Christmas Break

Christmas break was a nice mix of relaxing and fun.  The boys look forward to our yearly paper "stockings" that hang in the kitchen.  Each day we open a note inside the one the corresponds to the day of the month, revealing an activity leading up the Christmas.  The things we do have become pretty consistent, though which day we do them varies.  We enjoyed a lot of our regulars and a couple new ones: the live nativity, making paper snowflakes, making a gingerbread house, making cookies for the neighbors, shopping for a child for Angel Tree, buying food for the food pantry, eating Little Debbie Christmas Tree cakes, seeing the Christmas trees at the Inn at Virginia Tech, driving and looking at Christmas lights, drinking hot chocolate and reading Christmas books, going to the boys Christmas programs at school, camping out in front of the Christmas tree for a night, going to the Blacksburg Christmas parade, making Christmas cards for their teachers, writing thank you notes to their teachers, opening a new Christmas book, opening a new Christmas ornament, and opening a new Christmas movie on Christmas Eve.  I'm sure I'm forgetting some but those are the main ones.  I love that they get so excited about doing these things each year and I'm thankful for the woman at church who gave me the handmade paper stockings for each day in December when Gabriel was very small.

Both boys were in the Christmas program at church this year for the first time (the kids do a play every other December).  Gabriel in particularly really impressed us.  This was his first time being in a play of any kind, and he had 3 parts: Townsperson, Innkeeper, and Wise Man.  All three roles had a couple lines and due to Thanksgiving and peoples schedules they never even got the whole cast together to practice before the night that they did it.  He remembered all of his lines, as well as other peoples, and said them clearly.  He said that he was nervous before it started, but he was so proud of himself afterwards.  On a silly note though, when he said his first line it was also the first time he had held a microphone.  When he realized how loud and clear it made him he stood there making little noises into it while others were talking.  I kind of expected him to get out of control with it but thankfully he reigned it in.

Corban was a shepherd and he also did a great job.  It was hard for him, and all the other kids his age, to be still and quiet for the 30 minutes that the performance took, but he sang some of the songs and generally went where he was supposed to go.

Each of the boys also had a Christmas performance at school, consisting mostly of songs and some poems.  I didn't get any clear pictures at Gabriel's unfortunately since it was crowded and there were no risers for the kids to stand on.  We did get some at Corban's though, and we also enjoyed going out to eat at Panda Express beforehand.

I won't post the video on here, but at the very end of Corban's performance he did the cutest thing.  When the last song was finished and the applause had died down Corban clearly looked at me and said very loudly "Merry Christmas Mom!"  There was many an "Awww" from those attending.  It was so cute.

And below are some pictures of some of the most important people in these boys lives.  All of these women taught both Gabriel and Corban in preschool and remain very special to both them:

4 year old class Ms. Lisa

4 year old class Ms. Monica

3 year old class Ms Lisa

We did some other fun things during the break, including going to our children's museum (Wonder Universe), going to the one in Roanoke, going swimming one day with Dad, having visits from grandparents, and then having a snow day after just one day back at school.  Here are some pictures of the fun:

Using his free birthday treat at Barnes and Noble. 
He has been wanting to try this cake for a long time.

Wonder Universe

Grandma Cheryl's hotel room
(and tired out from a friend's birthday party at the trampoline park)

The holiday house after the Live Nativity.  Hot chocolate, cookies, and Snoopy!

Christmas Caroling with Gabriel's class at a local nursing home.  Corban especially enjoyed going up to residents and saying "Merry Christmas!"  One timid older gentleman said to Corban "What did you tell Santa that you want to Christmas?"  He replied with "Santa isn't real!!!" and then ran off.

New ornaments

PJ day and Christmas Party at school

Pretending to be worn out from a morning date of shopping and
Panera with Mom while Corban was at his Christmas party.

Wonder Universe

The best part of Christmas Day: new Legos

Ninja gingerbread cookie decorating with Gammer

Corban and his new cat, Butterscotch.  He told me the other day that he needs a grey and white striped cat also.  I asked what he would name it and he said "Butterscotch."  I told me that it would need a different name and he said "Butterscotch 2."  Corban is still in love with cats.  Frequently, when pretending to be a cat, he will say "pretend that I'm a baby kitty who will stay as little as a baby kitty forever."  He also frequently says "I'm a little kitty and my family has died.  Can I live with you forever?"  While I'm on it, a couple other things of note that Corban has said recently: "I don't like playing with girl toys but I still love my mommy."  "Maddie at preschool was sad because no one was playing with her so I asked her to play cars with me." "Are we going to have a Mommy and Corban day today?" (usually referring to Tuesday mornings when we do things together and then go and help with Gabriel's lunch)

Roanoke Children's Museum

Roanoke Children's Museum

Roanoke Children's Museum

Roanoke Children's Museum

And finally the snow day.  I'm not sure if this made me sad or it was nice (or both), but for the first time they dragged the sled up to the top of our hill themselves and I just sat and watched them sled.  The sledding mostly consisted of Gabriel starting to go and then Corban pouncing on to him facing the opposite direction.  They both laughed and rolled around and thought it was hilarious.

Gabriel Turns 7

Gabriel's birthday passed a couple of weeks ago, but no birthday is complete without a commemorative blog post.

As a family we celebrated the Thursday before we left to go to Georgia for Thanksgiving.  We went out to eat at Red Robin (Gabriel loves their "swirly twirly pasta") and then decorated for Christmas.  The next day I brought cupcakes to his class at school during lunch and everyone sang to him (he said "having 7 people sing to me is embarrassing").  Then on Saturday we headed to Georgia so that he could be there for his actual birthday on Sunday.

War Machine

Dragon and Army Men

He loves putting up Christmas decorations

Corban's on the left and Gabriel's on the right

Red Robin birthday dessert

When we asked Gabriel what he would like to do for his birthday what he really wanted was to eat at the Ninja (Hibachi) with his cousin Drew.  So that's what we did. We followed that with cupcakes, presents, and then going to see the "Nights of Lights" at Lake Lanier Island.

On Thanksgiving day we busted a pinata that Hannah Kate and Henry didn't get to use for their birthday party and then had more cupcakes and presents (we also decided that we need an annual family pinata for Thanksgiving.  Too fun).

As far as Gabriel in general, here are some birthday thoughts: Gabriel is really into The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, all things Lego, Narnia, and reading.  He still loves to pretend and is very active and creative.  He can be quite a leader and can rally others to do things with him (the other day when I stayed at school after lunch for recess he had a bunch of kindergartners running around pretending to be orcs).  He likes his Ninja class and violin lessons every week.

Gabriel really loves school.  He has friends in his class and is really good with math and reading.  I don't know if his work is really challenging enough some days, but he gets disappointed when he misses things at school and is always eager to go.  He still is challenged by sitting still and not talking too much.  We are trying to encourage him to remember to ask for "a break" when he needs it.  Sometimes just a few minutes alone makes a big difference in being able to focus.  One day last week his teacher said that he was having a hard time focusing so she sent him to the office for 5 minutes, not as a punishment, but to have a quiet place to sit.  She said that when she had him come back he sat right down and finished all of his work.  We have taken a break from OT due to some scheduling issues, but we are still trying to use the emotional management and calming down techniques that he learned there.  Some weeks go more smoothly than others.  Some weeks I feel like we really need more help in this area.  But just recently his Sunday school teacher commented that she could see some big changes in his emotional regulation and focus and that was encouraging.  Our recent trip to Georgia also went better for him than previous times.  He is working hard but it's difficult to remember sometimes that change is gradual.

His silly classmates

Another thing that he's been working with the last two months is some respiratory issues.  Back in October his seasonal allergies flared.  We started his zyrtec and singulair and occasionally the inhaler that we keep on hand.  He continued to cough and cough (especially at night) and he was eventually diagnosed with bronchitis and pneumonia.  When we were in Georgia he was running around outside one day and came in with red eyes and lots of drainage.  We started the allergy medications again.  Two weeks later and he is still coughing and not getting great sleep.  He started another antibiotic yesterday for bacterial bronchitis.  I don't know why when he gets respiratory things he can't seem to kick it.  He has a wellness appointment in a couple week so I want to have a chat about that.  Maybe we need a nebulizer machine at home.  Maybe we need to consider if he has asthma and needs to be taking some maintenance medications.  We for sure need an epi auto injector because bees love him and he gets very swollen when they sting him.  His immune system is just a little off, which is fine, but the coughing and not sleeping makes him tired and makes it harder to pay attention when he needs to (I'm right there with him.  It's hard to focus when you're tired).

DCA Service Day

 

He got invited to participate in the regional spelling bee, which he is still a little undecided about.  He feels apprehensive about the spelling bee process in general, so much so that at the beginning of the year he said that he didn't want to learn how to spell because that would require him to participate in a spelling bee.  He is, however, a pretty good speller.  If he doesn't want to participate that's his decision though.

He lost both of his top two teeth in the past week, both of which he pulled out himself.  He can truly sing "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth."

First one out on Tuesday morning

Second one on Saturday morning
(and, yes, that is his pretend ring from the Hobbit around his neck)

So, happy 7th birthday to Gabriel!  Our creative, energetic, strong willed, social, thoughtful, silly boy!