Andrew's Teddy Bear Parade

We love Andrew's preschool for so many reasons but mostly because of all the fun activities they do in addition to teaching.  The teachers both Julia and Andrew have had have been great.  One of the fun activities the 4 and 5 years old get to do is the teddy bear parade.  They make a float to hold their stuffed animal and get to wear jammies to school...how fun is that?  All the other kids and parents get to watch the parade.  Love the smile on his face when he saw Thomas and me.

Andrew and Daddy made Andrew's float this year which was the millennium falcon from Stars Wars.  I should have gotten a better picture of him with his float.  Parade back-up.

Take a guess who got to ride in the millennium falcon...of course it was lovey.  Off he goes!

Back in their classroom they got to have a picnic snack with their stuffed animals.

Julia Turns 7

How in the world do I have a 7 year old?  I mean I know I'm old enough to have a 7 year old but it really seems like she was just a baby.  Before I know it she'll be off to college and I'll be devastated. She truly is such a sweet girl who I love more than she will ever know.  We all woke her up a little early so she could open a present and have just a few extra minutes with her before our day began.

She was so excited about her first present of Shopkins Season 4.

Her new favorite Shopkin was a toilet which she thought was so funny named Flushes.

New toys are always so much fun!

Enjoying breakfast in bed too on her birthday.

Hug for Andrew before leaving for school!

Cookie cake to celebrate her birthday with her class.

Standing on a chair while her classmates sing happy birthday.

Andrew's present for Julia.

More Shopkins.

A nice hug which clearly caught Andrew of guard since she loved the present he picked out for her.

Opening presents from Mommy and Daddy.

American Girl pajamas that match her doll.

She loved those...actually she loved all her presents.  

After bath and wearing her new jammies opening presents with Nana and Papa on Facetime.

The Shopkins ice cream truck was a big hit!

Lots of fun Barbie toys too.

7 candles for our 7 year old girl.  Looking forward to another great year with Julia.

Ready to make a wish.

This year Julia never saw me working on the banner so I think she was a little surprised there was one this year.  She always loves the birthday banner!

Unfortunately Thomas had a night meeting on Julia's birthday but fortunately he came home at 4 and was around to open presents, eat dinner and enjoy cake before returning to work.  Gotta love the photo Andrew took of me with my little girl.  

Love these two!  Happy 7th Birthday to our little miracle! 

Snow Fun

As you'll be able to see in the photos we didn't get much snow but we were all excited to play outside in the white stuff.  Julia and Andrew bundled up the best we could based on our limited winter clothing choices.  Julia had the great idea of wearing their raincoats over their coats which helped with the wind and the wet snow.

Daddy got a work out pulling these kids.

Having fun sledding.

Ready to go again!

Julia loves to go sledding.

There she goes again.

Andrew always seems to enjoy shoveling whenever it snows.

Look at this little guy with a shovel full of snow and a big smile on his face.  He looks up to no good if you ask me.

Pure joy!  Oh how great it is to be a kid!

There wasn't much snow so this year we elected to make a flat snowman on the kid's picnic table.

I'm sure kids up north wouldn't bother going outside to play in the snow with this little but we don't get snow all that often so we're happy with whatever we get.

More sledding fun for Julia.  The best part was listening to her laugh!

Then we did some sledding at our neighbor's house and the kids had fun riding together down their hill.

Yes, sledding in sneakers since they don't have snow boots!

Sledding on his belly...silly boy.

Our snowman the next day...hard to believe he didn't melt.  The kids and adults always have fun when it snows in Atlanta.  I was glad to have it snow but I was equally glad it was mostly gone the next day and now I'm ready for the spring weather.

Extraordinary Student

Every month the teachers pick one student in their class to be the Extraordinary Student and Julia was chosen by Ms. Head for the month of January and we couldn't be more proud of our girl.

Julia was all smiles getting her certificate.

The group of first graders who were chosen as Extraordinary students for the month of January with the principal.

As they called the students to walk across the stage they said her name correctly but it was written wrong on her certificate.  They quickly made her a new certificate and sent it home later that day.

The ceremony was held from 7:30-8:00 which was great since it didn't interfere with Thomas' work day.  It was definitely an early morning for our family.

The teachers write a few sentences about the student and have it scrolling on the television in the lunchroom.  Here's what Ms. Head wrote about Julia.  We're so proud of Julia for working hard in school and being kind and it feels good for her to be recognized.

Monster Jam

One of Andrew's Christmas presents was tickets to go to Monster Jam with Daddy.  We debated if the whole family should go but in reality the girls aren't all that interested in going to see Monster Jam so we're going to do something different at a later date.  Obviously I would love to see his reaction to everything but Thomas did a great job of capturing his excitement. 

 Ready to watch Monster Jam.

 I love this one!

 The boys having a good time.

 I love something about his cute little face in this picture.

 It wouldn't be Monster Jam without some popcorn.

Look at them having a fun time.

We probably should have had Andrew take a nap that day.  Thomas said he was a little tired at Monster Jam which is understandable since it started at 7:00 and they didn't get home until 10:15 or so.  

This little cutie fell asleep on the way home but he had a fun time with his Daddy and I know his Daddy had a blast too!