Bring Someone Special Day

Last week was "Bring Someone Special Day" at Kid's Day Out.

 On Monday Grandma Odie came to be Lilly's someone special.  Lilly was very excited that Grandma came to be in class with her.  For someone special day they got to come in the class for the first thirty minutes and see what goes on in the class and then have a special snack. 

 Grandma read to Lilly before KDO started.  Then we read a class book about the symbols of Christmas and then we did an activity together that tied into the book.  (I can tell you what we did since I am the teacher in that room.  I was also a little bit nervous about teaching in front of my grandma.)

 Then they went and had a special snack. 

 Reid went out to have a special snack with them, too.

Lilly has asked if Grandma was coming with her every KDO day since then.  She really liked having a special guest and I am so glad she got to come, too! 

On Thursday it was Reid's special day and Matt came to be his special guest.  They did a special craft and had a special snack.  Matt said Reid refused to participate while he was there.  On the note home it said, "Reid was so very excited to have his special guest today!"  I showed it to Matt and he said, "Whoever wrote that is a liar!  You can't trust them anymore!"  We have laughed and laughed about that.  I think he was excited Matt was there and was just acting out a little bit.  ( ;  And then, just like on Monday, Lilly got to go out and have snack with Daddy, too.  We sure do our love our special guests and are thankful they are in our lives!

Christmas Countdown fun w/MoMo and PaPa Ray

Well it is one week from Christmas and my to-do list is so long I don't even know where to begin!  I just picked up our Christmas Cards today (still need to stuff, address, and stamp them), I haven't wrapped a single present, I am only halfway done shopping, the house is a mess, and the laundry is out of control!  And to be real honest, in light of Friday's tragic news, that all seems pretty unimportant.  It also feels a little off to be blogging about our happy Christmas fun.  But the, "Hey!  You are slacking on the blog!" phone calls started today.  So while I am waiting on load number four (of at least seven) to finish in the dryer--I am going to blog and stuff and address envelopes all at the same time.  Because I am talented like that. 

 Last weekend (not the one that just happened, but the one before that) MoMo and PaPa Ray came to visit.  (Also, on another sad note, PaPa Ray's mom passed away unexpectedly yesterday so if you could please join me in praying for his family during this time.)  Ahem, now for the happy.  While they were in town we went on the Holiday Express Train. 

 Reid was excited on the way to the train station.  Once we got there he decided he didn't want to ride the train anymore.  This is his new thing lately--we will be going somewhere and then when we get there he will throw a fit saying he doesn't want to be there.  It is frustrating because the whole time I know he will like whatever we are doing...especially a train ride.  After a few minutes he decided he was happy to be there and we were ready to go! 

 One of the family's that works with my mom were in town and they joined us on the train ride.  Reid was happy to have Peyton to play with on the train! 

All ready!

All aboard!

 Once we were off they served cookies...

and hot chocolate!

 Tasty!   Nice mustache kid!  Ha! 

 Looking out the window and pointing out the things they were seeing.

 Then the train stopped and this was Lilly's face when she saw Santa. 

 We were at the front of the train and he started at the back so we had to wait a while to see him.  Lilly was so excited to see him but when he got up there she got shy.  That is until Santa said (on his own with no prompting from me), "Do you still want those princess barbie dolls?"  Well I guess those were the magic words because her and Santa were best friends after that.  Ha! 

 Right now if you ask Lilly what she wants she will say, "A baby that eats and pees and comes with wipes."  (And this Momma thinks...in a whiny voice..."Buuuuuut I juuuuuust got you two OUT of diapers!")  If you ask Reid he says, "Cars!"  But Lord have mercy if you take Reid through a toy aisle he will point out 852 things to add to his "Christmas List." 

 While MoMo was in town we also went to go see Rise of the Guardians. 

All of MoMo's managers were in town because their big company Christmas party was last week so we got together with all of them and had dinner.  It is always good to see the people you hear about regularly!  ( :  We had fun and played lots of games.  I don't want to brag but I did win a travel coffee mug for my skills.  ( ;  Lilly also won the above "Snowball Fight" for singing a Christmas Carol (she sang Mary Rode a Donkey) and we have had SO MUCH fun with this!! 

Cookie Decorating

 Our day 7 activity was to make and decorate cookies.  We made the from-scratch-from-a-bag kind of cookies (sugar and gingerbread.)

 Cutting out fun shapes. 

 Reid was excited to make cookies.  When we made salt-dough ornaments he kept calling them cookies so he was excited that we were going to get to eat these!

 After we made the cookies at home we packed them up and met up with Grandma Odie, Aunt CiCi, Rachel, Marshall, and Eva Kate.  We had lunch at a local Mexican Restaurant and then headed back to Grandma Odie's to decorate some cookies.

 Lilly, Marshall, Reid, and Eva Kate.  You can see Reid licking some icing off of his finger. 

 Take 2.  Ha! 

 Sprinkle Time! 

 Reid is pretty conservative on cookie toppings. 

 Marshall--his cookie was pretty impressive--he covered it in white and then put red stripes on it.

 Eva Kate decorating hers. 

 Lilly squeezing with all her might...

and this is right after I caught her sucking the icing out of the tube. Ha!

 And we can't ever visit without feeding the ducks and fish!  (If you can see Reid's hand--he has a TON of bread in his hand about to throw it over.)

 Happy ducks and fish!

 Rachel showing the proof that Lilly was offered a jacket because it was cold outside.  Lilly prefers "cold arms."

 Watching the ducks and fish.  We had a great time spending time with Grandma Odie and the cousins! 

 Friday night was Friday Night Out and it was pajama night!  (Are you not dying laughing at Lilly and Reid's facial expressions in this picture??)

 The kids watched Polar Express and had hot chocolate and Matt and I went to dinner with some friends and then did a little Christmas shopping before we ran into some other friends for dessert.  I just can't say enough times what a blessing Friday Night Out is for us and what a great marriage ministry it is--I am so thankful our church does this! 

I hope you are all enjoying some holiday fun.  I have had a few too many cookies and am thinking that "holiday pants" needs to be invented.  They should be like maternity pants but they would be socially acceptable to wear even though you are not pregnant and they should be a little bit more stylish than sweats...but at least as comfortable.  Ha!  A girl can dream, right?

Christmas Cards for Soldiers

Our day 6 activity was to make a Christmas Card for a soldier. 

 I saw a Christmas tree made from shapes on Pinterest (that link has a template for a whole page sized-one) and decided we could mix in a little shape practice while making our cards.  I cut out four different size green triangles, a brown rectangle, a yellow star, and then I used a hole punch to make lots of little circles.  While we made the tree we also got to practice sequencing from big to small.  Of course Reid and Lilly's favorite part of making the cards was squeezing out all of the glue!

 Tree assembled.  Happy, happy, happy. 

 Lilly serious while gluing. 

 Adding some ornaments.  

 So excited that I want to take her picture again.  Ha!

 Finished! 

 Finished!

 Here they are right after they finished.  Please note all the glue.  ( ; 

 And after the glue dried. 

 And then on the inside of the card we made angels with glitter glue and coffee filters and I wrote Psalm 91:11 "God will command his angels to protect you wherever you go."  And that is what we will pray over the soldiers that receive these cards. 

I will note that I actually went to the Holiday Mail for Heroes site today and realized that you are supposed to avoid glitter and that they were supposed to be mailed to them already...so ours are going in the mail today and we are praying that they still reach the person God intends for them to despite my error in timing! 
The mailing address is:
Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456