Our merry December

Here's a brief recap of our fun and exciting December. First, Rachel has been reunited with her beloved snow. Delicious stuff, as always. We've had at least six days with snowfall already this month--and several more predicted before January--so she's had lots of opportunities to play in (and eat) the snow. This photo was taken shortly before she told me she wanted to have a snowball fight. Our "snowball fight" lasted about thirty seconds--enough time for me to toss a snowball at her belly and miss, smacking her instead square in the face. She decided she doesn't like snowball fights after all. But maybe on her next birthday she'd like to try it again. (Yes, we're already making plans for her next birthday. Rachel knows there are a lot of things that will happen "when she's bigger," and her points of reference for that are "on my next birthday" and "when I go to high school." We've got substantial to-do lists for both of those occasions! Hope there's time for cake and algebra, respectively!)



Nathan hasn't really been out to play in the snow yet. We were sort of waiting to see if he'd walk soon, but he isn't showing much interest in bipedalism, so perhaps we'll get him out soon for some snow crawling. He has discovered the dress-up drawer this month, though! Actually, he doesn't care so much for the fairy wands, tutus, and clompy shoes. It's just this hat that has caught his interest. Can you blame him? It's quite a fun hat! He tries to get it on his own head, then holds it out to us and says, "Eh, eh, eh," until we help him put it on.




Then both kids had the opportunity to meet Santa when he stopped by Nana and Papa's house. Rachel was very glad to see him...



...but Nathan wasn't so sure! I think the arched-back-on-Santa's-lap photo is a required rite of passage, at least in our family, so it's good that Nathan carried on the tradition.



We had a nice Christmas yesterday. Santa visited our house, too, and left goodies in our stockings...



and under the tree. He knew that Rachel is taking swimming lessons--and that she likes pink!



We hope you had a merry Christmas, too! Enjoy the rest of 2009!

Rachel's school

So, Rachel's been going to school for a few months now, and she's become quite an old hand at it. When I first drop her off in the morning, I usually have to remind her to tell me goodbye--otherwise, she'd be off and playing without a glance over her shoulder. After they have some free play time, there is circle time. (Most of what I know about what goes on at school, I've learned from the very specific instructions I'm given when we play school. I always have to be the teacher, and my student doesn't cut me much slack when I don't know the routine!) Among other things, they assign jobs during circle time. Rachel's favorite job seems to be Getting the Juice--she signs up for that job nearly every day. She tells me that her favorite part of school is the free play time, and her favorite thing to do then is play with the kitchen. And get this: the kitchen at school has little baskets to hold the food! (Relayed directly from my enthusiastic source.)

During art time, they make all sorts of projects. There is much gluing. In this photo, you see Rachel holding her Family Tree and an ice cream cone. (They were learning about triangles and the number three--what better project than a triple-dip cone?!) For some reason, the Family Tree came home with no brother on it, but Rachel made one at home later. He's orange. Rachel is pink. Click the photo if you'd like to see it larger.


Some other tidbits Rachel would like me to share with you:
--AJ holds the ear parts of the stethoscope on his back and the rest on his tummy. Isn't he silly?
--Michael had a bloody nose one day.
--Yesterday's snack was oatmeal cookies--what a treat!

Seems like I hear more about her classmates' days than I do about her day, usually gathered in bits and pieces throughout the days following school. As far as I can tell, though, she generally enjoys school.