Garrett's First Christmas Program...part two

Video Time! Hopefully this will work...

Garrett's First Christmas Program...part one

Our Garrett is growing up so fast. He goes to a preschool program for 2 1/2 year olds twice a week at a local Methodist church and he LOVES his school. He's going to be one sad camper when he realizes there's no school for two whole weeks! We got to attend his first ever Christmas program this week and he did so so great. He's definitely a performer--telling the others to hold hands and swinging their arms for them if they didn't keep up with him. He may be a *bit* like his mommy in that regard. :) It was fun to finally hear the song he'd been singing around the house in its entirety. All I usually heard was "Baby Jesus...Baby Jesus" in his cute little voice. So without any further ado, I present to you Garrett's First Christmas Program! Enjoy!


PS: I'll post a separate entry with the videos...they're rather large and need to be uploaded via youtube which takes more time. But they're worth it!

Nolan pre-show

Isn't he the most adorable little donkey ever??

He knew they had to hold hands right away.

During the finale, singing "Children Go Where I Send Thee"

Eating his Christmas party lunch...chicken nugget happy meal from McDonalds. Yum!

Nolan thinks he's ready for school--I disagree. Let's work on sitting up unassisted first.

Mr. N turns 4 months old

Our "little" man is four months old now. I'm hoping that for Christmas he'll go back to sleeping through the night again. Please?? He's a happy baby boy who loves to smile and roll 3/4 of the way over before rolling right back to his starting position. He's good at scooting around the entire blanket without ever truly rolling over. Big brother Garrett knows just how to make him laugh and does it on a daily basis. We love our boys!

Nolan's 4 Months Old Stats

16lbs  --  26 inches

I had to include these cute pics of Nolan in his "on the nice list" shirt that he got from my Aunt Jeanine and Uncle Joe. It fits perfectly and I looove the fleecy pants! :)

Thanksmas

We are not going back to Illinois for Christmas this year. :(

Many things led us to this decision. (Here are a few. 1--Russ doesn't even start his Christmas "break" until the 22nd. 2--Nolan is NOT a good traveler yet. I wouldn't be able to handle hearing him scream for a good portion of the 14 hour drive. 3--I really do hate traveling in the winter. 4--We want to start some of our own traditions and make some memories with Garrett here at home.)

But knowing and believing these reasons are true doesn't make it easier to be without my family at Christmas. So this year, my parents and my sister and her hubby came for a weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We've dubbed it Thanksmas. There was a turkey and other yummy foods. We opened presents. Garrett and Nolan entertained us all. And I only had to change one diaper (if that!) all weekend! Thanks for making the loooong drive and staying in close quarters so we could celebrate together. We love you guys!

 Grandma getting in her snuggle-time.

 Grandpa and Garrett are reading "The Monster at the End of This Book" on the ipad. The coolest part is that Grover is the one reading it aloud!

Unwrapping some presents! Garrett had fun ripping off the paper and handing out presents this year. He shouldn't be bored for a long, long time.

Worn out after all that present-opening.

Playing with the cool Cookie Monster playdough set from "Tassa and Nate." He loves to make the foods then cook them in the pot before feeding them to Cookie Monster.

Nolan's tough guy face.

He's intrigued by this dinosaur ball-popper thing. Once he can sit up unassisted, it's game on.

 That Grandpa...always pushing you to be your best. Even at 4 months old. :)

Where's Garrett?

This is how I found Garrett when I peeked in on him before I headed to bed the other night. And I had to take a picture. Normally his head is waaay over on the right side of the picture but I guess he was busy playing in bed and just fell asleep while hiding or something.

Can you see him? Hint: Look for the socks.

Side note: WOW! The flash on our camera is bright. You'd never know the room was dark when I took these pictures.

Let the Countdown Begin...

...the countdown to CHRISTMAS of course! :)

Since Russ was on break the week of Thanksgiving we took advantage of his downtime and put up our Christmas tree and decorations the Saturday after Thanksgiving (We would have done it the day after Thanksgiving but that was Disney on Ice day--and I was not going to attempt the decorating on my own!) While Garrett napped, Russ put up the tree and put the lights on. It's really better for our sanity that we did the more difficult parts ourselves and saved the fun stuff for the kiddo. He loved helping with ornaments this year. It's so fun to see how his perception of Christmas changes as he grows. He's been requesting his Bible as a bedtime story lately so we've been focusing on the Christmas story. He knows that baby Jesus was born and that the kings came and brought Him presents. He knows there was a big star. We're working on the rest of the story. I'm excited to have him help bake a birthday cake for Jesus this year too. Now that our house is decorated, all we need to do is make it nice and clean for my family to visit soon. Hooray! Happy December, everyone!!

A "before" picture of my men (well, two of them) with our un-adorned tree.

This is how I roll, Momma.

Nolan spent the first 10 minutes of the decorating festivities bouncing and trying to catch the jingle bells.

"I do it!!!"

Getting a boost from Daddy.

Me and my Nolan

 Lucy was all kinds of nervous when we were opening boxes and unpacking stuff. She always thinks that means we're going away and leaving her at the pet hotel again.

This one is blurry, but he was so serious about helping to get the star out of the box. 

And the star is on!

Nolan was worn out from watching everyone else work.

The completed tree.

Garrett is playing with a crocheted/knitted nativity set that I got in the Philippines when Russ's parents lived over there. You'll see what he's doing in the next pictures.

This is baby Jesus. Do you see that pearl on his neck? That was put there by Garrett. Because...

 ...Can you see what he's doing?...

...there's a bead...

..."Kings give baby Jesus presents." So he ripped out some beads from one of the poor King's baskets and put it on the manger with baby Jesus. It does make sense and is kind of sweet. I wish we all were so quick to give our gifts to Him. :)

Disney on Ice!

One of Garrett's absolute favorite shows these days is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When Russ found out that Disney on Ice was coming to a venue near us, he knew Garrett would love it. And he was right! They had a Daddy-Garrett Adventure and saw Mickey and a bunch of his friends all skating around and singing their best songs. Garrett especially loved the Lion King part and when Captain Hook was scared of the big "tick-tock" alligator. If you ever want to hear a 2 year old talk as fast as humanly possible, ask him about Mickey Mouse and he'll go hyper-speed for you. :) Good memories were definitely made in that arena. Well done, Daddy, well done.

A little pre-show entertainment...browsing in the gift shop.

Mickey Mouse!! He is SO ready for the show to start.

The Peter Pan segment

The Lion King segment

PS: The last two pictures I love because you can see just how focused he is on what's happening on the ice. He's completely wrapped up in the moment...love it! :)