School Christmas Program

In the middle of December, Jaden and Cody had their school Christmas program.

Cousin Abby's preschool class was part of the program too. Her class sang a couple songs right before Jaden and Cody went on stage. We loved being able to see Abby at the same event!

I thought the boys looked really sharp in their Christmas suits.

Grades K-2 went on stage together and sang two Christmas songs. Jaden and Cody are in the front row, just right of the choir teacher. One of Cody's classmates was standing pretty much right in front of him most of the time, so he's a bit hard to see.

You can get a little better view of the boys in this photo since they're projected on the large screen.

The group's first song was "It's About the Cross." This was actually the same song that their preschool class sang last year. It has a good message about how Christmas isn't about the presents or the tree but about Christ and the cross. Here's a clip of their song...

The second (and final) song that the K-2nd grade group sang was Silent Night. The boys' choir teacher Mrs. Fisher taught the kids the sign language to this song. It was nice to watch. Jaden and Cody seemed to know their parts well.

The next part of the program was the best part for our family. We actually only found out from Jaden and Cody the day before the program that both of them were chosen to perform a couple songs on the xylophone. The boys' class has been learning the xylophone as part of their school day one day a week since August. Their xylophone teacher selected 2 or 3 kids from each kindergarten class to play at the program. We were so proud that both of our boys were chosen! Cody said, "I think he chose us because we're really good listeners in class." ;)

My video is not the best quality, nor does it give the best view since we were several rows back. But, you can still get an idea of what their song sounded like. Both boys took their role in playing very seriously. We thought they did a fabulous job!

After the program, we went out to DQ for some ice cream treats with Abby and her family and Aunt Chelsea who had come to support Cody and Jaden. It was a fun way to end a festive evening!

Snow in Texas

At the beginning of December, we received an overnight surprise-- a dusting of snow here in Texas! The snow started falling around 10pm. We weren't the only ones in the neighborhood outside at that hour taking pictures and marveling at the weather.

Apparently, the last time Houston received any snow was in 2009. Our friends and family up north would likely call this snowfall a minor dusting, but for the folks down here in Texas, this snow was quite the ordeal!

Jaden and Cody don't have many memories of our snowfall in Montana, so they were both thrilled to see the snow when they woke up in the morning. Jaden had been battling a fever for the past few days that week, but we even let our sick child enjoy the snow for a little bit.

The snow was fairly wet-- perfect packing snow, so Cody made and tossed a few snowballs before he left for school. When I dropped him off at school, his kindergarten teacher said that she was taking the class outside first thing after everyone arrived to play in the snow. In fact, nearly every class at the boys' K-8 school did the same thing. (Did I mention this snow was a big deal??)

Our youngest child got to experience snow for the very first time in her life. I learned in Montana that the best way to play with snow with little ones is to bring the snow inside on a tray.

Adley dove right in to touch and taste the snow. She didn't seem to mind how chilly it was.

We thoroughly enjoyed our winter weather. What an adventure! :)

9 months old

Our little 9-month-old girl is curious and on the move! She is no longer content being held for very long, now that the world is at her fingertips. She wants to explore and move on her own. She readily gives us smiles and giggles and brings so much joy to our lives and hearts. We love, love, love you, Adley Grace!

Some 9-month stats about our sweet girl:

PHYSICAL

• Confidently cruises along the edges of furniture
• Just beginning to stand on her own for brief periods of time
• Learned to crawl up the stairs
• FAST crawler! Especially loves crawling towards "no-no" items like family members' shoes, the moss in our fake tree, any of her brothers' toys or creations, various leftover food crumbs, grass pieces, or choking hazards 
• Enjoys walking behind her push toys in the house

EATING HABITS

• Started finger foods this month and absolutely LOVES to feed herself!
• Tried lots of new finger foods like cheese, blueberries, cantaloupe, cheerios, mushrooms, bread, grapes, zucchini, pasta, turkey, chicken
• Not too interested in pureed food anymore since feeding herself is so much more fun!
• Starting to understand and communicate the signs for "more" and "all done"
• Doing well at drinking from a sippy cup, as long as Mommy or Daddy holds the cup for her

SLEEPING HABITS

• Still consistently wakes up 1-2 times per night
• Prefers to have Mommy nurse her to sleep; doesn't self-soothe very well
• Often takes short naps (30-45 min.) but will occasionally surprise us with a marathon 1 1/2 hour morning nap (yay!)

SOCIAL

• Makes and holds eye contact with others well; people often remark on how social she is
• Makes "ma-ma" and "da-da" noises often but doesn't yet seem to connect these terms to Mommy and Daddy

PLAYTIME

• Tries to pick up every morsel of leftover food from beneath the dinner table to put in her mouth
• Tried and LOVED swinging this month; often giggles whenever she is pushed
• Not very interested in being read to, although she loves playing with lift-the-flap books
• Learned how to open her brothers' boxes of games, Legos, and puzzles (a new level of baby-proofing was in order!)
• Enjoys listening to music and often bounces along
• LOVES playing with Tupperware in the kitchen and making a BIG mess

We love watching you grow and learn each month, sweet girl!

We love you! 

November Misc

A few miscellaneous happenings from November...

Tuesday nights

Nearly every Tuesday night when Daddy has his online "pastor class" (the term Jason uses with Jaden and Cody for his SMP class), Grammy and Papa come over to help our family. They regularly bring dinner for us, clean up all the dishes, play with the kids, help with baths, and keep Amy company until Jason is done. What an awesome gift this is! Lately, during many bedtime storytimes, Jaden and Cody will listen to a story read to them AND each read a story themselves. They've made a lot of progress as little readers so far this school year. Grammy was a great listener and encourager.

Christmas Outfits

Grammy and Papa ordered these sharp-looking suits for Jaden and Cody and this adorable Christmas dress for Adley as part of their Christmas gifts. When we tried the outfits on to check the size, Cody said, "I look really nice!" Mommy and Daddy agreed and thought the suits made the boys look very grown up. Both boys wanted to wear the outfits right away! We attended a wedding for some church friends right after Thanksgiving, so it was the perfect time to wear these fancy outfits. 

Nathan's birthday

Our nephew Nathan turned 3 in November and celebrated with a fire truck birthday party. Kim and Matt had arranged for a REAL firetruck and real firefighters to come to their home. How fun is this?! We all learned a lot from the firefighters and got to see one of them dress up in all of her gear.

A highlight for the kids was getting to sit inside the firetruck.

At the end, the firemen gave out hats to all the kids. Even Adley liked trying on a firefighter hat. Kim and Matt planned such a fun party! We loved celebrating our sweet nephew Nathan!

Playtime

Cody and Jaden continue to impress me with their playtime creativity. I rarely have to give them ideas for what to play at home. One day, they brought these paper bag platypus puppets home from school (which they made based off Janet Stevens' book Plaidypus Lost). These puppets then became the inspiration for what Jaden and Cody called their Platypus School. The boys made desks for their puppets out of blocks, wrote and read stories to them, created math flashcards for them, set up center time activities, and even let the platypuses have recess time. During this particular recess, the puppets were wearing Jaden and Cody's Wild Kratt suits.

Time at the Park

November was a gorgeous month weather-wise. We had a good mixture of cooler days with the warmer ones. On one nice not-too-hot but (of course) not-too-cold day that the boys didn't have school, I took my three to the park.

I loved seeing how Jaden and Cody truly are eager to play with Adley at the park.

This girl absolutely loves swinging!

We even brought along a picnic lunch to enjoy. Adley, of course, started getting into all the food the moment I stepped away to take this picture. She's certainly at a busy stage, and she's quick now too!

Naptime Lullabies

Recently, I've mentioned that Jaden and Cody have enjoyed making up their own lullabies to sing to Adley before her naps. Their words to her always warm my heart! This month, I was finally able to capture their lullabies on video. The boys obviously knew that I was recording them, so they give lopsided grins towards the camera. Still, the videos showcase the boys' sweet love for their little sister! We are so thankful for this!

Cody's Lullaby:

"Adley, you're the sweetest person in the world

You know that God loves you so

And I will also like to say... I love you so." 

Jaden's Lullaby:

Oh sweetie, you are so great

We love you as our sister too

I hope you love God when you're grown up

We love you, great Adley Grace

I hope you love Jesus when you grow up.

Thanksgiving

Cody and Jaden brought home some precious Thanksgiving-related crafts from kindergarten. I loved seeing which items they said they were thankful for.

Even now that Thanksgiving is past, we are still using these colorful, double-sided placemats. What wonderful keepsakes!

A couple weeks prior to Thanksgiving, I saw this great idea from one of my favorite websites for kid-friendly activities: www.handsonaswegrow.com. This thankfulness tree was super easy to make, and the boys really loved adding their own leaves to the tree, especially because they could do so independently. Both boys eagerly went to town adding multiple leaves a day.

A couple of my favorite leaves included "Grammy's rolls" and "Grandma's mints."

Adley loved participating in our family thankfulness project as well. Her idea of fun, however, was daily attempting to taste-test each of the new leaves! We eventually had to rearrange our leaves so all of them were on the highest branches. :)

One of our Texas friends had gifted us with this super-cute Thanksgiving outfit for Adley before she was even born. I was excited to see that the size was a perfect fit on Adley! 

We started out our Thanksgiving Day by worshiping at Matt and Kim's church with my parents and our Schleicher-side family members (minus Andy and Beth). You'll notice that we're all wearing sweaters or long-sleeved shirts. Hooray for seasonal weather! :)

After the church service, we had the Schleicher clan over to our home for a Thanksgiving lunch. Everyone helped by bringing multiple side dishes or desserts for the meal, so our role of doing just the turkey, beans, and two kinds of potatoes felt fairly simple.

Jaden and Cody were very proud of their festively decorated place cards for the meal. I thought the place cards turned out very cute as well.

We tried having a kids' table with these four goofballs for the Thanksgiving meal. The cousins did get fairly silly during the meal, but they obviously enjoyed the time together. 

Here is the rest of the clan...

Family is definitely one of the top items on our thankfulness list! We are so thankful that we could spend Thanksgiving with all of these family members. It was a great, relaxing time together.

Most of all, though, we are thankful for our Savior Jesus who gave His life so that we could have forgiveness and eternal life. What a precious gift that we can be called children of God and experience the joy of His presence each day!