Magic Electrical Dust....

Ahh, the holidays bring magic to the entire month.  It's not officially December, but the City of Smyrna hosted their annual Tree Lighting this evening.  We have been every year since Olivia was born and it's getting much easier now that strollers are not part of the process.  Strollers and crowds do not work well together.  I try to get a great photo every year, but that doesn't always work in my favor.  Luckily, we get to see all of our friends at the tree lighting. 

This year, with Olivia being 6 and Zach, 4 1/2, it is one of those magical years.  They truly understand who Santa is and the magic he holds.  Santa arrived this year on a four horse open sleigh and proceeded to walk up to the gigantic tree.  We counted down and suddenly, Santa threw magic dust on the tree and it lit up the night!  I was holding Zach and his eyes made me see the magic.  Both kids were amazed, but to see Zach's face.... ahhh.  He was studying the tree and thinking about the entire process.  His eyes were actually twinkling!  I didn't have to wait long until he told me what he determined.  In the car, Olivia was engrossed in the magic dust and dreaming of Santa.  Zach told us that it was "actually magic electrical dust" that Santa threw on the Christmas tree.  Santa wears the white gloves so he will not be electricuted.  Ah ha, safety gloves....good thinking, Santa! 

Funny story, but a magical night for me..... 

Thanksgiving is Family

What an amazing holiday... Time spent with Dave and time spent with our entire family - it was everything we wanted.  Our family came to the lake on Friday to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Kids, good food and beautiful sunshine were the highlights of the holiday.  We explored an old gold mine (cave) and rafted around the lake.  Zach is an explorer!  Olivia sat in Aunt Karen's lap most of the day enjoying one-on-one time and playing with Uncle Barry's dog, Pepper.  A huge thanks goes to my mom and Aunt Barbara for providing all of us with the most amazing meal.  Believe me, we enjoyed this meal several times over. 

Saturday was spent at the UGA v. GA Tech football game.  Our great friends, Bill and Julie were in town from Arkansas.  Clint, Wes and Candy were there as well, so we had part of our "old clan" back together again.

The Pryor's wrapped up the holiday by decorating the house and our Christmas tree.  It's lovely.

We will Rock You....

After years and years of taking The Music Class with my little ones (ages 9 months on...), you would think my kids would sing and dance all the time.  It had the opposite effect.  Don't get me wrong, The Music Class is a wonderful opportunity for children to be introduced to musical instruments, age appropriate songs and rythyms.  We took countless semesters (repeating for me with each kid...can you say "enough of the Dinosaur Collection?, but I do like 'Little Liza Jane' and Firetruck, Firetruck' he he).  After all of these years, I still received the same comment on school reports for both Olivia and Zach - "they are shy when we have music time at school".  I felt so bad; why aren't these kids participating at school?  Well, finally they opened up.  Now they are requesting songs for me to download on my iPod!  "We Will Rock You" is a favorite due to the Dancing Diggers we viewed last year.  Yes, the diggers dance to music; it is mesmerizing.  They are currently into "Who Let the Dogs Out".  The memory I have of this particular song is at our wedding on St. Simons Island 8 years ago.  My young cousins, Jaycie and Logan (ages 2-3) were on the dance floor boogying to this song.  Eight years later, I have two kids who are doing the same thing.  My nephew, Gavin, will throw down when I play Boom-Boom Pow by the Black Eye Peas.  Now he has some moves!  I think he gets those from his dad (sorry Karen) :-)  My recent favorite is Zach who, out of the blue' bolts out "It's not over tonight, just give me one more chance to make it right....I won't go home without you" by Maroon Five.  I do not have this song on my iPod, but I assume it made an impression on him in the car.  I love it! 
Keep on singing and dancing, kids!

An Artist in our Midst...

Here is a display of Olivia and Zach's artwork from their KidzArt class over the past semester.

Olivia loves KidzArt and frequently produces more than one piece of art during the class.  Zach loved it earlier, but I can tell from his artwork that he goofs off with his friends a bit.  He now includes a race track on every piece of artwork.  No harm, no foul.  I've been extremely impressed by Olivia's art and she takes such pride in it.  We have an art folio and fill it as pieces comes home.  She pulls her art folio out weekly to review what she has done.  What a great thing for her!

(Guilt) Trip to Delray Beach, Florida

Yes, my children used the guilt trip to get me to take them to the beach. "I want to see Aunt Kim", "we love the beach", and most importantly "you went to the beach in October and didn't take us". Their plan worked. Almost every time I fly the kids to South Florida, the weather decides to take a turn - cold, windy or both. We had nice weather, it was just a bit cooler than we would have liked. We still had tons of fun on the beach, in the heated pool and hot tub, so all is well. Olivia and Zach were swimming in this beautiful clear water with an area deep enough to swim, but shallow enough with a sandbar at their back to keep everyone safe. Oh, they loved it. Zach told me "Daddy is more fun at the beach" - come on, I had catching up to do with my sister! Give your mom a break. Zach surprised Aunt Kim by climbing her tree. They have lots of tricks up their sleeves. Riding bikes, whistling, snapping fingers and climbing trees!

We finally visited Sugar Sand Park, which is relatively close my sister's house. I'm not sure why we have never made it there, but I'm postive every visit will include a trip to Sugar Sand from now on. In addition to a gigantic (words cannot describe) park, there was a carosel and a Science Discovery Center. We spent an entire morning at this park and it took a lot of pursuading to leave. They loved the Dam area and built several 'dams' while we were there.

Olivia and Zach also saw their Florida friends, Justin and Brandon. It was wild and crazy play. As Justin said on our way out, "I'll see you next year". What?! Listen here, I'll be back MUCH sooner than that. 2 1/2 day Delray Beach trips go by so fast, but luckily we can make them frequently. Thanks again, Aunt Kim.

No Training Required

Once Zach decides he wants to accomplish something, he just does it. This past weekend, at the ripe old age of 4 1/2, Zach took off on his bike without training wheels. Fifteen minutes of practice with Dave and I running along side of him and he was off biking on his own. He cannot stop talking about it. In his words, "I just love riding my bike. It's so much fun." Talk, talk, talk. Well, he does like to talk and we are extremely proud of him. Olivia is now asking to take her training wheels off, so maybe this coming weekend we'll have the same beautiful weather and head out to Taylor-Brawner Park for a repeat. Zach has a way of exerting a little peer pressure without knowing he is doing it. Skylar, our next door 5 1/2 year old neighbor, decided she wanted her training wheels off yesterday, so her mom and I were out there for full support and to witness the success. Ah, these kids....

I sometimes forget to mark milestones on our blog (the main reason for this blog). As Liz reminded me, Zach basically potty trained himself at two. Again, once he decides to do something, he doesn't back down. I also want to remember that he was reading many words and sometimes entire sentences at the age of three. He acts like it's no big deal, but proud mom has a big smile every time. Zach loves school (Olivia likes it much better this year - I think...:-) He proceeds to tell me an enormous amount of information that her learns each day (how many muscles it takes to smile, frown, names bones in his body - collar bone, etc. names artieries, tells me how big his heart is). Hey, I guess he's paying attention in class! I love his Pre-K class.