Sam's Christmas Pageant

Wow! Five Days to GO!!!

The boys are both off on Christmas break now. All the Christmas shopping is done and I'm left with a pile of presents to wrap!

Sam had his school Christmas pageant earlier this month and I wanted to share a few pictures and a small video of him with you.

Unfortunately, I forgot the video camera and my regular camera was low on batteries, so I couldn't video it all, but I did get a small bit.

He was one of the Cows in the Manger.



Isn't he the cutest?



Here he is singing "Baby Jesus We Love You."







To be honest, I was actually amazed he sang and did the hand motions. He's so different to Josh. Josh is a complete show off and loves to sing and be up there performing. Sam doesn't like the attention and gets really quiet if he catches you listening to him sing. You have to do it covertly.

The whole pageant was so cute! By far one of the better ones I've seen there! I can't believe that next year he'll be in Kindergarten!

Sam finished up on Tuesday and Josh finished up on Friday. Needless to say, they are very excited about Christmas and being off school for two weeks.

I have a few more Christmas related pictures and activities that I will hopefully get posted this week.

Wordless Wednesday: Who Says Soccer is a Non-Contact Sport?

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Thursday Play (again...)

We found the most amazing play place today. It's owned by someone in my neighborhood and we finally found some time to go play there.

I think it's the kids new favorite place. I may have to sign them up for classes!

I can't even begin to describe what it was like. There were foam pits with rope swings and slides....


In-floor trampolines, and all sorts of soft play climbing structures...



More soft play...



Josh on the rope swing (you can see the 2 trampolines in the background)



This place was fantastic!



More photos here.

And the best part is, it is cheaper than the other jumpy places as well. It was very well supervised and staffed. We were there for Open Play, but they do have camps and drop off play and "Kids Night Out" too.

We were there for 2 hours and the kids wanted to stay longer! It did wear them out and we are now having some "quiet time" this afternoon.

Rain, Rain, Come and Play!

Today I proved my worth as a mother.

I let fun come first.

I let spontaneity rule.

I let my kids go outside and play in the rain.



Sometimes you just have to let them be kids. I remember going out and splashing in puddles and playing outside.

It seems like kids these days, or my kids anyway, don't get to go out and play like they used to.

I'm an Army Brat and was raised on Army Posts. There were always packs of kids of all ages roaming around looking for "the new kids."

We played in the rain, we played in the snow, we ran around outside until the street lights came on.

So today when Josh came home from school and wanted to run around in the puddles, I let him.



Sam didn't like it so much but he really wanted to be outside.





Josh, the future engineer and/or scientist was conducting experiments by taking rocks and building dams. He wanted to change the course of the water.



He was so busy running around, he would barely stand still for a photo. Here, he's looking at the water move his rocks.

He was talking about how strong the current was to move the rocks. And how "the rocks have to pile up to change the flow of the water" (yes, he used those words, the kid amazes me).



In the end, we had to come in because they were soaked to the bone and Sam was cold....



Josh was not happy, he would have stayed out all day. But Sam was cold and coming in.



Now they are both bathed and playing nicely together (shhh! I didn't say that!)

Playground Fun

We have a brand new park that has opened up close to us. It's fantastic. There are lots of biking and walking trails, picnic facilities and it's got a great playground. There is an area for little kids and an area for "big" kids. There are plans to expand it too with an Aquatic Center with an outdoor pool, volleyball and tennis courts, lacrosse and soccer fields, skate parks, dog parks and more. It is still being developed, but the first phase is opened.

We went several times over the Christmas break. The boys had lots of fun.

Sam loved the train you see in the background (of course), and honestly spent most time just around the playground like only a 3 year old can do!

He's starting to become quite a climber -- which puts my heart in my throat most of the time!

Of course, Josh likes to climb too!

Is that a "Future Heartbreaker" or what?

He was so proud of himself for making it all the way across the monkey bars. He kept practicing until he got it!

Of course any new park has some growing pains. And we found a MAJOR problem with this park over the weekend. We tried to go twice -- once on Sunday and once on Monday -- and it was so crowded there was no parking available. It's also got no covered seating which could become a problem later in the year. But the parking issue is quite annoying right now. I know part of the reason was because it is a new playground and also because it was near 70 degrees on the last day of Winter Break. I hope once school starts we'll be able to re-visit this playground again!

Luckily, our town has lots of great playgrounds so we went to another local park that usually has lots of kids.

The other park is smaller, but the boys still had fun on the slide. Check out Sam's hair!

Toys, Toys, Toys....

Since Josh's birthday is next week I've been thinking a lot about toys. What are "good" toys and what are "one-minute wonder" toys.

Today the "free" portion of the Atlanta Journal Constitution came and in it was a big article titled, "Toys that Rock." I thought to myself, "cool... that should give me some ideas for his birthday..." Well, no. The article is sub-titled: "Playing with Interactive Music" and was all about all the high-tech toys that you can plug your iPod or other MP3 players into.

I see these at the store... the i-Fish, the i-Dog, i-Cat, whatever... Honestly, I never got the point of these "toys." What do they do? You plug your MP3 player in and the "toy" dances and lights up. What's in it for the kid? Do these "toys" encourage kids to listen to more music? Does the "novelty" of these toys wear off?

I don't know the answers to these questions. I'm sure some kids enjoy these toys. I just don't know how they would stand the test of time.

Today, Sam was upstairs in the play room listening to his songs on an old CD player we have. He was singing AND playing with his trains AND dancing (well, as best he can with a cast on his leg). If I had the i-Pod plugged into any of these devices for him to listen to his songs, would he have stopped playing?

I love that my kids love music. I love watching them dance and sing. They make up songs, pretend to play instruments, bang on the key board. Josh even does a little air jamming on both "air guitars" and "air violins." We make up songs every day.

My in-laws always say that the toys that last the longest are the ones that the kids can be creative with and use their imagination. I'm sure the "i-Toys" are are cute and can be a fun for a time, and I can guarantee we'll have some around our house in the future.

But for now, Lego's, blocks, balls, crayons, stickers, cars and trains. These are the toys that have stood the test of time in our house. Classics that I grew up with and will be around for a long time. I think we'll (try) to stick with them for a while longer!