P gets his groove on

As I've mentioned before, P is taking dance classes this year. He started in the fall, and every week he and the other members of his class go into the studio, Miss Debbie shuts the door, and they dance away. The recital isn't until May, but in December Miss Debbie holds "parents' week" and lets all of the parents come into the studio with cameras and video recorders in tow. Daddy A took part of Monday afternoon off and joined me for a preview of what's to come this spring. As we watched P dance, it was clear that he was very focused on his moves - he was really concentrating. We're incredibly proud of his hard work!

Every week, class begins with the "hello song".

There are close to twenty students in the class, but P and his buddy Jack are the only boys.

We saw shuffles, taps, and marching from both "Rita Right" (the right foot) and "Larry Left" (the left foot, of course).

P even maintained his concentration while listening to his teachers.

I can't speak for Daddy A, but this preview definitely got me excited about the recital this spring!

P goes to the dentist

P has always LOVED brushing his teeth. (C is following in his big brother's footsteps, which is really nice to see - in this case, anyway.) Last spring, when P turned 3, he and I headed to the dentist for his first checkup. He did fine (although he was a bit more nervous than I had anticipated), but since it was his first visit, they cleaned his teeth and called it a day, rather than having the dentist spend lots of time poking around in his mouth. Our dentist is phenomenal, and one nice thing about his office is that they want to do everything they can to make every child's first visit to the dentist as pleasant as possible.

In December, P had his first full visit to the dentist. Once again, he had a good report.

He was a little nervous again this time, but was very excited to be given a rubber glove that he could blow up like a balloon.



In no time at all, he was quite happy with his position in the chair.

He was very still and pleasant while he had his teeth cleaned.

P and I left the dentist's office with a new toothbrush, a new pencil, some stickers, an appointment to come back early this summer, and smiles on our faces!

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!

This Christmas season, our church put on a production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". No, I'm not trying to brag - I'm talking about the play based on the book by Barbara Robinson. (The story is one of my personal favorites - I think it is both entertaining and thought provoking for children and adults. If you haven't read it, I recommend you go find a copy and read it now. Seriously, now. This blog will wait; the book is a classic. Go ahead and read it, then come back here when you're done and continue reading my post.)

Every time I read - or see - The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (including the many times I heard it this fall), I'm struck anew with wonder and amazement at the Christmas story. It's so easy, especially for those of us who have heard the story of Christ's birth for many years, to gloss over just how wonderful and amazing and difficult it was for God to give us Jesus and for Jesus and his earthly family to deliver God's gift to the world. Looking at the story from the point of view of characters who have never heard the story provides some perspective for the powerful message God gave by choosing to give His Son and the method he used to do that.

Now that everyone is up to speed on the synopsis of the play, let's take a look at my adorable baby angel, C, hanging out with his buddies in the nursery,


hard at work,

and finally taking a rest,

and my little sheep, P, and his buddy Laine.

Being a part of the cast of this production and having our entire family involved was one of my favorite experiences this Christmas season!

Christmas at "Cow Chikin"

P has been calling Chick-fil-a "Cow Chikin" for quite a while now, hence the title of this post. It's one of his go-to choices when you ask him what he'd like to eat for lunch or dinner. (This gets very interesting when we are dining at home. I've tried saving the sauce packets from Chick-fil-a and making my own chicken nuggets by coating chicken pieces in crushed up corn flakes to no avail, but I digress.)

This past Tuesday, our local "Cow Chikin" hosted Mr. and Mrs. Claus and had 99 cent kids' meals. I totally went for the marketing gimmick, and we found ourselves joining a crowd of people for dinner. Daddy A pointed out the flaws in my logic, but he humored me and we had a good time.

Please excuse the photo quality in this post - these were taken with my cell phone.

The boys had a chance to say hi to "the cows" before dinner while Daddy A stood in line for our food.


After dinner, the boys went to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. Parker asked for Thomas toys and a car, and a pap pap (pacifier) for his brother. Santa gave the boys candy canes, and you'd have thought he was giving out hundred dollar bills. They were so pleased!

We headed to the play area (hey, it's been cold outside and they enjoyed the chance to use up some energy!) for a few minutes before it was time to go home to baths and bed. We can hardly believe Christmas is almost here!

Thanksgiving

P and I arrived in Fredericksburg on Sunday afternoon with Poppa Fred and Grandma Paige. Daddy A and C joined us on Tuesday. Thursday we were joined by Grandma Hen and Granddaddy Rooster for Thanksgiving, and throughout our visit we had some time with Tiffany, John, and Tucker. We felt so blessed to get to spend time with so much of our extended family, and to get to celebrate Thanksgiving as a group.

I think the highlight of the week for both boys was playing outside in the leaves. They spent lots of time out there.







C was also more than happy to mug for the camera. Every time I turned around, he was grinning at me and saying, "Cheese!"



P collected some pinecones to make a birdfeeder, and he couldn't resist grabbing a few pine needles, too.


P also gave us a hand in the kitchen as we prepared our Thanksgiving meal.

Thanksgiving night, Grandma Hen treated P, Daddy A, and I to the movies. At P's request, we saw "Tangled Up" (Tangled).

Friday, Aunt Tiffany suggested that we all head to Splitsville and go bowling. It was a lot of fun. P and C both enjoyed their turns to "roll the ball".

Friday night we rounded out our trip to Fredericksburg with a Christmas light show. Saturday morning we returned home to Morganton, and we are eagerly awaiting some more family time this Christmas season!

leavin' on a jet plane

A couple of weeks ago, I headed to DC to help my sister shop for wedding dresses. My dad was nice enough to come to Dressapalooza along with my mom, so I brought P along and we flew instead of driving. Mom, Tiff, and I were able to shop during the day while P and Poppa Fred had some grandpa/grandson time, and we had some family time in the evenings. Then Daddy A and C met up with us in Fredericksburg on Tuesday the week of Thanksgiving.

P was very excited about the chance to fly on a plane. We had a great conversation in the airport.

P: Mommy, look at that plane! It's a GIANT one!

Me: That plane looks very big because you're close to it... it's the plane we are going to ride on.


P: This BUILDING is going to go up in the air?

Me: No, not the building, just the plane.

P: But the plane is attached this building with a tube!

Me: The tube is like a tunnel people use to get onto the plane. Then they'll pull the tube away.


P was incredibly excited about his impending ride! He kept asking when it would be time to get on the plane. When we began to board, our conversation continued.

Me: (as we boarded the plane) P, do you remember the tube we were talking about?

P: (eyes lighting up) THIS is the tube!

He had lots of fun on the journey - in particular he liked looking at the clouds and enjoying a Sprite.


When he sees a plane now, P likes to proclaim, "I flied in that plane!" or, as he begins to understand that there are many planes in the sky, he likes to ask, "Is that the plane I flied in?"

Our first night at the Gaylord National, we took in their ICE! show. This year there was a Grinch theme to the show, which P really enjoyed, since that's one of his favorite books.


These heavy coats were provided - you've got to keep it pretty cold to have a building full of ice.


The entire event was spectacular. The artistry involved in designing and carving literally rooms of ice was phenomenal. P's favorite part though, hands down, was the gigantic ice slide. He even talked the staff into letting him ride the larger slide that was supposed to be for ages four and up!

As we were exiting the ICE! show, P had a chance for some "face time" with the Grinch.


The hotel had a neat light show and they made it snow in the lobby at various points throughout the day. For my train-loving boy's heart, you just couldn't beat the miniature train in the lobby. I have no idea how many times he rode it!


Sunday morning we had more face time with the Grinch, because we had breakfast with him.


In the spirit of Dr. Seuss, P even had tried some green eggs and ham as part of his breakfast.

It was a wonderful weekend getaway!

Merry Christmas!

If you follow along regularly, you may remember that I was very excited about Shutterfly's promotion that offered bloggers 50 free holiday cards.

I wanted to follow up and share that our cards arrived in the mail last week and I am thrilled! The cards look wonderful, and I will definitely be looking got so excited I went back to Shutterfly today and ordered more Christmas cards! I will definitely look to Shutterfly in the future for photo gifts and cards.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to send you a "virtual" Christmas card. From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!