a day for Bryce

Today was all about Bryce!  We headed out to the mall this morning for some fun at Build a Bear.  We had never been so I documented the process pretty well, ha! 

 

First he chose his animal (the Grinch) and the sound (magic sound, because they were out of the Grinch sound...more disappointing to me than Bryce!).  Next up was stuffing.  Bryce took his petal pushing job seriously!

 

 

He chose a heart to put inside to bring him to life.  The Grinch he chose had a bonus heart because of his character.  You can press his hand and his heart lights up three different times because "his heart grew three sizes that day". 

 

After he filled him up, it was time to give him a bath.  It was a fun little air bath and you could brush it while you "cleaned" it.  We ended up buying a brush to "wash" him at home.

 

 

Next up were the clothes.  He picked out Grinch pajamas, Grinch slippers, and a Santa hat.

 

 

 

Getting him all dressed up.

One happy boy.  He has taken him with him everywhere today.

 



 

Next he made the birth certificate for Mr. Grinch.  Luckily he basically came with a name or we may have been there all day thinking up a name!

 

 

What a fun experience!  I'm already ready to go back. 

 

 

Even though it got heavy at times, Bryce wanted to hold Mr. Grinch and his "house".

 

 

We took a cold train ride around the mall afterwards.

 

Next, we headed inside to warm up and play for a little while.

Last up for the day was lunch. Bryce said he wanted cheeseburgers and ham sandwiches. I told him we couldn't get both of those at the same place so he needed to choose one.  Lucky for me, he chose ham sandwiches.  There is a new place I had heard about and wanted to try and I knew for sure Bryce could get ham sandwiches there.  Have you ever heard of Which Wich?  It was delicious!  Jason's sandwich had turkey, grape jelly, and powdered sugar........weird!

Today was a perfect day.  I think I needed this day just as much as Bryce.  It was so nice to have one on one time with Bryce and be able to give him my full attention.  I feel like I only have half an ear for Bryce some days and he needs both ears or he gets frustrated, ha!  I also really enjoyed eating a meal that everyone could feed themselves!  This is definitely something I think we will continue to do for both kids as they get older!

 

christmas fun at school

Bryce had his Christmas party at school today.  He has been counting down the days and he was so excited when today finally got here!

 

 

They started with lunch in the classroom.  Emmy enjoyed sitting in a big girl chair at the table with the big kids.

 

The room mom planned a craft where they painted their fingers and their prints made baby Jesus laying in a manger.  They turned out super cute, but the picture is hard to see.

 

After the craft, the kids played a few rounds of musical chairs.  When they were done, they got to open a book under their chair that one of their classmates had brought in.

 

Showing off his book.

 

After the book exchange, the kids did a cookie exchange.  Bryce was very excited about bringing home 8 cookies.  When we were done filling his bag he made sure I had 8, ha!  He decided to eat his melted snowman cookie while we were there!

 

Bryce really likes his teachers!

Tonight was Bryce's Christmas program at school.  It was so cute and all the kids did such a great job.  I told Jason the best part was that the entire message was about Jesus.  I love that he is in a school that can teach and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas!

He did a great job with the motions and remembered to sing most of the time!

 



He spotted us once he was on stage and he never took his eyes off us!

 



 

Happy boy after a great performance.

 

Emmy was really tired and not feeling great because of a cold, but the music perked her up and she really enjoyed waving her arms to the music!

 

"Hooray for baby Jesus"



12.12.12

I don't have anything extravagant for today, but I thought 12-12-12 would be a fun title since this is the last time the date will be same!   

 

 

Bryce finished up his session of gymnastics today and got his certificate and a button to add to his collection.  After taking this picture today, I decided I no longer have a use for my point and shoot camera.  It was so dark.  I was able to edit it a bit and brighten it up, but still not perfect.

 

game nights

When Emmy was born, Bryce adjusted so well.  He was a big helper, he didn't act out, and he just rolled along with all the changes.  We were so thrilled for such a smooth transition at his age.  Fast forward ten months, and things have started to change a bit.  The last few weeks have been difficult (for me mostly).  Now that Emmy is so mobile and needs constant attention, Bryce is also wanting just as much of my attention.  He has started acting out a bit, taking things from Emmy, and just has a negative attitude at times and is more whiny.  Jason and I talked about it last week and decided we needed to have a day all about Bryce.  Until then, we have been spending quality time together at night after Emmy goes to bed.  He typically watches a cartoon before bed, but we have eliminated that and started game night each night so we can have more interaction with him.  He really looks forward to it and ask if we can have game night.

 

 

Tonight we played UNO.  We were ready for a new game because we have been playing Cars memory, Candy Land, and Chutes and Ladders A LOT!  Jason was off last Friday so we had a three day weekend together and that seemed to help a lot too.  Bryce does much better when he has both of us to divide attention between.  I have to say I have noticed a HUGE difference in his behavior just today and yesterday coming off the weekend and our game nights!  However, we still feel as though a "Bryce day" is a must so we are hoping to take him out this Friday.  We are planning a trip to Build a Bear since he has never been and then we'll probably let him pick somewhere fun for lunch.  He doesn't know about it yet, but I know he will be excited!   

 

santa brunch, presents, and more santa

Most of my dad's family lives in North Carolina, but he has a cousin who lives here in Richmond and each year she invites us all to the Country Club of Virginia for their annual Santa brunch.  Here were are with my dad and step mom and my grandparents.

 

 

Santa made his rounds and Bryce did great, but Emmy wasn't too sure about him.

 

 

The longer he stayed, Emmy realized how she felt about him.

 

She doesn't like him!

 

The food was delicious.  I'm not sure if I was more excited about the mimosa or the yummy food! 

 

My dad and grandparents brought presents for the kids today since we probably won't see them again at Christmas.  Bryce enjoyed getting to open some presents since he feels like we have been getting ready for Christmas for an eternity and it's still weeks away!

 

Bryce and Macy helped Emmy open her gifts since she's still a little new to it!

 

She did great with the new walker.

 

Go Emmy!

 

The laugh and learn puppy is lots of fun.  Emmy waves her hands in the air when it plays music.

 

We skipped naps today because Santa was scheduled to come around on the fire truck tonight.  Bryce has been napping the past two years when Santa came and he was too little the first year to remember it.  Emmy was a little unsure about all the sirens, but Bryce waved his little hand as fast as he could!

 

We had another fun Sunday!  Next weekend will be packed with fun too!

 

favorite Christmas movies

I just love watching Christmas movies to get me in the holiday spirit.  Unfortunately, I don't own very many of my favorites and now that we don't have cable I won't be able to watch them this season!

 

 

My family loved Miracle on 34th Street when I was growing up.  I looked forward to watching it each year.  It didn't matter whether or not it was the black and white or color version, I still loved it.  I love this movie so much that I've never even wanted to watch the newest version of it!

 

 

 

Home Alone is one of my all time favorites.  I remember seeing this movie in the theater as a kid when I was visiting my dad.  My mom owns this movie on VHS, but I'm pretty sure I have no way of watching it anymore!

 

A Christmas Story is another one of my childhood favorites.  I do own this movie, but it just won't be the same not being able to watch bits and pieces of it for 24 hours on TBS this year.

 

Christmas with the Kranks is just hilarious.  I love it when Tim Allen gets botox and can't keep his mouth closed to drink and spills water all over himself!

 

Who doesn't love elf?!?  My favorite part is when he jumps into the Christmas tree.

 

L.O.V.E.

 

No holiday is complete without Charlie Brown.  Bryce loves to watch Charlie Brown with me on all the holidays.  He's getting the Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas DVDs for Christmas!

 

What are your favorite Christmas movies?