School Holiday Parties, 2012

 

 Oliver memorized some adorable songs and performed them for us today.
Above, he's singing some kind of Christmas spiritual, "Down In Bethlehem".
Below, he taps his nose during-- what else? -- Rudolph!

 


20121220_103221.mp4 from Sheryl K. on Vimeo.


20121220_103758.mp4 from Sheryl K. on Vimeo.

 And then: another big boy moment!
Santa came to school and Oliver didn't freak out!
When he first came in the room, Ollie got this crumpled face... and waved for me to come over. But by the time Santa sat down, he seemed OK... And then Santa called his name first.

 He walked right up to the man in red, with a half-smile on his face.
When asked what he wanted for Christmas, he replied, "My brother wants a DS!" Everyone laughed. But Santa was persistent... and after a few seconds, Oliver asked for a basketball.

 But for now, he was happy with a new Imaginex alien toy and a candy cane. :)

Later this afternoon, we went to Trenton's school for his class party.

 Now dis right here is brotherly love.
Enough to make you want to never delete THIS picture ;)

 I give his teacher a lot of credit. Eighteen first-graders, all hopped up on sugar and excitement...
The kids made reindeer out of pretzels and donuts.

 T got into the fun of it. Wearing his frosting. Much cooler than eating it.

 The party game that they played was "Build a Snowman"... Trenton was chosen to be the snowman.
Stuffing him silly with balloons, sticking the gloves on, scarfing up his tummy.... :)

He had a BLAST.
One more day of school, then off for almost two weeks. More celebrations!!!

Bakin'

 OK, so those were not technically baked by us...
But every year, Jim makes gingerbread houses with the boys. This year we made little houses. Too cute.

On Wednesday, Amy and her daughters, Desi and Jillian, came over to bake sugar cookies with us.
You know the difference between daughters and sons when, after 15 minutes, the boys are throwing the dough across the room (and on the ceiling) and the girls are still happily decorating the cookies...

Ah! And here is the one picture I snuck of my baby growing up!
Last year, Oliver refused to attend gymnastics on his own. He cried and cried, so I didn't end up signing him up for the class. However, this winter, he was all "Mom, I'm going to be a big boy and do gymnastics like T! But I'm not going to go in the foam pit."
Well, here he is, swinging on the rope, and about to fall into the foam pit ....

Christmas Pageant 2012

Ah! Welcome to our annual rendition of the Christmas story!

 This year, I somehow got cast in a role. Which was fine (I got to read my lines off of a box). Oliver decided that he knew the lines well enough that he was going to attempt to say some!

"Merry Christmas, Mrs. Berry! We're here to get one more gift for Grandma!"-- Oliver.

 Trenton was one of the "Kids in Bathrobes" (don't ask) who came to the store to talk shepherd. His lines were "You're just part of a giant Nativity set, standing around collecting dust".

 We really enjoy our annual tradition of hosting a big meal for our parents and brothers and then heading over to church to watch the play. Thank you for coming, family!
Below, we sing Christmas carols.

Needless to say, the kids are darn excited that Christmas is only a few days away. Oliver goes around the house singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and does the motions for Rudolph every time he hears it on the radio (both songs he learned in preschool). Trenton keeps writing notes to Santa and creating other 'gifts' that he puts in our stockings. Wants to know why I'm not doing the same!

First Graders. Gingerbread Houses.

 On Friday morning, while horrific things were unfolding in Connecticut, we were here, doing this:

 The first grade teachers at Trenton's school collaborated and put together a winter celebration. The kids sang songs about "Mr. Frozen H2O" and Santa. Off key, off tempo... but very, very excited to put on a show.

(And now I know that you can't turn the phone sideways and take a movie.)

 Trenton knew all the words. And all of the motions.

Afterwards, each child was able to create their own gingerbread house. (It was really built out of graham crackers). I think Oliver ate more than he added on to the house... but whatever, it's the holidays ;)

 Proud brothers. So happy.

 All of this excitement, this love, this innocence.

I don't take any day for granted with my boys.
Every single time he gets on that bus I tell him I love him.
Every single day I wake Oliver up from his nap, I get the best hug and smile in the world.

My heart goes out to the parents, siblings, teachers, and community of Newtown, CT. There are no words to describe it. We all need to grieve, think, and hopefully, propose prompt and smart changes (for mental health issues and gun control). Americans are smart, and we will respond. I have faith in that.

I did everything I could to keep it from the boys over the weekend. No mention whatsoever, and no TV footage. Come Monday, I sent him to school. I wanted to drive him, but he wanted to take the bus.

My first grader. My six-year old.
Still able to get on a bus and go to school.
All the moms at the bus stop were fighting back tears.

When he came home... well, I'll let you read the email that I wrote to his teacher:
************************
Hiya,

I have to say, I simply didn't want to have to tell T this weekend about what happened on Friday. I naively thought it would all just pass over by Monday.

He didn't bring it up until right before dinner, when he told me "Mrs. XXX talked to us about the kids that got shot at that school." He seemed just fine saying it to me and was not worried at all. It was definitely something that was far removed for him (maybe because I didn't let him see any images).  He went on to say "how stupid the guy was" because "he shot himself and died". I actually laughed when I realized that THAT was his 'takeaway' from the whole conversation.

Just wanted to email you and tell you that I can't think of a better person to have had to explain that to him. He knows his school is safe, he knows that YOU love him, and he knows that it is OK to talk about this stuff with us. 

You're the best. A few more days, and then enjoy your break. 

Keep lovin' those kids.

************************

He hasn't brought it up again since, and I'm hoping that the talk dies down at school.

Love to all the mommas reading this-- give your kids a kiss for me.

ThisAndThat

 There's Trenton. Getting his hair cut by my friend Barbara, in her kitchen.
He was insistent that it be shorter in the back, but still long enough in the front so that he can twirl it. (Self-soothing for night time. He's done it since he was a baby ;)

And below, little man draws "Froste the snowman". He spelled the first two words himself.

 Today I took Oliver to see "SkippyJon Jones", performed at the Pollack Theater at Monmouth University. I know he has seen live performances before... but it has been awhile. He was totally freaking out leading up to the show (he is very afraid of costumed people... calls it "dress-up guys") and ended up sitting on my lap for the first twenty minutes... but then decided that those people up there were not going to come down to where we were... and that the minimal costumes weren't too scary.

 He really wants to go back and see it again ;)

 And if you weren't watching the 12.12.12 concert tonight, then you were really missing out.
I got the kids ready for bed early tonight and let them stay up to watch it until 9PM. I'm recording the rest right now, as they did NOT want to miss the Stones or Alicia Keys.

"Mom, thank you for letting me stay up tonight to watch this great music."- Trenton -

My Jersey Boy's response to Adam Sandler's song (in which the refrain is "cause we're New Yorkers"): "Not all of us".

I'm proud to say that this morning we made a donation to help restore the Belmar boardwalk. For as little as $25, you can get your name printed on one of the new boards that will make up the new board walk in Belmar. You even get to choose what block it is placed near! Think about it-- every time we walk out there, the boys will be able to find 'their board'. Pretty cool.

Belmar's mayor insists that they'll have it completed by this Memorial Day.
Here's hoping he's right.

Lunch With Santa, 2012

Here we are! Very, very excited to be hanging out at Grandma and Pop Pop Lacina's church to see Santa!

My mom is now an active part of her Columbiettes group and she volunteered her time to put together and execute this event. Lots of families attended. 

 Here's Trenton, waiting eagerly on stage to see Santa.
And waaay in the back in the photo below is Oliver.

Poor kid. He was absolutely insistent that he did not go ANYWHERE near Santa. When I tried to bring him over, he actually yelled "It's NOT Christmas DAY!"
So he hung back with my folks.

Trenton, on the other hand, got to meet Santa. IN THE FLESH,

 He had a smile that went from ear to ear.
He was actually speechless. Didn't talk much.
Sat on his lap and rubbed the fur on his sleeve.

It was such a wonderful thing to watch. My son, getting all excited about meeting Santa. 

Truly, the "Magic of Christmas". 

 Above, Santa points to the 'ornament' that Trenton created for him.
Said that he'd take it back to the North Pole to show it to Mrs. Claus, and that they'd hang it on their tree.

 That's about as close as he got. Santa is in the background there. Maybe next year?

After leaving, Trenton was looking EVERYWHERE for the sled. When he did not see it, he declared that the man inside must NOT be the real Santa. I gave him a bit of the "Santa has helpers" explanation...
Within a few minutes, he totally forgot his reasoning. And was happy to tell anyone who would listen: "I met Santa!"

Trimming the Tree...

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