A Birthday Party for Jesus

On the Thursday before Christmas, a friend of mine had the precious idea of having a birthday party for Jesus at her house to help remind the kids about the true meaning of Christmas. Becky is that friend that all of us have that comes up with the cutest things, whether it be cooking or crafts, and could out-do Martha herself if she really wanted to. These friends are dear to us but make all of us feel slightly inadequate from time to time (however, I digress). Anyway, despite this quality (ha), she has become a dear friend and the best part is that she lives right around the corner in our neighborhood. She and Nicole are the ones that wouldn't give up getting me to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and for that I will be forever grateful.

We met at Becky's that morning and Jeremiah was so excited that "the two Annas" were coming over (Nicole has an Anna, too). Becky had made homemade cinnamon rolls the day before (told you), so the moms munched on breakfast and sipped coffee while the kids played for a little bit. Then, the action started.

Becky found the cutest nativity craft for the kids to do. With some simple small clay pots and some wooden balls, craft paint, and burlap, they made Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. So cute!

Then we took turns blindfolding the girls so they could play "pin Baby Jesus in the stable". Jeremiah was content to just watch the girls be silly.

Finally, we baked some sugar cookies and let the kids decorate their birthday cookie with icing. We all sang "Happy Birthday" and talked about why we really have Christmas. It was such a fun morning!

Anna's Class Christmas Party 2010

Anna was SOOOOoooooo excited that I got to come into her class for their Christmas party. To tell the truth, I was excited, too, because since she is in the drop-off and pick-up line this year, I have only seen the inside of her classroom a couple of times. I was eager to see what she "lived in" on her days at school. The kids had just come back from music with Mrs. Davis when the moms arrived and we laid out the spread of reindeer cookies, fruit, cheese, pretzels, and juice boxes. The kids definitely did not need lunch after school that day!

The moms chatted with Miss Susan and Miss Jane about the different personalities in the class and it was fun to see all the kids after hearing names for so long. The part that frustrated me was that after the party, the kids were allowed some free time to play and Anna turned into this whiney, wild maniac who would not listen to me or the teachers. Miss Jane reassured me that Anna was usually "so good". I hope that she is, minus those couple of times she has hit someone over the head with a toy and has gone to time-out this year. Why is it that kids save their worst behavior for when Mom is present? Gotta love it!

The Great Cookie Experiment

At the beginning of the school year, I signed up to help with Anna's class Christmas Party with two other moms. I had found this really cute reindeer cookie recipe, so I offered to try it out for the party. Last Monday morning, Anna and I took over the kitchen to make cookies. The reindeer cookies were the easy part. We baked the sugar cookie dough, pushed on the pretzel antlers and then used icing and M&Ms to make the eyes and nose. They turned out so cute!

We had quite a bit of dough left over and I discovered some Christmas sprinkles in the cabinet, so I knew what I had to do. Don't get me wrong, I was loving this time with Anna and the tradition we were starting. However, I am extremely Type A, borderline OCD, and the thought of rolling out dough with flour and then letting Anna put on the sprinkles was making me anxious as I envisioned my kitchen post-baking. I took a deep breath, did some self-talk (along the lines of "the kitchen can always be cleaned up, let your daughter enjoy this opportunity to help make Christmas cookies"), and trudged ahead.

Anna loved helping with the flour and decided we needed to make teddy bear, sleigh, reindeer, and Christmas tree cookies. She played while the cookies baked and then it was time to put on the icing and sprinkles. I was icing the cookies and her job was to put on the sprinkles. I thought I was doing a fantastic job of "letting go" as I heard sprinkle after sprinkle hit the already-flour-covered floor when Anna looked at me and asked, "Mommy, why are you not happy?" I told her that I was happy and then she preceded to reenact the face that she had reportedly seen me wearing. Busted! Guess I wasn't doing such a great job of "letting go" after all. I explained to her that Mommy just isn't very good at being OK with making a mess, but told her that I loved making cookies with her. That'll have to do until the next perceptive observation from our 3-year-old comes along!:)

The Second Snow

The first snow of this winter season was after we left the UNC/Kentucky game in Chapel Hill. We were bummed because it had turned back into rain by the time we made it home, so Anna never really got to play in it. The second snow of the season was the other night and it started about 8 pm. Since Anna had missed the first one, we had to get bundled up and at least go out on the deck to enjoy it. I'm glad we did because it was pretty much gone by the morning. She had the biggest time eating the snow (not sure why she found this so amusing...possibly because the dogs were eating it, too. I don't know). It was beautiful for the hour or so that it lasted. I wish it would stop teasing us and give us a good snow to play in!! They are calling for some on Christmas night, but that would be way too good to be true!

The Chef

Talley and Block came up for the annual Hege Christmas Party and stayed with us for a night. It was wonderful because we finally had time to sit back and relax and enjoy each other's company. (Little did we know that Talley would go into labor 2 days later and be stuck on bedrest, but I digress.) They brought Anna a couple of Christmas presents which she LOVED. One was a V-Tech princess wand that you have to "wave" to answer different questions for the different princesses. Block was quite knowledgeable about the workings of this wand, which cracks me up imagining him sitting and playing with it so he could show her what it did. Hilarious! The other gift was this adorable chef apron, hat, and oven mitt. Anna wouldn't let me take a normal picture of her, so I had to chase her around the house to get one. Pretty good if I do say so myself!

What A Game!

On Saturday, Will and I took Anna to the UNC/Kentucky game in Chapel Hill. It was a 12:30 pm game, so we figured it may be one of the few she could make it to. Plus, I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to feel up to making that trek with our due date getting closer and closer! It turned out to be well worth the trip because it came with lots of surprises, the first being that UNC played pretty decently (finally) and won a very good, close game at the end.

A happy girl with her cotton candy!

Anna and Rameses

When we walked out of the game, it was snowing!!

All the excitement made for a sleepy girl that evening...

Advent Calendar

Last year, Mimi got us a gorgeous advent calendar in the shape of a beautiful Victorian house with lots of doors. Anna was a little too young to actually get the point last year, but is clearly ready for it this year. She has loved opening the doors each morning (notice the bed head) and has found yummy candy and even a princess necklace so far! For the last couple of days, she has had to find the next door to open so she will be ready a day early. I love that it teaches her patience, anticipation, and counting all at the same time! Every day she says, "and when we've opened all the doors, then Santa will be here!" So precious!