Schoolhouse Rock

One of my favorite parts of the holidays when I was growing up was getting to celebrate and enjoy all of the parties at school.  Now, they don't celebrate many holidays in school, but even though they don't celebrate specific holidays like Christmas and Halloween anymore, they make sure to give the students a chance to party.

As a room parent in Evan's Kindergarten class this year, I've been able to help plan some of these parties and it's been so much fun.  During the holiday season we were able to have a "winter party".  It was a bit stressful to get all of the materials together-it's pretty tricky to find materials to decorate a gingerbread house that are both nut and trans fat free.  However, once we got all the materials and got to the classroom, it was so nice to be with all of the kiddos, especially Evan.  It does make me realize how much I enjoy being in a school setting in general.

So, on to the party-We decorated the classroom and when the kiddos came back from their specials class they were ready to party.  First, we gave them all the gingerbread houses that we had prepared and let them decorate them with the candy.  This meant that they ate a whole bunch of candy and even put a little on their houses.  Then, we divided the kids up into groups and rotated them through a few different activities-winter bingo, coloring, bead snowflake making, and even pin the nose on the Olaf.

Ben got to come of the party too, and the brothers loved going to all of the different centers together.  I'm so glad I get the chance to be there with him.  Seeing him in his classroom with his classmates and teachers helps me to know that he's in a good place everyday when I drop him off.

I'm hoping for a spring semester filled with just as many great excuses to celebrate!

(gingerbread houses waiting to be decorated)

(candy!)

(the boys making their snowflake bead ornaments with their group)

(some of Evan's classmates trying on the Olaf noses)

(the festive classroom scene)

(Evan with Mrs. Joshua-Wilson in her festive attire)

Little Fishies

It was the busiest time of the year had arrived and I was busily getting ready to celebrate the season.  So, what did I do?  Of course, I signed my boys both up for swim lessons for two weeks just to make everything a little more hectic.  It was a hectic two weeks, but the lessons went well.

Benny did two weeks of lessons three times a week.  He really made a lot of progress and had a ball.  He really had fun and told me how much he liked the lessons each time.  In previous lessons, he wasn't quite ready to stick his head under water, but this time, he blew bubbles, put his head under water, and jumped off the edge of the pool whenever requested.  In fact, after the first lesson they said he was perhaps a little too eager and needed to wait for instructions before just charging off.  I'm so glad he had fun, and he just looked so stinkin' cute doing it!

While Ben was happily swimming around, Evan also started swimming class.  This time he was in the Competitive Development Team, a one day a week class that prepares them for swim team.  It was the perfect transition for Evan from swim lessons to swim team.  Evan was a bit nervous for the first few classes, but has started to hit his stride and get more confident in his swimming.  I'm excited to see him swim in his upcoming meet.

Here's a little taste of the cuteness of the Benjamin-

Shepherd*Singer*Star

With the Christmas season always comes Christmas singing.  This year, I discovered Pandora Christmas radio stations in my car, so we were always singing something wherever we were going.  Too bad the boys and I don't share the same taste in Christmas songs.  Evan and Ben were always dying for some Jingle Bell Rock while I was more in the mood for God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman.  Fortunately, with our voting system in place in the car, there weren't too many fights over songs.

In addition to Christmas music in the car, Benny also had the opportunity to sing his Christmas songs in public.  One Saturday morning in early December he had his preschool Christmas concert.  For the concert they each got to choose which part of the Christmas story they would be dressed as.  Ben chose the star, so on the morning of the concert he was dressed up with a little shepherd's hat and a big gold star pinned to his shirt.  He loved it!

He was so cute to watch in the concert.  Unfortunately, they were standing on the rows according to grade level and height.  So, he just happened to be the teeniest four year old standing behind the tallest three year old.  I had to move my seat to get any view of him, and even then he was slightly hidden.  Oh well, they were all still adorable to watch.

While Ben is certainly not the most vocal one in the chorus, he certainly sings more than his brother, and he really enjoyed the hand motions.  He loves music so much that I wanted him to try out the church choir at our church.  The Sunshine Kids is the choir for kids from 4-7 years old and practices right after church on Sundays.  He loves to listen to music, but I think the verdict is still out on whether he wants to do Sunshine Kids.  I wonder if sometimes he is reluctant to go because his brother doesn't do it.

I'll just have to see how he continues to do, but the same weekend that he had the preschool concert, he also had a concert at church between services in the fellowship hall.  He was adorable as usual, but I learned a valuable lesson from the concert.  When you dress your child for a concert where he will clearly be standing in the front row, make sure he has pants with a strong enough waistband.  His pants fell a little lower than they should have and revealed a little more than they should have several times.  I had to run up to the stage and pull them up several times.  That's okay, he didn't seem to mind.

I love watching Benny the star, and I hope I get to watch many more performances in the years to come!

(my star!)

(the whole group)

(Benny and his buddy Anna after the performance)

(the preschool performance)

(one of the church songs-note the dropping pants)