Who says that teachers aren't dedicated?

Daddy and Noah just before they slip down the slide.

This weekend was my first birthday! I had a party at Pump It Up and all of my friends came. I had a great time and think that birthdays are the best!