Christmas Day 2010

We had a quiet Christmas at home this year. The kids loved all of their gifts! Justin and I went very minimal this year and yet there was still tons under the tree from Grandmas, Aunts and Uncles! Aunt Heather sent so much candy that we will be mailing the dental bills to her from now on! Heather and Will also sent some really cool Polish pottery including a tea set that Juli loves serving with. ;) Jayden is in love with his dinosaurs from them! Grandma Hennequant sent the kids Zhu Zhu pets in addition to the build a bear gift cards that they used before Christmas and that seems to be Jayden's favorite gift! Juli had a gift card from Aunt Josie and Uncle Marc and bought a new leapster game about dogs which is her favorite at the moment as well as the new board games that we got the kids. I think I am going minimal with gifts for our kids from now on! It was calmer, less to assemble and then clean up afterward besides the fact that they have way to many toys already!!! The favorite gift from the Beavers was the remote control car! Juli loves her new dress too!

Build a Bear workshop 12/23/10

Justin's mom sent the kids build a bear gift certificates so we gave them to the kids and took them before Christmas. Juli made Clarice the reindeer and Jayden made a "Jedi" kitty! They had fun and it was really a cute experience.

Decorating Gingerbread houses 12/28/10

Aunt Heather and Uncle Will sent the kids a really cool gingerbread house! Jayden decorated it and entered it into the gingerbread contest at school. A teacher went around to each child and they were supposed to say their name, grade, city/state and what they liked best about their house. I recorded it onto my phone and I haven't figured out how to upload the video yet! He was very cute and told everyone he was in 1st grade! He is starting a few 1st grade subjects after the new year and has decided that he is now a 1st grader! He won an ornament for our tree. The kids had more fun eating the decorations rather than putting them on their houses. Jayden also helped me roll out cookies this year.

Center for Puppetry Arts 11/16/10 Rudolph

One of our most favorite places to go is the Center for Puppetry Arts! They do an amazing job with every show that they perform. These are of the kids making puppets after a performance of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. We try to attend a performance every other month. They also have a museum with a number of puppets by Jim Henson as well as a 7 foot Big Bird! ;) The kids had fun making their own Rudolphs accompanied by their friends. Alanah, Aidan, Sydney, Luke and Aereal, we are lucky to have such good friends to join us on many of our outings. We saw Charlotte's Web this past October and it was definitely my favorite! I am very thankful to be able to be so active in my children's life. There is nothing more moving thana large audience of children and hearing them all gasp at the same times as the fireworks went off signaling the fair in the show! The kids are looking forward to the Body Detective next month and then Theres a Dinosaur in my Closet in February.

Tellus Science Museum 11/7/2010

The kids LOVE digging for dinosaurs. Jayden has gotten his sister loving everything dinosaurs too. The Tellus Science museum has a nice big area where the kids can dig for dinosaur bones and pan for gems. The kids love the gems and fossils that they get to take home with them.

Imagine It Children's Museum in Atlanta 10/6/2010

The current exhibit at the Children's Museum is Music across the Nation. The kids had fun trying all different kinds of instruments. My kids LOVE music but it wasn't as interesting to them as I had expected it to be. They enjoyed the other parts of the museum more. Hopefully the next visiting exhibit will be more interesting to them! There love the grocery stuff, the painting wall and the moon sand area best.

Jayden made a short movie 9/22/2010

Jayden loves dinosaurs and everything that has to do with Science and movie making. When he grows up he wants to be a movie maker and a commentary! he enjoys watching commentaries! this is his first time creating a movie. ;) The ball on the bucket is an earth quake and the dinosaurs are fighting right before the earth quake explodes.

Juli at dance class 9/30/2010

This is just a quick clip of Juli at dance class! She loves dancing but has struggled with some parts of it. She can't handle other kids touching her and FINALLY has started to tell kids to stop instead of freaking out and crying. Juli also struggles when things that she is comfortable with change. We tried to do a makeup class in another room a month ago and she totally panicked! The following class was back in the regular room with her regular teacher and it's taken her a month to finally get comfortable with going in and dancing again. Anyway enjoy!