Christmas is Almost Here!

It has been an exciting few days leading up to what will be hopefully a great Christmas. My Christmas pageant at school went well. I executed my part at the wise man perfectly and aside from staring at the ceiling in between songs, I sang and did my motions perfectly! Mom was impressed since that morning I didn't want to get dressed or go to school at all. Unfortunately the weekend before Christmas I was still feeling under the weather with a cold, but it's good I was getting it out my system before all the fun would start. And boy did it start...
On Tuesday evening, we drove downtown to see Daddy. We visited him in his new office on the 11th floor first, then went downstairs to go ice skating!! I was nervous at first and wouldn't even go out on the ice, but Mommy eventually coerced me onto the rink and I had my first experience ice skating! I got braver as the evening progressed, and Mommy did't have to hold me under my shoulders. At one point I told her that my feet didn't feel like my feet, they felt like aliens! After skating around a few more times, we took off our skates and headed over to have pizza at a restaurant. It was a fun evening and I think I would definitely like to try ice skating again!

As if the week wasn't fun enough, the next day after I went to school in my pajamas, I was picked up early and we took off for a trip. We found out in the car that we were going to a place called the North Carolina Transportation Museum where we would take a trip on the Polar Express! It wasn't too long before we stopped off for a picnic then went down the road to the museum. We toured the museum for a while seeing some antique cars and a railroad roundhouse with lots of different types of train cars! After walking around for a little bit we went for an early dinner at a restaurant. Then, we went back as the sun set for our Polar Express experience! Before getting ready for the event, we got to do some crafts and see a model train. As we finally waited to board the train, we saw the conductor and he said we were going to the North Pole.

The train slowly approached and I shook with excitement! We got on the train and found our seats and as the train started to move, the dancing chef's started singing the Hot-Hot-Hot, Hot Chocolate song. Then, they served us hot chocolate and a chocolate chip cookie. As I ate my cookie, the conductor came through the car and stamped our tickets! He stamped an 'A' into my ticket! The chef's read us the Polar Express book as we kept traveling and as we approached the North Pole we sang Christmas carols. I sang the loudest of anyone on our car! I was just filled with excitement! At the North Pole we got off the train and went to see Santa arrive and get ready to deliver the first gift of Christmas! The evening was magical; there was a chill in the air and the clear sky revealed twinkling stars! We got back on the train one last time and as we came to the end of our ride Santa arrived in our car to say hello! He handed all of us our polar express bells before it was time to leave. I had such an absolutely great time! It feels like it's time for Christmas and I am so excited for all of our family to gather and celebrate together!

I Saw Santa!

There were no nerves, or uneasiness this year. I even wrote at list the night before my visit so that I wouldn't forget to tell him anything. Of course, I forgot to tell him about the airplane that flies by itself and Rudolph doll, but I was able to convey to him that I wanted a dump truck that would dump on its own. So, my visit with Santa was a success. I was in fine fashion for my visit too. The suspenders really complete my grown up look. Luckily, it's still easy to tell that I'm a 4 year-old with all the goofy pictures Cora and I took prior to our visit with Santa. After our visit with Santa at the clubhouse I enjoyed a sugar cookie, then we headed outside for a sleigh ride around the block. It was kind of magical because there were a few raindrops in the air that we pretended were snowflakes.

Last week, we practiced singing our songs for the Christmas pageant in front of some parents. Mommy was pleased to see me singing without my hands in front of my face or looking at the ground. I think she is really looking forward to the pageant; she is constantly grilling me on what we will be doing for it. After my great performance at school on Friday, we enjoyed the Wake Forest Christmas parade on Saturday. The parade was fun this year because it was cold, and while we watched we sipped homemade hot chocolate. Mmmmm, puts me in the the mood for Christmas!!

Tis the Season

The outside is decorated. Now it's time for the inside. This past weekend we decorated the house. It started on Friday night when we went out to a restaurant to eat, then headed over to the Booger Mountain Christmas tree lot to find our tree! It was chilly, but not too cold, perfect weather for picking a tree. We weren't there too long before we were loading up our tree and heading home. Mommy and Daddy stood up the tree that night so that the following day we could do some decorating!
We had fun decorating the house, the best part being the small tree upstairs and singing Santa coming out of the box! All of the decorating made Cora and me CRAZY! We were so bonkers I got my first real boo boo. I was jumping on a ball next to a chair and managed to fall into the chair and get a huge gash in my lip. It was bleeding everywhere and it freaked me out a little bit but luckily the bleeding stopped and all I had to do was wait a few extra minutes to eat lunch.
Another thing that made things crazy was the random fashion show we had in the middle of the day after Cora's flower girl dress arrived in the mail. My bow tie and suspenders had arrived a few days before and Mommy said we could have a fashion show when Cora got her dress. I enjoyed my fashion show and did not want to take off my nice clothes!
Christmas is such a fun time of year! I was especially happy when we took a short trip to the mall and I got to see the really tall Christmas tree that I had spotted a week earlier and wanted to see. See it we did!!

Another entertaining Adam quote: During dinner, Daddy was asking Cora why she was looking at us like we were a bunch of monkeys. I abruptly said, "We don't eat bananas all day!"

I Am Thankful For...

...the trash truck. Well, at least that's what I was thankful for before we started eating our Thanksgiving dinner. We all went around the table to say what we were thankful for and I said the trash truck. I believe a trash truck makes our lives much better because they make the world less stinky. When I woke up that morning, Daddy said, "Happy Thanksgiving, Adam!" Without hesitation I asked, "Does that mean tomorrow is Christmas?" We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The weather was beautiful and after we went to church in the morning, we relaxed at home enjoying the holiday.
The day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, it was both a sad day and a great day. The morning we woke up, we found out that Fiona had died during the night. It was sad to see her dead, but we gave her a proper burial and I asked how old I would need to be when I would get a fish. It was a beautiful day though, so we decorated the outside of the house and in the afternoon we took a family bike ride! It was so  much fun riding on the greenway with everyone! I would race Cora along the boardwalk and Daddy was proud of how well I did on my bike!

Bike Rides and Birds

There have been a few weeks of excellent fall weather. Perfect for all sorts of things. One weekend we met Cathy and big Adam for a hike and picnic lunch at Eno River State Park. I'm a pretty good hiker now and I especially enjoyed throwing rocks of all sizes in the river. At one point, Cora and I were preparing desserts for all of the adults with different mixtures of leaves baked on the warm sun-kissed rocks along the river.
During the afternoons while Cora is at school, Mommy and I take all sorts of excursions around the neighborhood. Sometimes we go to the pond, and others we take the greenway to the big park. One day I rode my bike all the way to the big park. I could go all the way down the hills myself and only needed help getting up the hills. On the way home, we saw my favorite bird - the Heron! We've been seeing him a lot at the pond, and with the clamor of my training wheels on the boardwalk, we spooked the heron and he flew across the greenway in front of us. I've been doing really well at the playground too. I can climb most of the different kinds of apparatus to get on to the platforms. Mommy is impressed at my ability to do so and not be scared.
At school, we have been preparing for our Thanksgiving celebration. On Friday afternoon, Mommy and Daddy came with the other parents to watch me sing with my class. The boys wore pilgrim hats and the girls wore Indian feathers as we sang. My favorite song (which I have been practicing) is the Turkey Dinner Song. It goes like this:

Turkey dinner, turkey dinner; Gather round, gather round; Who will get the drumstick, yummy yummy drumstick; Gather round, gather round. 
Cornbread muffins, Chestnut stuffing; Pumpkin pie, ten feet high! Who will get the drumstick, yummy yummy drumstick; Me oh my, me oh my!!!

We had a lesson about Thanksgiving after singing our songs. During the lesson I said for Thanksgiving, my favorite food to eat is turkey and I am most thankful for Daddy. Before leaving school, we had a feast of some yummy snacks.
The next day, we got to go to downtown Raleigh for the Raleigh Christmas Parade! We went into Daddy's work where we got to watch the parade from above the plaza! We enjoyed snacks and hot chocolate while being entertained by a huge Shrek "puff up" blow all over the spectators! We waved to Santa as he finished the parade and we welcomed the beginning of the holiday season!

Happy Halloween 2017!

October has been a fun month! I'm doing well at school; I sing lots of songs to myself as I play and sometimes I recite prayers too. Gotta know my prayers! The weather has been beautiful for lots of fun outings, especially in the afternoons with Mommy. One afternoon we took a hike to the big park, another we walked over to see the broken road, we walked around the neighborhood looking at decorations (blowups are my favorite) and another afternoon we went on a hike to my favorite suspension (I say aspension) bridge and flew a kite when we got back to the windy park.

This past weekend we took a family day trip to Pilot Mountain State Park. It was this mountain that just came up in the middle of flat ground. We drove to the top and when we got there we had a picnic. I must have said in 50 different ways, "Why are we having a picnic lunch on top of a mountain?"  Once I got used to the fact that we were on a mountain, I enjoyed the hike we took around the rocky top. At first I was unsteady on all the rocky steps and roots across the trail, and I held on tight to Daddy's hand, but by the end I would say I hiked it pretty well. It was a fun trip!
Later that weekend, we prepared for Halloween by carving our pumpkins. (Another quote: "It's my carvin' pumpkin" meaning it's my carved pumpkin). I had fun watching Mommy cut open my white pumpkin and clean it out (I WAS NOT doing that!). After she carved a ghost face into my pumpkin I had fun pulling the top on and off over and over and over again. With our pumpkins carved we were ready for Halloween. Mommy and I spent most of the day outside because it was a beautiful day hanging out by the pond watching the heron (his name is Blue Bird by the way) and before I knew it, we were ready to eat dinner and do some trick or treating!!

Back to Business

Ever since our amazing vacation, it's been back to school and routine. Each week, there has been something exciting happening at school though. The week I got back, Cora came to my class at the end of one day to read a book to us. I was so proud of her. I stood next to her as she read the book and sometimes while she showed the pictures in the book about colors, I would add commentary such as: "This is exploring the color green." I am lucky that she is a really good reader because if she is in the mood, she will read to me! The next week at school, my class performed a song in front of the parents. Although I didn't sing very loudly, Mommy knew that I could sing the songs because I would practice them at home. "St Francis Was a Good Man" was fun to sing, but I really loved "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" because the actions that go along with the words are fun.
Last week we had our Fun Run at school. I was scared to do the Fun Run mainly because Mommy told me not to run or else I would slip in the parking lot, which many kids did. So, I ran for about 50 feet, stopped, folded my arms across my chest and started crying until my teacher came to find me. Mommy was not too impressed by that, but I was just confused by the whole thing. At the end, Cora came to my rescue and held my hand to run the last 100 feet, but that was the extent of my Fun Run. Luckily, the same day we had our fun run, the firemen came to visit us with their truck to celebrate Fire Safety Week. I enjoyed climbing on the truck and hearing the siren.

After we dried out from hurricane Matthew we finally had our field trip to Vollmer Farm! Instead of going to school, Mommy and I drove out to the farm. We learned about bees, cows, chickens, took a hayride, we made butter and got to visit some farm animals. After that, the fun began. I loved jumping on the orange inflatable pillow! I jumped on it with my friends for almost an hour. It was so much fun I didn't want to stop to eat lunch. When I finally had enough jumping, Mommy and I took a walk through a corn maze, tested my skills using a sling shot and then went down a really fast slide! Mommy went twice with me, and finally I got enough courage to go down by myself with some of m friends. I went down the slide like 10 times! It was a beautiful fall day for an exciting farm field trip!

"Shake, shake butter we will make, churn churn now it's your turn!"