Elf the Movie

 

Today the advent calendar said "after school we will watch Elf with Cooper."  Rachel and I have already watched it once this year but this was going to be Luna's first time.  She was pretty excited.  Well the kiddos sat down to watch the movie and boy did they have the comments and questions. I love the movie already but it was a lot of fun to see it through their eyes.

(Disclaimer if you have not seen the movie or don't know it well these might not be too funny or cute to you.  Sorry)

*Buddy the Elf has just arrived in NYC and is walking the streets. Luna points out the window and says, "is Buddy outside walking around right now?"

*Buddy is in the department store's North Pole and arguing with an employee that it was not the North Pole.  Cooper says "Why does that guy think it is the North Pole? The snow is fake, it can't be the North Pole?"

*After Buddy and the department store Santa get into a fight and Buddy rips Santa's beard off, Rachel says "Buddy fighted with Santa and took his mask."  Then about every 5 minutes for the rest of the movie asked if Santa got his mask back yet.

*When Buddy and Jovie are on their date looking at Christmas trees and see the big one at Rockefeller Center, I asked Luna "have you seen that tree?"  She nodded and said "yes at Rockefeller Center."  That girl is on top of it, she knows what is going on.

*I have my back to the TV picking popcorn off the couch.  I say to Cooper "Cooper sweetie can you not stand right in front of the TV the girls can't see?"  Cooper turns around and says "You have eyes in the back of your head." :) Yup buddy all Moms do :)

Cooking with Kindergarteners

Luna's class has been studying apples this fall.  The teachers asked if any of the parents wanted to come in and cook an apple dish with the class.  I volunteered and then started thinking about what to make with them.  I knew most people would do something sweet like pie, crumble or muffins.  So I was trying to think of something healthy to do with the kids.

Online, I found a recipe for an apple quinoa salad.  I had 6 kids helping me make the salad and they did a great job. There was lots of chopping and they did really well.  At the end the whole class got to try the salad and then the teacher took a poll of who liked it and who did not.  The salad did not go over so well :(

But Luna liked it!  Today was the completion of the apple study and they had a potluck for all the parents to come in and see all their work.  The teachers showed a video of the kids all telling us what their favorite part of the study was.  Luna said making quinoa salad :)  That makes it all worth it :)

Birthday Tea Party

The tea party was a hit.  Luna and all her friends had so much fun.  I love this age, they are so easy to please.  They loved it all.  She invited 5 friends all from her class at school, so they all knew each other.  We got home from church around 12:30 and the party did not start until 3pm.  Man, it was a long 2.5 hour wait for Luna, she was so excited.    

The girls started arriving at 3pm and all of the parents just dropped them off, not one parent stayed.  In the invitation I said they were welcome to just drop off or stay for the fun.  Our apartment is small so I knew it would be tight if everyone stayed but also knew that some parents would not want to just drop off their 5 year old.  But all did, which worked out great.  Then I could just focus on the kids and running the party.

We started the party off by making tea party hats.  The girls did a nice job decorating them.  They had stickers, tissue paper, markers and flowers to pick from.  Brian manned the hot glue gun and made sure the flowers were well attached.  He did a great job!

 Before the party I had tried the hats on my curly haired daughters and they stayed on quite nicely.   But many of her guests had straight hair and they slipped right off.  So they did not last long but were cute while they did stay on.  

After making the tea hats the girls went on a scavenger hunt around the apartment.  Luna LOVES scavenger hunts so we decided to do a big one with all the guests.  The kids did a nice job reading the clues and trying to wait their turns.  The treasure at the end was lip gloss for each guest.

After the scavenger hunt we had our afternoon tea.  Luna picked the tea sandwiches, which were egg salad, pb&j and then a jam and cream cheese.  There were two types of tea to choose from blueberry or sugar cookie.  Blueberry was by far the hit.  Rachel must have had at least 10 cups just herself!  

 

 At the end of tea, we sang Happy Birthday and Luna blew out her 5 candles.  All the tea party guest had a cupcake and a teapot sugar cookie.  Most of the kiddos just licked the frosting off of both :) I think they were full from all the other food. And really what is cake but a way to get frosting in your mouth :)

After the tea was done. The girls colored and decorated Luna's castle that she had received for her Birthday.  They loved it.  They pretended they were all princesses and had to take naps in the castle :)

 

 Just before we said goodbye to all our guests we played a quick game of pin the hat on the turkey :) at Luna's request.  She had so much fun, it was a great party.

Rockettes!

This past weekend we took the girls to go see the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular.  Last year, Brian and I went for the first time and I LOVED it.   I started dreaming what it would be like to be an actual Rockette.  I quickly learned I would never qualify for many reasons but one being I am too short.   After seeing it I knew I wanted to bring the girls before we moved back to Washington.  So this weekend we went. 

We went to a 9am showing which made it extremely kid friendly.  The girls wore their Christmas dresses (thanks Gramma) and Luna wore almost every piece of jewelry she owns. :)  It was fun to have us all dressed so fancy.  The girls looked beautiful and got so many compliments.    We took a taxi up to Radio City, which is a special treat for the girls.  We got there with plenty of time to spare so we were able to walk around and take some photos before the show.  Radio City is a beautiful theater with very spacious seating, you are not crammed in, makes the experience that much more pleasant.  The girls could actually stand in front of us while we were sitting!

Part of the show is in 3D so they give you glasses before you enter the theater.  The girls thought the glasses were pretty cool and really enjoyed the 3D effect during the show.  After the show Luna told me she loved it. I asked her if she thought she could be a Rockette and she said "No, I think it is still a little tricky for me."  Unfortunately, Rachel was not quite feeling like herself and it was hard to get her to tell us what she thought of the show.  But she watched it all right on Mommy's lap without making a peep.

After the show we went out for brunch.  It was such a fun morning, so sad it is over.  Also sad that it will be a number of years before I will get to see it again.  I highly recommend it, such a fun, energizing show.  I just love it and so glad we got to experience it as a family!

 

 I love this kiddo, she is looking so grown up!  

Tea Party Hat

Luna is having a little tea party play date this year to celebrate her Birthday.  She invited a few girl friends to the tea party.  Each girl is going to make their own tea hat.  The other day Rachel and I did a test run.  This is what the hat ended up looking like:

It turned out cute.  I am excited to see what each little girl comes up with.  You can see from the photo our brain storming session left quite the mess!  

Happy 5th Birthday Luna!

Happy 5th Birthday to our wonderful Luna pie!

Luna had a very busy birthday this year.  The day started out with a pancake breakfast that Daddy cooked.  Then it was time for school.  Luna's dance/music class put on a little show at the beginning of school.  It was pretty cute to see her up on the stage with her class.  After that Mommy went to her class and cooked with some of the kids.  We made an apple quinoa salad.  Luna enjoyed it but not all the kiddos did :)  Luna also got to have hot lunch at school.  Which when people called to wish her Happy Birthday she told them she ate hot lunch. It made quite the impression on her :) Then after Mommy picked Rachel up from preschool we headed back to Luna's school to share cupcakes with her class.  They all sung her Happy Birthday and she just beamed.  

After school we headed home.  When Daddy got home we had Luna's Birthday dinner.  She choose BBQ ribs, cabbage salad and top romen.  Which coincidentally is also Daddy's favorite dinner :)  After dinner we had cake and opened gifts.  It was a pretty great day for this little 5 year old.  This weekend we will have a little tea party with some of her friends from school.  Such a fun age :)

Daddy helping Luna organize her new jewelry box.

A little snapshot of Luna at age 5:

You love love love school.  It is your favorite part of the day.  You hate to miss school (we are hoping this love of learning last your entire life).  You are an excellent reader and you love letters.  A favorite game is for someone to call out a letter and if you have that letter in your name you have to raise your hand.   You also have started to read books to your sister, it is really sweet.  Recently, you have started to get into numbers.  When we go out to dinner you will ask us to write down math problems to work on while we wait for our food.  

You make friends so easily.  At the playgrounds you walk up to anyone you want to play with and will talk to them and ask if you can play.  Right now you prefer to play with girls and your favorite activity is to build a fort and play family.

You are so confident and independent.  You know what you want and make it happen.  Many times in the school yard, you go up to your friend's Mom and will ask if you can go over to their place for a play date :) You never get worried if Mom leaves you at a friend's house.  You actually prefer it and will tell Mommy "you can go now."  When we are in the elevator and some one is talking you jump right into their conversation and will ask them questions

You still love to smell everything.  When ever you cook with Mom you smell every ingredient before it goes into the bowl.

Your least favorite activity is walking :).  The other day we told you we were going up to Rockefeller Center to look at the big Christmas Tree and you started to cry.  When we asked you what was wrong you said "it is going to be too much walking."  Frequently when we are leaving some where and heading back home, you will say "let's just catch a cab."  Daddy would like to enroll you in soccer, not sure how that will go over :) 

We love you so much Luna, you are such a blessing to us.  So glad we get to be your parents and see you experience life.  Can't wait to see what this next year will bring for you.

Glow in the Dark Bath

We have a tradition of doing an advent calendar each year.  But instead of getting candy or things, each day there is an activity for us to do.  For an example it might say "Today we will decorate our Christmas Tree."  Which is what the calendar said last Saturday.

The other night is was "tonight we will have a glow in the dark bath."  The girls had no idea what it meant but when the time came they were so excited.

I found the idea online.  I just went to target and in the dollar bin bought one of the glow in the dark stick sets (think there are 8 in the set).  When bath time came we made them all glow and then threw them in the water.  The girls loved it!

Our NYC Christmas Tree

This past weekend we decorated a little tree here in the city.  The girls were so excited to get the tree.  We all walked over to Whole Foods to pick one out.  Daddy and the girls did a great job getting the tree and bringing it home while Mommy went for a quick jog.

That evening we decorated, which took all of 15 minutes.  But I have to say the girls loved it.  Their favorite part was putting the candy canes on the tree and getting to eat one :)  It is a sweet little tree, just perfect for our apartment.  

Rockefeller Center

On Sunday we went up to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas Tree.  The tree was spectacular but the insane crowd was just too much for us.  It was almost impossible to walk around.  The girls had a tough time  because they are so short they can't see anything but the people all around them.  We kept having to pick them up to show them the different lights.   It was nerve racking trying to keep track of them and keep us moving.  We didn't trust Rachel walking at all, other people kept bumping her and pushing her.  So we carried her the whole time.  I can't say I would recommend it for small children it is just way too crowded. 

We looked at the tree and attempted to take some photos.  Then headed out to dinner.  I think dinner was the girls favorite part :)