Friday, December 21, 2007

Jingle Bells, An Eye Infection and a New Job

So the crazy week before Christmas finally came to a close with a Christmas party, trip to the doctor and a job interview. Phew!

Big Boy's class Christmas program was at 11:30 so I took an early lunch to watch him sing a couple of songs and participate in the class party. I was impressed that there were so many other parents and family members that came! I'd say there were probably at least 20 or so family members. Big Boy's teachers said that because so many parents couldn't make it to the early performance, they were going to have the kids perform again at 3:30. This worked out great since Papa Vaughn couldn't come due to an interview at Circuit City at precisely 11:30. He has since been offered a job in the evenings which he'll do for a while to help make ends meet. He has officially FINALLY received the approvals for the temp position at the base which he'll start back at just after Christmas. Regardless the short time out of work helped us realize a little extra work wouldn't hurt. So...Papa will now be working a second job for a little while. So, back to the party, the kids were really cute. They were in the teachers lounge waiting for the parents to arrive and get settled in their classroom. The teachers then ushered them in and set them up. Once everyone was in a place (it didn't really matter where) they were set to start! The song was "Jingle Bells" and I think maybe about 5 kids and the teachers sang it out of the 30 or so kids total! A majority of them had stage fright now realizing that there were all these strange people staring at them. Some were simply doing their own thing and one cried the minute he say his mother and wouldn't join the class. All in all it was REALLY cute and I'm so glad I was able to go!

Big Boy's seat for snacks.

Peek-a-boo, Big Boy! Here he is coming into the classroom with the other kids.


Can you find Big Boy?

Poor Boopy! Her little eyes started out the night before with green gross stuff that we figured with connected with her having a cold/sinus infection. But her poor little eyes just got worse and worse throughout the day. Before I went to the class program I had already made her a doctors appointment for the afternoon, but since she was so miserable and the daycare was afraid she had pink eye they were all set to send her home. They did let her join me for brother's performance though. We got her to the doctor late afternoon and thankfully the eye drops prescribed have cleared her right up. Although, you would think she's being tortured to death if you heard her when we put them in her eyes. I swear she already knows cuss words, just not sure where she's picking them up from!

I stuck around long enough for Big Boy to pick out and open a present. Each child brought in a present to exchange with a classmate. After the 2 songs, it was utter chaos. Imagine 27-30, 3 year olds running around with presents, greeting family and munching on cookies and other lunch party treats! Here Big Boy is showing Boopy the cool floor puzzle he received.

Big Boy got an extra treat with special visitors that came to see him perform. His godmother and one of my best and oldest friends, Anne and her kids, Russell & Lindsay took time out of their day to come see Big Boy sing. Here Big Boy is giving Anne "Eskimo kisses". Thank you guys for coming!!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Baking Cookies with Papa

Oh what fun it is to bake! In preparation for the classroom parties, Papa Vaughn and the kids baked cookies. Papa has become quite the baker and plays with different ingredients in cookies often trying to make them a bit healthier. Both kids LOVED getting to help. They pushed kitchen chairs over to watch and help as much as they could. The first pictures below are actually store bought cookie dough on the trays, although, Papa did make up a batch of homemade cookies as well. Since Boopy's party was on Wednesday and our Tuesday evening was packed I wasn't too sure he'd be able to squeeze in time for homemade cookies. But being a good, Papa, he found the time.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Lunch with the girls

Sunday, Dec 9th, I had the wonderful opportunity to sneak away and have lunch with some of my dearest friends! I have been blessed with a rather large group of friends that have kept in touch throughout the years. Quite a few of us have known each other since first grade! Others came to be friends in 7th grade. And believe it or not some of the girls have been friends since Kindergarten! This isn't nearly the whole group of us but it was a great chance to catch back up with Diana who we hadn't seen in over a year! It was so good to see her. Without going into details, as it's not my place, she's had some problems with her eyes, so she can use all the prayers and support she can get these days! Thank you Diana for a wonderful lunch! I hope we can all get together again soon!

Me, Diana, Michelle, Jennifer

And yes, I look REALLY tall here, which I suppose I am. It's kinda hard to believe that I was once one of the shortest in my class!

Birthday Party for Jesus!

Tuesday, Dec 11th, I took a wonderful vacation day to spend with the kids. As you know from the post below, we went and took our Santa pictures, but what inspired me to take the day was a birthday party for Jesus being held by the Moms group at People's Church. I have been attending the Mom's group once a month for their evening Cafe Night. Because this was a daytime event I hadn't planned on being able to join in, but then I figured that I have vacation days so why not use one and spend the day with the kids.

The party was fun and such a neat idea! We had our picture taken, enjoyed a puppet show, had a reading of the nativity story, ate yummy cupcakes and then let the kids enjoy some playtime in the classrooms. Since Boopy had a cold and was feeling rather shy about being left somewhere she didn't know without her brother, I kept her with me during the "Moms" time. All the moms got to enjoy a nice brunch and guest speaker after the kids went to the classrooms.

I didn't take a ton of pictures as usual at the party as it was a bit chaotic with Moms and kids all over and my battery was low, but without further ado, here are some to share!

(From left to right) Michelle, Mikayla, Boopy, Kristen, Grant, Danny, Mama Vaughn, Big Boy (not sure who the kid standing is) I was pleased that Kristen and her boys decided to join us! I'm hoping she'll come along to some of the other events next year!

Mikayla was so nice to let Boopy play with her doll.

Boopy insisted on leading Danny out to the cars when it was time to leave.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Santa Picture 2007

So we decided to torture Boopy. As you saw below in the post on the kid's Christmas party at the base, Boopy has decided that she is afraid of people dressed as Santa and most likely any sort of character. While this is a common phase and one I'm pretty sure she'll grow out of, we still wanted a picture of the kids with Santa. Last year Boopy was young enough that for a quick moment on Santa's lap she was unfazed. Big Boy was a bit apprehensive but since Santa had a candy cane it was okay and he willing sat on his lap. This year, both kids were excited while waiting in line. They checked out all the decorations and were intrigued with the fake snow and mechanical reindeer displays. The downside was that we had to wait 30 minutes in line for Santa to come back to work from his lunch break in order to take a picture with him.

I was surprised at how crowded the mall was today considering it was middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday. I took a vacation day today to spend some time with the kids and go to a Mom's group, birthday party for Jesus, for the kids, which I will blog about later. Anyway, by the time we got to see Santa it was nearly 3 pm and neither kid had napped. They actually did REALLY well and had just gotten very silly rather than crabby. Big Boy walked right in when it was our turn and gave Santa a hug. He then played a bit shy and didn't really answer Santa's questions although we did help him out and remind him that he was going to ask Santa for a big boy bike. As for Boopy, she was fine at first, but then backed up folding her arms across her chest and kept a watchful eye on Santa. She didn't want to get close to him even with me sitting right next to him. At that point Papa Vaughn and I figured we'll take what ever we can get and threw Boopy on Santa's lap. Big Boy wasn't as smiley as he would have been as he kept looking over to make sure Boopy was okay. So without further ado, here's our proof that we tortured Boopy today.

And just for fun - here's last year's picture taken at the same Santa booth in the mall.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Leaves

This weekend, while Papa Vaughn worked on adding more Christmas lights outside the kids and I raked up the leaves in the front yard. Well, what good is a pile of leaves if you don't get to jump in it before picking it up!

We started out exploring the bushes and then Mama pulled out the rake.

After a few simple jumps in the leaves we found that throwing the leaves in the air was a lot of fun too!

They were such good helpers and almost had as much fun taking turns picking up leaves and putting them in the green waste bin. Oh what fun to be a kid!

Kids Christmas Party

Wednesday, Dec 5th we went to a children's Christmas party held out at the base. This was the party that we helped fill party bags for the previous Saturday. Mrs. Claus was there at the start of the party and she helped start things off with a magic show. She had all kinds of cute tricks but when it came to the last one she needed a special helper to put a long string into a tube. She looked in to the group of kids watching and asked for a helper who had been sitting nicely. I asked Big Boy if he would like to help. When he told me "yes" I had him raise his hand and Mrs. Claus picked him to help! He was very proud and ready to help with more after his job was done. He's the littlest helper in the white shirt.

Boopy thought she should get to go up there too! Maybe next year.

After the magic show, we put our jackets back on and went outside to greet Santa Claus. He came riding in on a big yellow firetruck which Big Boy thought was really cool.

We followed Santa back inside and sat down for each kids name to be called. Santa had presents for everyone! Well, actually, Papa Vaughn had made sure to take in one for Big Boy and Boopy the day before the party. Darren really liked Santa. He gave him a big hug for his present and was all smiles for a picture. Boopy on the other hand was a little freaked out and clung to me crying the closer we got to Santa. Hopefully next year Santa won't be so frightening. What's funny though is that she likes pictures of Santa, stuffed Santas and all other Santa type things, just not a person dressed as Santa.

Once we got our presents from Santa, the kids got a goody bag that we had helped fill. We went back to the tables and started digging into our loot!

All in all a fun Christmas celebration!

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Christmas Tea!

As in years past the Christmas Tea was full of fun and Christmas cheer for all that attended! This year's theme was "Elves". Looking back, I wish I picked something else, merely for the sake of finding things to decorate with. Elves were nowhere to be found in the stores this year. Which in hindsight, I suppose is rather appropriate as elves are the workers behind the scenes of Christmas. So with that train of thought, I explained this year that the elves would also be missing from the tea as they must be busy getting ready for Christmas Eve. Besides the point of the chairity cause this year was simply to support and encourage the soliders far from home and therefore we could be like the elves, unseen workers preparing for Christmas. I haven't come up with my theme for next year, but I'm thinking it will be something easier to find for decorating purposes. Since I couldn't find elves to spread around the house, I pulled out little bits of Christmas from each previous theme the past 9 years I've held the tea. The ladies attending didn't seem to mind. :)


Everyone enjoyed social time with tea and munchies. I only tortured everyone with two thinking games this year. Not too bad! :)


As usual, the ladies were very generous with their donations! Blue Star Moms will be able to put together some great packages for the troops overseas! Thanks everyone!

As for Big Boy and Boopy, well they couldn't hang out with Papa Vaughn as he had Drill out at the base, seeing that it was the first weekend of the month. Things worked out wonderfully though as Boopy went down for her nap at 12:30 just prior to people showing up at 1:00. She slept beautifully until 3:30! Yeah, Boopy! Big Boy hung out downstairs and was a very big helper! He took pencils around for me and helped in the present unwrapping game. I was very proud of him for being such a good sport and helping out!

Brandi let Big Boy help out when it was her turn to open a present. Boopy enjoyed the leftover stickers from our card making activity. She made her appearance at the end of the tea and got to share her silly smile with everyone.

Me with my wonderful dear friends Jennifer and Michelle.

The kiddos and me.