School Christmas Programs

The boys' school is different from how my school was when I was a kid. Instead of some big Christmas (Holiday these days) program, each class is responsible for doing their own thing. It's kind of nice that way, as we don't have to sit through everyone else's kids doing things and can just go to the ones featuring our own kids.

Niall's was last week. They did a few songs and the teacher read a story where the kids "acted" their parts by standing around in different colored scarves holding props. Niall had stage fright for most of the action, muttering his one little couplet and not singing the songs. He did the best with Jingle Bells, so that's the one that survived the agony of uploading to youtube.


Rowan's class program was today, and his was simpler. The children divided into groups, and each group played a different song on the handbells. Rowan's little group did the Carol of the Bells. He was very proud of himself and told me what he was playing every time the song came on the iPod for the past week, so I knew I had to be sure to get it on video.


Enjoy!

Ho ho ho!

Presenting a picture of the picture with Santa.
Eleri did fine with it, because John put her down in front of Santa, and he didn't pay her any attention until she decided to go sit on his lap. If it's her idea, she's cool with it. If we'd tried to put her there, all hell would have broken loose.

It's Niall's birthday!

Can you believe he's 6 years old today? He was born at 1 minute after midnight. I'll never forget my midwife shouting, "Holy Cow!" when he came barrelling into this world. We knew he would be big, but we weren't expecting a 9lb baby! I had no idea my baby was capable of carrying such a huge guy, and he was born so quickly. He was in a rush then, and he hasn't stopped yet.

 

Niall was such a big baby. People would stop us when we were out to tell me how big my baby was. Like I didn't know... I was carrying him. I knew!

He's tested my patience more than anyone else on this earth, which has made me a better person than I was before. And we've had plenty of laughs along the way.

And now he's six. Can you believe it? He's learning to read and write. He loves math and is already learning some simple multiplication. He's well liked at school, and is an all around great boy.

I'll be taking more pictures tonight once he's home from school. He's been begging for a powerwheels for his birthday, and I scored one on Craigslist way back in September. It's been hidden at the university since then, and I finally get to give it to him this afternoon. I can't wait!

Mom was asking for some pictures, so here's one from the Christmas card photo shoot. You know, Mom, you'd see these faster if you were on Facebook. ;) Here's one of my favorites.

The whole album, which is going to eventually be all of the Christmas pictures, can be found here.