Random Santa Encounter

Sunday, December 16, 2012

We had a random encounter with this iflatable Santa at Wendy's and Emily had such a good smile, I couldn't help but include it here with all our other Christmas adventures.

Another Visit with Santa...This Time at the Mall

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Among the more stupid things I have done in my life, when we finished with the gingerbread workshop, I asked Emily if she wanted to swing by the mall and see Santa. Of course she said yes. So we went and we waited in line. They tried to close the line on us, but we did finally get in. We waited about 45 minutes in all so it wasn't too bad.  When we finished our visit with Santa, Emily wanted some hot chocolate so we stopped by Panera for hot chocolate and a Christmas cookie.  On our way out of the mall we ran into a giant Lego Santa!  And of course, we also rode some of the little rides on our way out too.  Despite the crowds, it was actually not too bad of a trip. 

Family Gingerbread Workshop!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

I took Emily to the Clay Center for the Family Gingerbread House Workshop.  We got a pre-assembled house and loads of candy and frosting to eat...uh, to work with for our creation.

We also learned how to decorate a sugar cone and make it into a Christmas tree.  We made two of them and I was pretty proud of how they came out!

We had a great time.  I think we will definitely do it again next year and hopefully Daddy can come too next year!

JK Children's Christmas Party

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

 

Every year JK has a Christmas party just for kids. We just have it at the office in the large conference room, but they always have food, crafts and a visit from Santa.  Emily had a great time eating pizza, decorating her own sugar cookie, writing her letter to Santa and decorating a Christmas tree with sticker ornaments.  But, the highlight of the night was definitely Santa's visit.  Emily sat on his lap and made her wishes...then she went back to show him her crafts, then to say hi again...then to show him another craft...and finally to say good-bye.

5th Birthday at Home

Sunday, December 9, 2012
After the big celebration on Satuday, December 8, we waited until Sunday to let Emily dig into her presents at home.  As you can see, the fairy theme continued as she spent most of the morning running around in her Tinker Bell dress-up outfit.

Among her most wished for items this year was a "Fur Real" friend.  They are a series of animals that walk and "talk" and do things.  She wanted the white dog that barked and would walk on a leash.  Her wish was granted by Grandma & Grandpa Heintz and she was thrilled!  Other most wished for items included the new "Secret of the Wings Movie" and a Periwinkle doll (the newest fairy from Secret of the Wings).

Not on her wish list, but in the category of "hugely successful gift" was a giant stuffed dog that looks just like Uncle Charles' and Aunt Alison's dog, Oliver.  She knew right away that it was Oliver when she opened the box and she was thrilled.  She has only met Oliver one time, but he made a huge impression and she still talks about him.  Oliver has been known to go on rides in the car with us as we get groceries, run errands, etc.  She loves him!  Overall, a very successful 5th birthday!

Emily's Fifth Birthday Party!

 Saturday, December 8, 2012

Emily has been wanting a "fairy birthday" basically since her birthday last year (princess theme). So, of course she got her wish! We had fairies, fairies everywhere!

I started making a lot of her decorations back in the summer based on ideas I found on the Internet, Etsy and Pinterest.  I made her a Happy Birthday sign, like the one I bought last year, flower napkin rings, flower arrangements in used Frappuccino bottles and her party favor boxes.

Our fairy food table included Pixie PB&J cut into the shape of a flower, Tinker Bell Turkey sandwiches cut into the shape of wings, Fawn Fruit Kabobs, Vidia Vanilla Pudding, Silvermist Snacks (colored marshmallows) and Fairy Mary mini muffins.  I also made her little water bottles special labels with fairies on them that said Welcome to Emily's Fifth Birthday Party!

Our party activities included making fairy houses, Tinker Bell candy necklaces and going on a special pixie treasure hunt.  I also got her a cardboard game with flowers and butterflies on it where the kids could throw little ping pong balls through the holes and get points.

 

Finally, after crafts were done and games finished, we sat all the fairies down to eat and have cake!  We got her an amazing Tinker Bell cake, but we saved that for later.  The kids at the party all got a cupcake of their choice.

 

After lunch and cake, it was time for presents.  She got loads of nice gifts including some new princess stuff, two Lalaloopsy dolls, a kid friendly camera and some arts and crafts kits.  Lots of great gifts! 

After gifts it was time for everyone to get their party favors and head home. In addition to fairy tutus, winds and wands for the girls and Peter Pan tunics and hats for the boys, each child also got a fairy box with homemade chocolate flowers inside, a bottle of "pixie dust" and a favor box with fairy things inside.

 

Christmas Program at Bible Center Preschool

Friday, December 7, 2012

This year's Christmas program at Bible Center was called What Color is Christmas.  All of the classes wore different kinds of Christmas decorations.  Emily's 4/5 class wore gold bows.  Other classes were red candles, green Christmas trees, yellow stars and more.  They sang Come on Ring those Bells, Happy Christmas Bells, Away in the Manger, Happy Birthday Jesus and We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and recited Luke 2:11 - For unto you is born this day in the City of David a savior which is Christ the Lord.  They did a great job!

 

After the show we all went back to the classrooms to make Christmas crafts and have brunch.  It as a lot of fun!

 

Budding Artist

Monday, December 3, 2012

I can't really save all of the wonderful art that Emily creates (goodness knows there is A LOT of it) but there have been some special pieces that I have been able to photograph and save here.  This is a great example of how much better she has gotten at writing her name...and drawing a rainbow.

Family Holiday Photo Shoot

Sunday, November 11, 2012

I had to send the blog to print earlier this year than in past year in order to get them in time to give as Christmas gifts, so we will start this book with the end of 2012...and the family holiday photo shoot!

Every other year or so we get a professional photographer to do some family photos and this was our year.  The best part of this shoot was that we got to do it at home...right in our backyard even!  Emily did a pretty good job.  Smiling on cue is still not her favorite thing, but she has gotten much better at it.  We learned that letting her make some silly faces in between really helps!

Emily is such a beautiful and happy little girl and I just love it when we can capture her true personality on film.  I think these pictures do just that.

Gingerbread Tea Party

 

 

Last year Emily and I went to the WV Symphony League Holiday Tea Party with Ashley & Reagan and Erin & Paige.  This year neither of them could go, but Lauren went with us.  Bonnie had to work, but Lauren's Grandma, Nancy, was able to go.  This year's theme was gingerbread men.  It was really pretty cute.  Attendance was a little low this year so it was actually a little nicer.

The kids got to make gingerbread crafts and a candy necklace.  They also got to have pictures with a "real live" gingerbread man and a somewhat less "live" Santa.  This was another event where I could really see a lot of growth and maturity in Emily.  I can remember telling her to sit in her chair about 10 times last year and threatening never to bring her to a nice event every again if she did not sit still.

Much to my surprise, threat were not necessary.  She sat up in her seat, ate her food, watched the dancers dance and listened to the story with the kids.  She was very, very good.  When it was over, we got to take the gingerbread house from our table and got a gingerbread cookie to take home on the way out.  We also bought the story they read to the kids about the gingerbread friends.  It was pretty cute.  This year even I had a great time.  I hope they will have it again next year.

Trimming the Trees

I remember putting up the tree last year.  It was a somewhat painful process, though I am sure I did not exactly document it that way.  The only thing Emily really wanted to do was take ornaments OFF the tree and play with them.  I think she took them off (or refused to let me hang them up) faster than I could get them on the tree.  I recall being ready to pull my hair out. 

This year, however, Emily showed amazing growth and maturity in the tree trimming category.  This year, she hung the ornaments ON the tree.  And not just a couple of ornaments.  Loads and loads of them.  She helped me decorate the tree in the living room first and then headed into the family room to do our other tree.  She probably hung ornaments for at least 2-3 hours.  It was wonderful to have a tree trimming helper!  I sure hope she grows to love Christmas as much as her Daddy and I do. This year definitely looked like a good start.

Pre-Birthday Celebration

Grandma and Granddad Miller, Aunt Laura, Uncle Andy and Jacob never get the chance to be here for Emily's birthday and since they were all in town for Thanksgiving (and brought Emily's gifts) we decided to let her open a few early.  Grandma and Granddad bought her the Tag reading system that helps with early reading and other pre-K skills.  But of course Emily thinks it is mostly a big game.  Little does she know that she is recognizing more and more words every day!  Great gift Grandma & Granddad!

Jacob, being the good cousin that he is, went the toy route!  He bought her a whole collection of the Fairies from the Secret of the Wings movie (the latest in the Tinker Bell saga).  This movie features new fairy friends who live in winter woods.  In this gift  all the fairies are wearing ice skates for a fairy skating party.  It was a huge hit with Emily!  Aunt Laura and Uncle Andy also got her an Olivia Christmas book, which we have already read at least half a doze times.  It was nice to give her a little bit of birthday early.

Emily ADORES Jacob.  She talked about him for days even after he left.

Great pic of Emily and Jacob (and the fairies).

Christmas Preview

One of Emily's favorite things these days is arts-n-crafts.  She is really into making things, painting things cutting things, coloring and doing anything involving a glue stick.  She also likes baking with mommy in the kitchen.  In the morning at preschool, the kids have "free play" time and the art station is always open (I like that).  The art station has crayons, markers, scissors, paper, and paint.  Frequently, that is Emily's first stop in the morning after I drop her off.  This is the picture of Emily's Christmas tree that she painted.  I was pretty proud of her effort.  The yellow cactus looking thing is the star, obviously.  :-)