Our 2008 Christmas and Luke's Growing Converstaions

Pictures of Christmas:

Christmas morning...

Opening Gifts... of which we were very blessed and extremely thankful for.Emily is eager to make cupcakes with her cupcake kit... a gift from Pop Pop and Nan.The kids colored the ornaments... a craft from Uncle Mike and Aunt PepperEmily could not wait to use the craft kits given to her by Grandma and Grandpa.And our traditional Birthday cake for Jesus... a reminder of the real reason for Christmas. We lit the candles following readings from Matthew and Luke. (This time the cake was a white cake with chocolate chips.)


~ Luke's Changes ~

Luke is now full of conversation now that he can say nearly every word on his mind. It has taken us off guard a couple of times, but it's fun. Now that he can say what he is thinking, he has a lot to say!!! He loves to play this little game with me. He runs up to me, asks me what I'm doing. Once I'm done responding to his question he says, "Bye momma." waves to me and then takes off, running a lap around the house. He then comes back and does it all over again. It becomes a game during most late evenings. He also loves to dance and sing. Just the other night he started singing "Jingle Bells" only his version just has the one line. It's really cute. Last year he only said, "Hey!" and this year he's trying to sing the whole song. He also enjoys undressing himself. I frequently find him in just a diaper in the morning. I guess he decides he's done with his PJs and just takes them off. He loves to pick out his own clothes as well as his socks and shoes (and is very opinionated). He also requests gum in the morning before breakfast. I only give him the sugar free kind, so no real worries... but it's funny how he just wants to chew gum and delay the breakfast.

Preparing for Christmas

So much has happened in the past week that I'm going to take a short cut and list the events!!!


1. Our lightshow troubles are finally over. It is up and running, and receiving great reviews. Our cul de sac party (Birthday Party for Jesus) was last night... and our 50+ guests (maybe near 100???) last night thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Some friends from church stopped by with a trailer full of kids on a hay ride near the end of the party, collected us and we were off to carol to neighbors. It was wonderful. 3 hours laters we returned home will bellies full of hot cocoa and goodies.

2. Keith graduated last Saturday!!! His parents flew into town to celebrate his accomplishment with us... as well as Christmas. It was wonderful to spend time with them this close to the holidays! The kids even put on a music show for the grandparents with Emily on piano and Luke on harmonica... later Emily was on guitar.


3. Emily and Luke performed at Grace UMC last weekend as part of their Worship Dance Program. They LOVED it!

4. Emily and Luke are thoroughly enjoying the events just prior to Christmas Day with gifts gathering around the tree with each shipment from family arriving. I think they are enjoying the boxes and packing materials more than the idea of more gifts arriving. Today they transformed two boxes into cars so they could race eachother on the tile floor in the kitchen. Daddy was the main instigator in this craft/game and thus the primary driving force. When we was too tired to push them, they took turns pushing eachother. It was great.


5. Our friends, the Thomas', from church gave us a unique Christmas gift last night... a giant lemon! It smells so wonderful I don't want to cut it open... though they tell me the one lemon is big enough to make an entire container of lemonade!!!

6. Emily played in her first piano recital at her teacher's Christmas party. It was great.

7. The kids find ways to enjoy their 'creative time' and I took lots of pictures. LOL. Can you name this movie???

8. Emily and I are really enjoying our latest books. Our favorite stories from this month are: Mary on Horseback, The Family Under the Bridge, Dolphin Adventure, and The Light at Tern Rock. We have also enjoyed reading about how people of different countries celebrate Christmas. Mostly, how Sinterclaus traditions take place with shoes left by windows on Dec. 5th and are filled by the AM of Dec. 6th. This leaves Dec. 25th just for Jesus!


We hope you enjoy the pictures. Have a great Christmas.

Emily's first piano performance

We attended our first Christmas Party at Mrs. Burcham's house last night. Each student took turns playing pieces they had been working on for the party. It was really nice. Emily was a bit shy and finally, near the end, walked up to the piano with her book and played 'Jingle Bells' for everyone. She was so shy, and not her normal (at home) bubbling over the top, singing and bouncing, piano player. It was a great experience for her and we're proud of her.

New News - Luke's Vocabulary Explodes; Emily's New Changes

The New News...

1- Emily is now riding her bike daily and loving it. She doesn't need any help at all! She has been working with Luke as well, helping him with his tricycle. Now Luke is riding it by himself (mostly backwards as he's fascinated with this new discovery).

2- Luke's vocabulary has exploded! He is now using new descriptive words for his sentences and is full of pep with his speech. We're constantly amazed with the new 'news' coming from his little mouth. Emily wants to take some of the credit for this since she has been working with him, sounding out words one syllable at a time, etc. It's great.

3- Our lightshow is up and running again... and we won the award 'Best Overall' once again for our neighborhood. (Good work Keith!)

4- Emily has a piano recital (her first) on Thursday night. She's really excited about it. She has four Christmas songs that she will be playing.

Luke - Our little engineer; Emily - Our young teacher

Luke surprised Emily and I today when we noticed he was splitting a colored pencil in half by wedging another one into the cap of missing lead. Once it was split open, he removed the lead and observed how it's tube like shape rolls when you hit it with a stick (or half a pencil). He created his own little game right at the table while Emily was working on her math homework.

Emily and Luke have been playing this little game called 'dog trainer.' Emily pretends to be the owner of a sweet and dear little puppy and luke plays the part of a puppy eager to learn new tricks. She teaches him to sit, fetch, jump, etc. by offering him treats (typically crackers). It's absolutely hilarious how the two of them play their role so well. Even visitors are amazed and delighted with giggles when they observe it. Emily is so proud of all of the new things she can teach Luke when he's a dog. :-) His favorite part (aside from the treats I suppose) is when he can climb up to us, pant and then lick our face. He thinks it's cute and does it over and over. Doggie kisses... right? LOL

Thanksgiving at the Singleton Home

Emily and Luke made lots of Thanksgiving crafts all morning. This was one of them. They thoroughly enjoyed our morning and dinner with daddy as well. We played some games and read some stories... but the crafts were the highlight. I thought it was cute how Luke said he was thankful for money. It's a new word for him.

Emily's 6th Birthday

Here's a preview of Emily's birthday celebration!!!

A homemade pinata.

A party with friends.

She finally gets her baby carriage.

She's thrilled with her wish come true of her very own Christmas tree.

Big News for Emily!!!

After patiently waiting for a few weeks, her first tooth has finally fallen out! Many people suggested she pull it out and even offered to pull it out, but she chose to wait patiently. Tonight, after some rough play with Daddy and Luke, she realized that it was laying on her tongue... and was so surprised and excited all at the same time.
The first call she made about the news was to her piano teacher, Mrs. Burcham. Second she requested calling Miss Amy, but mommy advised her to wait. Third was Grandma, then Mom Mom and she insisted Pop Pop could wait until tomorrow.
Emily is now begging mommy to play the tooth fairy role for her, hoping she will be blessed with a big award.

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Nothing but smiles on the tram...

We stopped at one of Disney's restaurants to celebrate Emily's birthday. Our waitress was over the top and gave Emily a sweet and soft birthday song with a special surprise.

A Tinkerbell glowing light.

Main Street

The Million Dollar Lights on Cinderella's Castle

Holiday Treats!!!

Fireworks Display in Christmas colors

Stage Show

Look... we caught the confetti

Really big smiles!!!

Parade

Our last look as we say goodbye