Class Christmas Party

W's class had a little Christmas party and they all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, presented the moms the Christmas gifts they made, and put on a performance of their favorite circle time songs.

Eating cupcakes for Jesus' birthday

Performing "Jump Up and Down"

His gift to us - this sweet handpainted frame

Visit with Bubbie

Wells' Bubbie came to town and they had so much fun playing together.

He loved the surprises she brought - here he is modeling his Christmas silly bands.

And Wells had gifts for Bubbie too!

After presents, Daddy and Bubbie took W to ride around and look at 'blow ups'.  He LOVES riding around in his PJ's before bed and looking at all the Christmas lights and decorations.  He can seriously tell you which streets in our neighborhood have which blow ups (I'll be driving and hear "Nooo Mommy - go dat way -  there's a snowman over der!!!").  We are especially thankful for our neighbors at the end of our street, the DelCarmens, for their collection.  His favorite is the Santa in the airplane on the roof!

Santa Sunday!

We started off our Sunday visiting Grandaddy and Kacky at the Santa Brunch at GCC.  Wells was nervous at first but eventually warmed up and told Santa what he wanted for Christmas (again, trains are the only thing on the list).

First shot (note the lip)

A little happier - this Santa gave out stuffed reindeer and candy candys

Playing after lunch with Grandaddy

Then after nap, we went to the 3rd Annual Milk & Cookies party at Tyler & Harper's house (their mom is very busy during the month of December). 

Amazing cookie spread

Tyler & Harper have a special family member who comes to their party as Santa and is a great sport!

Round 1, watching Tyler with Santa but not wanting to get too close.  He did show Santa his Percy train that he brought along as an example just in case Santa wasn't sure exactly what he was referring to when he said he wanted more Thomas the Trains.  I have to give him credit on thinking ahead and being very thorough in that respect...



Round 2, loosened up after some milk & cookies

Christmas Cookies

Wells had his friend Carter over to decorate Christmas cookies.  Yum yum!!

Testing the gumballs

Finished product

They sampled their work and then sang "Jingle Bells"

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

We had our first run-in with Santa Claus today.  Wells loves the idea of him but does not want to get too close.  Here he is with me - this is as close as he would get before his bottom lip started to stick out.

He did tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas though:  Gordon and Henry (Thomas the Train cars).  And he gladly took candy candys (aka candy canes) from Santa and enjoyed those with his friend Reid.

After Santa we went to Chick Fil A to play and eat dinner.  Here are R and W enjoying their ice cream.

We have several more Santa opportunities over the next few weeks - we'll see how those go...can't be worse than last year:

Happy 3rd Birthday (squared)!

Wells' identical twin friends, Tyler & Harper, turned 3 yesterday!  He loves "Tyler Parper" (I think he sometimes just wonders if he's seeing double - I'm not thoroughly convinced he actually realizes they are two different people).  We were excited to celebrate at their train themed party. 

It was a little chilly but no one seemed to mind

Carson pushing Wells on the tricycle

Our cute little conductor.  He had an absolute fit when the train arrived and there was not room for us on the first ride.  Someone must have felt bad for him (literally there were tears streaming down his face) and gave us a spot.  He could not bear to wait!

With Mommy on the train

Good thing we were buckled up - the conductor is crazy!  Here he is showing the children how to drive without using your hands...

Birthday girls on the train

The girls' mom did such a good job with the party - here's the adorable cake and favors

Happy Birthday T&H!

You better watch out...

Around here, there is a LOT of talk of Santa Claus and the fact that he's watching Wells to see if he's being a good boy.  In fact, from a parenting standpoint, Matt & I are wishing that we had this kind of leverage all year long!!

In order to get more trains for Christmas, he is really supposed to be working on his listening skills.  Listening to his parents, to his teachers, etc. 

Santa sent Wells a video last week to reinforce all this:

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/s4FY1JTTTxwlYicpkOOFOQ

But perhaps best of all, Wells' girlfriend Liza sent him a special gift that we opened yesterday:  Elf on the Shelf. 

He was really excited and decided to name his elf Junior (a little random - but we went with it).

Junior is watching all the time - Mommy and Daddy have been continually reminding Wells that he sees everything and reports back to Santa every night on his behavior. 

So we'll keep you posted, but we're hoping that we'll have a tantrum-free, well-behaved little boy as a result (at least until December 25)!

Thanks Liza :)