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Gift central

Posted on December 28, 2008 11:44 am by TheAngelForever

Last Saturday, we celebrated Chanukah early with my family because of the threat of snow storms. My brother and his family were not able to make it into town thanks to all of the snow. Since the boys have been born, they have been spoiled by our families. Most of the toys in our house are purchased by people other than us. This Chanukah was no different.

Nana and Papa had all of the gifts labeled and ready to go. They wanted to try something different. Rather than give NHL and JSL a present or two and then more another day, they opted to do things Christmas style.

Note to casual Chanukah observers: Jewish kids do not really know how to handle present overload when it is not on their birthday.

NHL quickly tore through all of the packages and sat staring at his little brother. He wanted to know what was inside all of his wrapping paper. 5 year olds definitely burn through things quickly and 19 month olds want to take each and every item in. In fact, JSL did not understand why more and more was given to him. Still he was sweet and squealed at each and every item given to him.

Here are some photos of NHL from the evening:

Now time for JSL:

Photos from from Hurricane Chanukah:

Now of course we have to find homes for all of the new items. We have purchased a lot of new Rubbermaid containers to put things away in and sort for future garage sales. Tonight we will light the eighth and final candle and then will put all of the Chanukah items away until next year.

Categories:
family fun holidays jsl nhl photos play time weekend

Disney on Ice – 100 Years of Magic

Posted on December 26, 2008 11:06 am by TheAngelForever

Twas the night before a snow storm and all through the arena, the people attending were thankful that they purchased tickets for the Thursday night show!

Last Thursday night we were gearing up for a HUGE weekend of snow. That was also the weekend that Disney on Ice was here for a bunch of shows. My parents had four tickets to take NHL and me. Thank goodness they wanted to see it on Thursday night. If we had selected another night we may not have been able to make it to the arena (Friday we had about a foot of snow and more Sunday).

Have you ever been to a Disney on Ice show?

If you have ever been to Disney World, Disneyland or any other Disney owned park, then you know they are the pros at merchandising. Well, Disney on Ice is 110% the same way. When you walked into the arena, both sides had at at least two merchandise stands, two snack stands (with Disney cotton candy and snow cones), and multiple areas with photo taking stations (for a fee of course).

It was really interesting to watch NHL. We walked around the area at least one complete time and stopped at each of the selling areas. He looked each time, but never asked for anything. After a while, Nana asked NHL if he would like something. He thought the Mickey Mouse Binoculars were really neat. They were reasonably priced, so Nana and Papa bought them for him.

Two years ago when Nana, JL and I took him to See Monsters Inc on Ice we bought him a work hat and program. To this day both of the boys still love the hard hat.

Next, it was time to go and find our seats. NHL walked along with Nana and his Mickey Mouse merchandise bag. When you walked into the arena, this is what you saw on the ice:

Nana and Papa bought NHL some popcorn and we sat and waited for the show to begin. NHL sat there taking everything in. I quickly learned that my camera did not do a great job at photos, but the video was decent. I took a few short videos so NHL can enjoy them. Here is one of the start of the show (more will be uploaded later).

Start of Disney on Ice show from Angel Forever on Vimeo.

We all really enjoyed the show. Now NHL needs to catch up on some Disney movies since he has never seen Beauty and the Beast, Pinochio, and several others.

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating.Aloha #28

Categories:
Aloha Friday family fun nhl photos show video

Winter Wanderings

Posted on December 24, 2008 1:05 am by TheAngelForever

Please note: This was the little guy’s first time in the snow on his own to play and explore the wonders of snow.

Categories:
fun jl jsl messy milestone nhl vent weather weekend winter Wordless Wednesday

Celebrating the holidays in kindergarten

Posted on December 18, 2008 10:20 am by TheAngelForever

Several weeks ago, NHL’s teacher asked me if I would go in this Wednesday to celebrate Chanukah with them. Wednesday they would celebrate Chanukah, Thursday Christmas, and Friday Kwanza. Each day they would do something special to celebrate and have a treat. Friday is also their End of Year celebration.

They left it up to me on what to do. One of the teachers has been teaching kindergarten for quite some time and said she had many Chanukah sheets, crafts and items to use with the kids. I told her that I would go out and get each of the kids their own dreidel to take home. I asked about time to use the dreidels in school. She liked that and said she already had M&Ms to use.

Since it was snowing and nasty in the morning, I sent in some items with NHL just in case I did not make it. The dreidels were already with his teachers, a musical/light-up menorah, and a CD with Chanukah songs (BNL of course).

When JSL and I arrived at school, the kids were all sitting at their group tables working on sheets. Some were cutting and pasting, others coloring, and some using glitter (which is all over my jeans from sitting on the rug). Then I noticed there was a theme with the work. Everything had to do with Chanukah! Check out what came home with NHL, they are so neat.

The one teacher explained that NHL showed his menorah in the morning and they had already talked about dreidels, read at least six books about Chanukah, and had listened to the songs I sent in several times. When the kids were finished and cleaned up, they met me on the rug. I showed them some of our giant stuffed dreidels, talked again about the Hebrew letters on them and what they mean in the game. Then the kids were split up into groups, M&Ms given out and we played dreidel.

I have to say it was interesting watching the kids in my group. Some felt that anything other than gimel was not good enough and tried to hide their spin off to the side and pick it up quick. Of course, they would then proclaim they had gimel. This does not make for a very exciting game if everyone is constantly winning the pot of M&Ms in the middle.

While the kids played, the classroom aid was busy frying up potato latkes. Earlier in the day, the class had made the recipe together. Once the game of dreidel was over, they had a chance to try a latke with apple sauce.

I was so impressed! They honestly did not need me there, but it was sweet to be included. While the kids went to library, JSL stayed to play and I saw the huge rubbermaid container of Chanukah items that NHL’s teacher had collected over the years. It was amazing and possibly had even more than we have at home. Kudos to her for making sure that all of the holidays are represented so well.

P.S. Be sure to enter in my Chanukah Shopping Fun – Game Giveaway. Don’t be fooled, this is great game for non-Jewish participants as well.