A visit to Santa Claus

We went to the local Mall to visit Santa Claus on Friday. The kiddos were great and spoke clearly to santa and even sat on his lap. I didn't know how they would react and if they would hide and be shy or not. Ryan wants a new video game (wii music) and Allie has asked Santa for Polly pockets dolls.

By the way, I was having trouble with my camera, so the photo of Allie & Santa didn't turn out as well as it could have! For some reason the camera wouldn't fully turn on and open the lens cover. I didn't realize the problem until after Allie has finished talking to Santa.

Personal Message From Santa!

I discovered a really neat place to send a personal message from Santa. You fill out the info (name, age, eye color, hair color, toy requested, etc) and Santa sends a video messge. Really cool. My kiddos LOVED it! You can even upload a photo of the child that santa finds in his Naughty and Nice book!

Ryan's Message from Santa:http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/fd7d85f596887fe9964eb26d8ea1f60b

Allison's Message From Santa: http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/741b0488df0c5f2d526640357b6acdc0

Birthday plans

I can't believe Ryan turns 6 in just a few hours! Six years ago tonight I was unaware that I would be a mother in just a few short hours, since Ryan wasn't supposed to be born until December 19th. Six years ago this evening, Jeff and I had gone to the OB/GYN for an exam, stayed out for dinner and then went home and enjoyed our evening. The next morning on my way to school my water broke and I was in labor! Ryan arrived at around 3:30 in the afternoon on December 3.

We will celebrate his birthday at school in the afternoon on Thursday with cupcakes and juice boxes and then we will have dinner at the Country Club with family in the evening. On Sunday we will have about 14 other children join us for a basketball themed party. Above are a few of the items we have completed to prepare for the party time this week!

A visit to the Dentist

Ryan went to the dentist for his first fillings today. He was very nervous but was super brave! I was soooo proud of him. We have an excellent dentist who took LOTS of time and explained everything prior to working on him. If you live in my area, I highly recommend Dr. Sherwood ~ She & her assistants are WONDERFUL and I even learned a few things about the whole filling process just by sitting and listening to them explain things to Ryan as they worked!

Above are some pictures of Ryan that I snapped just before the yucky numbing with the needle part of the procedure. He was chilling with his laughing gas on. The Dentist gave him the shades to keep the bright light out of his eyes as she worked on his teeth ~ super cool!

'Tis the Season

We put up our Tree on Monday night and then attended Ryan's Christmas concert on Tuesday evening. Above are photos from Ryan's Christmas program. Ryan did a great job and was an excellent singer! The class performed two songs and then changed into angel outfits to be part of the older students Christmas pagent and sing one final song.

Today I wrapped all the Christmas packages and plan to start doing my holiday baking soon. We will, however, take a short break from the Christmas spirit to celebrate Ryan's Birthday on Thursday! I was busy this evening making the cupcakes for him to take to school and the family cake for us to eat after our dinner out tomorrow. On Sunday afternoon Ryan is having a basketball themed party with his friends.

A wedding

For the past month Allie has been getting married. At our house she enjoys dressing up her daddy and making him the groom. In fact, a couple of weeks ago at Hobby Lobby she had to purchase a $3.00 bow tie so he could officially be her groom. As part of her wedding gear at our house she wears a crown of stars with tulle on the back and a white dress that had belonged to my flower girl when Jeff & I got married. She also has play rings, ear rings and necklaces to wear as well as a rag tag bunch of flowers she has to carry. We play the wedding march on CD and Ryan usually serves as the wedding coordinator by making snacks (usually crackers topped with canned cheese). During these weddings, Allie has asked me many times where my wedding dress is. Unfortunately, in a cleaning spurt last year, I threw my wedding dress away, because it was stained and ruined and I never figured I would have a use for it again.

WELL, Allie is at Grandma's this week and apparently at Grandma's house you get fun things to play with including Grandma's wedding dress and veil!

Sight Word FUN!

Ryan has been working very hard at learning his Kindergarten sight words. On Thursday he started reading some little sight word reader books we have from Scholastic. On Friday he and Allison left to visit Grandma & Grandpa and Ryan took his pack of 50 sight word readers. While in the car with Grandpa & Grandma Ryan read his books. Upon arrival at Grandpa & Grandma's house Ryan continued his reading. Yesterday mom called me and told me that Ryan read most of his books! So, I have been on a search for some new sight word readers. During my search I stumbled upon this site: http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/fall_sight_word_booklets.html#Outside. I was delighted to find that I could print sight word books from my computer! With some sturdy cardstock paper and my color printer I have printed MANY new books for Ryan to start reading.