Christmas 2011 is in the books!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Ross was very much into everything which made it so much fun! Christmas Eve started out with a present from R-O-S-S. It was the last present he brought Ross for the season and it was his own camera! Say Cheese! We had Christmas Eve at my Mom's and Ross had to take a few pictures in the floor with Uncle Brent. He got his first fishing pole and has been practicing ever since that day! He'll be ready come warmer weather. Alex got a car! Of course both boys wanted to ride in it. Alex was kind enough to share from time to time.
A remote control fire truck!! This present Alex also loved which helped with the sharing some. :)
We had to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus many times so they could blow all the candles out. (We are now singing Happy Birthday to Ross as his birthday is just a week and a half away!)
Once we left Mom's we went to my Dad's. I got a kit to make a gingerbread choo choo train. My helper sampled the cookies.It was an epic failure and collapsed on us. I've learned I just don't have the patience for such things. Maybe after a few more years I'll get the hang of it. My helper didn't mind as this meant he now had cookie with icing on it! He also didn't mind b/c he still has some cooking to do. Homemade monkey bread - so good! Ross was helping roll the dough in the cinnamon sugar. Christmas morning we woke up and Ross was SO happy Santa left him a guitar with a pick! (really a ukulele b/c the size is perfect for him). Uncle Kev had already gone through his stocking.One of the first presents Ross opened was a Razorback pillow pet. He loves his Razorbacks! After spending Christmas at Dad's we came home b/c Santa had visited there too! (Ross got to wear his pajamas all day!) Santa brought Ross some of his "favorite favorites"! A basketball...A baseball glove... and other stuff I failed to get a picture of. :)
Mommy and Daddy got him gifts too. He was quite in the present opening mode and hugged every one. After we unwrapped our presents Ross just couldn't wait to get back to his guitar. It was definitely one of his favorite gifts. The next morning it was play time with all his new toys. Must. Take. Break. Life is tough for our little man.
He helped me clean up once he was refreshed.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our friends and family!  May you all find peace and happiness in 2012 beyond your wildest expectations.  See you all next year!

Daddy's Gift

I picked Ross up from school on the Thursday before Christmas and took him to pick out a present for his Daddy. I told him it was a secret though and we couldn't tell him. So take a guess on if that worked. :) First thing he said when he talked to his Daddy was "I got you a gun. It's a secret. I keep it quiet." ha Friday is the longest Ross could wait to give his present to Daddy. Of course he also had to help unwrap it. Surprise! A Nerf gun! Um, make that 2 Nerf guns. Ross had to get one for himself too! Must have tongue out in concentration mode. Poor puppy. He didn't stand a chance.

"Let's Make Sumting"

When I told Ross I was picking him up from school yesterday he quickly responded with "let's make sumting". I'm not sure when or why this theory started but he's pretty sure when I pick him up that we are supposed to make something in the kitchen. So I tried to find a fairly easy treat that wasn't too messy to make. The something ended up being Rudolph Bites.

He is a great helper! First he removed the wrappers from the Hershey Kisses. (only ate 4 total out of 40 or so that we made so not bad) Then he placed the Kisses on the pretzel. He reminded me several times he doesn't like pretzels. He wanted to get his picture taken. A little cherry juice is on his chin from when we got home. :) He took a bath later - it was all good. After they baked for a few minutes and the chocolate melted he went to putting on Rudolph's nose. See... Rudolph Bites. The two top pieces are his antlers and obviously he has his very shiny nose. This picture is courtesy of Ross. He always likes to help take some pictures. We had a lot of fun! This was a great thing for little kids to make! Ross pretty much did all the work - and yes his hands were clean. :o)

School Christmas Program 2011

Ross' school had their annual Christmas program on Friday. The way it works at their school is the Junior and Senior classes tell the story of Jesus' birth and then the Freshmen and Sophomores come in for a few songs. Ross is a Sophomore. He did great and sat with his class the whole time. He even sang a little bit.He was blowing kisses.After the program we have snacks and go back to his room to visit with teachers and friends. It is always fun to watch the kids play so we can kind of get a glimpse into their day.His class has an Elf on the Shelf named Jingles. That day Jingles made all the kid's noses like Rudolph!All the parents were surprised with a gift - we love it and will cherish it forever!After we left school we went to Target and while getting wrapping paper we let Ross look at ornaments. He ended up picking out a small (quite gaudy) Christmas tree. He also picked out some little ornaments to decorate it. A lot of the ornaments ended up on our big tree and he's rearranged quite a few. I've shown him the ones he can move around. He also got candy canes from Uncle De and had to hang it on the tree. It has now been eaten. :o)

Creating Traditions in the Martin Household

We've started a few new traditions this year now that Ross is a little older and is getting into Christmas more. One thing we started is Elf on a Shelf. The cliff notes version of the story is basically you name your Elf and then he gets his magic. His magic allows him to fly back to the North Pole every night to report to Santa on how everyone is behaving. Ross named our elf R-O-S-S. We tried to talk him into another name but he wasn't having it. Note you aren't saying the name Ross but instead spelling it out.

Every morning we get up and he immediately wants to see where our R-O-S-S has landed after flying to the North Pole. You just never know where he might be... One morning he found him playing on his firestation. R-O-S-S brings special prizes back from Santa too. Yesterday Ross was sick and R-O-S-S surprised him with a "Mater" Pez dispenser. Ross was one happy camper! This morning R-O-S-S had him a book about Christmas. It talks about why we celebrate Christmas. Santa thought it was important for him to have this book. Mommy highly recommends this book too!! If you also notice there is a comb in R-O-S-S' lap. Ross watched the cartoon Elf on a Shelf and after seeing it he got the comb and put it with R-O-S-S and says that is his magic. We aren't quite sure where that thought came in but we sure think it is cute and now when R-O-S-S lands he always has his 'magic'. The other thing we started this year is an Advent Calendar. Our calendar is garland with mittens. He has a special chocolate in each mitten to help count down the days of Christmas. He loves to unclip the mitten and get his chocolate out. He gets 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 in the afternoon. We've found that that works best.
The next tradition we are going to do is baking Jesus some cupcakes for his birthday. A friend suggested that to me and I just love the idea. So at our house we are counting down birthdays too. First it is Uncle Kevin's bday, then baby Jesus, and on January 15 it will be Ross' birthday. He's quite excited about all 3!