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Eight fun filled nights

Posted on December 29, 2008 9:50 am by TheAngelForever

Although the last night of Chanukah is bitter sweet, I still love it.

Watching all of the candles burning is one of the most beautiful sights. It makes you think about the true meaning of the miracle behind the Festival of Lights.

We had a very nice Chanukah. The boys made out very well. If I had to guess, NHL’s favorite gift was probably the fact that I allowed him to use the Nintendo DS Lite that I had won earlier this year. He has two games that are perfect for his age and he loves them.

JL and I both love that the boys have their own Doodle Pros, so they do not fight over the small one that we had. Even JL got in on the act of doodling a page from JSL favorite new Sandra Boynton book.

Thanks to Hebrew School and Barenaked Ladies, NHL knew all of the blessings for lightning the candles. He loved signing them and then patiently waited for a small gift each night. The boys were so sweet and always tried everything, whether it was playing with a Super Grover car, checking out a new book, or playing with a barrel of monkeys.

Another item that will keep them entertained for years to come are the Chanukah finger puppet. I found these at the craft store. Both of the boys have enjoyed using them.

JL and I opted not to exchange gifts this Chanukah. We decided we wanted to save for our first official family vacation. This weekend I believe we finalized what it will be since there are amazing deals to this location. News coming soon!

Categories:
decisions holidays jsl nhl photos play time travel vacation

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

A kindergarten sized thank you

Posted on December 27, 2008 9:44 am by TheAngelForever

As a teacher, I always love to see the creative items that my son’s teachers do with his classes. I have been absolutely amazed with NHL’s kindergarten teacher. Not only has she been a wonderful mentor for my son, but I have learned a lot from the sidelines as well.

The week before winter break, the kindergarten class celebrated three of the major holidays of the month. Wednesday was Chanukah and I went into play dreidel game with them. They also made latkes and had apple sauce with it. Thursday was Christmas where they made candy covered Christmas trees using ice cream cones. Friday they had someone come in to teach them African dances for Kwanzaa.

The day after I went in for Chanukah, I stopped by the classroom. As the room parent, I had been "secretly" collecting money from any parents that wanted to contribute for gift cards. A huge storm was coming in on Friday and I wanted to make sure that the teachers and aids had their gifts for the two weeks off.

When I arrived in the classroom, the kids ran over and gave me a giant thank you note. The teacher told me that they wrote it themselves and if I needed a translation just to let her know. The special envelope was made by one of the adults. Apparently they do special themed envelopes to make letters unique. Here are the two sides of the envelope:

And here is a picture of the really cute note from the kids. NHL told me that they all took turns going up to write parts of it.

This is definitely something that I will be packing away to keep so NHL can see what his classmates made.

Categories:
holidays interesting nhl photos school

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

Keeping with traditions

Posted on December 25, 2008 12:05 am by TheAngelForever

Today while many of you are enjoying Christmas meals with your family (Merry Christmas!), the boys and I will be heading out to keep a tradition alive. This evening we will have Chinese food for dinner once JL is home from work.

Last Saturday, we had an early Chanukah celebration at my parents house. Thanks to the snow storm, my brother and his family were not able to make it into town. Still, we had a very delicious dinner with my parents, grandmother, and Aunt T. Here are is the delicious meal that we had.

Photo Key: 1. Sweet Potato latkes, 2. Sides and things, 3. Salmon, 4. Pierogi goodness, 5. Not officially Chanukah – so these candles will do, 6. Must have some veggies

Before sitting down to eat, NHL declared that he wanted to sit between Aunt T and Mimi. Thank goodness they are good sports and allowed his wish to come true.

My mother had a Chanukah table cloth out and had napkins to match. Check these out. On one side it had holiday greetings, while the other told the story of the Festival of Lights.

After we ate dinner, the kids played for some time, while everything was cleaned up. Then the goodies were put on the table.

Right before we went to the table, JSL fell down running and landed on the back of his head. At first we did not think it was serious, but when looking back it is never right when the little guy refuses chocolate. Our time with the cheesecake and other delicious items was cut short by the call to 9-11, arrival of the paramedics, and ambulance ride to the emergency room.

This will certainly not be a Chanukah that we will soon forget.