Christmas Morning

We had an outstanding Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve, the whole family headed to the gym in the morning so that Mommy could teach her last class before the holiday. That afternoon we went to a children's mass at a new church we've never been to before (thinking we might be headed back there tomorrow). We all really enjoyed it. We even managed to get the kids in bed and on time that night. The elves had been wise and did most of their preparation ahead of time, so once the kids were in bed the grown-ups got to relax.

Alia was up at 5:00am on Christmas morning! We pulled her into bed with us and managed to hold her off until about 5:45. Then we woke up Max and let the fun begin! 

The Christmas Eve view of our tree

Max insisted on leaving Santa a beer to go along with his milk & cookies. Smart guy :-)

Santa always leave the kids presents by their chairs so that there's no confusion. Max got a plasma car, a RC car and binoculars along with lots of goodies in his stocking.

Alia got a scooter, a unicorn light up pet and pink binoculars from Santa.

The kids each got robes from Mommy and Daddy ... along with other fun stuff of course. 

A talking Doc McStuffins doll from Nana & Sir

Fun fairy stuff for the bath tub from Uncle Monkey, Aunt Kelly and Wyatt

The wreckage!

We are still working on cleaning this up.

After the 5am wake up call and all the excitement we snuggled up on the couch to watch one of our new movies, Turbo. Max loved it! He didn't move or blink the entire time! Alia and I managed to squeeze in a nap that day and I think we all managed to make it out of pj's eventually. It was so wonderful to get to spend an entire day at home just playing, resting, cuddling and enjoying my family!

My amazingly talented hubby made this delicious dinner on Christmas. We had steak Oscar style, crab cakes and Brussels sprouts. Yummy!

A little Christmas morning video ...

Santa

I waited much longer than usual to take the kids to see Santa this year. I just wasn't on top of my game. We did make it there before Christmas and that's all that really matters, right? Alia was thrilled to see him and gave him her list without hesitation .... a scooter, her very own hairbrush, binoculars and a Doc McStuffins play area. Max however was not sure about Santa ... AT ALL. We avoided a complete meltdown by having Mommy sit on Santa's lap and be in the picture with everyone. I assure you (and I'm sure you can guess based on the picture) that was not in the plan. I'm such a sucker! Max finally squeaked out his usual request, cars and trucks. 

Gingerbread Houses & Christmas Cookies

Two of our favorite holiday family traditions are making a gingerbread house and making cookies for Santa. It just gets more fun and more interesting each year. This year we were impressed with Alia's interest in making a pattern and/or having some sort of order to her candies on the gingerbread house. Max also clearly had a plan for the parts he decorated, but I wouldn't call it "organized" :-)

Thank you Wilton for the lovely kits that come with everything you need! We just added m&m's because those are fun to decorate with AND eat.

Mommy and Daddy do the icing part (its harder than it looks)

Lots of great teamwork happening here

Can't let the kids have all the fun

On December 23rd, we made our cookies for Santa.

While the first batch or two was baking in the oven the kids played with some of the scraps of dough like play-dough. They loved it!

I simplified the decorating process this year and got these little tubes of cookie icing. It was much more fun for Alia. She was able to do just about all of it herself and drew faces on her gingerbread men.

Daddy and Max worked together on his cookies!

A few of our delicious and gorgeous works of art

Alia is 5

Despite my best attempts at talking her out of it, Alia went ahead and turned five this weekend. There's something about 5 that is really hard for me. It seems so grown up and so "big kid". I can't believe she'll be starting kindergarten in the fall. Even though Mommy isn't ready for any of it, Alia surely is. 

A little bit about my 5 year old Alia - 

Favorite:

Colors - pink, purple

Song - The "gingersnaps" song from The Nutcracker

Food - most fruits, grilled cheese, hot dog, mac and cheese 

(She''s going through a very picky eater stage.)

TV Show - Doc McStuffins

Thing to play - Doc McStuffins, School, Palace Pets, Barbie fashion show

Outfit - leggings and t-shirts (She likes to be cozy.)

Book - just about anything!

Best friends - Eilee & Carson

Activities: dance & gymnastics

Alia is a very smart little girl, and I'm not just saying that because I am her mom :-) She is constantly surprising me. She is doing outstanding with her reading. She's reading a ton of sight words and is sounding out simple words as well. Her confidence with writing has grown a ton in Pre-K. Her teachers are doing a great job encouraging her without letting her get frustrated. With all that being said, we think that math might be her greatest gift. Here's an example I just have to document so that I don't forget ...

At school each morning the kids have a question of the day. On December 4th the question was "Do you know how many days until Christmas?" The kids read the question (with the help of a grown-up if necessary) and then put their picture under the yes or the no. Alia put her picture under the yes. I said, "Really? How many?" She took about 3 seconds to think about it and looked me right in the eye and said 21! No other kids or grown-ups standing by and no counting on fingers. Yep, I was impressed!

Alia is still thoroughly enjoying dance class with Miss Lynn. The Nutcracker performance took her love of ballet to another level I think. We now have the DVD and she enjoys watching her favorite parts and dancing along to it. Pretty darn cute!

Here are a few pictures from "birthday morning" ...

Her eyes lit up when she saw her new pink and white desk.

Daddy got us sprinkle donuts for a special birthday breakfast

New desk & pink chair

Sparkly purple leotard for gymnastics & pink leotard for dance

Thrilled to get some birthday money!

Her very own pink guitar courtesy of Grandpa and Roseanne :-)

Three Year Old Christmas Choir

The weather almost caused this absolutely precious event to be cancel, but once again, because of fabulous teachers who truly love these kids and what they do ... the show went on!

Max and his preschool teachers!

Again, it is a lengthy video and Max has stage fright for most of it, but it's so darn cute!

Pre-K Christmas Program

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the kids school this year? I really, really love it AND I really, really love their teachers! Alia's class worked very hard, for several weeks,  on their Christmas program and let me assure you, it did not dissapoint. The kids did an amazing job and of course, were absolutely precious. Jason and I were both so proud of Alia! If you would have asked me a couple of years ago that Alia would be on stage speaking in front of a crowd, I wouldn't have believed you. 

(Video included below)

Alia's whole class ... 10 girls and 3 boys

Our little angel

The following day Alia's class celebrated the accomplishment with pj day. They ate christmas cookies, watched Frosty and drank hot chocolate. The weather tried to complicate things a bit, but as usual her teachers were amazing and made it happen.

(Note that her adorable teachers are wearing matching pajamas!)

I put together a "shorter" version of her program for you. You can see Alia say her part and I included all of the little songs they sang. Warning - video is still about 6 minutes long. Get comfy! The cuteness makes it totally worth it!

Christmas Party FUN!

From Alia's birthday party, we went straight to a Christmas party. Two parties in one day! We Douglas's are partying fools :-) This crew has been together since well before I entered the picture and the Christmas party is a wonderful tradition. 

The kids do a book exchange. Here they are drawing numbers.

and choosing books

Our parties have changed quite a bit. 10 kids ages 5.5 and under 

(and Brian holding the newest member of the crew)

And a silly picture of course. That's the only way you can get them to look at the camera.

Perhaps the highlight of the evening, was watching two dads wrestle 7 kids. Solid entertainment!

Build-A-Bear Workshop

We had Alia's 5th birthday party at Build-A-Bear Workshop in Washington Square mall last weekend. We were forced to do it early, because they don't host parties for the few weeks right around Christmas. I can totally see why! The party was a big it. The kids loved it, but boy was it crazy in there! It was the least expensive and least amount of prep time ever for a birthday party and the kids all loved their new,  stuffed friends. 

Party table set up right in the middle of the mall ...

Two adorable, silly little 5 year old girls :-)

6 out of 8 party goers ....

silly faces, of course

School Pics 2013

Heaping piles of cuteness on a plate right here!! These are just pictures of the pictures ... grandparents, have no fear, a copy will be coming your way at some point!

I think this picture captures Max's little personality perfectly. 

He looks like he's developing some sort of very bad idea right here :-)

Max's class

This photographer was clearly awesome. This picture captures my sweet, shy little girl.

Pre-K