Sledding and Singing!

Well we got some snow and everyone was so excited to get out and play in it (little did we know how much more was to come!).  So we got everyone all bundled up and headed out.

It was time for sledding!  Now I can't sled at the moment, but I was there to take some pictures.  The girls were a bit nervous at first and only wanted to go down with Paul.

Ben jumped right in though and took off!

Look at that smile...pure enjoyment!

It took Abbey a bit before she would even go with Paul, but eventually she got into it!

Although the girls wouldn't sled by themselves on this trip, they did decide to go down by themselves without the sleds.

And Ben tried to snow board with a sled.  It was a lot of fun and we came home and made hot chocolate.  Now since then we have gotten a record amount of snow and Paul has taken them several times.  They are into it now and will all go by themselves or with each other without much help from Paul, which is nice too.

Seeing as this was the last week of school before Christmas break, that meant class parties and class concerts!  First up was Juliette and she did awesome in her concert!  They have such cute songs they sing!

Then came the big Christmas Kindergarten Concert, which is held in the Church and is a big deal!  Abbey did awesome!  Her teacher told me that she is so good at knowing all the songs and the motions that she put her in the middle of the kids so others could watch her and follow along - nice job Abs!

 After the kindergarten concert there is a reception with food and drinks.

Next up was the all school concert, which Abbey got to participate in as well as Ben!   Ben got to sing three times...once with second grade, once with the school chorus...

  And once with their 8th grade prayer buddies.  Ben told me that since it was such a big year for both second graders (because of first communion) and 8th graders (because of graduation) they got to sing the closing song (Silent Night)!  They did a fabulous job and Ben really likes his prayer buddy!

  And there was even a surprise guest...Daddy was able to make it to the concert!!!

A job well done by all my amazing singers!  I do have video of all of these concerts, but thought it might be a bit much to post here.  Although if you are interested, I believe they are all up on Paul's video page (see Pablitorun Videos link on the right side of this web page).  And that concluded our week and kicked us off into Christmas break!!!

The Christmas Fun Continues...

The next week was filled with Christmas festivities as well, starting with dance class for the girls! They each had a "winter recital" where we got to go in during their normal class time, see what they have been learning, and watch them perform a routine to a Christmas song.  Here is Juliette showing me what she has been learning...

 

 

 Here is her routine to "Baby It's Cold Outside!"

 

Here is her class!

The next day was Abbey's turn to show me what she has been learning!  Abbey is very shy, so this did not go well last year as she clammed up with everyone watching her in such close proximity.  For some reason, she does great when on stage, but in the classroom I think everyone is just sitting so close to them and staring at them and it makes her nervous.  So, I tried to act cool and I didn't take too many pictures as I didn't want to freak her out.  She did great though!

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Here is her routine to the song in the Polar Express!

And here is her class!

That Friday night was the Cub Scout Christmas Party and they had some really cute things planned.  This was an indoor sled race!

Then they wanted the parents to get involved.  Ben turned to me and said he needed to pull me on a sled or have me pull him as fast as I could.  I looked down at my very pregnant self and said, "You need to go find Dad for this!"

They sang Christmas songs and had a very cute Cub Scout rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas!

They made gingerbread tents.

I thought this was such a cute idea!  Check out the fire in front of the tent made from untwisted Twizzlers and pretzel sticks!

The most fun came at the end though...an indoor snow ball fight!  They had made snowballs from cotton stuffing and nylons and it was kids vs. adults...it was everyone's favorite event of the night!

 

Craziness!

 

It was a great party and I give a lot of credit to those who planned it...very well done!

Santa Sightings!

The first Saturday in December was quite a busy day for us filled with activities to kick us into the Christmas season! We started off the day early by going on the Polar Express! Every year the Metra train system puts on a Polar Express train ride that you can take. We did it a few years ago and thought it was cute so we decided that since Juliette was a baby last time we did it that it was time to do it again. We filed onto the train and luckily found seats together!

They gave the kids golden tickets, just like in the movie, and then the conductor came around to punch holes in the tickets.  He told the kids that since Mom and Dad didn't have tickets that we had to get off the train...they were not amused by this...

The train went into the city and they had fun activities to do along the way.  They read the Polar Express book, sang Christmas carols, and had a scavenger hunt that was really fun.  We had to look out the windows of the train and find various items (car dealership, McDonalds, river, bridge, police car, etc) along the way.  The kids got really into that activity.

 

Once we got downtown we had about an hour off the train before we needed to get back on to come home.  Luckily, there is a Corner Bakery right in the train station, so we had breakfast and hot chocolate and that put us in perfect time to get back on the train.

We even had some time to pose for pictures with the Christmas decorations set up in the train station.

 

Abbey was a big fan of this pink tree...she actually asked for her picture to be taken with it!  Normally it is quite the chore to get Abbey to smile for a picture!

On the way back out, guess who was in our train...SANTA!!!  The kids did really well.  Ben, of course, went to him without a problem and sat down to tell him what he wanted.  The girls didn't cry this year (progress), but did sit in the seat across from him to keep their safe distance.  They did tell him what they wanted though!  

And this might be the best Santa picture we have ever taken.  If you discount the hot chocolate mustaches and goofy hair, they are all smiling with Santa WITHOUT Paul or I in the picture with them!

It was a very fun morning.  As soon as we got back, we had to grab lunch and get Ben to his basketball game.  After that, Ben went to sing Christmas songs with the school choir at Barnes and Noble while I went on to the next event. 

Since I joined the School Council this year, I got put in charge of putting together a Cookies with Santa event at our school/Parish.  It was a big step for me as I have helped with a lot at school, but not headed up an entire event by myself before this.  I had a lot of help though and the event turned out great.  We had about 150 kids come, which was about 50 more than last year, and everyone seemed to enjoy the event, so I think it was a success!  We had Santa, cookies and milk and Christmas coloring sheets in one room.  I guess I was needed in this picture with Santa as the girls wouldn't go up to him without me.

Although after our picture the girls saw their friends going up to talk to Santa and then suddenly had no problems running up to talk to him and tell him how old they were.

Then we had three separate rooms where they could do Christmas crafts, which were all really cute.

 

It was a really fun event and I was very proud of how well it did.  But, it was a LONG day and I give huge thanks to my amazing husband because he took the kids to all the afternoon events while I set up and worked at the Cookies with Santa event.  Between set up, the event, and clean up, I was on my feet for about 4.5 hours and keep in mind I was about 8.5 months pregnant at this point.  So I was exhausted by the end with a pretty sore back too.  Paul ordered up some Chinese food and put the kids to bed while I put my feet up on the couch!  Thank you honey for all your support!