We held our usual Christmas Day celebrations with Brittany and her family on Christmas Eve since we would be leaving early on Christmas Day to go to the airport. This will be the first time since they've lived here that we won't be together on Christmas Day.
"elf"ing a neighbor who had been missed (it's never too late!)
Dropping off another gift for a neighbor
Such a gorgeous day! We enjoyed being outside in the sun without jackets and playing on bikes. Max is too big for this little trike he got when he turned one but he still wanted to ride it.
Taking turns on the big bike
Ms Mary Ann and Mr Chris came over to exchange presents.
We had a yummy ham dinner
Silly goofs
cupcakes for dessert
video - Uncle Joe had Emmalyn cracking up
Time to open presents!
Max was slightly fooled when he opened his present and it was a gingerbread house decorating kit...but he kept going...
What?! A minion shirt?? He was super excited
And a bey blade? He was very happy
The boys liked the boogie boards we got them.
Opening the Christmas PJs
Writing his letter to Santa
"Dear Santa Please bring my present that I want. From Max Millar"
All the kiddos in their PJs (Maxwell was checking to see if he had stinky feet)
Time to head to bed, cowboy
Peter knocked out around 1 am... Momma was still going. Christmas Eve is always a busy, late night but it was a REALLY late night because we had to pack for our trip to Utah, too.
Our house all decorated this year.
I didn't put all the decorations out this year but I still had lots out. I have loved having the canvas pictures of Christmas's past as decorations.
Santa came!
Decorations
Santa's note back to Maxwell
Max's presents
Emmalyn's presents
Our door of Christmas cards. It a fun reminder of how many great friends and family we are lucky to have.
Santa even filled up the stockings for Momma and Daddy.
These cuties were holding hands in my bed this morning. (Max covered his face because the flash was too bright)
I went in to check on Emmalyn when she was supposed to be sleeping. Instead I found that she had pulled out a bunch of clothes from her hampers and was having fun. Naughty!
Video - Emmalyn loves to sing
Working on legos together
Dad took Max on a daddy/son date to the movies. They saw the Peanuts movie and had a great time. (Although Max was quick to point out that they didn't always talk nicely to each other which is usually our gauge for whether a show is appropriate for him to watch or not.)
Notice her hand tucked in her PJs? It's like she needs to be touching her skin to be comforted. (She tucks her hand into my shirt when she's cuddling with me or tired.) It's similar to what Maxwell did when he would self sooth by touching his nipples but she's just got her hand tucked into her shirt.
Video - daddy continues to get the best giggles
We had a fun birthday party for one of Max's classmates at a local place called Play Street Museum. Both kids had a lot of fun pretending (usually Max isn't that into it but he had a lot of fun).
Driving the bus
I guess her bed wasn't comfy enough tonight?
She's been sleeping on top of her pillow sometimes!
I had Maxwell's fall parent/teacher conference. Ms. Cynthia loves him, you can tell. She said that he is a happy boy but that he can get upset/emotional if something goes wrong. For example, he was working on some math and the tools spilled all over and he started tearing up rather than just cleaning up the mess. He also gets emotional when he doesn't know the answer. He sometimes doesn't pay attention when he walks. He doesn't like coloring.
In Math, he is moving from doing math problems horizontally to doing them vertically. He has gained a lot of confidence on math and is going to start working on subtraction.
He pairs well with others but is afraid to be the big leader of a group and looks for reassurance. His teacher is going to have him start reading to the class to help with that confidence. She also suggested that I set up some playdates with the more bold-leader boys in the class.
We talked about having him become a "non-napper" before he is 4 1/2 because he's not sleeping any more during naps.
His teacher's notes "Max is a happy boy. He is working on his counting ability from 1-100 and counting by tens. In language we are working on blends and compound words. He enjoys reading books. We enjoy having him."
As part of the conference, there is a full assessment on many areas. (The whole thing is 7 pages long!) Highlights: He needs development in hopping on one foot but is age appropriate for all other physical development assessments. His oral language skills are all age appropriate. As far as his personal development, he needs development in applying a variety of strategies to solve problems and tying/lacing shoes. He has improved in handling transition well and resolving conflict appropriately. He has mastered his sizes, colors, sounds, weight differentiation, some of his 2 dimensional shapes/polygons, etc, and most of his 3 dimensional shapes. He has mastered all but one of his skills in word building and has steady progressing in reading.
Our pantry door is starting to fill up with Max's notes/drawings that he wants put up.
He drew a map from "master" to "africa" (where did he get that from?)
A note to dad showing how he can count by 10's
Maxwell had his first soccer skills class. We decided to not play on a team right now but instead to try this soccer skills class and see if that helps him improve.
We didn't know it but showed up one week early... they still let Maxwell play and the coach kindly gave him a medal like the other kids who were finishing up that class.
both kids had fun playing in the play place at chik-fil-a
Emmalyn makes animal noises for duck, cat, dog, bear, cow, monkey, and frog.
She was so into Kindermusik this past week. She sang every song and did the actions.
Walks on her tippy toes sometimes
I've heard her call her daddy "peter" a few times but nothing like what Maxwell used to do.
She asks for pizza nearly every night and Maxwell's nightly request is Mac-n-cheese.
Max is really into counting to 100 by 10's and he showed me that now he's learned to count to 100 by 5's. (He says Hayden taught him!)
He cleaned up his room by himself when I sent him to put on his PJs and I didn't have to ask him. I was so impressed and proud!
Wife, Mom, and Career Woman. Trying to succeed at all three. Enjoy cruising, time with friends and family, and sleeping. Busy life doesn't leave time for as much fun as in the past but that's okay, it's still a good life.
