While snow fell quietly outside the Meeting House, Savannah's class put on a short but sweet holiday program. They were joined by the preschoolers and Kindergarteners. Savannah was very excited as were her friends. The girls had a chance to tell me about it the day before while making the gingerbread houses. What is interesting, is that it was much shorter, more simple and much less involved than preschool programs. Yet, these kids were very excited. They took their roles seriously and carried them out well. It is always nice to get a little Quaker perspective such as this during the madness of the holidays. Keeping it simple pays off!
Here is my sweet Savannah on stage. I had to include their gingerbread song because it was very cute and perfect for this very LIVELY class. The focus is off but you can still see the children holding their gingerbread cookies. Of course, T. Connie had them all bake their cookies beforehand because she would never buy them from a store!
I decided to invite all of the girls from Savannah's class over to make gingerbread houses. All but two showed up which put eight lively girls around my kitchen table. They were all so very cute. Some were precise, slow and accurate. Some ate more candy than they got on their houses. Regardless, they were all thoroughly entertained and happy to be spending the afternoon with Savannah. I was thrilled because my sweet, quiet girl had the opportunity to host such a fun activity. She clearly felt special.
I learned a few things that I will incorporate for the 2nd Annual Gingerbread House Party. The girls don't really care about constructing the house; they just like to decorate it. I will have them all built when they arrive. Second, I will just use the frosting out the cans instead of making Royal Icing. Yes Melissa, you were right!
Other than that, it was a very easy and painless get together. The girls had fun and the clean up wasn't bad. Here a few pictures of the girls and their houses.
Lila's Christmas program was last week. I was apprehensive about her performance for a variety of reasons. Most of you probably don't remember the drama from last year. . . falling off the stage while doing the potty dance because she WOULD NOT go to the bathroom at school. Thankfully, we have overcome that hurdle. Second, while Lila's November conference was very positive in terms of academics, her social skills lagged behind. She does well with peer to peer interaction but rarely participates in movement activities, singing or any other kind of activity where she feels that she might be caught in the spotlight. She doesn't fully participate in music class. She is a self conscience girl! We continue to struggle with ways to boost her self esteem.
Keeping this in mind, we slowly worked Lila up about her program. We got her excited to sing for us and she even mentioned, a number of times, that she was going to sing loud. Lila Grace was thrilled to put on her pretty Christmas dress and even tried to sneak a tiara into the ensemble. I dropped her off at school while she was all smiles and went back to collect Daddy, Grammy, Papa and a sick Adeline to watch her performance.
When Lila walked into the sanctuary, she was still all smiles and even stopped to give me a hug. She took her position on stage and continued to smile. Here is a clip of her first song.
Needless to say I was thrilled. Not only did I think she was pretty darn cute, she was SINGING!! Better yet, she stopped mid song and gave me a, "Hi Mommy!" shout out. Daddy got one too. It was so cute.
Lila sang each and every song. She caught me mouthing the words to Frosty the Snowman and I got a quick frown, a point and shaking of the head. It was clear that this was her show and I was not allowed to participate. What really got me is that she stuck to her word. She sang loud on a couple of the songs. Never did I think I was going to be the parent of the loud singer. It just isn't in Savannah and Adeline is incapable of projecting herself. I don't find loud kids that appealing and, luckily, Lila only belted it out a couple of seconds during two songs. For those few seconds, I was pretty proud even though I typically cringe when my she is overly loud.
Here is a clip of my loud singer. It takes about 20 seconds to get there.
Here she is with her two best buddies Vincent and Hayden. They have had the pleasure of growing up together.
