Johnny Did It!

Johnny's preschool had it's Thanksgiving program tonight.

It was really touch and go all week whether or not Johnny was going to going to participate or not. During pick-up today, Miss Lori told me to hand him off and leave QUICK tonight. To his protest, that's just what I did. Miss Amy did a great job of taking him from me and letting me make a fast retreat. Whew...

Let me just say that the kids, staff, and the music teacher, Miss Helga, did a great job with the Thanksgiving program. It worked out really well in the new gym/auditorium multipurpose room. There were about 5 songs, and the kids were lively and well practiced and having fun. All the parents really enjoyed it too!

Johnny came in looking for us. I worried he would jump out of line. He did not. Miss Lori was right behind him and got him situated on stage. He was singing to the songs, moving his hands as best as he could with the other kids, and generally doing well. I think the kids forget to smile sometimes when they are concentrating on not forgetting the words, etc. The highlight for Johnny had to be putting the pumpkin in the cornucopia. Big smile there.

Lucky for me, I was right up front (with Joey sitting in my lap), so I got some decent pics:-)

A special thanks to Miss Lori and Miss Amy for all their efforts in helping Johnny to succeed tonight:-)

Enjoy!

The album pics are here.

Madi Play Day

I called Christine Friday night to see if Madi could come over Saturday morning to play. She could:-)

I snapped the adorable couch pictures after we read about 5 Christmas books. Yes, I broke out the Christmas books yesterday morning!

I wanted to cook something with the kids and decided that the soft pretezel/dinner rolls would be fun. YUM!

We did a foam sticky/glue craft that the kids seemed to enjoy. Madi wanted to do a second one:-) There's my craft girl! Johnny was really enthused to come to the table which of course made me really happy too.

Blaze was really motivated to get doggie biscuits;-) She was well compensated.

Christine came over and joined us. Joey showed off his video game skills and we had fun with Lego bricks. Then it was time to feast on the dinner rolls. DOUBLE YUM!!

No one was really ready to stop playing, but after 3 1/2 hours of play, it was time. More Christmas books and crafts soon!

The rest of the pics are here.

Santa Paws Sneak Peak

Since before Joey was born, our family has had our holiday Christmas card picture taken at the SPCA of Wake County's Santa Paws fundraiser. Each year, just before Thanksgiving, we dress up in color coordinated holiday cheer and hop in the car with at least one of our dogs to go get our picture taken. For the last several years, the picture location has been an empty store at Cameron Village. Tonight was our night this year. Black jeans and red and black shirts were the theme. Blaze got to come with us. They took several poses. Now that they use digitial cameras, I could see on the LCD screen that they got at least one good picture. Next Tuesday, I can pick up a CD with the digital images on it and then go to Wal-Mart and get our holiday cards made. Fun!

I took a few sneak peak pictures waiting to get our picture made with Santa and then a few of the boys with Santa after the family picture was made. The album is here.

It cost $40 for our family, and I know it goes to a good cause. If you think you might like to get your family's picture made this year, there are still appointments available.

Last year's Santa Paws picture album is here.

Snow!

I really hope it's a sign of more snow to come this winter for us. We've had flurries at our house twice in one week, and it's only November!!! I realized it was snowing at 7:15 this morning and went excitidly into the boys' room to wake them up to go out and see it. Normally they sleep until 7:30 or 7:45. They were still out solid. I was like a crazy woman coaxing them up, pulling on socks, stuffing into jackets, letting them slip just their Crocs on. I didn't want it to stop before we got outside! They thought I was a tad nuts until they actually got out in it. Then, their faces lit up! We walked Blaze and had fun (and then went back inside where it was warm). No accumulation. Maybe next time!

The rest of the pics are here.

Orange is the color of Fall...

I've been dressing the boys in orange a lot this month (October too). Orange reminds me of Halloween and Fall and the leaves turning. Pretty soon it will be time to make the Christmas shift to red. I caught the boys being silly in their cute orange shirts last night and took the pics in this collage.

The window for taking Fall leaf pictures is about over. Many leaves are down in our area of NC now. Those that are still up are turning brown. I'm really sad to see peak leaf season go...especially when today it's being replaced by cold temps and a strong wind.

Soon I'll be back out taking bare tree pictures and sunset pics...I hope. This whole amateur photography thing started about a year ago with beautiful December sunset shots. I was driving home from work one day and was upset that I didn't have my camera because the sunset was so pretty. The next day I brought my camera, and the sunset was pretty again. I took some nice pics, and I've been trying to take interesting nature pics (often along the side of the road as I travel to/from work or shopping) ever since. I hope to repeat the pretty sunset shots this year, so keep checking back!

It's Fall...

I've been out taking pictures of the beautiful fall leaves the last two days. I think the leaves hit peak here in the triangle this past week, but we had several rainy days, so yesterday was the first real chance to get out and try to capture the leaves in their fall glory.

I hope you enjoy these pics, and if you'd like to see more, the best from Friday are here, and the best from today are here.

Halloween

We had a really good time trick or treating tonight with our friends in the neighborhood. Some of the smaller kids like Sophie (cute little witch) and Sienna (pink princess) were able to really get into the swing of things with the older (aged 4-8) kids. Joey made his official debut at R2-D1-1 while Johnny wore the Mr. Incredible costume that he's been enjoying wearing for weeks. Madi had on a new witch costume. Eli was Darth Vader. Grayson was a knight. Celeste was in a very cute horse costume. Rick was a ghost. And, well, I was Wonder Woman. I think everyone can be a kid or at least try to feel like one on Halloween, right?!?

Rick spent most of Friday decorating the Haunted Garage. The big attraction tihs year was a special card game between several skeletons. He spent a lot of time organizing their hands, laying out the chips, stuffing them, and finishing the effect with spiderwebs all around. It was neat. The boys and I helped set up a few things around the card table as well. Everyone was getting in on the act.

It was nice to see the kids enjoying the pretend of Halloween and not being scared by the props that have bothered some in the past. They just charged right into the garage this year. It was obvious Mr. Rick was the ghost:-)

The rest of the pics are here.