First Baptist Church Alexandria Preschool Christmas Program 2009

Today was William's Christmas program at preschool. Music is a big part of the weekly curriculum at preschool and the kids spend a good part of the fall learning their songs for the Christmas show.

Ringing the bells!

This year, William's class sang two songs: Special Baby Jesus and Christmas Bells We Play. Special Baby Jesus had some very simple hand motions and during Christmas Bells We Play, the kids rang jingle bells.

walking on stage like a professional

When they filed onto the stage, William saw me with my camera (I was on the front row posed and ready to click my camera a million times!) and said, "Hi Mama!" He sat up on the stage like a real pro. He sang, he looked around, he stared, he did a few hand motions, he sang some more. When it was over, he told me "Mama, time to go back to my class and play!"

addie, zack, turner, wbb, zane, campbell, ashleigh, grace, caroline, and samuel

The songs were so precious and the kids were all dressed up in their holiday best. After the show, we picked William up in his classroom and headed to the cookies and punch reception with his friends.

Ms. Laurie, his teacher.

Caroline and WBB - always sit by each other for lunch

WBB and Grace

It was great fun to watch them perform but what amazed me the most was the class of one year olds. They all looked SO SMALL! All the memories of last year's show came rushing back to me and I just can't believe how much William has grown up in one year. Although he still seems "small" to me as an almost 3 year old, I remember thinking at the time how "big" he was as a 20 month old! It's so easy to loose sight of the fact that they are still such little people.......no longer a baby but moving up to big boy!

WBB 2008 as a one year old preschooler

What a difference a year makes!

Christmas Eve ornament gift 2009

Each Christmas I needlepoint an ornament for William. Even though we are only 2 Christmas' in to our traditions with him, my goal is to give him (and my future kiddos) an ornament each year for as long as possible. Eventually, he will have a beautiful tree of handmade memories that I pray he'll always treasure.


I hope each ornament might spark a childhood memory or perhaps represent a significant life event from that year. This year I made a Noah's ark stocking ornament. I just happened to already have it in my bag of needlepoint canvases and figured it was cute for a little boy like my William (if only I had an airplane, but I didn't want to buy anything new). Once it was finished I realized it was the perfect ornament for William's 2nd year.......TWO BY TWO came the animals into Noah's ark!

Thrifty Gifty

I wanted to give a little Christmas gift to the kids in William's preschool class. Last year, William received reindeer food from his buddy, Madeline. Sadly, Madeline and her creative mom moved away, but I thought the gift was darling and decided to continue the tradition this year. William helped me assemble the presents and we'll drop them off at school on Monday. Just hope the kiddos like it as much as we do! This was super easy and totally FREE since I had all the supplies on hand.

Here is what you need:


Then you print this poem:

Then you put the oatmeal and confetti in a baggie and tie it up with a festive feel. I happened to have these cute Santa boxes that were the perfect size for this project.

Let's Bowl, Let's Bowl, Let's Rock and Roll!

Turner, Caroline, William and Campbell - BOWLING BUDDIES

Today is cold and the high is 35 with lots of wind. BURR! So, a bunch of William's friends from school met us at the bowling alley. The kids had all bowled before so they understood the rules and the routine. A couple of the kiddos even wanted to wear the bowling shoes - GO TEAM SPIRIT! We played one round of 10 frames and then ate lunch at the snack bar. Everyone had a super time and more importantly, we burned 2.5 hours!

Santa Writes Back!

A few posts ago I mentioned that William mailed his letter to Santa. Well, Santa wrote him back! William received the cutest postcard in the mail from the jolly man himself. William's eyes got so big when he saw the postcard and wanted me to read it right away. He was so proud and excited (although the pictures don't quite express his enthusiasm).

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Today we received our first visit of the year from Mr. Snow! William was DE-lighted to see the snow falling outside the windows and kept telling me, "Mom mom, snow is burrrr, cold!" and "maybe when Dada gets home we can make a snowball!"



I told him there was no reason we had to wait, so the two of us suited up and headed outside to play in the snow and tons of slush! I don't think we got anymore than 1 inch, but nevertheless, we welcomed the snow with a smile and hope to see more (that is until we are trapped inside!) in the coming months!

Just Talkin'

Loudly in the middle of the grocery checkout line:

William to Mama: Maybe Santa Claus will bring me some medicine for my toots!


Got any Beano in the bag, Santa?

All I want for Christmas is....................

William wrote his letter to Santa Claus last night. He's talked for days about Santa coming to see him and "maybe Santa Claus bring me __________(fill in the blank with any airplane name you want and it's on the list)!"


Here's what the little guy asked for this year:

• American Airlines with wings and bald eagle (American Eagle)
• Virgin Atlantic
• Continental
• Swiss Air from Zurich airport
  
• Delta
• Northwest
• United with wings
• U S Airways with winglets
  
• little vac but not with noise because scared
• Southwest
• Leaf airplane (Canada Air)
• British Airways has the triangle on the tail
• Dot.com propeller airplane
• Big United with a front wheel
  
• American Airlines with winglets
• microwave
  
• play food
• grocery belt with cash money machine
  

Today he stopped in the middle of flying his planes around the room and said, "oh mom mom, we going to Bebe's house on Southwest Airlines to see Christmas and actually Santa."

The cutest Santa conversation was the other day. William and I were in the car and he said, "Mom Mom, William goes to Bebe's house and rides Southwest and then put Oreos on a plate and then leave food in the yard for the deer, and then close my eyes and say AWE WOW! Thank you Santa Claus for my airplanes!"

Everybody knows that the bird is the word!

This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Simmons family. They have been our neighbors the last 6 years and as you know from previous posts, their daughter, Ava, is William's best buddy. Carrie and I split up the feast and thankfully, she took on the task of the turkey.


Our table was so pretty and FULL of delicious food. We had so much to eat and only 4 hungry adults so there were tons of left overs! Ava and William ate mostly dinner rolls and cookie turkeys and then spent the rest of the evening running around the house, playing games and laughing as only a 2 year old can belly laugh.



We are so very thankful to friends and family and the memories we make along the way!

Wolf Lodge once again!

William, Dan and I headed back to Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg for a couple of days before Thanksgiving. William could hardly wait to get there and ride the water slides again. He just loves playing in the water park and exploring the resort. Sadly, this is the only picture I have to document the trip! WBB is ready for the pool!

WBB's first sleep over

Our friends Carrie and Kyle decided to hit the Bruce Springstein concert in Baltimore last Friday night. They didn't want to take Ava to the rock concert, so we offered to keep her for the night. Ava is William's best buddy and she is 6 months older. William was super excited at the idea of Ava sleeping at our house and he asked a lot of questions like, "where's Ava going to sleep?" "what's Ava and William doing at the sleepover?" and "when's Ava coming over?"

Ava came to the house around 5pm on Friday night. I packed up the car and we met Dan at National Airport so the kids could RUN around and exhaust themselves.


We then headed over to TGI Fridays for dinner. This happens to be one of William's most favorite hang outs because from the second floor of the restaurant, you have a bird's eye view of the Delta terminal. The kids could sit and eat dinner while they watched the planes take off, land and taxi to and from various Delta gates. Ava thought it was SO FUN and William loved telling her all about the planes and what they were doing.


After joy riding on the elevators, escalators and moving walkways, the kids were not even close to being ready to go home. It was 7:45pm and I was anxious to get home because unlike my child, Ava is not a night owl. She's like clock work and ready for bed at 7:45-8pm. Done. Even though I knew we could push her a little bit, I hated to think how hard it might be on her to go the extra mile. So, we got back in the car and headed home.

Once inside the house, the party started all over again. Ava got a second wind (who knew?) and William was all about playing in the Thomas tunnel. I talked them into getting on their pjs first and then they hit the toys. Ava loved William's Nerf gun airplane and shot it across the room a million times. William would stand by the front door and catch the plane every time she shot it over towards him and then he'd laugh hysterically as he gave it back....this went on for 20 minutes or so. After a good hour of play, Dan and I made our way upstairs to put them to bed. Ava slept in William's bed and William slept in our room in his very own cave. They both thought the sleeping arrangements were fabulous! By this time, it was 9:15 and yes, Ava was still awake (who knew?) She was totally exhausted but kept those eyes from closing as hard as she could. She kept asking me to talk about everything we did at the airport and then we reviewed all the toys we played with and after 2 sippy cups, 1 binkie, 2 baby dolls, 4 pillows and a story, the sweet little lady was out. Next morning the troops woke up around 7:50am. Ava woke up first and we went down stairs to play with the Nerf airplane gun that she dearly loves. A few minutes later a little voice from upstairs shouted, "AVA! I AM AWAKE! YOU DOWNSTAIRS? I AM AWAKE!" Along came William. The two of them just giggled and beamed at each other. I think they were so delighted with the fact that Ava got to stay the night. It was a new concept and one William liked a lot.


We played a few rounds of Cheerio Bingo and then took the kids to the park to play. Carrie met us there and retrieved Ava. We were sad to see her go, but considering she's our neighbor, William was sure he'd see her again real soon!

G is for Gobble and F is for Friends

Tomorrow marks the last day of preschool before Thanksgiving break. Last year I made William's class these cute little cookie turkeys. The kids loved them, so I decided to make them again this year.


I had some left over school bus theme gift bags and decided to use them up along with some left over gift tags that have "William Barron" printed on them. I wrote each kiddo's name on the tag and said, "I am thankful for my friends." Then I tied up a turkey and put them back in the fridge until tomorrow morning when they'll ride to preschool with us.

It's an easy craft and not to mention quite tasty!

We are headed to Wolf Lodge for another round on the water slides. William CANNOT wait and has talked about our trip for weeks now. We're sure to have a Gobblin' good time!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Bebe's trip!

Bebe found an E-saver ticket and hopped a plane to see us! No one was more excited than William. He LOVES LOVES LOVES his Bebe. I told him Bebe was coming to visit about 3 days before she was scheduled to arrive. For three days and about 3 millions times, William asked me none stop "Bebe's coming today? Bebe is going to bring William a surprise and ride American Airlines to see me!" He just couldn't wait for his best friend to play for the weekend!

We had a great time during our very fast 2 days of fun. William and Bebe played airplanes during any spare moment we were home. Saturday night we all went downtown to the Natural History Museum to see all the animals and the butterfly exhibit (real butterflies flying around a green house and if you are lucky, they land on you!). We had dinner at Great Stuff Burgers on Capitol Hill and walked around the mall to view the monuments.



Sunday we headed to Leesburg to shop at the outlets and ride the car ferry. Sunday evening we all walked to Shirlington for dinner. Then on Monday, we took William to preschool and Bebe and I just ran some errands and ducked in a few shops.

We took Bebe to the airport around 3:30 on Monday. William was caught up in the thrill of being at the airport and didn't really "get it" that Bebe was leaving for good. When we got in the car to come home, William completely lost it. He was SO SO SO SAD that his beloved Bebe was going back to Oklahoma. "Mom mom, I want my Bebe. I love Bebe and I want Bebe to come to my house and play airplanes!!!!" I kept telling him that we'd ride an airplane to Bebe's house for Christmas but the tears just kept coming out of his eyes.

Then.......I handed him a shiny new Air Force One airplane and suddenly, the tears stopped.

A Mother's Right to Brag

WBB 2.5 years.

William: The Zurich airport has tons of airplanes in Switzerland. They are called Swiss Air. They have red tails with a white cross.

Looking at a 200 page chapter reference book of helicopters-

William: What's this one called?
Mama: It's the ........
William: Yes, kinda like the Chinook helicopter with one propeller in the front and one propeller in the back.

Pointing at a Black Hawk helicopter -

William: Who drives that helicopter?
Mama: I don't know for sure but probably the pilot.
William: No, Cousin Bert drives that helicopter. (In fact, Cousin Bert does indeed fly the helicopter that William pointed too)
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William: I have a big head that is screwed on my body Mom Mom. I can't get it off. I have two arms and they help my body but my legs make William go fast.

William: Mama, what is double?
Mama: Double is 2 of something.
William: So kinda like William is double and a half? 2 and a half.

William: C is for ceiling, A is for airplane, B is for bread, L comes after K mama. W is for window and for William too. D is for.....hmmmmm, dump truck. T is for Thomas. P is for pilot but U is for umbrella.

William, Dan and I driving down the highway into D.C.

William: Dada, there's the Air Torce (Air Force) morial (Memorial)! Oh, look, there's the Washington Monument! It looks kinda like a rocket! Here we are passing by National Airport.

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William and Mama riding in the car -

William: Mom Mom, Amtrak trains go underground just like Metro trains do. Did you know that? Atually (actually), octagons are stop signs and red. Are we lost mama? This is not the way to preschool. Did you take a shortcut?
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William: Mom, Mom, I like Dada a lot. I love Dada a ton of times.
Mama: Me too William. Me too.

Bus, Bus, Look at Us!

Well, we woke up on Friday with absolutely no plans. The weather was crisp and sunny so I knew we had to take advantage of being outside.

William has always been curious about the Washington area metro commuter buses. They are everywhere around town and a way of life for the community. In other cities people would never set foot on the city bus, but for people in Washington D.C., the bus is as common as a car.

I use to ride the metro bus to and from work every day for 7 years before I had William. It was easy, fast and allowed me the opportunity to "just sit" and avoid the hassle of the terrible D.C. traffic. There are several bus stops along our street and William has grown up seeing the buses pass by all day long.

So Friday I asked him if he wanted to ride the city bus and his eyes turned as big as saucers! "Yes mom mom, let's ride the city bus! I need to wear my red hat!"

We walked to the corner of our street and boarded the 22 A Pentagon bus. William was FIRED UP and boarded the bus like a pro. We were the only people on the bus (it was 11am) and William marched right to the very back and took a seat on the "upper deck." He never made a peep. He just watched every move the bus made and when the automated voice announced the next stop, he'd repeat it to me as if I needed to know where we were going.

Hilarious. He was in awe.

Once we arrived at the Pentagon, we boarded the 25A Ballston bus which would take us right back to our street. William was NOT interested in going home. "Mama, not going home! I want to stay on the city bus a ton of times!!!"


So, we drove right past our house and kept on a truckin' through town! We toured the city streets from our bird's eye view on the bus and William had the time of his life. I am sure we'll be riding the roads all winter!

Just Talkin' again

Mama: "William, you know what. You need to get a haircut before Bebe comes to see you!"
William: "No mama! Not haircut. haircut scared. Yeah, haircut scared Mom Mom. Where'd the dryer go? The lady put the dryer somewhere and William gets haircut and oh, a good boy! and then popsicle (sucker)"
Mama: "Yes, we can tell the lady to not use the hairdryer on William."
William: "Just Dada use hairdryer for (before) work. It sounds just like a weed wacker!"

Just Talkin'

William: "Mama, who is that Christmas man? What's the Christmas man called again?"
Mama: "Oh, you mean Santa Claus?"
William: "Yes, Santa Claus. He's gonna fly to William's house and bring me American Airlines jet plane and a Delta jet plane."
Mama: "That is great! Let's put it on your list for him and he can make it for you."
William: " Oh Mom Mom, I neeeeeeeeeed to take an elevator to Christmas bad."

2 DAYS LATER

William: "Mom, Mom, I need to see Santa Claus. I need to go there. He's gonna bring me American Airlines and Delta airplanes. "
Mama: "Well, we can write him a note and let him know."
William: "airplanes have potties in the back mom mom. they have a handle that flushes and makes a loud noise."
Mama: "wow"
William: "Santa bringing Pops a shirt under the Christmas tree and he's bringing Bebe clothes for the airplane. I think Baby Elin getting princess tunnel like William's Thomas tunnel. It's a match."

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

William had a super dooper Halloween as an airline pilot! He loved his costume and for the first time, he really "got it" when it came to trick-o-treating. He'd walk up to each door and shout "TRICK O TREAT!!!!" Everyone loved him and several people asked what airline he was flying. His answer was either "United" or "American Airlines" depending on his mood.


We started out celebrating the holiday at Campbell's birthday party. Campbell was born on Halloween which allowed for the easy costume birthday theme. William was mostly excited to have another reason to wear his costume, but the whole ride over to the party he kept asking us what costumes each of his friends would be wearing too.


He played outside on Campbell's cool playground set and all the parents took a cute picture of all the kids sitting on the front lawn. Campbell was a fireman, Caroline was a cheerleader, Ashleigh was Snow White and Zane forgot his costume. One little girl was Mary Poppins, there were also a few princesses, a chicken, turtle and a couple of monkeys.


After we partied hard with Campbell, we headed for Andy's house in Dan's old neighborhood. Upon our arrival, William promptly plucked 3 bags of M&Ms out of Andy's candy stash and ate them. He was more ready than ever to hit the houses for more loot. So, we headed out with Andy's nephew, Luke (a fireman) and we hit a few houses on his street.


Next stop was our own neighborhood. Along our candy walk we ran into Cate (a monkey), Snow White, 2 Tiggers, and a couple of transformers. William had a great time knocking on doors and hollering "TRICK O TREAT!" He'd grab some candy, say "thank you!" and then ask us to open the candy right then and there. After awhile, I finally said "no" and told him that we needed to keep all the loot in the pumpkin bag.



Halloween 2009 was a hit!