Haircut Time!

Elijah has the most beautiful head of curly hair that gets him quite a bit of attention anywhere he goes. I have trimmed it several times just to keep it from getting too wild, but I swore I wouldn't cut it for a long time for fear that his precious curls would be gone forever! But after Sam couldn't handle him constantly being mistaken for a girl, he begged me to take Lijah to get his hair cut. I told him I'd just trim it again, no problem! But Sam was adamant and even went as far as Googling pictures of the hairstyle he thought would be perfect for our 18-month-old (let me just add that he doesn't have the ultimate say, but he liked feeling like he did :)!). So while he was out of town for work, I took the boys to a kid's haircut place in El Paso and Elijah got his first real haircut.

This place was so much fun! There were toys for the kids to play with while they waited and Jaden even got to blow bubbles while getting his hair cut!

I'm cringing inside as Elijah's hair is about to be chopped off. He's as happy as can be!

The final results...I think daddy will be pleased!

Here's a little video I got of Elijah getting his hair cut. He was entirely too busy eating a lollipop and watching Yo Gabba Gabba to pay any attention to me. But he didn't mind getting his hair cut at all!

Snow Day!

It's very, very rare for us to get snow here. Throughout the winter, we either experience 70-degree weather; or get a major meteorologist report warning us of a big snowstorm coming in overnight, and then wake up to another 70-degree day! So when every news channel was warning us about a major snowstorm approaching, I thought we may get a light powdered sugar-like dusting with all evidence gone by morning. And boy was I wrong!

The snow started late in the afternoon on Tuesday and it just kept falling...and falling! I was tempted to wake the boys up from their naps for fear they would miss it it all if I didn't; but when it started to stick, I decided they could sleep. But I was excited and I couldn't wait for them to see! By the next morning, the amount of snow on the ground was unbelievable! It was a beautiful sight to see! We couldn't wait to get bundled up and go outside to play!

All bundled up and ready to go.

Jaden and Elijah braving the snow! They loved it so much and didn't want to come back inside. Jaden was ready to bring out every toy from the playroom

Jaden made a snow angel.

My adorable snow babies having fun in the snow!

Snowball fight!! Jaden's favorite part of the day! (I'm not sure if Elijah was the thrower or receiver in the picture below, but either way, he was a good sport about it!).

Snow castles, tractors, and tunnels are also fun in the snow! The boys had "snow" much fun (corny, but I wouldn't be a preschool teacher if I didn't say it - haha!).
The upside to the snow, other than us actually having some, was that we had three days off of school! The downside to all of this snow was that our little city practically shut down! Apparrently I'm not the only one who didn't believe the meteorologist reports - the entire city was unprepared! There were blackouts galore, water shortages, and busted pipes all over the city. When we finally left the house on Friday to go to a restaurant, the waitress kindly informed us that they were expecting a rolling blackout to hit in twenty minutes. Kids...eat fast!

The water fountain outside the restaurant was completely frozen. Jaden was anxious to get a closer look. Doesn't it look neat!

We ended our snow filled week with a movie night and ice cold ice cream! And there was enough snow still on the ground to play again tomorrow!

Jaden's Birthday Party

For Jaden's fourth birthday, he requested a Toy Story party. I tried talking him into a more general, less commercial theme, like monsters or cowboys, but he didn't go for it, so Toy Story it was. We had his party at the house, and planned to have most of it take place in the backyard, which we are fortunate to be able to do in January in New Mexico! But just as his party was about to begin, the wind started picking up and we ended up having to move a lot of the activities (and what seemed like 20 kids) inside. It was crowded, but fun nonetheless!

The decorations are one of my favorite parts about planning a party. I loved being able to use lots of different colors with the Toy Story theme. I recruited the help of my mom, sister, and sister-in-law and we made the banners, party poms, cupcake toppers, and adorable alien favor bags! (And I promised that I would have my Cricut Machine up and running by the next party :).

Isn't the cake adorable! One of my student's moms made it and I thought she did an amazing job! Sam was in Florida the week before the party and went to Downtown Disney to get this set of Toy Story figures to use on the cake. Jaden was so excited!

While looking up ideas for a Toy Story party, I came across a great idea to serve food like the Toy Story restaurant, Pizza Planet. We had a variety of pizzas for the adults, and the kids got to make their own personal pizzas.

In the backyard we set up a little jumping balloon, a sand and water table, a playhouse, playdough, and a table with Toy Story games (Kerplunk and Buckaroo). The kids had a hard time trying to play with sand and playdough in 60 MPH winds; but the jumping balloon remained a hit! And we also played several rounds of musical chairs, which proved to be a hard lesson in losing for some little ones. We knew that everyone was a winner, but they weren't buying it. And I know what you're thinking -- as a preschool teacher, I should have known better and shouldn't have taken out any chairs so that everyone really was a "winner" each round; but in my recent studies, I've read that it is best for kids to learn at an early age about being good sports and that they can't always win; so call it what you will, but I like to think that I was helping them grow and develop :o). And once they got the hang of it, they were all smiles!

These mammas did not want to brave the windy weather!

I found the cutest Toy Story candy necklace kit that had a package for each child to make their own necklace. They were really focused and had so much fun making these!

Time for the Pinata! I think this pinata was holding at least ten bags of candy! It was so heavy. As soon as they strung the rope through and lifted it, the weight of the pinata made it break right through the rope. My dad had to do some reconstructing (which is why there is a towel taped across the top of it!).

Time to sing "Happy Birthday!"

I regret not getting a picture of Jaden with all of his little party guests while they were all still there, but I got a couple of really cute ones with the few kids we could round up at the cake.

Surprisingly Jaden wasn't asking me if he could open his presents the entire party, so we almost forgot about this part! He got so many thoughtful and wonderful gifts from so many thoughtful and wonderful family and friends! What a lucky, loved little boy!

Happy Birthday Sweet Jaden!