A Few Minutes With The Kiddos...

Family who don't get to see our kids often...this one is for you!  If you were to spend a few minutes alone with each one in the comfort of our home, this is what you might expect to happen...

LITTLEBEAR:
LADYBEAR:

Learning To Serve: Operation Christmas Child

This year, LittleBear put together his first box for Operation Christmas Child and boy, did we have a good time.  We will definitely be making this an annual tradition!  We watched a few videos of kids opening their boxes from previous years and then talked about how this would be the only Christmas presents this little boy who receives our box would have. 

LittleBear seemed game for it, so we headed off to a couple stores shopping for a little boy ages 2-4.  He really enjoyed it and insisted on carrying the basket through the store, even once it was full.  He picked out a lot of his favorites: a bag of dum dum lollipops, a small basketball, a magna-doodle, an ambulance, and an adorable stuffed monkey with really long legs and arms with hands that velcro together.

Here is a list of what we included in our shoe box:
- our letter/coloring page with picture of LittleBear
- sheet of shiny transportation themed stickers
- coloring book of favorite Bible stories
- 24 pack of Crayola crayons
- comb
- toothbrush
- toothpaste
- soap in a plastic travel soap container
- ladybug wash mitt (I tried to heavily suggest he get the frog instead of the ladybug, but there was no changing his mind...ladybug it is)
- basketball
- magna doodle
- wooden ambulance
- wooden ice cream truck
- 4 pack of simple jigsaw puzzles (3 pc, 4 pc, 5 pc and 6 pc)
- stuffed monkey
- six punch balloons
- two of those rolled up party favors that you blow open (not explaining that well at all)
- one bag of dum dum lollipops
- plastic slinky
- strawberry that folds out into a large nylon tote bag (in case the shoe box doesn't last long)

I am told each child also receives a Bible in their own language.   We bought a plastic shoe box from the Dollar Store thinking it would last longer for the recipient than a regular shoe box, but there was no way once it was packed so we resorted to a regular shoe box instead (Yes, I own a pair of purple bowling sneakers).  Next year I think we'll just go with the boxes that Operation Christmas Child provides.

I wish I had taken a picture of the box all packed!  There was no way we could have fit one more thing in there :)  Hopefully our little boy will like everything we picked out.  Next year, I think we'll also do a box for a 10-14 year old boy as I've heard there aren't usually enough of those to go around and I saw a ton of things this year that I think would have been good for a 10-14 yr old boy.

We finally got our box all packed (minus a horse and a cow that wouldn't fit) and stopped off at Chick-Fil-A this afternoon to turn in our box.  LittleBear was so proud.  They gave him a sticker and a coupon for a free chicken sandwich!  One of the ladies at the drop-off said that most of the boxes they pick up at this location end up in Central America, but we'll find out what country it goes to when it gets there.  LittleBear and Mommy are both excited to find out where it goes!
 

Guess Who's Two Months Old Today? LadyBear!!

Wow, time is really flying!  Today, LadyBear hit the two month mark and I'm having a hard time remembering where October went.  LadyBear loves to look around and take in the sights of wherever she is, be it the Baylor Homecoming Parade or admiring the stained glass windows during our BSF class.  Like her big brother, she seems very observant.  She still enjoys time on her playmat and also loves being carried around.

Big Brother LittleBear still really loves "Little Sister."  He takes great care of her and makes sure I do too.  He's an amazing big brother!

LadyBear has been smiling up a storm lately and we all love to see it.  Her dark eyes are starting to brighten up and she is quite the little joy.  As you can tell from the pictures, she's still eating well and she sleeps ok most nights.  We stopped swaddling her arms and she hasn't seemed to mind.  Again, like her big brother, she seems to be a pretty laid back little baby.  We love our LadyBear!!! 

Family Treat Night 2012

We have decided to skip celebrating that one holiday that happens at the end of October, with one possible exception depending on how you view it.  One event we look forward to each year is "Family Treat Night" at Baylor.  For two hours, they invite the kids and grandkids of Baylor Faculty and Staff to visit a dorm in costume and interact with/get candy from the students.  As a student, I loved participating in this event and missed it when I didn't live in the dorms anymore.  LittleBear loves seeing students on campus and this is the only chance he gets to go inside a dorm, so we make an exception.  Plus, it's just fun. 

Admittedly, LittleBear has very little knowledge of TV, movies or what is on.  He likes Sesame Street (we have one DVD), Boz (I think we have four DVDs) and the only movies he has ever seen all the way through, Toy Story (specifically, Toy Story 2).  Since LadyBear took a little longer to join us than I thought she would I found I had a bit of extra time on my hands, so I decided to make costumes for the kids.  My mom did an amazing job growing up of making our costumes each year (THANK YOU SO MUCH, MOM!) and I really appreciated (even more so now) the time and effort she poured into them.  It was a bit tricky as I had no idea what size LadyBear would be and I needed to go with costumes that were fast, not too complicated and mostly used materials I already had on hand to keep costs down.  (Thank goodness for felt, my new favorite fabric.  You don't have to hem it and it's super durable!)  All that combined with LittleBear's interests and we came up with Sheriff Woody and Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl. 

It turns out it was a good choice because when we asked LittleBear who he might like to dress up as, he said Buzz or Woody.  He was so excited when he found out I was working on a Woody costume for him and a Jessie costume for Little Sister!

My favorite little Sheriff!

Our little cowgirl

We got the chance to go through Ruth Collins Hall (all six floors!) where the residents of each floor decorated according to the theme of a different Disney movie.   LittleBear was so happy to discover there was a Toy Story floor.  A group of gals even had the theme to Woody's Roundup playing, which is a song that LittleBear really enjoys (he walked up and said "It's the Rootinest, Tootinest song!").  He stopped a while and danced with them (see below), which was really cute.  Apparently, the gals even thought so because they were pulling out their phones to snap a picture just like I was with my camera.  It really was cute!

Woody's Roundup Dance Party

We strolled through the halls and often heard exclamations from parents, kids and students of "It's Woody!"  Then "Aw, look at the baby! She's Jessie!" when I followed with LadyBear in her stroller. 

Choosing a piece of candy from a student on the Monster's Inc floor

LittleBear commented "That was SO fun!" as we were leaving so I am certain we will be doing this again next year.

As an aside, we don't let LittleBear have ALL the candy he gets on one of these evenings (especially from six floors)!  We weed out the things he just can't eat (jawbreakers, tootsie rolls, taffy, and peanut related candies), then Jeff and I have a "Candy Draft" after LittleBear goes to bed to go through those weeded out items.  Whatever is not chosen is pitched.

Big Brother got smiles :)

And we were also treated to a yodel from the Yodeling Cowgirl herself...