The kid's also received a nice surprise in December - there is an awesome organization called "Operation Kid Comfort" which makes photo quilts for children of deployed service members. My children received their quilts just in time for the holidays!
Last year we started an advent calendar tradition with the kids, but instead of counting down to Christmas, we count down to the date when we leave to go visit family (this way I don't have to answer the 'how many more days until...' question every day!). We tape a paper Christmas tree (cut out of whatever paper I can find around the house) on a door and put numbered paper ornaments on the tree. The kids take an ornament down each day, and on the back of each ornament is an activity. Some are simple, like make cookies, or watch a Christmas movie, and some involve going somewhere, like the night we went to see the lights at the zoo.
It was amazing! Every single tree was covered in lights! I had intended on our visit taking about an hour and I think we stayed for two and a half hours. One of the attractions, of course, was visiting with Santa. This was probably about the 4th Santa my kids have seen this year, and with each visit, Alexa had changed what she asked Santa for! After this visit, I brought up this fact and asked her if she knew that telling each of them something different didn't mean she would get all of those items, to which my quick-witted 1st grader replied,
"I know. I'll see what I get Christmas morning and then I'll know which one was the real Santa."
Our first visit with Santa was the weekend after Thanksgiving. When Brody was asked what he wanted for Christmas, he told Santa, "a Christmas tree." Apparently mom was falling down on the job with our bare living room! The Christmas decorations went up the next day. With the later visits to Santa, he decided he'd like Pooh Bear.
His other recent observation which made me smile occurred while playing with an alphabet puzzle. I was asking him to find different letters, and asked him to find the U. After identifying the correct letter, he asked me, "Where's the me?"
We headed to Texas on the 21st and spent a whirlwind 10 days catching up with family - 'pictures speak louder than words' so here's December's novel!
His other recent observation which made me smile occurred while playing with an alphabet puzzle. I was asking him to find different letters, and asked him to find the U. After identifying the correct letter, he asked me, "Where's the me?"
We headed to Texas on the 21st and spent a whirlwind 10 days catching up with family - 'pictures speak louder than words' so here's December's novel!
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