3 Year Old Christmas Party

 The next day, I headed to Axel's school for his party. I was a group leader so I got to see all the stations. It turned out great despite horrible tornado weather. We were lucky that none touched down by us but people in Mobil, AL weren't so fortunate. Scary times. We did our best to ignore the crazy weather and proceed with the party. I'm glad we did, it was adorable to see all the happy 3 year olds bouncing around. Axel's 4 teachers are busy but great at what they do!



Snack time!

Even Santa showed up to this rockin' party.

Christmas Bingo.

Freeze Dance...Axel was awesome and didn't miss a beat or a freeze.

Making Reindeer Food.

Stuffing clear ball ornaments which turned out super cute.

Parker & Axel.

Axel could hardly wait to see Santa. However, he really didn't know what to say when the big moment arrived.

Santa even gave out a gift.

Three awesome books! Axel was delighted!

l

1st Grade Christmas Party

 Axel and I attended Lucas' school Christmas Party. It was Rudolph Themed and to kick it off, the kids had a snow (sock) ball fight. No snow here in Florida but lots of snow-like fun!

 We then headed inside for a hour of fun Christmas stations. It was a great party!!

Listening to instructions about the different stations.

Story time.

Snack making.

Rudolph sandwiches.

Rudolph ginger snap cookies.

Axel was thrilled to be included.

Ornament building.

Here is a 3D scale model the students worked on leading up to Christmas vacation.

The were broken up into groups and then a map was drawn before they built their North Pole.

Opening present activity which included following directions and everyone got to help.

Gifts for Mrs. Chlebowski...the best part. She was very surprised and happy with everything.

Lucas' School Musical: ARF!

Ears, collar and all!

 Here's our new puppy!
Lucas was in a school musical called ARF! which was put on by all the first graders at his school. It was adorable and he took it very seriously.  The costumes were great and so was the entire performance. They did a wonderful job! Way to go Lucas!!

His friend Lauren, isn't she a doll? I think he has a crush on her but don't tell anyone.

Buddy Aiden...awesome kid!

Mrs. Chlebowski and Lucas

Wonderful teacher!

12 Weeks!!

Daddy has been gone for 12 weeks and it's hard to believe. Looking back it feels like 12 months. Looking forward feels wonderful and doable. We are just so close to our halfway mark which happens next week! Not a bad Christmas gift!

We love you Daddy!
Hugs.

Christmas Cookies

My neighbor, Heather, made the mistake of suggesting we make sugar cookies at her house. Now, keep in mind, she has been on the receiving end of my sugar cookies but never in the thick of the whole process. Boy, was she in for a suprise! I am the opposite of Pilsbury! Let me tell you, I jumped at the opportunity to make a mess at someone elses house. heeheeheee. Not sure she'll let us come back! Just kidding. We cleaned up the mess and after a long night fighting with the dough it all worked out.

It was the perfect distraction everyone needed after a shocking day in the news and learning about Sandy Hook Elememtary. Unfortunately, 12.14.12 will not just be remembered for the sugar cookies. So sad, makes my heart hurt for all those families.



Axel getting his dough ready.



Fast-forwad to the best part!

Blue icing anyone?!



Lucas was very intense as he always is when decorating.



I think seeing his brother eating sped things up in a hurry.

He was all about the eating right after showing off his green man.



Mommy rolling out dough...boy, this is a process!



Hugh, our taste tester!



Finished products.



Only a handful have bites taken out of them.

For the record, Heather was amazing throughout the whole process. She even invited us back over today! Whoot!  Although, she slipped out from the cameras view all evening...she's just like Grandma J! Stinkers!

Elf Ride

I have to admit, Mike is the driving force behind our numerous family outings. I've really had to step up to the plate so I find myself contsantly searching local calendars looking for events we can do on the weekends. We can't stay at home, what would Daddy think?! :)

Last weekend, I learned about an Elf Ride in Seaside, FL. That's about 30 minutes or so away but it's in a wonderful little quaint community on the beach....gorgous beach! Anyways, the Elf Ride was from the Post Office to the Fire Department and it was a fund raiser for toys the firemen could give out at Christmas. I was in...WE were in! Did I ever chcck to see how far the ride was? Nope!

Deocrating your bike or scooter was a must for this bunch!

We even added some Elf Hats to the equation!

Lucas road his bike and did a great job.

His bike looked pretty awesome too!

Axel opted for his scooter which looked awesome but turned out to be not the best choice. Mommy assumed this would be a really short ride. Well, it was for one leg but round trip it totaled 3.2 miles. That's REALLY far for a little scooter leg!

Thanks a great big brother and a kind lady in the pack, we made it to the fire station.

Axel ended up crashing and twisting his scooter handle bar to an unuseable condition. He finished out on Lucas' bike while Mommy pushed him along, Lucas on Mommy's scooter(technically Lucas') and Axel's scooter was carried by the nice lady. We enjoyed pizza and coke (having coke is a very rare thing in this family so it was a real treat) and took our time getting back to the car. After that, we had a little time to hit the beach for another sunset.

Side note: These photos mean so much espeically in light of the tragic events that unfolded last Friday in CT. I am so blessed and my heart goes out to all those parents, siblings, grandparents and friends who lost their babies...and moms!

See, NO ONE! I love the beach this time of year!!

So do these boys!

It's just so peaceful and powerful to have a place like this to yourself.

We will be going back many times this winter.

I'm in love!

Remember the shopping for each other story? Upon returning home, we had to get right to wrapping the gifts. This set off a fire storm of wrapping in our house. I had no idea that Axel would be so into wrapping. He helped me for the longest time, carefully picking out paper, pulling tape and folding paper in the perfect manner. Even Lucas was amazed by his brothers skills. Later in the week, I put them both to work wrapping gifts for Mommy that I was not to see. They loved it and were very secretive! So darn cute!!!

Our skinny little tree turned out to be a fatty after the branches relaxed.

I love our tree but not as much as I love these boys and a boy who is currently over the pond!