Snow Houses

Still catching up on my posting :) This event happened on December 2nd.

Snow houses are an annual tradition at Max's preschool.  Parents send in a 15" square piece of plywood and pint and quart sized cartons (all wrapped in aluminum foil), a can of frosting and another goody (mine was graham crackers). The teachers tape the cartons to the plywood and divvy up the goodies equally among all the kids. Parents arrive early on the decorating day to cover the cartons and base with frosting. Teachers bring the kids in a little later for the fun part- putting on the candy!  Max made a pond in the front yard of his snow house with teddy crackers swimming in it.  He also put up a pretzel fence to keep the riffraff out (like those gingerbread people).  The tree is an upside down ice cream cone covered in frosting.  A fun event! 

Max poses with his completed snow house



frosting taste test: yep, good enough to eat!



Girly Afternoon

Last Sunday afternoon Claire and I had some special girl time. We ate lunch at Claire's favorite Thai restaurant, did some browsing at two different girly stores, and went to the Brooks Center for an afternoon performance of The Nutcracker.  During intermission, I took the photo below. This nutcracker works just like the smaller versions- the mouth opens and closes with a lever on the back.  This was Claire's first ballet experience, and she loved it!

Claire posing with the giant nutcracker

Sometimes spontaneous photos are the best ones

Claire has been quite a shutterbug lately. In the midst of her latest session, she asked me to take a picture of her. I grabbed the camera and quickly shot one. Then I handed the camera back to her. As I was uploading the photos, I came across the one I had so quickly taken- and it was a keeper!  A beautiful photo of my beautiful daughter.

Max's Christmas Program

Max's preschool had their Christmas program this morning! One of the teachers told a story and the children sang some songs. Then everyone had cookies! My kind of program :)


Max, to boy on his right: "awesome tow truck sweater!" 
Boy with awesome tow truck sweater: "thanks!"



Waiting for the program to start (profile shot for you, mom- to show off his "nicely shaped head" :))

Not the clearest photo, but shows off the whole preschool

Mom, you're vacillating!

Claire's teacher is a vocabulary buff and enjoys sharing new words with her class. Actually, I think she just likes to keep parents on their toes. 
Here's an example:  Last week the kids and I were at the store and I was trying to decide between two brands of juice- you know, reading the labels and checking for hfcs (high fructose corn syrup) so that my kids won't bounce off the walls any more than normal, and Claire says:
"Mom, you're vacillating!" 
"Wait, I'm what?" 
"Vacillating, mom- it means you are going back and forth between two things and can't make up your mind." 
"Oh, thanks Claire." 
Wait, that's my six year old? 
I had noticed that she'd been dropping some bigger words lately, but this was the first one I didn't know. Talk about humbling. So I thanked her for enriching my vocabulary (and got to teach her what enrich meant- take that, teacher!) and we moved on.

And another example: Yesterday she told her brother he was being truculent, and if he didn't stop she was going to ostracize him.  Do you think the teacher's gone too far? What next?

Max starts preschool, and turns 5!

Max has had a busy two weeks!  He has started preschool and turned 5!  His second day of preschool was his actual birthday, and he brought banana muffins (his idea) to school. His teacher snapped this photo during snacktime and and sent home a magnetic frame to put it in!  It is now proudly displayed on our refrigerator. Max is going to school three days per week and is in the blue whales class (hence the sticker on the frame).  He is loving it so far, and I couldn't be happier with the school and his teachers.  Just wish I had started him sooner!   

Later that afternoon, Max had a birthday party at a local park with his friends and their moms.  We had pizza and more banana muffins, and the kids had fun playing together. 

When we got home, we had grandmommy up for pizza and muffins and opened Max's birthday presents from the family. Thank you everyone for the wonderful birthday gifts!  Max had a great birthday and I can't believe my baby is five!