HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Hi there! Just a quick, jolly holiday message from Charlie!!!

Charlie singing Jingle Bells...

Charlie singing "Up on the Housetop" this Christmas morning... 

 Merry Christmas to All!!!

Getting Ready for Christmas!

As we counted down to Christmas, Charlie and I kept very busy with crafts, art projects, and fun activities! Here are just a few of the things we did this year!

We made some footprint Christmas trees by painting Charlie's feet green! He decorated the trees and drew "stars" on top. I think this turned out really cute and he had fun with it, too!

One weekend, I took Charlie to Santa's Craft Corner at Cosley Zoo and he tried making all of the crafts(after a visit with Santa, of course!). Some of them turned out better than others, but our two favorites were the confetti snowman and the mosaic Christmas tree! Here are some pictures of those!

Another day, we kept busy at home making salt dough ornaments! We cut out many different shapes and made as many ornaments as we could!

Charlie make one giant ornament of on his hand print which we later made into a super cute Santa ornament!

After all the ornaments were done baking in the oven, Charlie painted them! They turned out really cute so we decided to give them away as Christmas presents! We had fun deciding who got which one! 

Charlie also helped me make some cookies (he mostly enjoyed sneaking the chocolate chips to eat). He also painted some plain picture frames from Hobby Lobby and then we put his pictures in each finished frame to give as gifts to family. He enjoyed doing that, too! (no pictures of those things...)

All in all, Christmas season was lots of fun for us. I really tried to teach him a little about the joy of giving this year. I hope he picked up on that throughout all our holiday fun! :) 

Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Tree!

Charlie came downstairs this morning to find a surprise... The Christmas tree!! Daddy put it up last night and Charlie and I decorated this afternoon! He loves it! He especially loved looking at every ornament and telling me exactly what branch to put it on! His favorites were a big Santa head, a wooden angel I made in 1st grade, and a Snoopy in a wagon!

Here is a quick video of his hilarious first reaction to the tree this morning. This kid is something else! Check it out! :)

Here's a picture of my little Christmas helper with the tree today!

Having this little guy around makes me appreciate every bit Christmas time! 

Charlie's Favorites Today...

Welcome to my blog! I never thought I would come around to blogging, but it just seems so much easier than writing in a pen and paper journal on a regular basis! I will try to post regularly just to show what my two year old, Charlie, is up to and what fun projects and learning activities we are working on! I am a stay at home mom right now but like to utilize my education background and experience as a reading specialist to teach Charlie all about the world around him! He loves to learn and is a very smart cookie!

So for today's entry... I have decided to periodically ask  Charlie, a series of questions and see how his answers change over time. I think I will record his answers as direct quotes whenever possible, also, to see how his speech evolves as he gets older.

Today's Favorites:
1. What's your favorite animal? "Your favorite animal is a zebra." *This was a surprise to me!*

2. What's your favorite movie? "Your favorite movie is Diego."

3. Who are your friends? "Your friend is Linden and friend is Kai." *We saw both of these kiddos yesterday so they were fresh on his mind!*

4. What is your favorite color? "Your favorite color is green. Mommy likes Yellow!" *true*

5.What foods do you like? "Like peanut butter toast, like jelly toast." *He was actually eating peanut butter toast while I asked these questions, so that may have swayed  his thinking!*

6. What songs do you like? "Like Silent Night and like Away in a Manger and like Feliz Navidad!"

7. What is your favorite toy? "Your favorite toy is your zebra and the zoo animals."

8. What is your favorite snack? "Your gummies!" *fruit snacks*

9. What is your favorite store? "You like to go to Menards and like Home Depot."

10. What's your favorite restaurant? "You like Old McDonald's" *That is what he calls McDonalds*

**At this point Charlie started asking his own questions and then giving the answers! I just went with it!**

11. "What's your favorite dinner? Favorite is pasta! Favorite is noodles! Favorite food is mac and cheese!"

12. "What is your favorite bug?" (I repeated his question and he excitedly responded,) "Ox Beetle!"

That's where we are today, December 2, 2012! :)