Birthdays and Anniversary

Once again, I'd like to take the time to wish all of my family members a Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary in the month of December!! December is a fast paced month and sometimes these birthdays are not acknowledged as well as they should be. I hope you all had a great day!

Dad - Dec. 2
Jenelle - Dec 3
Mom - Dec 8
Hilton - Dec 15
Mom and Dad's Anniversary - Dec 19
Shirley - Dec 22
Sheila - Dec 27

Christmas Day

Our morning started at 6:45, which was very manageable considering that it could have been a lot earlier. Connor came into our bedroom around 6:30 to use our bathroom and then quietly returned to his bed without making any noises. After 15 minutes, I walked over to his room and asked him if he was going to get up and see if Santa had come yet. He told me that he heard noises out in the living room and didn't want to see what was out there. As soon as he started out the hallway, Maleah got up and followed out, they squealed as soon as they saw all the gifts. It took less than 15 minutes to open it all, but more than an hour trying to get all the toys out of the packaging. The kids have been very happy with the toys that they received from Santa and the family.



Maleah shows all her gifts that Santa brought her. I'd say Santa thought she was a good girl this year.



Connor made out really well, even though we've been telling him over the last few weeks that his behavior better improve or the only thing Santa is bringing is a lump of coal. To our surprise, Connor didn't get any coal from Santa.



Connor has been asking for a Nintendo DS for the last few months so we decided at the last minute to get him one for Christmas. I didn't expect to be buying expensive electronics at 5 years of age, but we gave in. We almost waited until his birthday but we didn't want to ruin his Christmas. This is a priceless picture of when he realized that he did get a DS for Christmas.



The kids had a fantastic Christmas morning, they got the gifts that they really wanted. All Connor wanted was a DS and all Maleah wanted was a babydoll and she got 4 of them. :) Check out my Christmas Pictures for Christmas at our house and all 3 grandparents.

Missy fools Connor

Aunt Missy played a trick on Connor with her last gift that she gave him. She decided to wrap it up like 20 different times. Follow the pictures, it looked as though it was going to be a boring old clothes box. Boy was he wrong! He got a racing game for his Nintendo DS.

Connor in the paper

Connor's Grandma sent me an email and told me Connor's picture was in the paper. I had to blog about it. This is the first time I've seen his picture in the paper relating to school, I'm sure this won't be the last. He is the one seated at the head of the table.



Students in the fourth-grade classes at Clarion-Limestone Elementary school took part in Christmas activities with the kindergarten students at the school to achieve collaboration between the grade levels. The fourth-grade students helped the kindergarteners in a variety of projects including gingerbread stitching, card making, Christmas bingo, making angel ornaments ,making a windsock Santa (pictured above) , making hand print Santas and a making painted marshmallow trees.

Connor's Christmas Program

Connor had his Kindergarten Christmas Program this afternoon. The Christmas program was scheduled for last Friday but was canceled due to the freezing rain. Todays weather wasn't a whole lot better. The school ran a 2 hour delay because of the very low temperatures this morning. The wind chill factor was -21. Today should have been canceled, in my opinion, but I come to find that my school district closes for next to nothing.

The Christmas Program was really cute. All 4 kindergarten classes have been working really hard over the past 6 weeks to learn the songs they sang and the parts that they memorized. I forgot to charge my batteries, so I was limited to what photos I could take. Video was out the question. This is all 70+ kindergartners up on stage. Connor is sitting in the front row, right behind the microphone.

This is what Connor had to say for the program today:

Red is a color of Christmas,
Red is a color so merry,
Red is a color of Santa's nose and a holly berry.

and

"M" for the music of laughter and glee





After the program was over, we were invited to the Kindergarten classroom for refreshments. I was able to get a picture of Connor and his teacher, Mrs. Say. Connor was so proud to have his picture taken with his teacher. After refreshments, we were given a Christmas gift that the kids made in art class. I have the ornament hanging on the Christmas tree, I will take a picture and post.

Christmas with Papa Hilton and Grandma Donna

This afternoon we celebrated Christmas with Grandma Donna and Papa Hilton. We got some great pictures of the kids that would have made really nice Christmas cards. But seeing these pictures were taken on the 21st, that's just a little too late to have them printed and sent out. I'm sorry I didn't get cards sent out this year, I'll try harder next year.




Maleah enjoyed her princess dress up costumes and fingernail painting with Grandma.




Connor is enjoying his Sponge Bob game and can't take his eyes off the screen for a quick picture. :)

Jason's 11 point buck

We went over to Grandpas house for pizza and wings this evening to celebrate Papa Hilton's birthday. Uncle Jason showed up with his buck that he killed on the last day of rifle season. A nice 11 point.