Nate sings Elvis

Nate loves to sing and has in fact not put down this microphone all morning! Here he is signing "Heart Break Hotel" by Elvis!

Nate-in-a-box

This is how I found Nate when I came into his room following his frustrated bellow and sad cries for help! Being the best mom ever, I left him like that long enough to grab my camera and document it! Poor baby, how does he even think of this stuff?

Christmas time is here: It's too cold to get our tree addition

The boys worked so hard on their Ginger Bread Houses! I frosted them and they decorated and ate and decorate some more!

This is their Kids tree set up on the train table with an elaborate Christmas scene designed by the boys!

More of their magical tree display

Decorating their tree!

We made these reindeer cupcakes together !How cute are they! The boys did a great job!

In an effort to make it feel like Christmas time around here last week (with Sam out of town, no Christmas tree do to the nasty weather, and being trapped inside) the boys and I went Christmas nutty! We made reindeer cupcakes ginger bread houses, they made ornaments and decorated their special boys tree! They also staged an elaborate scene around their tree! So fun! This week we are going to make giant hanging christmas trees, decorate presents, and bake, bake bake! We made pumpkin bread yesterday and next up is gingerbread, peanut butter cup cookies and the famous Sam King fudge! We will get our tree on Wednesday when it is physically safe to go outside again!

Preschool Culminating Event

Eli signing there "food song"! Yes, he really is an entire head taller than his class!

Captain Adorable!

Double circle song! Do you see Nate's little face in the middle? Eli is holding hands with one of his best friends named Leo!

Boogey down Nate!

Do an Arts Fusion Demonstration with Miss Donna!

The boys are Miss Donna pros! They have been taking her class since Eli was 2.5 years old!

At the end of each semester at University Primary School (the boys preschool) the teachers organize a culminating event that documents the work they have done on their semester project! This semester the theme was: Where does our food come from? Eli was part of the Farm animal group and Nate was part of the farm Machine group! Each group investigated their topics through prior knowledge, research, art, field trips, etc... Yeah, this really is the best preschool ever! It was so fun to go the big event and learn more about their projects!

Eli's Christmas Play

Eli, getting ready for the play to start, peeking through his "bedroom" window!

Hamming it up before the play began!

Joker!

Thinking hard about what mischief he can think of getting in to!

Eli had such a fun experience on the day of his b-day party! He was invited (because he is serious ham) to take part in a children's play that was being staged at our favorite Children's musem in Champaign. The play is based on a story called "Within the Cloak of Christmas" and is about a little boy who discovers santa sleeping in his favorite chair on Christmas eve, and the adventures that follow! Eli only had one line "wake up Santa" and had to follow the story and act out what he heard! He was terrific! The play was starred just Eli and Santa so he was a star and he loved that!

The best parts of the whole night where 1) right before the play began, Eli snuck down the back side of the Castle (where the play was staged) and popped up in the crowd! 2) during one scene in the play, Eli is supposed to "gently nudge santa awake with his foot", well the boy flat out kicked Santa! It was hilarious!

Eli was not ever nervous or worried about being in front of a crowd! In fact when the play was over and the crowd cheered for him, he went crazy and cheered back for them! What a fun adventure for our scene-stealing boy!

Pirate Costume Party Extravaganza

Treasure hunt with Miss Natalie! Nate found the treasure first!

Singing "Happy Birthday" to the Pirate Birthday boy

Crew mates!

Listening to Miss Natalie read " How I became a Pirate" right before they acted it out!

The pirate Crew!

Making Pirate Picture frames

Getting ready to go on a treasure hunt!

Walking the plank to get the pirate eye patch and hat!

Eli had such a fun 5th birthday party! He had a Pirate Costume Extravaganza party and all of his friends wore pirate costumes or hats. We had the party at Class Act where the boys take improv classes with Miss Natalie! When guests arrived they had to walk the plank and jump off into the "ocean" (blue fabric) to become part of the crew. They then got a pirate hat and an eye patch. Next up, the crew mates all made personalized pirate picture frames and then Miss Natalie took a group picture of all the kids in their costumes to go in the frames! So fun! Then Miss Natalie read the group Eli's favorite book, " How I Became a Pirate" and then the kids put on an improv sketch based on the book (under Miss Natalie's Direction). We then had pirate cupcakes and sang to my birthday boy! The party finished up for a treasure hunt complete with clues to find the treasure chest whcih was filled with their pirate treasure bags! Eli was ecstatic and Miss Natalie is seriously the coolest of all cool with kids!