Recent randomness

The week before Christmas, we went to the mall to see Santa.  We missed out on seeing him at the city building party because we had other things going on that day, and we missed out on seeing him at Macy's with ABC because of the stomach virus that claimed my children as victims.  So...we decided to give the Florence Mall Santa a try.  On the way to pick up GranJan, who we convinced to tag along, Lucy acted excited.  She actually guessed where we were going and told me she was going to ask Santa for a special doll.

Now every day after school, we ask Lucy how her day was and try to learn about what she did but she usually doesn't give us much...that day was no different ("good" or "I don't know" are two popular answers) - but when GranJan got in the car, Lucy started babbling all about her day and even mentioned that Santa had visited her school (I didn't even know that!)...and when asked if she sat on his lap, Lucy said she didn't but all of her friends did...and suddenly the mall Santa visit didn't look so promising.

We all stood in line but when our turn came, Lucy started crying and freaking out and didn't want to get near the big guy...but Max decided to go for it:

She said she had a better idea - "Let's get ice cream!"

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I got the chance to volunteer in Lucy's classroom before Christmas!  I'm not going to lie - I've been dreaming of doing so ever since Lucy started school!  I was so excited when her first party day rolled around at Abby's...but when I mentioned to the teacher that I wanted to help, I was just directed to the sign-up sheet of goodies to donate to the party.  So my dream of actually attending a party and physically helping out in the classroom was put on hold.  At Kids & Cribs, the minute I found out when the Christmas party was, I told her teacher I'd be there to help and I requested a vacation day from work.  Imagine my tears when I got the class newsletter saying the party date had been changed (and to a date that I could not be off work).  Luckily, Lucy's teacher found another day for me to come in...so even though I missed "party day," I still got to go in during Christmas.  I got there and got to see "school Lucy" which was pretty cool.  She was sitting side-by-side with her little best friend, Ava, but then Lucy had to go do her "job" for the day - wash all of the tables!  It was a proud moment for me to see her doing a chore - she wasn't trying to cling to me or anything, she just did her thing! 

I read the class a book - Llama Llama Holiday Drama - and then did a craft with them. 



Watching her and her classmates in action was so cool!

Next, we did a craft.  I worked with 3-4 kids at a time while the others played at various stations around the room.  I helped the kids make Christmas trees out of ice cream cones, green icing and sprinkles.  All of her little friends are so creative and cute!

Ms. Julie couldn't believe how good Lucy was with me being there...she said most kids cling to their parent and act different but Lucy did her thing while I worked with the other small groups.  When I went to leave it got a little ugly but who can blame a girl?  I would have liked to have gone ahead and taken her home with me but I had to get to work for the rest of the day.

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Christmas-time cuteness:

Pajamas from Mike and Kathy:

(Lucy and Max each got a pair a couple of weeks before Christmas - pictured left.

Dave and I each got a pair for Christmas and Lucy was so excited for us to wear our new pjs).

          

Lucy displaying some Christmas gifts - a Frozen snack cup from my boss and her daughter and some fuzzy giraffe socks from Ashley:



Stallkamp Christmas at Uncle Mike & Aunt Judi's house

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Max got a bath seat for Christmas from Grandma...I was so excited about it because he's too long for his baby bath tub but too slippery and wobbly and curious to sit up in it (let alone in the big tub).  Lucy was super pumped, too, because it meant they could get in the tub together.

Maxyboy is a splashing fool in the tub and it's hysterical!  Lucy always freaks out when as little as one drop of water touches her face while we're washing her hair (she yells "My eyes!" and makes us stop while she grabs the towel and dries her face).  But when Max is splashing like some kind of wild animal (and water gets on her face...and everywhere else)?  She laughs and laughs!

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Lucy had a pretty bad cold recently...she went through a LOT of tissues and she was pretty pathetic.  She told me, "I don't want to have a cold anymore!" and when she was trying to go to sleep one night, she kept saying, "My nose feels so sniffly!"

So she spent the day with her box of tissues nice and handy and we watched movies all day.  She had bursts of energy periodically where we'd play and at one point, she said we were having a camp out.  She set everything up in the dining room and "invited" me to her camp out.  She said, "I'm going to tell a scary story about a dangerous dinosaur!"  That cracked me up and I was so excited...I set up our new iPad with an image of a campfire and we got out the mini marshmallows (with uncooked spaghetti as the sticks) and we "roasted marshmallows" as she told her story:
Once upon a time there was a dangerous dinosaur.  The end.
Okay then.