After Christmas Fun

Friday Omie and Papa Fred came up to celebrate. We opened presents and had a lovely dinner.

Omie brought poppers, and each one contained a crown and little toy.

Saturday we headed to Austin for a Rayburn family reunion. Gigi's family came together, and it had been five years since the last one.

Corryn and Aidan

Allison and Daddy

Uncle Ross, Gigi, and Daddy

Sunday morning we headed to Wimberley to have breakfast with the Ethridge/Brevell crew. They had a similar reunion on Saturday as well.

The Cousins

Makayla, Allison, Madeline, Aidan, and Coraline

Makayla in her lady bug tent.

Walkie Talkie Time

Time for New Year's! 2014 has been another wonderful year for us, and we look forward to what 2015 has to hold.

Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas all! Allison was up at 6:30 this morning, and Aidan followed at 7:00. They loved all their gifts of course, but there was a sweet moment over breakfast that told me they know the reason for the season.

Aidan asked us, "What is the best part of Christmas?" We started guessing what he might say: toys, family, big breakfast... He said, "Nope. Baby Jesus was born."

Isn't that sweet? Well he also had this to say when he opened a gift from Santa that was in a box he didn't recognize: "I didn't order this!"

Both kids have been very giving and thoughtful as always, and I know they understand how fortunate we are.

Riding the Carousel

Candlelight Christmas Eve Service

Making Cookies for Santa

Opening One Gift on Christmas Eve

Daddy and Aidan loved the crossbow from Aunt Laura, Uncle Marc, Riley & Jake.

Christmas Morning

Also, our friend Zack has returned to the North Pole. This was his second to last night here. As you can see he was quite the trouble-making elf this season.

I hope you each have a wonderful holiday filled with smiles! We will be with two, possibly three groups of family members over the next three days, so our Christmas fun has just begun.

School Christmas Parties

Today was the last day of school before Christmas break. Yes, I said, "Christmas" break. Previously we have had to say "Winter Break" and "Winter Parties" at school, but not anymore. Grace was decked out for Christmas everywhere, and the entire reason for Christmas was talked about openly. It was great.

Aidan's Party

Decorating Gingerbread Houses

Isabella, Landon, Riley, and Aidan

Aidan and Lily

Allison's Party

Playing "Down by the River" in the hall waiting for their slow moms to finish setting up in the classroom.

Making bead wreaths and candy canes.

Her face while working cracked me up!

Dosia, Wesley, Allison, and Bella

Allison then read a story she had written for Miss Joyce to the class. I was so proud of her for wanting to read it. She begged to, and not that long ago she would have been too shy and self conscience to even try. She received a big applause for her story about the Huskies! (The class has named themselves the Huskies.)

Gift Card Exchange Game

They are now home for two and a half weeks, and the first thing they did was ask me to turn on the fireplace and put on pjs. Glad to have them close all day for a little while!

Westside Lights

Last night we went to check out the lights at Westside Tennis Club. They were amazing. All LED, and so pretty. Daddy met us there after work, so it was some nice family time.

Christmas Program

Tuesday night Allison and Aidan participated in their school Christmas program. It was really cute and such a nice way to celebrate the season.

If you look closely at Allison's teeth you will notice something new. (You can click on the picture to enlarge.) She has a retainer to move one of her top front teeth. She has to wear it constantly for two months, and then after that only while sleeping. That one tooth is hitting her bottom tooth, so there is  risk of chipping both, especially with gymnastics. And, since this is permanent teeth we are talking about something needed to be done. So far she is doing a fantastic job of keeping up with it, and even though it is a little uncomfortable, she has hardly complained. She is such a good little girl!

Jingle Bell Run

Today the kids and I participated in the Jingle Bell Run downtown to support the downtown YMCA. This is such a fun event because people dress up all types of Christmas outfits. There were elves, Santa, dogs in red and green tutus, and many Chick-fil-A cows. They also had a band playing Christmas music and a kids' zone with inflatables and a bike race. We had fun, and Allison is ready to do more runs.

We did interval training the entire time, and it was pretty much dictated by Aidan. He did not want anyone passing him up, so it was run, then walk, run, then walk for the first couple of miles. For the last mile, he was walking. Allison really wanted to run, so she would run up a little ways and then wait for us. I promised her she and I would do a 5K soon.

Cultural Exposition & Christmas Chapel

The third graders at Grace had a big day today!

First up was the Cultural Exposition from 8:30 - 9:30 am. Allison has spent hours working at home and at school to prepare. The lesson was on immigration, and each student had to report on an immigrant from their family. Allison wrote about her great, great, great grandfather Johann Menn. I knew Omie had quick access to pictures and history, so it was a great choice. ;)

At home she made a paper doll where she used her sewing machine to make the dress. It took her three or four sessions, and it looked great!

She also worked at home on her report. She interviewed Omie, took notes, wrote an outline to organize her thoughts and sequences, and then typed up a report on the computer with Daddy's help.

Then, at school she worked on a poster about Germany. It included food, pictures of her ancestors, pictures of the flag, and other fun information.

Today as numerous people walked around the room to learn about the students' heritage, Allison had to answer questions and educate them on Germany and her immigrant relative. It was such a great event, and Allison did a fantastic job of answering their questions. She looked adults in the eye, smiled, and said, "Thank You". I was so, so proud of her!

Allison and Maame

Maame presented on Lebanon.

Allison and Lauren

Lauren presented on Spain, so this is their "Ole!"

Some of the students dressed up for their country, however most did not. I'll try to be more on top of that when Aidan is in 3rd grade. I am still getting the hang of Grace School. Aidan did come and tour the Cultural Exposition. He ate his way around the world and then headed back to PE.

Today was also the all-school Christmas Chapel at 10 am. Aidan came to sit by me so that he could see Allison well. The third graders sang during the service.

To see the very shaky video of "Do You Hear What I Hear" click below. I had a little guy repeatedly hitting my elbow.

http://youtu.be/kN4jwQNhIG4

Allison joined us in our pew after the song, and I was able to snap a quick picture of her afterwards before she headed back to class.

What a great way to spend my morning!

Aidan is 6!

Our lovable, hilarious Aidan is six years old! Slow down time! Aidan spent the first seven days of December counting down to his birthday, and he woke up at 4:45 am ready to party. He had the party he wanted Sunday afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese's. He and his friends had an absolute blast, and even though I was not excited about his choice at first...it was perfect.

Some fun facts about six-year old Aidan:

• Can still tear up the dance floor. This boy has serious natural rhythm and some infectious moves. Any time music plays, he's moving. We cannot help but smile.
• Very sensitive. He loves big and can get his feelings hurt easily. Tread lightly with his heart ladies because I'm guarding it.
• Is growing like a weed! It will be fun to see how tall these two kids are as adults. I just had to order new uniforms.
• Asthma is his enemy. Poor Aidan still suffers from seasonal allergies and asthma. We are hitting the nebulizer and inhaler pretty hard these days.
• Little learner. He loves, loves school, his teacher, and his friends in class. He actually has a quick math mind. Saturday night we went to sushi for his family birthday dinner, and he amazed us with a rearrangement of numbers. Daddy said when the baby octopus came to the table Allison could have two, Aidan could have two, and he could have three. (No thank you for me!) Aidan immediately said, "How about three, three, one?" and pointed to Daddy for the one.
• Watch your shins. His taekwondo is really coming along. This weekend he demonstrated his kick repeatedly on Daddy's shins. The repeated action occurred because we could not quit laughing, including Daddy. Well, he now has bruises while it didn't phase Aidan's foot one bit.

Yesterday I treated the birthday boy to lunch at school and treats for his class. He requested sushi, again, and popcorn balls.

Allison's lunch is immediately after Aidan's, so I sushi-ed it up with her also!

I look forward to what this next year will bring, but I'm also sad to see my little one getting older. Cherish each day. They fly by.