Holiday Happenings

Wow, 2014 is nearly over!  Here is a look at our holiday season!

I "did" Thanksgiving on two hours of sleep due to a Wednesday overnight shift that ran two hours longer than scheduled to prepare for Black Friday.

I still don't, and probably never will, understand why consumers "demand" retailers open earlier and earlier each year for Black Friday.  It's a vicious cycle of competition between retailers and it continues because people continue to show up regardless of if it cuts into their family time.  I could go on all day about this but I'll spare anyone who happens to be reading this...you're welcome ;)

The first weekend in December Nana and Papa took everyone on the Polar Express North Pole Express in St. Paul!

We rode to the "North Pole" where Santa climbed on board to meet with all the kids and collect their letters!  It was a mostly fun night with stress levels rising as bedtime came and we still hadn't left Union Depot!  Everything gets harder when you have tired and crabby kids along...

The next morning we went to the tree farm with Jason's family to get his sister's tree!  *no pictures

Santa visited our library and brought along two of his reindeer!

Our friend, D, joined us!

Disney on Ice: Worlds of Fantasy

Amelia was sick for her kindergarten Christmas concert this year.  She was very upset so we had our own concert at home!  She got all dressed up:

She sang us her favorite song from the concert:

After she performed we had "pizza that comes hot to your door" (aka delivery) because that is what they were having at the concert as a fundraiser for the music department.  All in all, not the night we had planned but still a success!  

Christmas Eve I worked 9.5 hours, headed home, got ready and we left to start our Christmas celebrations.  We spend Christmas Eve with my family, sleep there and then spend Christmas Day with Jason's family.  Jason and I went extra casual this year at my parent's house:

Family "selfie"

*Christmas Day lacks pictures...but Santa came, kids woke up at 5 a.m., we played games, we went to Christmas with Jason's family and headed home in the evening - exhausted!  

We're looking forward to spending New Year's Eve at home tomorrow - with the exception of a chiropractor appointment late in the afternoon for Amelia!  We have frozen pizzas waiting, movies will be watched and I'm sure a game or two will be played! 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

To bring a smile to your face, here is a clip from Amelia's 4K Christmas program last week.  She was so, so excited about this event.  She kept yelling to us from on stage between songs to say "hi!" or to point out that she was on a stage etc.  It was precious!

*She is on the far right, front row, green dress :)

daddy with a D

When we first started speech services for Amelia we were asked what we wanted to get out of it.  To me, that was a hard question to answer because I just wanted to be able to communicate with her and her with me.  I couldn't think of a simpler first step, I wanted it all NOW.  

Jason's response was much simpler.  He said, "I just want her to be able to say Dad."  That became the #1 goal on her first IEP (Individualized Education Plan) when we began working, in our apartment, with Birth to 3 and it is still listed on her revised IEP at the elementary school.

Well, it finally happened.  Last night at the kitchen table she said it.  Over and over and over.  She tacked a "mom" at the end for some reason but the important part is she said daddy - with a D.  Finally!

We have her IEP meeting the first week of next month.  Looks like we will be able to pick a new goal to work towards!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Amelia's latest "music video"...

Share

Tonight, at dinner, Amelia kept insisting on something.  I couldn't for the life of me figure it out.  I kept guessing wrong and she started gesturing with her hands - over and over and over.  Then she started repeating the same word (that I couldn't understand) and making the gesture - over and over and over.  

Finally, it dawned on me that she must be signing!  They teach sign language in her speech class because there are some kids that cannot hear all that well.  Each week they send home pages with the words they worked on and the instructions on how to make the sign.  I'm supposed to work on them with her and incorporate them into our lives.  (Confession - I don't do this even though I know I should.)  I started looking through all the pages they have sent home and finally figured out what she was trying to tell me!  

She wanted me to SHARE my "black juice" (grape juice) with her!

Perhaps we will have to start actually working on the sign language at home...turns out it can be helpful!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Amelia reading!

A quick note on this video:  When she gets to the yellow duck page she thinks it is Joe.  We were all Wonder Pets that evening and he was Ming Ming the duckling.  She gets to the turtle page and it's me, Tuck the turtle.  Then she looks for herself, Linny the guinea pig, before she can finish reading the book.  Also, from there on out, the yellow duck is simply referred to as a Wonder Pet.  Also, we recently read Panda Bear, Panda Bear What Do You See?  so now the brown bear is called "panda!"

So proud of her and how far her speech has come!

Paper Wave

At the Vikings/Bills pre-season game last night we witnessed what might have been the world's best "wave!"  It started and then it grew.  Both decks of the stadium were participating.  Then programs were being thrown like graduation caps are thrown.  Then people started tearing the programs into "confetti" and that was being thrown.  

It was nuts and it went on about 20 minutes!  We didn't partake in throwing paper as we did not feel right about it - those poor janitors.  Despite the mess it was pretty neat to witness first-hand.

Happy Saturday!

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

 Amelia's rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Happy Saturday!

Cat in the Hat

Last week, on our way to Milwaukee, we heard Amelia talking in the backseat. She was reading to herself! We listened to her for a few miles before turning the radio back up.  It was so sweet to listen to her.  

I could only get a short clip because if she realized I was recording her, she stopped and stared and would not continue reading until myself and the camera were facing forward. 

RFYL - Videos

Last weekend at Run For Your Lives we saw a lot of people with GoPro cameras.  We thought it would be neat to have one for the race but at $300 dollars a pop it was obviously not an investment we decided to make.  

I did find a couple of youtube videos that people took at the Minnesota race.  For anyone interested in getting a better feel for what we did last weekend I thought I'd share the videos here.

I like the footage in both videos but was not a fan of the music choice in the second one...  The second one was taken during our wave though so I thought that was kind of cool!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

In honor of the rainy day we are having I thought I'd share Amelia's rendition of "Rain, Rain, Go Away."

One day we told her it was raining and she just busted this song out. We had no idea she even knew it! She must learned it at school is all we can figure :)

Little Explorer

Hewp Ko

Amelia loves to "hewp Ko" (aka "help Joe") lately. Little brother has gotten a touch too large for his swings and they won't "swing" him any longer....usually. You can sometimes get them going if you turn them up all the way and give the guy a push. Then, sometimes, the swing can "swing" him for awhile. I guess that's what you get when you have a nearly twenty pound four month old!

Amelia has taken it upon herself to be Joe's swinging helper. She is a bit rough at times and I am working on that with her. However, it is just so rewarding to see her finally enjoying her role as "big sister."

The camera memory filled up right when Joey was really getting going laughing but you get the picture! He loves when his sister pays attention to him!