Mila's 1st Christmas Sing

I was a little nervous for Mila's Christmas sing.  At home when we bring attention to her singing or dancing, she usually stops right away!  I wasn't sure how she would react up on stage!  In the two weeks leading up to the sing, she practiced her songs, but would stop singing when I'd try to sing with her!  Well she totally surprised me!  She did great at her sing!!  She was all smiles!!  Her songs included Go Tell It on the Mountain, Mary Had a Baby Boy, Peppermint Stick, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday Jesus, and her favorite, Jingle Bells!  Erik unfortunately had to miss it because he stayed home with Caleb, who had a flu and fever virus. However, I made sure to videotape her!

I LOVED her dress!  

Caleb's Christmas Sing

Caleb did a great job at his Christmas sing! The kindergarten class sang 3 songs, and he really got into it! They sang Christmas Cookies and Holiday Hearts, Down the Holiday Trail, and Sing a Glad Noel. One of my favorite memories was while we were getting ready to leave, Caleb saw his kindergarten crush Vivian. I asked if he wanted a picture with her and he said yes. He was so cute standing next to her :-)

Caleb & Vivian

One lucky and loved boy!

Snowflake is Back!

The weekend after Thanksgiving, Snowflake, our Elf on the Shelf arrived! I love seeing and hearing Mila and Caleb's excitement! She had brought them some window decorations, and Caleb looked up at her and said,  "thanks snowflake!"  It was the sweetest thing! Every morning the kids have fun finding her new hiding place. They also receive a countdown ornament filled with a little treat. Then Caleb gets a chocolate from the advent calendar, and they take turns changing the heart on our Christmas countdown.

Caleb is Reading!

These past few months of Kindergarten have been truly amazing!  In April, he had started sounding out words, but then would get frustrated every time we'd try to practice more.  In his class, they introduced sight words, and then each week a new letter and sound.  He has caught on, and is doing a really great job!  He is great with the sight words because of his photographic memory.  He tells me that he sees pictures in his head, and saves them there.  He explained that to me one night!  I am also loving how he is trying to write words!!  All be it the first words he decided to write were poop and toot!  LOL! 

The Kindergarten Circus

Caleb's kindergarten class put on a circus performance!  Caleb was selected to be the ringmaster, the part he has requested! His teacher emailed me and told me that he had the most important part! The circus was adorable! As the ringmaster, he stood up in front of the rest of his class and announced each act. They had a CD playing the whole time, but he had to point is baton and move his mouth. He did a really great job! All of his classmates were adorable too! When he saw us he waved and gave us the cutest smile! When he and Mila made eye contact, she shouted, Caleb I love you! It was the cutest thing!

I Want to Remember

Mila:
When she's acting really goofy, she'll tell me "it was just a joke!"

She knows her ABCs really well!  She sings them and puts them in order with her magnets!  In addition to her name, she's starting to write other letters too! 

"Mama look at me in the face the whole time!" That is definitely from me! :-)

At church during communion, she looked at me and said, "Mama I can have chips too?"  I smiled and answered, "Not until you're about 8 years old."  I could tell she was thinking, and she looked at me and said, "but I can have chips at home, right?"

Every time anybody leaves the house, she wants to go to the front window and wave. She says the same thing every single time. "Bye! I love you! Bring all my babies and all Caleb's dinosaurs home. I love you! I miss you!" Then she blows a kiss and pretends to give a hug. Every. Single. Time :-)

One night she was supposed to be getting ready for her bath.  I walked into the bathroom and found her putting on my makeup!!  She put my mascara on her eye brows, and my concealer stick on her lips!  She looked beautiful :)

Caleb:
One night he snuck into our bed, and snuggled up next to me. I gave him a kiss and I told him I loved him. He told me, "I'm never going to stop loving you."  I don't care what time it was in the middle of the night! Hearing that is amazing :-)

At church, during the sign of peace, Caleb and Erik did a fist bump and said peace be with you! It was pretty cute!

One Saturday morning, Caleb woke up and started going straight down stairs. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he wanted to make breakfast for all of us. When we came downstairs, he had made place cards for each one of us with our names on them! He told me that he's been wanting to do this since he saw place cards like this at cousin Melody's wedding! He also made toast for everyone!

I was helping out at Caleb's school this week, and his teachers told me that he had told them all about a Jesus play he was going to put on with Mila. He said he was going to be the donkey, and Mila was going to put her hooded bath towel on and be Mary. He said he was going to crawl around on all fours and Mary was going to ride the donkey! I love his creativity!

He's been doing multiplication, and doesn't even know it!  I'll ask him some math word problems, and after about a minute, he comes up with the right answer!

Teacher Conferences

Caleb's teacher said that he is doing a great job! She said he's right on track with the rest of his class. He loves to read, especially dinosaur books! It is amazing how he is learning to read! And he is so very excited about spelling out words! She said that she's working on some advanced math problems with him. Above all, she said he is one of the kindest students in class. Even when someone may not be nice to him, he is always so kind and smiling! She said we should be proud of the good job we're doing at home with him! I wanted to start crying right then and there!

Mila's teacher said that she is sweet and confident preschooler who is eager to please :) She too is right on track with all of her peers with social development and all of the creative aspects of preschool! When I told her that her teacher wants us to keep practicing cutting with scissors, she asked to practice right then and there!

We am so incredibly proud of them!! 

Halloween 2015

First we got together with all of the cousins for some treats and pictures in their costumes! Then we met up with our friends, the Bishops, to have the kids go trick-or-treating together. The rain held off for a little bit, and they actually trick-or-treated the most they ever have! Caleb was really sweet telling people that Mila couldn't have candy with peanuts!  Love him so much!  Afterwards we had planned on having a pizza party for dinner! Well as we were heading back to the house, we learned that the power had gone out! We ended up eating by flashlights! It was actually really appropriate and fun for Halloween! Something we'll definitely never forget! Within a half hour the lights were back on, and we all settled in to watch Hotel Transylvania!

 

 

Halloween Parade

 

Caleb's school let them wear their Halloween costumes to school for a classroom party. Then the tradition is that each Kindergartner's 8th grade Mass buddy hand makes a Halloween costume for them to wear during the Halloween parade! I asked Caleb what costume he asked Jack to make, and his reply was a red and blue dinosaur! I was nervous! I wasn't sure how Jack would be able to make that! Caleb and I had a good talk about being grateful and thankful for his costume!

Well his costume turned out to be amazing, as well as all of the other costumes in the parade!! It was so fun seeing everything the 8th graders created! After the parade, we enjoyed another little party with snacks in the cafeteria, and were able to meet his 8th grade buddy Jack!

Mila's 1st Field Trip

Auntie Natalie not only got to participate in Caleb's Mystery Reader, but also got to accompany me on Mila's 1st Field Trip! We went to Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm with her Preschool class! We learned about different types of pumpkin and gourds, got to feed animals and giraffes, went on a hay ride, and picked out a pumpkin!

friend Camille