Tis The Season

I love Christmas.  But if you know me, you probably already knew this about me.  The period between Thanksgiving and New Year's is so much fun, and I always have a big list of things I want to experience with my family.  Now I have two children with two birthdays thrown into the mix, and I'm realizing that I need to tailor back a bit and do a little less Christmas so that we can incorporate some birthday fun too.   Still, there are some things that we always will do in the Kovar house.

First, there are the advent calendars.  This year we had a lot!  We had the one that I made a couple of years ago, the standing calendar that we change the date on every day, the chocolate-filled calendar we bought during our Leavenworth trip, a chain-a-day calendar from Charlie's preschool and an advent calendar for each boy from Grandma Boyce.  We did every calendar every day leading up to our trip to California.  Charlie always knew what the date was!  It was a lot of fun.  Ephram even loved his advent calendar from Grandma.  He would peek behind the flap really carefully at first, and then a little more forcefully until the flap would break away.  When I pulled it out every morning, he would start kicking with excitement!

Of course there's the Christmas tree and the baking of cookies too.  This year we made three kinds of cookies - snickerdoodles, sugar and funfetti cake mix.  They were tasty.  Charlie says his favorites were the sugar cookies because he liked "punching" them out.  My favorites were the cake mix cookies, they tasted as close to Lofthouse cookies as I think I've ever gotten.  After we were done baking we made little treat bags and delivered them to all of our neighbors.  Charlie was really excited to get his Santa practice in!

We did plenty of inside caroling, watched a ton of Christmas specials and made some crafts too.  The season always comes and goes so quickly - I find myself trying to figure out how to make it seem longer every year.  Maybe next year I'll start in October.  :)

A Party for Jesus

On the last day of preschool before winter break, Charlie's class had a birthday party for Jesus.  All of the parents were invited to the last half hour, which was a program of several songs and a couple of really cute hand plays.

Ephram and I actually made it to the school a couple of minutes early, so we got a seat right up front.  The kids started in the back of the chapel with hand bells singing a song called "Bells are Ringing".  When Charlie spotted us he started pointing and smiling at us... forgetting his bell.  It was pretty cute, actually.  Then all of the kids came up front and lined up to do more songs.

Charlie had a hard time staying in his place.  First he wanted to go on the step above to be next to Ava.

Then he decided he didn't want to see anyone, so he turned around.

And then he just needed to stand next to Sienna.  Sienna kindly reminded him that he was supposed to be behind her.  (With her hand and a gentle push.)

He stayed next to Sienna anyway, which is where he sang the final song... We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  I took videos of every song, but since you probably don't want to see them all - here is the finale.

Charlie was so excited to perform for us.  He sang every song and did all of the hand plays.  Even though he was really the only child that had such a hard time staying in his place, I was so proud of how well he did.  This year was much better in comparison to last year, when he was yelling at everyone to stop and refusing to sing any of the songs.  He is really improving in formal situations and doing better socially too.  I think he just may be ready for Kindergarten next year!

Charlie had a great time at the party and performed all of his songs again for me when we got home.  He was sad that he wouldn't see his friends for three weeks, but this was a great way to end the year at preschool!

Charlie Loves Preschool!

December was a great month for Charlie at preschool.

First, he got to be the special snack helper for his birthday.  He brought birthday cookies and got to wear a special birthday crown.  He wore that crown for the next three days, and it is still living in his room a month later.

Then he got to bring home the Leo Listening Lion award one day.  He had been wanting to get this award for several weeks - and finally it was his.  He was so proud of himself, and we were proud of him too.

Then he made special Christmas cards for his teacher and teacher's helper.  He had a lot of fun gluing all of the snowmen to the card and then covering them in glitter glue.  I was impressed with how well he wrote on the insides!

And then, on the last day before break, he got to participate in their "Happy Birthday Jesus" party and Christmas program... but that is another post in and of itself. 

Little Drummer Boy

We definitely have a drummer on our hands.

In the past month Ephram has been turning every surface into a drum.

He will crawl over, plop himself down and start banging away.

Actually, he can kind of keep a beat too.

I love our little drummer boy!

Ho Ho Ho

What does Charlie want to be when he grows up?

Santa.

He has told us this every Christmastime that he has lived with us.

He is very determined.

He says he needs lots and lots of food so that he can get a tummy that looks like a bowl full of jelly.

On this, our little string bean has a long way to go.

He practices his Christmas phrases, like "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"

He tells us when we are on the nice list.

He tells us when we have made the naughty list too... (usually when he is on the naughty list.)

He practices his Christmas carols so that he can help "the elves be happy to make the toys."

And most importantly, he is honing his "Ho Ho Ho" skills.

How does Charlie think you get to be Santa Claus?

You have to catch the other Santa and then he falls off the roof.

Hmmm... think we have to work on that one.

Want Some?

No?  Well, then I'll eat it...

A Toy Story Party - v.2

When Charlie turned 3, he wanted nothing more than a Buzz Lightyear party.  At the time, it had been years since the last Toy Story movie.  Finding decorations for that party was not easy - they had to be ordered online.  Now, Toy Story 3 has come out, and again he really wanted a Toy Story party.  It was amazing how much easier it was to find decorations this time around!

We had his party the Saturday after his birthday.  We were not sure how good the turnout would be because holidays make December so crazy, but he had a good group of kids show up.  We hosted the party at our house, so the Toy Story decorations were mixed in with the Christmas decorations I also had up.  We had a lot of fun getting ready for the party... the whole family participated.

Andy was our artist and graphic designer.  He made this drawing of Woody for our "Pin the Badge on Woody" game.  I was really, really impressed.  After the party I couldn't throw it away - so it now resides on one of the doors upstairs. 

Charlie helped me pick out and assemble favors for his guests.  Each guest got a water bottle, stickers, a silly band, a lollipop and a deck of cards.

Ephram's job was to place the balloons around the room.  Actually, this was not an official job, but it is what he ended up doing.  Whether we wanted them to move or not.  Good thing he's cute.

And I handled the rest of the decorations and set-up. 

Charlie was so excited when everything was ready.  He couldn't wait for his friends to get there!

Before we knew it, party time arrived and his guests started showing up.  After coloring pictures at the table for a few minutes, we started with Pin the Badge on Woody.  Ephram really wanted a turn too.  The kids had fun trying to get their badges closest to the right spot.

 

Then we were ready to start the team games.  The kids were divided into teams - Team Buzz and Team Woody.  Each kid had a badge to wear with their team name.  As we played the team games, we gave the kids stickers for winning or just for participating.  Sticker collecting ended up to be a big hit.

The team games started with some Shake 'N Go car races.

Then we moved into a block stacking contest.  The team with the highest stack at the end of 3 minutes won. 

Then there was the Silly Potato Head game.  Charlie had helped me put all the parts in the wrong places of two Potato Heads.  Each team raced to see who could fix their Potato Head first.

And once that was done, the teams each tried to create the silliest potato head combination they could think of.  There were lots of stickers after this... and lots of giggles too.

While we had been in the piano room doing the block stack and potato head games, the other adults had hidden a bunch of toy soldiers in our family room.  I sent the kids on a quest to rescue all of the soldiers.  The picture is a blur because the kids were so excited and so fast that the camera couldn't catch them!  Once they were done, we traded their soldiers for a sticker and a party hat.

And then it was cake time!  I could tell a very long story here about how it took 3 tries that morning to get the right cake.  But instead I just told my short story.

It was a cute cake...

And the kids all loved it!  They spent about 10 minutes after cake being incredibly silly...

And then it was time for presents!  Charlie got a lot of really neat gifts, and we took pictures of all of them... but this post already has soooo many pictures, so here is just one with Tanna.

After presents we played a memory game with a bunch of Toy Story figurines until the kids lost interest.  (We played it about 10 times, I was impressed that 4-6 year olds would be interested in it so long!)  So then we played Hot Potato with a Mr. Potato Head... and then we played Buzz, Buzz, Woody (like Duck, Duck, Goose) until parents came to pick kids back up.

Those badges sure were covered in stickers at the end!  The kids were comparing how many stickers they had and what kind of stickers they'd received.  I had no idea that the stickers would be such a big hit... memo to myself for future parties!

It was a very fun party.  The kids all left with their favors and a balloon, a sticker-covered badge and big smiles on their faces.  But the most important smile to me was :