Mr. Contrarian and the Gingerbread Houses

This fall AJ has declared his love for the Green Bay Packers.  In a household with a lifelong Bear's fan, it is the equivalent of declaring war.  The day AJ announced his new-found love for the guys in green, Joe (jokingly) told him to pack his bags and hit the road.  AJ seemed to relish this way to disagree with his dad that was accepted.  Since then he has started wearing a Green Bay Packer's stocking hat to school and has discovered that it creates an instant connection with his gym teacher, older boys at school and other people who he admires, and the love has only grown.  He also views it as a way to establish his independence, proudly telling people that he is the only one in his family who likes the Packers. 

The love for the Packers has taken new forms lately, including a green and gold bracelet he made on the Rainbow Loom (and the Rainbow Loom is deserving of its own post), and (my favorite) the yellow and green-themed gingerbread house that he surprised Joe with last week.  When Joe got back from a trip to Costco, AJ greeted him with "hey dad, welcome to the Packer's house!"  Joe just groans and AJ beams with pride at having his own team.  AJ has recently requested his own Packers giant foam finger, but I am not sure that will be allowed in the house by Joe.

The Snow Queen

We had our first snowfall of the season here a few weeks ago and the kids were itching to go out and play, play, play.  I had cleaning, cooking and work to do, so I put in a quick call to our snow queen, Grandma Julie, and she was game for coming over to take the kids out for sledding, snow tasting (Julia) and snowball making (AJ). I thank my lucky stars that I have a mom who grew up in Minnesota and loves all things snow.

Mr. Fox

David had his holiday performance at preschool, which was a rendition of The Gingerbread Man in which David got to play...the fox!  What a perfect fit for a boy who is mischievous and wily.  He was very excited about the performance and talked about the preparations for two weeks straight.  And anyone who knows David knows that he has only about two volumes, which are normal and LOUD.  So you can imagine my surprise when the teachers said he was extremely shy about saying his lines and whispering his parts in rehearsal only after many prompts.  Whaaaat?!? Is this is the kid who talks constantly at home?

On the big day, many of the kids were clearly a little bit nervous about having a parent audience, but they seemed to enjoy it, too, at the same time.  David managed to come through on his lines nicely, which were:

Come closer, I can't hear you (said to the Gingerbread Boy)...
Come closer, I can't hear you...
Chomp!  Mmmm! Mmmm!