Catching up...

So, here I go...catching you (and me) up again.

This year, Jaden was able to compete in UIL for the first time.  He was so excited!  He chose to try storytelling.  He made the second grade storytelling team.  Again, he was excited!  So, on November 21, we traveled to the UIL competition in Sweetwater where he competed in storytelling.  There is a room full of kids who get a story read to them all at the same time.  Then, one-by-one they go by themselves into a room with judges and retell the story using only their words and some body language to act out some things if they wish.  Jaden did great in the preliminary rounds and was the only one in the Snyder second grade group who made the finals.  So, he had to do it all again with a different story for the finals.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch him tell his story -- but I was able to see him find out what place he got.  Here he is waiting for the results to appear:

And, the results:

And here is a very happy little boy after seeing the results:

Again -- SO excited!  We are so proud of him!  He's always been a very animated child and he got to use that talent to win FIRST PLACE!

There was an awards ceremony at school afterward, where he received his certificate and medal from our favorite principal, Mrs. Rhodes!

 Way to go, Jaden!

The next day, Jaxon got to have a Thanksgiving feast at school.  All the Kindergarteners (all 250+) gathered in the Kindergarten hallway for a popcorn feast!  Here is Jaxon and the Indian vest and headdress he made in art class.

A few kids in his class about to dig in to the popcorn!

It was wild, crazy and fun!

We had our first snowfall of Winter and got to start school late two days after Thanksgiving.

The next event was Jason's 40th birthday.  We celebrated the whole day trying to make him feel young again by bringing out some of his favorite childhood toys.

Then had his favorite -- chocolate cake!

 Happy Birthday, Jason!  We love you!

The boys got some special Christmas decor in their room this year.  A very dear friend gave them a Texas Rangers tree -- a red and blue tree complete with red and blue Christmas balls.  It is so cool!  We added some baseball ornaments we had and a few Texas Rangers snack bowls.  They really like it -- and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get them to take it down when it's time.

Jaden had his second Christmas piano recital this year.  He really enjoys playing the piano, and I'm so glad!  His first song was a duet with Mrs. Tune.  They played "Jingle Bells."

Then he played a solo and did a great job!  He was a pro at "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

Jaxon has shown an interest in playing the piano recently.  He's even asked about taking lessons, so we'll have to see about that soon maybe.  But, in the meantime, Jaden is teaching him some songs.  He's very good at "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Jolly Old St. Nicholas."

Jaden's teacher asked Mrs. Bailey (the music teacher) if Jaden could play his recital song for them in music class.  After she let him, he told her that Jaxon knew a Christmas song and she should ask him to play when he came to music.  So she did...and he did!  I just happened to be there the day he played for his class (on pajama day -- in case you noticed everyone in their pjs).  I was so proud of him.  He played "Jolly Old St. Nicholas."

The thing I will end with for this post is the teacher, aides and support staff gifts we made for everyone at school.  I got the s’more stick idea from my sister-in-law and inspiration for the tags came from a post on Pinterest.  They seemed to be a hit!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!  I will try to not wait too long to post about our Christmas festivities.  :-)