Merry Christmas from The Big Easy

Hope Santa is good to you all...

Jack was able to open one present from us on Christmas Eve...his new pj's to wear. Aren't we cute?!? (Insert your snide comment here)
Making a plate of cookies and reindeer food for when Santa and his crew make it out of the French Quarter to the West Bank.

You know me...I'm all about traditions. Here are Jack and I reading The Night Before Christmas before tucking him into his Pack and Play to dream of Sugar Plums.



Thoughts and prayers tonight for the Vaughan family in hopes that Mr. Vaughan is well and back at home soon. Continue you prayers for the Saporito family in hopes that Dave continues his miraculous recovery from the brain aneurysm. The hospital is never a fun place to spend your holidays...we're here for you all if you need anything.

Christmas Eve

Jack played around all day on Christmas Eve then it was time to get dressed up and head over to Aunt Domini's house for the Christmas Eve Party.

To pass the time while waiting for us to get ourselves together he played on his little wheel toy some more but inside so he didn't get dirty.
It took awhile for Jack warm up to Emmie and they never became best friends, but he did feel bad for him having to stay home while we went to visit, eat, and open presents at the party.

Jack as you will see was inseparable from Nana...I was a bit worried that we would get to Poppa's and he would run around looking for Nana...he loved the queso dip.

Like Father, Like Son!

Having some ham with sweet sauce on it with Nana...wasn't too interested in the other great foods...but that is Jack...picks one thing and goes to town on it...well, two I guess because he loved that chips and queso too!

Aunt Rosann watched as Jack opened his first gift a bit early (noticing a pattern...it is hard to keep a kids gift long...I always give in and let him open things early too)...it was a fun ball.

Jack let me take a rest (not really...he wouldn't give it back to me) and took some of the photos for us...too bad the camera was backwards, upside down, and he would push the on/off button...but did manage to take a few shots of feet and jeans.

Jack was impatient waiting for Daddy to get the truck out of the box...why do they make it so difficult?!?

So while waiting he opened some more. Thanks for all the great gifts guys...Jack is one lucky boy to be loved by so many and have so much.

Jack presented me a present on Christmas Eve when we got back to the house...I uploaded a few more of it but they didn't appear and I'm not going to fight getting them on here...but he gave me a new fancy digital camera...good thing because right after taking these mine officially died. We might be able to save it so I can carry it in my purse since it is compact...Thanks Jack (pretty clever Nick since we weren't supposed to exchange gifts to each other-shame I followed the rule which meant you got nothing!). Right now I'm having troubles getting the pictures from the new camera on the computer so Christmas Day, Baton Rouge, the farm, and our adventures on the way home will have to wait.

Again-The Cool Relle Clan in matching pjs!

Fixing cookies and reindeer food for Santa.

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Holidays in New Orleans

Monday we dropped Jack at Watters so that we could load up the car and close down the house. After picking him up right after lunch we made a few more stops then headed to The Big Easy for the Holidays.

Thankfully it was nap time and then Jack entertained himself with a movie compliments of the DVD player from Poppa and Bebe, but around Shreveport it was about time for Jack to walk around...so where else in Louisiana would one visit for a stretch break??? Wally World. We left with these bargain gloves (2 pairs for $1.00), matching hat, blue sock slippers to go with his monkey pj's (we bought and the Nolan's got him too), a $5 Howdy Doody DVD for Poppa, Lunchables Jr. for Jack's dinner, and some milk for before bedtime. Nothing like a random trip to a trip to a shady Wally World.
First Class travel.
Nana couldn't wait to give Jack one of his Christmas presents so he got it early.
Gramps took Jack to the back 40 to feed the ducks.
Priceless!
Uncle Eric made it into town and Jack showed him his new toy.
GG and Grandpa Mac drove in from Arkansas and Jack had so much fun playing with them. This train get up was from a friend of Nana's...how lucky he was to get such a great gift FREE!
Dinners at Nana and Gramps's house is way more fun than at home. This night for dinner he had a music set out and would play then shout, "Yeah!" and wait for the rest of the family to play their instruments and shout, "Yeah!" back. It was sure loud and fun....I'll put up some video from the dinner one day for ya'll to see

Christmas is Coming,

Our house is getting FAT.

The holiday has officially begun. The house is full with the whole Relle Clan here, gifts to give, and all the gifts that were gotten so far.

We have some major cleaning up to do in order to fit all that I'm sure Jack is going to be getting next week when we head home for Christmas.

Nick and I both experienced a whole new holiday time this December in McKinney. There was a Christmas tree in the entry way, the PTA wrapped Christmas gifts for teachers, and it was a Christmas Party, not a "Winter Party". Oh, and there was holiday music playing in the halls as you walked out of your room. I did my same lessons from Richardson (with less since some of it was too advanced for First Grade) so we covered Hanakkah, Kwanzaa, Los Posados, and went all out for Christmas.....including pictures with Santa, hand print Santa, and writing letters to Santa Claus...quit different but fun too. And so were the gifts....Nick got more than all his years combined and I didn't do too bad myself. Below are a few of our favorites.

Mr. Stortz's (a First Grade teammate) wife made this wood plaque for us. How cool is that? We wanted something similar when I did my Uppercase Living but it didn't make the cut over Jack's items. We love it!
Kathryn, a LSU Tiger fan in my class, gave me this teacher bag and the two cute koozies here with drinks. Plus they gave Nick a gift card for dinner and offered to babysit....Guess us Tigers have to look out for each other in the Big D.
And the administration gave us each McGowen Maverick's cooler bags with this year's theme logo on it...you know for Nick's 6 pack of Coca-Cola and my 6 pack of forget about work for the holiday drinks. I can't wait to plan some outings while we are off and use it to carry our loot.

And on top of many, many other gifts we got over $145 in gift cards to various places around town. It feels good to know that all the hours of work we put into helping their children is appreciated.

Santa's Village Turned Playdate

Thursday we were supposed to hit up Santa's Village in Richardson with a crew of Moms and Babies....but the weather being psycho fogging and just gross kept us from making the trip. So instead we picked up Chick-Fil-A (the original meeting place for dinner) and the only duo that made it out was Ashley and Nathan.

The boys jump on into things together like no time has passed since they saw each other last, which isn't the case because it has been way too long. Jack was being a show off here.
Nathan wasn't too interested in a hug...not during Madagascar at least.

Fire Man Jack!

Nathan too busy cooking to play dress up so Jack decided to play the fire man and the cowboy. I was the pirate!

They had so much fun ringing the doorbell and playing peek a boo with the door and windows...until Jack spanked Nathan with the door top after he rang the bell one time...Oops. Nathan was a trooper though and was back to playing in no time.

Snack time number...lost count...this was Cheerios....after dinner, cookies, and Teddy Grahams...what can we say, they are growing boys!

Nick felt the change when trying to hold them both...something he used to do so easily...apparently the boys are a bit heavier now.

Before heading home it was bath time of course...poor Nathan kept getting soaked by Jack pouring his squirt bottle of water on his head. When both boys were cleaned and in their pj's it was a to go milk for Nathan and to bed for Jack.

I'm sad we didn't get to go to Santa's Village, especially since I think a week night would have been a ton less crowded...but maybe we'll try to make it this weekend, if not...next year will have to do...too much to do and too little time!

Watters Holiday Program

Wednesday night was Jack's Watter's Winter Program. We went back to Watters for 7. The program started off with a circle of singing with the music teacher. Jack kinda clammed up (weird huh?) but we know he loves Jingle Bells because he has been shouting "hey" when it comes on or we sing it now since Thanksgiving.

Here we are during the music portion. All the kids were so good about leaving the bells on the floor til she gave the signal to pick them up. Impressive.
After the music we found Jack's spot to create an ornament as a family. Ms. Fabi helped Jack put the glue onto the foam mouse.

And to put his picture in the frame part.

TaDa!

It was nice to have time to look around the room at all of his holiday art work displayed. It's so hard to decide what to keep...we are going to need a separate house just for his school work since I have troubles letting go. Even after I take a digital picture of it, I can't bare to throw it away.

Here is Ms. Angie from the front desk with Jack. She loves it when he gives her sweet eyes so we can't leave without the hug and sweet eyes ritual.

Ms. Fabi is the assistant teacher. We are so glad that she is there since she was with Jack from his first day at Watters and I don't think we could have made it through Ms. D leaving if Fabi wasn't there.

Ms. Rebecca comes in to help often and when Jack saw her walk in the room he jumped up, was blushing, and took off running to hug her. She gave him a bag full of colored, flavored popcorn...yummy!

This is Jack's new teacher, Ms. Christina. She was previously in the transition room across the hall and we look forward to getting to know her better.

The Relle Clan. Isn't our man too cute in his holiday plaid pants!

I have to show you how GREAT the gift for his teachers turned out. It is a clipboard that opens up and I filled it with TONS of stickers and some pens. Since they do daily sheets for all the kids I thought this was perfect. Ms. Fabi got a gift card to her favorite restaurant and the others got personalized ornaments.

Our Little Gymnast

My class went on a field trip to the Allen ASI Gymnastics on Friday and it was much better than the location I had gone to in the past with my classes. While I was there I inquired about their toddler programs and signed us up for a preview on Monday night at 6. They offer classes on Monday and Thursday evenings and Saturdays. Since their make up policy isn't as liberal as Gymboree's we knew that Saturday wasn't an option. But loved the month to month and no contract that they offer.

The class started out on the trampolines. Jack wasn't too sure about how to jump since he gallops when asked to jump lately (most get that on film for ya'll...it is priceless) and he rather jumped from one trampoline to the other. I'm sure Coach Taylor at that point was real excited about the new ADD kiddo in her class.
Then it was over to circle time where we worked with following directions to music with stuffed animals and tapping sticks. Jack was having some concentration issues with all the people everywhere and the bell ringing whenever someone did good (then everyone in the gym stops to class) or when a class ends.

The obstacle course was a true test of his concentration and trust. He wasn't too sure about the tumbling but by the end he picked up on most of it except for the back roll....wasn't too comfortable with that. Loved climbing the foam stairs though.

And you know that jumping into the foam pit (my least favorite thing EVER) was a huge hit.

Looks like Dad will have to join him since we signed up (minus the $30 registration fee thanks to a student who is a member and they scored a $30 credit too) because I WILL NOT go in the foam pit...my throat closes up just thinking about it. Looking forward to Thursdays in January with our little Gymnast at ASI.