a very merry christmas party, II

Saturday, December 18, 2010












Ho! Ho! Ho! Tonight was our annual Christmas party with our extra special guest, Santa. We had jolly good time with all of our friends and their kids, 26 to be exact. It was a full house to say the least. We had all of the holiday food and drinks you could imagine along with some fun crafts for the kids. To my surprise, even some members from the Cy-Creek High School band showed up to perform Christmas music thanks to Paul Kessler. Talk about a mood setter! Even Brady was excited when he saw the band and ran to get his toy guitar to play with them. Unfortunately, he didn't last long enough for me to get a picture of him though because he said they were "too loud." My mom said that Cash was amazed and stood still in the corner and listened attentively during the whole performance.

The highlight of the party was watching the kids' eyes light up with joy with the surprise arrival of Santa (thanks Uncle Steve) and then their anticipation to see what gift St. Nick had for them in his big red bag. There were mainly the same kids as last year but because I guess they are all getting older, they were harder to control. Santa was pretty much cornered until Teacher Paul had everyone sit criss cross applesauce. Then in a matter minutes, Santa had passed out all of the gifts. It was pretty impressive. After the excitement, each family had one on one time with Santa when it was less crazy. I had to include the picture of Brody and Hudson because I think it is just hysterical. At least my kids love you Santa or maybe they just like the familiar voice. ;)

Brady was super excited to receive a new Batman and Cash was so thrilled with his fireman that he wanted to give Santa an extra hug. After the party, Cash sadly told me that his fireman didn't have a firetruck or a backpack (the only item on his wish list). Poor thing didn't understand that Santa would be bringing him more toys on Christmas. Now that we have that straight, he's a happy camper. And Brady cannot get over that Santa already came to his house TWO TIMES! Lucky kids!!!

Breakfast with Santa

Saturday, December 18, 2010















We celebrated the most wonderful time of the year by inviting our special friends over for Breakfast with Santa. Aidan, Allison, Claire, Nathan and Nolan all came over for a morning of Christmas fun. We started by making gingerbread houses together. Foam gingerbread houses which are much less messy. Notice how symmetrical Brady's house is (I wonder where he gets that "analness" from?). ;) Then we all went upstairs to play until someone mentioned they heard Santa's sleigh. We immediately marched to the balcony to look for Rudolph and the other reindeer. Sadly we missed them but when we went downstairs, guess who was there, jolly St. Nick himself (aka Uncle Steve). Everyone was excited to get a present from the big red bag and spend some special one on one time with Santa. Brady took this opportunity to tell Santa how much he really wanted the Trio Batcave for Christmas. Next we decorated doughnuts with holiday sprinkles and gobbled them up along with some hot chocolate. We finished our morning off by painting Christmas ornaments with everyone's initial. I was nervous about everyone ruining their clothes so each kiddo wore an adorable Santa apron. I only wish that I could of taken a group picture but they were too excited about playing with each other and their new toys that there was no chance. The day was absolutely perfect. The only thing that would have been better is if our friends Hogan, Bella, and Kenna had been there to help celebrate with us. We miss you guys. Merry Christmas!

Gifts for Mommy and Daddy

The boys both made handcrafted Christmas presents at school that I absolutely adore. Cash's ornament is a family of snowmen made out if his handprint and Brady's teachers made an angel out of his foot and handprints. I LOVE THEM! What better gift could a Mommy ask for? I have nothing to add to my wish list Santa. I'm one happy Momma!

Pajama Day

Thursday, December 16, 2010






Little Lambs celebrated the last day of the semester with a Pajama Party and Book Exchange. Brady was very happy to go to school dressed as an elf and Cash usually wants to stay in his pajamas all day anyway so he didn't mind one bit. When I picked the boys up, I couldn't resist taking a picture of Cash. He was curled up on his nap mat sleeping in front of the "fireplace".

A Long Overdue Play Date

We had the best time at an awesome park in Tomball with our good friends today. We decided to meet in the middle since sadly (sadly for me, good for them) half of the group has moved. The park was huge and had tons of fun and unique things for the kids to do. Brady's favorite part was making one of the many playscapes his Superhero Tower and using his imagination with his friends. Cash's favorite thing to do despite all of the cool areas was to repeatedly run up and down a ramp or a "hill" as he called it. I was luckily able to catch him in action in one of the photos. After playing and playing for hours, we chowed down on some delicious cupcakes Kellie brought. We had so much fun that we vowed to do this at least once a month. I can't wait for more fun times with this group!

Bethlehem Village

Sunday, December 12, 2010
Good Shepherd United Methodist Church










As we went to Good Shepherd UMC to attend their Bethlehem Village, I must admit that I didn't know what to expect. When we got there, I was blown away by the effort put into transforming their school into what the city looked liked during the time of Jesus' birth. The hallways were covered with black paper and stars to resemble walking through a dark village. Each classroom was transformed by sheets and dim lighting to represent a different aspect of the villagers' way of life. We made rope, went to a music shop (crafted a paper plate tambourine), designed jewelery (beaded a bracelet), went to a bakery (decorated a cookie), played at a toy shop (made Baby Jesus from clay), visited a mosaic shop (decorated a box with jewels for Baby Jesus to sleep in), and ate at a farmer's market (a feast of fresh bread, grapes, and figs (Fig Newtons)). The night ended with the children's choir singing in the gym and a live nativity performance.

The boys are still playing with their Baby Jesus'. Cash will sweetly tuck him in and say "night night" and close the box. It was truly a wonderful night that I hope to make a holiday tradition.

Gingerbread House

Sunday, December 12, 2010






Run, run, run as fast as you can, I'm going to get you, I'm Brady and Cash. Whatever candy the boys didn't decorate the house with, it went directly into their mouths. They rotated one piece on, one piece in their mouth, one piece on and well you get the idea. They even decided to finish the remaining icing Lady and the Tramp style. Cash will not even eat icing off of cake or cupcakes so this was very surprising to us. I think he was on a sugar high and didn't know what he was doing!

Reindeer Food

Today Mommy and Cash had a special playdate together. We went to Ms. Rachel's house to help make REINDEER FOOD to spread on the lawn Christmas Eve. It was so fun to spend a day just with Cash doing an activity the same way I did when Brady was little. It was long overdue and a darling way to watch Cash with his toddler friends.

Christmas Recital

Thursday, December 9, 2010







All of the Little Lambs family joined together dressed in their holiday best for the Annual Christmas Recital. Brady looked super cool in his Christmas tie and was so excited to sing in front of Mommy and Daddy at his school. I may be a little biased but Brady did AWESOME! He sang his heart out and even did the hand and arm motions with all of the songs (all of this even while his buddy Cade kept playing with his tie during the performance...I told you that it was awfully cute). Brady's amazing music teacher, Ms. Melissa, even came up to us after the show to comment on what a great job he did. She said she kept looking over at him and couldn't believe that he was actually doing it! I guess Mommy's confidence speech with Brady worked. He sadly admitted the day before that he didn't want to go to the recital because he didn't sing and dance the same way everyone else did. I explained that all that mattered to me was that he did "Brady's Best" and that him just trying his heart out would make Mommy and Daddy so proud. And, oh boy, I was as proud as a Mommy could be!