Mia is very attached to her Glow-Worm which we affectionately call Glo. Actually, she has three of these dolls. None of them play music like they are supposed to. She throws them from her crib each morning, so it doesn't take long for them to break; we have taken their music boxes out so they aren't so hard when one hits something. She absolutely loves them though; they calm her down faster than anything else. If she falls down, she immediately starts saying "My Glo! My Glo!" and she will run to her room to find one. We have to make certain we have at least two, but preferably all three, before nap time and bed time to put in the crib with her.
Tonight, I heard Mia talking after I put her down, so I turned to monitor on to spy on her (I love having a video monitor!). I could hear her saying "Glo are you? Glo are you?" which is her way of saying "Glo, where are you?" I watched as she picked up one Glo, looked at her in the dark, throw her behind her, say "Glo are you?," pick up a second Glo, look at her, throw her behind her, say "Glo are you?," pick up the third Glo, look at her, say "Ah!" and lay down while clutching that particular Glow Worm tightly. Can she somehow distinguish between the three identical Glow Worms? It sure looked that way on the monitor! Our little Mia is something else!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Lily's Dreams
On our way up to Tennessee a couple of weeks ago, I told Lily it was okay if she went to sleep in the car since it was so late. She agreed to, but then said "I sleep with my eyes open though so it may not look like I am asleep." I just said okay knowing that her eyes would of course close as she drifted off to sleep. For the record, they did close.
Well, a couple of nights ago, Lily was having a difficult time going to sleep. She has a cough right now that she can't seem to kick, and it bothers her more at night. I calmed her down and said "Now I want you to close your eyes and just enjoy your music; you'll go to sleep really soon." She said "Remember Mommy I told you, I sleep with my eyes open." So I responded, "Sweetie, it will help if you close your eyes to go to sleep." Lily's response was "But if I close my eyes, I disappear into my stories. Sometimes they are scary stories that wake me up. Sometimes they are nice stories, but sometimes they are scary." This totally took me by surprise. Lily has never mentioned having nightmares, nor has she ever mentioned being scared of anything while going to bed. All I could think to say was "I know when you have dreams, it feels like you disappear, but you don't really. It's just a dream" to which Lily replied "No Mommy, I really disappear." She said it very matter of factly and didn't seem upset by that thought, so I said "Okay, well try to think about nice and happy things before you fall asleep and that will help your dreams be good ones." Lily thought for a second and then said "Okay." Hmmm. This is very interesting to me. I'm going to need to keep an eye out on that and make sure she isn't watching anything too scary.
Well, a couple of nights ago, Lily was having a difficult time going to sleep. She has a cough right now that she can't seem to kick, and it bothers her more at night. I calmed her down and said "Now I want you to close your eyes and just enjoy your music; you'll go to sleep really soon." She said "Remember Mommy I told you, I sleep with my eyes open." So I responded, "Sweetie, it will help if you close your eyes to go to sleep." Lily's response was "But if I close my eyes, I disappear into my stories. Sometimes they are scary stories that wake me up. Sometimes they are nice stories, but sometimes they are scary." This totally took me by surprise. Lily has never mentioned having nightmares, nor has she ever mentioned being scared of anything while going to bed. All I could think to say was "I know when you have dreams, it feels like you disappear, but you don't really. It's just a dream" to which Lily replied "No Mommy, I really disappear." She said it very matter of factly and didn't seem upset by that thought, so I said "Okay, well try to think about nice and happy things before you fall asleep and that will help your dreams be good ones." Lily thought for a second and then said "Okay." Hmmm. This is very interesting to me. I'm going to need to keep an eye out on that and make sure she isn't watching anything too scary.
No, Mia
Mia is cracking us up recently. For the last few days, she is determined to make sure you have her name correct. For instance, when you give her a hug and say "You are my sweet girl!" she will reply "No, Mia" with a very stern look on her face. Whenever you call her any kind of a nickname, she will reply with "No, Mia." If you ask "Are you my Mia?" she nods and says "Yes." I wonder what she will think when she figures out her name is actually Amelia and Mia is just a nickname?
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Christmas Countdown
We started a new family tradition this year. I don't know if you can technically call something a tradition the first year you do it, but we plan on making this a tradition. I found this idea in a Family Fun magazine and thought it sounded great. Last year, I bought a cute advent stocking at an after-Christmas sale. It is bright red with reindeer at the top, and it has 24 little numbered pockets. A small candy cane on a string can be stuck in the pocket to identify the day. Here's a picture:
I know that the month of December can get so hectic; it seems like our month is planned out by late September! We decided that we would take a little bit of time each day in December to do something together as a family. Right now it's not really an issue because the girls are young, but as they get older, we want to keep our family time as a priority. So, Ryan and I intentionally planned our month to have lots of fun activities while still keeping in mind other obligations. Each evening I would stick a little note in the stocking letting the girls know what the day's activity would be. Then in the morning, Lily would come into our room and ask to go get the "tag from the stocking." We would read what we were doing and talk about the day's fun to come. Some days were big events that I have already blogged about, but most days were smaller things that were just fun. So, this blog post is to document everything we did with one picture from each day (except the 24th which warranted a few more). Mia didn't exactly "get" everything we were doing, but I think she will next year. I look forward to many more years of this fun tradition!
Day 1: The girls and I decorated the playroom windows with winter gel clings. Lily put up reindeer, snowmen and penguins while Mia put up Christmas trees, ornaments and snowflakes.
Day 2: We made ornaments for their trees. Lily had fun making hers (on the right), but Mia wasn't quite as interested, so I helped her a bit with making hers.
Day 3: Ryan and I took Lily to see Ovo, a Cirque du Soleil production, down at Atlantic Station which we all really enjoyed. Mia had an evening with Bama at our home.
Day 4: We had a playground day where we visited two different playgrounds and stopped for lunch at Moes. We also had to make an unexpected return trip home because soon after taking these pictures (about 15 minutes into our first playground visit), both girls fell into a huge mud pit at the bottom of a slide; they had to ride pants-less back home so we could change them. Don't worry though, we bundled them up in blankets for the ride.
Day 5: While Ryan was in Tampa for the Falcons/Bucs game, the girls and I went to our church for their "Christmas Packages" program. We met up with an old friend of mine and her family, played on the church playground, got faces painted, played a bean bag toss game, watched the hand bell group, made a couple of art projects and enjoyed dinner. As we were leaving, we saw the four reindeer and sat on their big sleigh where this picture was snapped.
Day 6: Ryan and Mia had a Daddy-Daughter date to Chuck E Cheese while Lily and I stayed home and made a gingerbread house. Lily was so excited about this! She especially enjoyed trying all the candies before sticking them onto the house. Not five minutes after finishing the house, she asked if we could eat it. I told her there were lots of people to show it to first, so she excitedly showed it to everyone who came over and then asked if we could eat it. FYI, as of today (Christmas Day) it is still on our kitchen counter though it is now missing the chimney, tree cookie and snowman cookie.
Day 7: We took the morning off from work and took the girls to ride Priscilla the Pink Pig under the big top at Macy's at Lenox Square. Both girls really enjoyed this. After our ride, we went to meet Santa, and both girls did great. After Santa, we ate lunch at Johnny Rockets as a special treat.
Day 8: Both girls received new Christmas books to read before bed time. Books are always a hit at our home.
Day 9: The girls, Bama, Ryan and I went to Callaway Gardens for their "Festival of Lights." It was awesome, and we all had a great time. We also enjoyed walking around beforehand. The girls had their faces painted and played on a fun playground. The best part though was definitely driving through the forest to see everything all lit up; it was amazing!
Day 10: We all went to the Georgia Aquarium where we saw the Weeki Watchi State Park mermaids and Scuba Santa. A visit to the aquarium is always fun, but these extra Christmas visitors made it even better. This day was a lot of fun!
Day 11: Lily and I made Rice Krispy Treats together. Sticky but oh so good!
Day 12: The four of us went out for an ice cream dessert at Haagan Daaz. The girls shared their chocolate sundae with sprinkles and gummy bears on the side.
Day 13: Game Night after Mia went to bed. We surprised Lily with the Princess edition of Chutes and Ladders. She thought it was pretty fun for a few games, but now she prefers playing with the players' figurines more than playing with the game itself.
Day 14: We went to the Childrens Museum which is always interesting and fun. They have a special music exhibit going right now which the girls enjoyed. Of course, they also enjoyed fishing, playing in the tree house, building in the sand, moving the balls through the obstacle course, pushing the trains along the track, shopping in the farmers market, riding on the tractor, milking the cow, driving the buses and fixing a pretend picnic lunch. As the picture below shows, they also had a lot of fun painting on this trip too. After this, we all enjoyed our visit to The Varsity too.
Day 15: This was supposed to be Mommy/Mia date night and Daddy/Lily date night, but an ice storm slightly altered our plans. Ryan and Lily went to Parkway Point to see Tangled, a new Disney movie about Rapunzel. This was the first time Lily has gone to a movie theater, and she loved it. She ate almost an entire bucket of popcorn by herself. At one point, she looked up at Ryan and said "Uh-oh Daddy. It's almost gone. You better get some now if you want any." She has talked about this movie and experience several times so I know she had a great time. After the movie, they were supposed to go to dinner together, but Ryan wisely decided to come home instead. Mia and I went to dinner at Atlanta Bread Company together where we shared some delicious Corn Chowder. I was supposed to head out to my Women's Mentoring Group (a small group Bible study), and Bama was going to finish the evening out with Mia. However, our group got cancelled with the ice, so I got to stay home and play more with Mia.
Day 16: We went to dinner at Jimmy John's (or JJs as Lily calls it). It is next door to Figo Pasta, and Lily has been asking to go for months. So, we decided that would be our outing of the day. Both girls had eaten a lot of sugar during the day, and they were bouncing off the walls; luckily, this is a very casual deli-type place and we were the only patrons at the moment. They make pretty good sandwiches.
Day 17: Bama and the girls made Christmas cards for Granny and my family in Tennessee. After Lily's dance recital this evening, we headed up to TN for a fun weekend where Lily distributed all the cards.
Day 18: Lily and I made this tree while at Granny's house. It was really pretty cute with all its bright blue and pink ornaments. She was so sweet and gave it to Granna to take home.
Day 19: The girls made penguin and reindeer door hangers. They gave one of each to Granny to keep at her house and brought the other two home with us.
Day 20: Lily and I made cherry-flavored snowmen gummies. She and Mia LOVE gummy snacks, so when I saw a kit to make your own gummies, I knew I had to buy it. It was really simple, and they tasted pretty good. They were really sweet though. Anyway, the girls enjoyed them. Just a quick side note, you can see Lily in her pink dress that we brought her from Alaska. She absolutely loves this dress, and asks to wear it all the time. Since it's short sleeve, she doesn't get to much anymore; however, we were just hanging out inside so she was able to.
Day 21: We had "Meme's Christmas Party" with my family at Jodi and Michael's house. This was a wonderful time celebrating with family.
Day 22: Movie night at home! After Mia went to bed, I popped some popcorn, and Lily turned out all the lights. We enjoyed watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas;" a Christmas classic. Movie nights at home are always a fun evening.
Day 23: Lily and I did some cookie baking while Ryan and Mia had fun at Chuck E Cheese and running errands. We made pretzel rods dipped in white chocolate and rolled in sprinkles or crushed Oreos, red jello cookies and peanut butter reindeer cookies. The reindeer were really cute; see the picture below. Actually, you'll see the one in this picture only has one M&M for an eye. Lily wanted to make one Pirate Rudolph, and that's what she wanted her picture with!
Day 24: We made a special Christmas Eve breakfast. Here's a picture of the three girls making Cherry Scones with the mix sent in a basket full of goodies from Great-Grandpa and Lois. We topped the scones with Cherry Pomegranate Jam which was also in the goodies basket. So yummy! As a side note, the basket also has hot chocolate mix, peppermint marshmallows, chocolate chip cookies and a coffee cake. Yum!!!
After breakfast, we took the three tins of cookies (saving a few for ourselves) that we made yesterday to Smyrna Fire Department's Station #2 which is just down the street from us. We wanted to say thank you to the firemen who are working on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. If you don't know, Ryan's younger brother is a fireman in Fort Payne, AL, and we are so proud of him. Every time the girls see a fire truck or fire station, they mention Uncle Josh, so we thought this would be a good way to teach them appreciation for our public servants and show them what Josh does. One of the young firemen at the station showed us around and let the girls climb into one of the trucks. he also gave them each a plastic fireman's hat which they have had fun with.
After a relaxing afternoon, it was time for bed. The girls had a surprise of cute new Christmas pajamas. Aren't they cute?
Next up was putting carrots and a water bowl out on the deck for the reindeer.
Of course, we can't forget about Santa! Milk and cookies were placed at the bottom of the chimney so he would see them. He received a sampling of each cookie we had made the day before. All that was left was to hang the stockings and put the girls to bed. Mia didn't really understand what was going on, but Lily was so excited! She couldn't wait for Christmas morning to arrive!
After the girls went to bed, all the wrapped presents were brought up from downstairs and Santa made his visit. Finally it's off to bed for Mommy and Daddy to try to get some sleep before morning! Christmas morning will be here soon!
I know that the month of December can get so hectic; it seems like our month is planned out by late September! We decided that we would take a little bit of time each day in December to do something together as a family. Right now it's not really an issue because the girls are young, but as they get older, we want to keep our family time as a priority. So, Ryan and I intentionally planned our month to have lots of fun activities while still keeping in mind other obligations. Each evening I would stick a little note in the stocking letting the girls know what the day's activity would be. Then in the morning, Lily would come into our room and ask to go get the "tag from the stocking." We would read what we were doing and talk about the day's fun to come. Some days were big events that I have already blogged about, but most days were smaller things that were just fun. So, this blog post is to document everything we did with one picture from each day (except the 24th which warranted a few more). Mia didn't exactly "get" everything we were doing, but I think she will next year. I look forward to many more years of this fun tradition!Day 1: The girls and I decorated the playroom windows with winter gel clings. Lily put up reindeer, snowmen and penguins while Mia put up Christmas trees, ornaments and snowflakes.
Day 2: We made ornaments for their trees. Lily had fun making hers (on the right), but Mia wasn't quite as interested, so I helped her a bit with making hers.
Day 3: Ryan and I took Lily to see Ovo, a Cirque du Soleil production, down at Atlantic Station which we all really enjoyed. Mia had an evening with Bama at our home.
Day 4: We had a playground day where we visited two different playgrounds and stopped for lunch at Moes. We also had to make an unexpected return trip home because soon after taking these pictures (about 15 minutes into our first playground visit), both girls fell into a huge mud pit at the bottom of a slide; they had to ride pants-less back home so we could change them. Don't worry though, we bundled them up in blankets for the ride.
Day 5: While Ryan was in Tampa for the Falcons/Bucs game, the girls and I went to our church for their "Christmas Packages" program. We met up with an old friend of mine and her family, played on the church playground, got faces painted, played a bean bag toss game, watched the hand bell group, made a couple of art projects and enjoyed dinner. As we were leaving, we saw the four reindeer and sat on their big sleigh where this picture was snapped.
Day 6: Ryan and Mia had a Daddy-Daughter date to Chuck E Cheese while Lily and I stayed home and made a gingerbread house. Lily was so excited about this! She especially enjoyed trying all the candies before sticking them onto the house. Not five minutes after finishing the house, she asked if we could eat it. I told her there were lots of people to show it to first, so she excitedly showed it to everyone who came over and then asked if we could eat it. FYI, as of today (Christmas Day) it is still on our kitchen counter though it is now missing the chimney, tree cookie and snowman cookie.
Day 7: We took the morning off from work and took the girls to ride Priscilla the Pink Pig under the big top at Macy's at Lenox Square. Both girls really enjoyed this. After our ride, we went to meet Santa, and both girls did great. After Santa, we ate lunch at Johnny Rockets as a special treat.
Day 8: Both girls received new Christmas books to read before bed time. Books are always a hit at our home.
Day 9: The girls, Bama, Ryan and I went to Callaway Gardens for their "Festival of Lights." It was awesome, and we all had a great time. We also enjoyed walking around beforehand. The girls had their faces painted and played on a fun playground. The best part though was definitely driving through the forest to see everything all lit up; it was amazing!
Day 10: We all went to the Georgia Aquarium where we saw the Weeki Watchi State Park mermaids and Scuba Santa. A visit to the aquarium is always fun, but these extra Christmas visitors made it even better. This day was a lot of fun!
Day 11: Lily and I made Rice Krispy Treats together. Sticky but oh so good!
Day 12: The four of us went out for an ice cream dessert at Haagan Daaz. The girls shared their chocolate sundae with sprinkles and gummy bears on the side.
Day 13: Game Night after Mia went to bed. We surprised Lily with the Princess edition of Chutes and Ladders. She thought it was pretty fun for a few games, but now she prefers playing with the players' figurines more than playing with the game itself.
Day 14: We went to the Childrens Museum which is always interesting and fun. They have a special music exhibit going right now which the girls enjoyed. Of course, they also enjoyed fishing, playing in the tree house, building in the sand, moving the balls through the obstacle course, pushing the trains along the track, shopping in the farmers market, riding on the tractor, milking the cow, driving the buses and fixing a pretend picnic lunch. As the picture below shows, they also had a lot of fun painting on this trip too. After this, we all enjoyed our visit to The Varsity too.
Day 15: This was supposed to be Mommy/Mia date night and Daddy/Lily date night, but an ice storm slightly altered our plans. Ryan and Lily went to Parkway Point to see Tangled, a new Disney movie about Rapunzel. This was the first time Lily has gone to a movie theater, and she loved it. She ate almost an entire bucket of popcorn by herself. At one point, she looked up at Ryan and said "Uh-oh Daddy. It's almost gone. You better get some now if you want any." She has talked about this movie and experience several times so I know she had a great time. After the movie, they were supposed to go to dinner together, but Ryan wisely decided to come home instead. Mia and I went to dinner at Atlanta Bread Company together where we shared some delicious Corn Chowder. I was supposed to head out to my Women's Mentoring Group (a small group Bible study), and Bama was going to finish the evening out with Mia. However, our group got cancelled with the ice, so I got to stay home and play more with Mia.
Day 16: We went to dinner at Jimmy John's (or JJs as Lily calls it). It is next door to Figo Pasta, and Lily has been asking to go for months. So, we decided that would be our outing of the day. Both girls had eaten a lot of sugar during the day, and they were bouncing off the walls; luckily, this is a very casual deli-type place and we were the only patrons at the moment. They make pretty good sandwiches.
Day 17: Bama and the girls made Christmas cards for Granny and my family in Tennessee. After Lily's dance recital this evening, we headed up to TN for a fun weekend where Lily distributed all the cards.
Day 18: Lily and I made this tree while at Granny's house. It was really pretty cute with all its bright blue and pink ornaments. She was so sweet and gave it to Granna to take home.
Day 19: The girls made penguin and reindeer door hangers. They gave one of each to Granny to keep at her house and brought the other two home with us.
Day 20: Lily and I made cherry-flavored snowmen gummies. She and Mia LOVE gummy snacks, so when I saw a kit to make your own gummies, I knew I had to buy it. It was really simple, and they tasted pretty good. They were really sweet though. Anyway, the girls enjoyed them. Just a quick side note, you can see Lily in her pink dress that we brought her from Alaska. She absolutely loves this dress, and asks to wear it all the time. Since it's short sleeve, she doesn't get to much anymore; however, we were just hanging out inside so she was able to.
Day 21: We had "Meme's Christmas Party" with my family at Jodi and Michael's house. This was a wonderful time celebrating with family.
Day 22: Movie night at home! After Mia went to bed, I popped some popcorn, and Lily turned out all the lights. We enjoyed watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas;" a Christmas classic. Movie nights at home are always a fun evening.
Day 23: Lily and I did some cookie baking while Ryan and Mia had fun at Chuck E Cheese and running errands. We made pretzel rods dipped in white chocolate and rolled in sprinkles or crushed Oreos, red jello cookies and peanut butter reindeer cookies. The reindeer were really cute; see the picture below. Actually, you'll see the one in this picture only has one M&M for an eye. Lily wanted to make one Pirate Rudolph, and that's what she wanted her picture with!
Day 24: We made a special Christmas Eve breakfast. Here's a picture of the three girls making Cherry Scones with the mix sent in a basket full of goodies from Great-Grandpa and Lois. We topped the scones with Cherry Pomegranate Jam which was also in the goodies basket. So yummy! As a side note, the basket also has hot chocolate mix, peppermint marshmallows, chocolate chip cookies and a coffee cake. Yum!!!
After breakfast, we took the three tins of cookies (saving a few for ourselves) that we made yesterday to Smyrna Fire Department's Station #2 which is just down the street from us. We wanted to say thank you to the firemen who are working on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. If you don't know, Ryan's younger brother is a fireman in Fort Payne, AL, and we are so proud of him. Every time the girls see a fire truck or fire station, they mention Uncle Josh, so we thought this would be a good way to teach them appreciation for our public servants and show them what Josh does. One of the young firemen at the station showed us around and let the girls climb into one of the trucks. he also gave them each a plastic fireman's hat which they have had fun with.
After a relaxing afternoon, it was time for bed. The girls had a surprise of cute new Christmas pajamas. Aren't they cute?
Next up was putting carrots and a water bowl out on the deck for the reindeer.
Of course, we can't forget about Santa! Milk and cookies were placed at the bottom of the chimney so he would see them. He received a sampling of each cookie we had made the day before. All that was left was to hang the stockings and put the girls to bed. Mia didn't really understand what was going on, but Lily was so excited! She couldn't wait for Christmas morning to arrive!
After the girls went to bed, all the wrapped presents were brought up from downstairs and Santa made his visit. Finally it's off to bed for Mommy and Daddy to try to get some sleep before morning! Christmas morning will be here soon!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Crafty Girls
Lily and Mia both enjoy craft projects. Lucky for them, Bama is a former kindergarten teacher, so she knows lots of great projects to make and is very creative in making them (not to mention she has way more patience than Ryan or I do!). I love coming home and seeing the fun things they have made that day. I don't usually remember to take pictures of the things they make, but here are a couple of recent projects the girls made with Bama:
They made little crowns for the princesses and decorated them. Aren't they cute?
Uncle Randy gave Lily a paper bag puppet making kit on Tuesday evening (see previous post). It has five individually wrapped kits that make a different animal puppet. Lily has made a cow and an elephant; here she is showing off the elephant. I thought it looked really nice.
Lily couldn't wait to put on a puppet show for me. First she brought out the elephant (which she named Fluffy) and then the cow (which she named Spotty). We asked the puppets questions, and Lily would respond which was fun to hear. I love talking with her. After about 5 minutes of this, Lily popped up from behind the couch and said "It's actually me talking!" That made me laugh harder than anything else she said. Before she started another show this afternoon, she said "Now Mommy remember, it's really me talking. I just pretend that the puppets are talking." Good to know!
Keep up the good work with fun craft projects, Bama and girls!
Uncle Randy gave Lily a paper bag puppet making kit on Tuesday evening (see previous post). It has five individually wrapped kits that make a different animal puppet. Lily has made a cow and an elephant; here she is showing off the elephant. I thought it looked really nice.
Lily couldn't wait to put on a puppet show for me. First she brought out the elephant (which she named Fluffy) and then the cow (which she named Spotty). We asked the puppets questions, and Lily would respond which was fun to hear. I love talking with her. After about 5 minutes of this, Lily popped up from behind the couch and said "It's actually me talking!" That made me laugh harder than anything else she said. Before she started another show this afternoon, she said "Now Mommy remember, it's really me talking. I just pretend that the puppets are talking." Good to know!
Keep up the good work with fun craft projects, Bama and girls!Christmas with the Brown Family
Tuesday evening we were able to get together with my dad's side of the family to celebrate Christmas. We drove out to Jodi and Michael's house (or "Mikey's house" as Mia kept calling it) which has a great setup for this big group. We started out by enjoying some appetizers (two types of cheese balls with crackers, chips with cheese dip and sausage with mustard) while everyone arrived and the food finished up. You know my family eats well, and this evening is no exception! Meme's fried chicken, Wayne's ham, sliced turkey, dressing, gravy, super salad, jello salad, green beans, sweet potato casserole, pineapple cheese casserole, corn souffle, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, rolls...oh my, talk about delicious! After dinner, we enjoyed a little bit of dessert (Jodi's teacakes, peanut butter balls, chocolate pie and a huge cake). It is not possible to leave a family gathering hungry!
Once everyone had eaten and cleaned up, we watched a short movie Lee had made of the family's last two Christmas celebrations. The Brown family (with a couple of exceptions) is not known for its singing abilities; this video highlighted that. It provided lots of laughs before we headed downstairs. Here's a picture of Mia snacking on some orange slices while we waited on the activities; the girl can always eat.
We always read the Christmas story from the book of Luke first. It reminds us that the whole purpose of this season is to celebrate the birth of Christ. Madi read the story this year, and the other kids put on a puppet show while she read; it was really cute. Here's a picture of all the kids at the end. Mia didn't actually participate (she is the youngest great-grandchild) but she jumped in at the end to take a picture.
After the Bible story, Meme said a few words about the importance of Christmas and said a prayer. After this, we sang The Twelve Days of Christmas. Ryan, Lily and I had "Seven Swans A-Swimming" as our part. Russ had us all cracking up as he performed "Five Golden Rings." This was fun too. That will definitely be added to Lee's video for future years! Next up was getting all the kids in front of the tree for a picture. Aren't they cute?
Mia knows it is time for presents now!
Slightly controlled chaos.
Mia trying to dig into the Fridge Phonics from Meme. It sings a cute little song to help Mia learn the ABC's; she seems to really like it. She is also enjoying the new puzzles from Randy and the Fisher Price Piggy Bank from Cooper. She sees it and says "My piggy! My piggy! Oink, oink!" It counts and sings as you deposit the big coins; she is having a lot of fun with it.
Lily is loving the Glow in the Dark Crayola set from Meme. It has a "crystal wand" that draws on the board to show up in the day or night. I have to admit, it's really pretty cool. She is also having fun with the craft sets from Randy (remember, she asked Santa for new arts and new crafts). One set is a little make your own mosaic set, and the other is a paper bag puppet making kit. She has already made several cute creations. Also, Bo gave Lily two Sing A Majigs dolls which are adorable. They sing, they harmonize and they are just too cute! Both girls have been having so much fun with these.
Once the kids finished opening their gifts, we let them start playing with them all. Lily and Mia alternated between playing with their toys and playing with a cool toy roller coaster that Jodi and Michael have in their basement; they rode that thing countless times and laughed every time. It was wonderful to hear!
While the kids had fun together, the adults had our Dirty Santa game which was lots of fun. There was lots of gift stealing this year which kept us laughing; put Wayne and Tiffany together, and you're guaranteed a good laugh. Ryan ended up with a great multi-picture frame which we're going to use in our office; it will look great. I opened a Chick-fil-a 2011 calendar which also had a Chick-fil-a gift card with it. I was so excited because I eat Chick-fil-a a lot! I kind of hid it behind me so others couldn't see it as well (sneaky, sneaky huh?), and I was thrilled to leave with it! I'll probably have the gift card gone in a week!
We finally wrapped everything up and headed out about 10:45...way past everyone's bed times. The girls did really well though, and this was a wonderful evening. We are blessed with a fantastic extended family!
Once everyone had eaten and cleaned up, we watched a short movie Lee had made of the family's last two Christmas celebrations. The Brown family (with a couple of exceptions) is not known for its singing abilities; this video highlighted that. It provided lots of laughs before we headed downstairs. Here's a picture of Mia snacking on some orange slices while we waited on the activities; the girl can always eat.
We always read the Christmas story from the book of Luke first. It reminds us that the whole purpose of this season is to celebrate the birth of Christ. Madi read the story this year, and the other kids put on a puppet show while she read; it was really cute. Here's a picture of all the kids at the end. Mia didn't actually participate (she is the youngest great-grandchild) but she jumped in at the end to take a picture.
After the Bible story, Meme said a few words about the importance of Christmas and said a prayer. After this, we sang The Twelve Days of Christmas. Ryan, Lily and I had "Seven Swans A-Swimming" as our part. Russ had us all cracking up as he performed "Five Golden Rings." This was fun too. That will definitely be added to Lee's video for future years! Next up was getting all the kids in front of the tree for a picture. Aren't they cute?
Mia knows it is time for presents now!
Slightly controlled chaos.
Mia trying to dig into the Fridge Phonics from Meme. It sings a cute little song to help Mia learn the ABC's; she seems to really like it. She is also enjoying the new puzzles from Randy and the Fisher Price Piggy Bank from Cooper. She sees it and says "My piggy! My piggy! Oink, oink!" It counts and sings as you deposit the big coins; she is having a lot of fun with it.
Lily is loving the Glow in the Dark Crayola set from Meme. It has a "crystal wand" that draws on the board to show up in the day or night. I have to admit, it's really pretty cool. She is also having fun with the craft sets from Randy (remember, she asked Santa for new arts and new crafts). One set is a little make your own mosaic set, and the other is a paper bag puppet making kit. She has already made several cute creations. Also, Bo gave Lily two Sing A Majigs dolls which are adorable. They sing, they harmonize and they are just too cute! Both girls have been having so much fun with these.
While the kids had fun together, the adults had our Dirty Santa game which was lots of fun. There was lots of gift stealing this year which kept us laughing; put Wayne and Tiffany together, and you're guaranteed a good laugh. Ryan ended up with a great multi-picture frame which we're going to use in our office; it will look great. I opened a Chick-fil-a 2011 calendar which also had a Chick-fil-a gift card with it. I was so excited because I eat Chick-fil-a a lot! I kind of hid it behind me so others couldn't see it as well (sneaky, sneaky huh?), and I was thrilled to leave with it! I'll probably have the gift card gone in a week!
We finally wrapped everything up and headed out about 10:45...way past everyone's bed times. The girls did really well though, and this was a wonderful evening. We are blessed with a fantastic extended family!
Our Little Shopper
Here's a little conversation Lily and I had about the sweatshirt I was wearing last night:
L: What does your shirt say Mommy?
M: Can you read the letters?
L: C-A-P-R-I
M: That's right. That spells Capri.
L: What's Capri?
M: Capri is a beautiful place in Italy that is one of Mommy's favorite places.
L: I want to go to Capri.
M: Hopefully when you're older, we'll be able to go. I would love to take you there.
L: What do you do there?
M: Well, there are lots of beaches to visit.
L: Can I play in the water?
M: Sure. And they have lemon orchards where you can pick lemons.
L: I like lemons!
M: And they have great shopping.
L: Do they have a Dollar Store?
M: Well, I don't know.
L: Have you ever been to Capri Mommy?
M: Yes, but it's been awhile.
L: Well I'm sure they have a Dollar Store.
M: Probably so.
So...if we have the chance to take the girls to Capri someday, I guess we'll be on the lookout for a Dollar Store!
L: What does your shirt say Mommy?
M: Can you read the letters?
L: C-A-P-R-I
M: That's right. That spells Capri.
L: What's Capri?
M: Capri is a beautiful place in Italy that is one of Mommy's favorite places.
L: I want to go to Capri.
M: Hopefully when you're older, we'll be able to go. I would love to take you there.
L: What do you do there?
M: Well, there are lots of beaches to visit.
L: Can I play in the water?
M: Sure. And they have lemon orchards where you can pick lemons.
L: I like lemons!
M: And they have great shopping.
L: Do they have a Dollar Store?
M: Well, I don't know.
L: Have you ever been to Capri Mommy?
M: Yes, but it's been awhile.
L: Well I'm sure they have a Dollar Store.
M: Probably so.
So...if we have the chance to take the girls to Capri someday, I guess we'll be on the lookout for a Dollar Store!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Lily's Dance Recital
Lily has had so much fun taking her tap and ballet class at The Little Gym this Fall. It is an hour long class; the first 30 minute is spent on dance and the remaining 30 minutes is for gymnastics. She loves showing off the new skills she has learned. There were only 3 kids in her class this time, so she received lots of attention from Miss Maria (dance teacher) and Miss Jane (gymnastics teacher). I think this has really improved her coordination and confidence levels.
Last Thursday was the last day of class, and parents were invited in to see the gymnastics finale. Lily did a small "floor routine" which consisted of a forward roll, monkey swing (which is like a small cartwheel), a donkey kick (the beginning stages of a handstand), jumps and twists. Lily loved it. The teachers are always so kind to let Mia play along too since there are so few kids there, so she joined in as best she could too. Here are a few of the pictures from Thursday.
"Funny train" with Miss Jane.
Lily has really improved on the beam. She can turn in circles, bend down and walk her arms out in front of her, walk backwards and balance on one leg. She likes the beam a lot.
Mia trying an arabesque too.
Trying out the rings.
Ta da! Lily showing off her medal.
After the gymnastics portion of the day, we watched the girls dance for a few minutes, and then the teacher asked us to leave so the girls could practice their routines for their recital which was Friday night. They wanted it to be a surprise.
Showing off her costume. Really, have you ever seen anything so cute?
Here is Lily and her class performing their tap routine. The video is about 2.5 minutes long if you would like to watch it. Lily concentrates on watching her teacher, Miss Maria, who is standing off to the side showing them what to do. She later told me her favorite move that she learned during her entire class is the classic move "heel, toe, heel, toe." You can see her perform that move during this routine. She is second from the right. You'll notice a little box in the bottom right corner of this screen. If you click it, it will enlarge the video to fill your monitor; when the video is over press the ESC button on your keyboard to return to normal size.
Marching and tapping.
Paying careful attention to Miss Maria and imitating all of her moves.
End of the tap routine; so sweet!
Next up: the ballet routine. First, a little plie.
I know very little about dance, but doesn't this look like a great pose?
I think there is a technical name for this move, but they jumped up and down a lot at this point.
Pointing her toes.
After all six classes had performed both of their routines (each classes' routine was a little different), they called all the kids back up on stage for a free-style dance. Lily smile and tapped her heels on alternating feet the whole time. I think having everyone up there at once with little structure was a little overwhelming.
After the free style dance, Lily came back down to us where Ryan gave her three beautiful red roses which she loved. Here she is giving Daddy a big hug to say thank you.
I love this sweet picture.
Lily did a great job with both of her routines, and she had tons of fun. I have loved watching her become more confident as she takes these different classes at Little Gym. We are so proud of our sweet Lily!
Last Thursday was the last day of class, and parents were invited in to see the gymnastics finale. Lily did a small "floor routine" which consisted of a forward roll, monkey swing (which is like a small cartwheel), a donkey kick (the beginning stages of a handstand), jumps and twists. Lily loved it. The teachers are always so kind to let Mia play along too since there are so few kids there, so she joined in as best she could too. Here are a few of the pictures from Thursday.
Marching and clapping along to the music.
"Funny train" with Miss Jane.
Lily has really improved on the beam. She can turn in circles, bend down and walk her arms out in front of her, walk backwards and balance on one leg. She likes the beam a lot.
Mia trying an arabesque too.
Trying out the rings.
Ta da! Lily showing off her medal.
After the gymnastics portion of the day, we watched the girls dance for a few minutes, and then the teacher asked us to leave so the girls could practice their routines for their recital which was Friday night. They wanted it to be a surprise. So, this past Friday, December 17, was Lily's dance recital. She was so excited about her performance! To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect. Part of me thought she would get on stage and just stand there with stage fright. Boy was I wrong! She did great! Check out these pictures...
So excited!
Showing off her costume. Really, have you ever seen anything so cute?
Here is Lily and her class performing their tap routine. The video is about 2.5 minutes long if you would like to watch it. Lily concentrates on watching her teacher, Miss Maria, who is standing off to the side showing them what to do. She later told me her favorite move that she learned during her entire class is the classic move "heel, toe, heel, toe." You can see her perform that move during this routine. She is second from the right. You'll notice a little box in the bottom right corner of this screen. If you click it, it will enlarge the video to fill your monitor; when the video is over press the ESC button on your keyboard to return to normal size.After the tap routine, Lily came down with a huge smile on her face. She was so proud of herself! We changed into her ballet slippers, and then waited for her class to get called back up to perform their ballet routine. While we waited, Lily told me "Mommy, I am going to do my ballet perfect!" I said "That's great, but I want you to do your best." She replied "But Mommy, I have been practicing, and I can do it perfect." That's my girl. She did a great job here too. I was so amazed at her concentration especially as the other little girls ran around and didn't seem to care about following a routine. Again, the video is about 2 minutes if you want to watch. You'll notice she is again concentrating on watching Miss Maria until about halfway through you hear a voice from the side yell "LILY! LIII-LY!" so Lily turns, finds Mia, smiles, waves and then returns to her routine.
Were those adorable or what? In case you weren't able to see the picture, or if like me, you just can't get enough of these cuties, here are some pictures Ryan took while I shot the video.
Coming out to tap.
Marching and tapping.
Paying careful attention to Miss Maria and imitating all of her moves.
End of the tap routine; so sweet!
Next up: the ballet routine. First, a little plie.
I know very little about dance, but doesn't this look like a great pose?
I think there is a technical name for this move, but they jumped up and down a lot at this point.
Pointing her toes.
After all six classes had performed both of their routines (each classes' routine was a little different), they called all the kids back up on stage for a free-style dance. Lily smile and tapped her heels on alternating feet the whole time. I think having everyone up there at once with little structure was a little overwhelming.
After the free style dance, Lily came back down to us where Ryan gave her three beautiful red roses which she loved. Here she is giving Daddy a big hug to say thank you.
I love this sweet picture.
Lily did a great job with both of her routines, and she had tons of fun. I have loved watching her become more confident as she takes these different classes at Little Gym. We are so proud of our sweet Lily!
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