Tonight we celebrated New Year's with Daniel and Emily at a community center. They had a bounce house, face painting, a balloon drop, wagon ride, and ice skating. It was our first time skating for both Jacob and me. We had a fun time! The kids were up until 1:30am playing at our house!

Recent Art Projects:

1. Hand and foot print angel from preschool
2. Apple Tree

3. Mail for mom

4. "No Color"

5. A Christmas tree

6. A Snake

7. A person from the MN Orchastra playing the cello
8. Art projects Jacob made and hung on our tree

Jacob has really had a lot of fun playing with the new toys he's gotten for Christmas. Nate and I got him walkie talkies this year, and today we spent about 2 hours playing hide and seek throughout the house, giving clues about where we were hiding using the walkie talkies. We've also been playing some new board games. Jacob was with me when I picked up Chutes and Ladders at the store about a month ago. I told him I'd keep it in my closet until Chirstmas, in case someone else gave it to him as a gift, and then we would exchange it. Christmas morning, he unwrapped the game, and said, "Awe, I already have one of these...in your closet mom!" I had no idea he would remember that!

Today we went to Fleet Farm. As we pulled into the parking lot, Jacob said, "Hey, there's the store where my cement truck was born!!" Jacob saw some toy semi trucks he liked at Fleet Farm, and tried to convince us to buy them with, "Remember?...It's after Christmas!...so it's time to buy gifts for yourself now!" (We have been emphasizing buying gifts for other people, and making a list of things he'd like for Christmas, instead of wanting to buy everything for yourself!)

Sledding this morning!

I knew Jacob knows about the birth of Baby Jesus and the real meaning of Christmas, but here are a few things about Santa that you may not have known unless you're a 4 year old...

How old is Santa?...28 years old
How long has he been married to Mrs. Claus...100 years
How much does Santa weigh?...2,160 lbs
How did Santa get his reindeer?...He went to a farm and got them
How many elves work for Santa?...22
How old are the elves?...4 or 3 years old...all of them!
What are the elves favorite toys to make?...a choo choo train or a teddy
What things does Mrs. Claus like to do?...Make cake, wash dishes, go swimming in the summer, go ice fishing in the winter, hug Santa, and jump in leaf piles with him in the fall.
What is Santa's favorite food?...Pancakes with whip cream on the bottom (for a beard), 2 raisins for eyes, and a hat made out of ketchup
What is the reindeer's favorite food?...Carrot stew
How big is Santa's sleigh?...About as big as this table, or about as big as my bed
Anything else adults should know about Santa?...Always hang up your stocking every Christmas!

This year's advent calendar.
Jacob had a special reason for putting each item where he did. The angel wanted to keep her hand warm with the mitten while she ate ice cream. The gingerbread man wanted to play the drum. The butterfly wanted to smell the poinsetta while he sat on top of the Christmas tree, etc. I loved seeing what creative thing he would come up with each day!

Christmas Morning

At dinner last night, we were talking about going sledding. Jacob said, "I want to go sledding on Mount Heverest (Mt. Everest) because that is the biggest hill and mountain in the world!"

Everything is Jacob's "lucky" thing lately.
Jacob dripped something on himself at lunch the other day:
"Awe...not my lucky shirt"

Today in the car...
"Mom, you're a genius!"
"I am?...What's a genius Jacob?"
"Ummm, I don't remember...can you tell me?"
"A genius is someone that is very, very smart"
(Pause) "Then I'M a genius!!!...right?...I think of lots of cool things!"

I love hearing Jacob singing Christmas carols while he's in the bathroom!

Christmas at Grandma June's house.

Grandpa got some candy for Christmas that Jacob was eyeing. He went over to Grandpa and said, "Don't you wish you could share one of those with me!"

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Tom's house.

Jacob got this little chef's outfit, so he helped make dessert for the Christmas party tonight.

After wrapping a few presents, we had left the tissue paper out, and Jacob likes writing notes on them:
"Jacob
I (heart) to eat black olives"

Jacob and I were playing "Santa". I picked up the Santa hat he had been wearing, and it jingled. Inside I found a little pair of toy handcuff keys from his dress up box. I asked Jacob why they were in his Santa hat, and he explained that it was to unlock the chimneys to deliver toys..."This one for the left side of the chimney, and this one for the right side!".

Making a gingerbread house tonight.

Tonight Daniel hosted a play date Chirstmas party. All of the kids brought a gift to exchange. Daniel's mom explained to the kids that they could play one of 2 games for the gift exchange. She asked, "Does anyone know what a vote is?" Jacob replied, "Ya, a vote is when you have 2 choices and everyone gets to pick one. Like you can vote for John McCain over here, or Barack Obama over here, and if you vote for Barack Obama, then you win."

Visit with Santa after the preschool program.
Thank you to everyone for coming to the program tonight!!

Jacob and I have been doing a lot of cooking and baking lately. I'll tell him what comes next, but he goes to get it, measures it out, mixes it, sets the timer, practices safety with the oven and the stove, etc. I try to have him do as much as he possibly can. He does great, and we really enjoy working on our cooking projects together!

Tonight we had dinner with Carol, and helped decorate her apartment for Christmas. Jacob got to set up the nativity. He pulled out Baby Jesus first and set him down, then the camel came and gently kissed Baby Jesus. The others all got in line for their turn to welcome Baby Jesus! I love Jacob's ideas!

Tonight we took Jacob to the MN Orchastra for a Christmas concert. When they played songs from the Nutcracker, I tried to explain what goes on in the play during the songs. Jacob was really interested in this part, and also really liked the familiar Christmas songs. It was also a great opportunity to dress up a little more formal, and practice things that gentlemen do like holding doors open for others, etc.

Tonight we saw Santa ride down our street in a fire engine, and then we had snowman ice cream treats while we watched Rudolph! Lots of fun things to do this time of year!

We went to Home Depot and Jacob said he'd hold the new recycling container for Nate! Later, Nate introduced Jacob to Sega!