Painting Ornaments

Lucas and I started a new tradition this year by going to a local pottery/ceramic place to paint an ornament for our tree. Lucas had so much fun that he begged to paint something else. He selected a statue of Santa that had some very small parts to paint. When he got to the face he said that he wanted Santa's skin to be the same color as his (instead of bright white), so he selected the beige paint... I thought that was cool. While we were painting Raleigh got about an inch of snow! It was so pretty to watch and made it really feel like Christmas time.

Here is Lucas right outside of the pottery store. When we got home Daddy came outside so that he and Lucas could have a snowball fight.

Our house decorated for Christmas

Happy Birthday Lucas E!

Lucas E (first boy below) had his 5th birthday party at Ch*cky Che*se this week. It was Lucas's first time there and he loved it... needless to say.

Can you find Ellen?

Our girl likes to sleep with ALL of her friends these days. And when she wakes up she has 5 baby dolls, 1 cookie monster, 1 grover, 1 bunny and two blankies that she insists on carrying out of the room with her. Love her!

Lucas's Preschool Christmas Program

Oh my gosh, Lucas's preschool put on the cutest little Christmas program yesterday! And they did it so well. They had some of the children sit in the chairs and some sit on the stairs. And this was brilliant - they put each child's name on a little snowman so that the parents would know where to sit to get the best view. I was on the reception committee, so I got there early to help setup and get the best view. I was sitting right in front of him and Jeff sat in the balcony so that he could get it on video. I have watched the video at least 10 times since then - I just loved it!

Here are all of the children walking in. It was just the two 4yr old classes, so about 30 children total.

In this picture the children have just sat down and are looking in the crowd to find their parents. On the video you can see that Lucas is looking around with the expression below, and then when he sees me his face lights up with a big smile : ) A few minutes later he spots Jeff in the balcony and smiles again as he points to him and motions to me to look too. Lucas is sitting beside Addison and Patrick.

For the first song the children didn't REALLy sing, but just kind of moved their mouths. For the second song, Jingle Bell Rock, they really got into it. Lucas was so cute up on the stage. He kept making eye contact with me as he was singing and I could tell that he was really proud and happy to have us there. Notice Rayne in the white dress four down from Lucas. She is Lucas's one and only friend that is a girl. He tells us that she plays dragons with them on the playground. And his teacher told me that she is faster than all of the boys. When I asked Lucas about this, since he takes such pride in running fast, he said, "Yes, a little bit she does." : )

In this song they were pretending to play the flute. Notice Ian behind Lucas. And the little girl in red - she stood there like that for most of the performance : )

Oh, and then everyone's favorite part - Miss Jane came out and was Suzy Snowflake!

Afterward the children went to a different venue for their party, which was themed as a birthday party for Jesus. All that the boys cared about, however, was running around and playing chase and tackle like they do every day on the playground. Here is Lucas with his best bud, Ian.

Guess who was at the Christmas Reception? Lucas said he was scared to sit in his lap, but finally did it after Ian did.

Then we got the two of them together - so cute!

I had to get a picture of Lucas with his favorite girl. It's true, when you ask him who is favorite girl is, he says that Rayne is. So I was sure to ask him who his favorite LADY is... finally, the answer I was hoping for... Mommy : )

Here are the wild boys playing around inside... Ian, Lucas, Matt and Patrick.

The reception was over at 11:30, but school doesn't get out until noon, so we had to waste some time because Ellen was on her stroller walk at 11:30. When Lucas and I saw Ellen's class coming in from their walk, we thought it would be fun to hide behind a tree and spy on her. You can't pull one over on the bird, however, she saw us from far away and stared us down until we revealed ourselves. She is the 2nd child in the stroller below. When we got close to her she complained until we let her get out and join us.

Our Lady Takes a Bath

Ellen has been making this face lately that looks JUST like Ty's expressions. I saw her doing it in the tub and took these pics to try and capture it for Jenn. I wasn't successful, but love these pics of her in the tub anyway.

Here she is going under and plugging her ears. She is a fan of the water, just like Lucas.

Sweet little lady. I think she looks like Jeff's baby pics here.

There are those chubby cheeks!

An attempt at the "Ty Face"

Holiday Cookies

We made cookies today because... Lucas wanted to. Mommy was exhausted thanks to a long day at work, but how can you say no when this time of year goes by so fast... and he'll only be this age once... and I want to encourage his creativity... and it was easier than saying no : )

Decorating

We wasted no time in getting the trees up and decorated! Lucas is crazy about the decorations. With each ornament that we pulled out of the box he had something to say - "Wow! Isn't that a beautiful one!" or "Isn't that pretty?" or "That's my favorite!" And we have lights EVERYWHERE. I think we're finally done. We have a tree in the family room, a small one in the kitchen and a small one upstairs. And we have a decorated house plant in Lucas's room. And we have a bookcase with lights draped all around it. And the banister. And outside. I think that's it. It's so fun to see him so excited : )