It's beginning to look

Alot like Christmas!!
Like Kevin always says (with a hint of sarcasm), Its the most wonderful time of the year!
Let the chaos begin!

As always I had grand plans on being highly organized this year and as always Christmas snuck up on me. I thought it would be great, I would have a whole extra Saturday this year, but I was still running around like a mad woman on 12/24. One of these years I will get it together or one of these years I can hire a personal assistant!

We kicked off the holiday spirit by watching Elf outdoors at our neighbors house. The kids bundled up under blankets and we hung by the fire. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast watching a movie outside.

In the midst of the holiday prep we were full on in basketball and floor hockey. Basketball is going really well, it is a lot of fun watching the boys improve each week and how much better their shooting is. Team Chaminade remained undefeated going into the holiday break! I am hoping by the end of the season I will be able to pronounce our team name correctly!

Alek really enjoys playing and daddy and our friend B, are the most vocal of the cheering parents. Sometimes myself and S ( B's other half) inch away and make pretend we don't know them. Maks is just happy there is an awesome playground right there so he isn't stuck in a gym for an hour,every so often he runs in, gives a cheer, hits the water fountain and heads back out. His own way of supporting the team!

Maks wrapped up floor hockey with a renewed zest for hockey and asks me daily when he can play ice hockey again. So it looks like I will be heading back to sitting in that cold rink again. He really has taken to it, so off we go to sign him up!

I think he will be a perfect goalie, he loved that position and was good at it and he is quirky as most goalies are, so it seems like a perfect fit.

Another annual pre-Christmas activity is Nana's xmas open house. God love her, 91 and still the hostess with the mostest! As always it is alot of fun to see Pop's side of the family and have the kiddos all get together. Present time is always exciting especially when they all decide to open their lego's with all the tiny pieces and then wonder why they are missing some.

So great that these kiddos have their great-grandma, love that Alek and Maks have two great grandmas to spend time with--thanking God for the strong female genes in my family and pray that I will one day be posing with pictures of my great grands!

The boys are in full Santa mode, though I have to say, the threat of Santa watching doesn't hold the same power as it did last year. I did pick up the phone to call the big guy once and that sent them scattering! Lots of questions this year from Alek regarding the big guy. I tell him we believe in the magic of the season and he says he does too.

I was happy to be off the day of the school holiday parties. I am homeroom mom for Maks' class, so I did the planning while some other mom's attended. But I got to attend Alek's party. It is always fun to hang out in the classroom, see the excitement of the kids and realize how awesome teachers are. 15 minutes in there trying to organize a game and craft and I was exhausted! We did snowball relay races, we made reindeer food, put together felt mouses that held candy canes, ate some yummy treats and then the kiddos had a dance party. It was alot of fun. I made a pitstop in Maks' class to make sure all was going well and they were having a blast too. Such fun to see all the smiles!

We have been so lucky with amazing teachers for both boys and that they continue to love school and are excited to go each day!

The holiday school break brought our first report cards. Alek did well and we are very proud of him. His math contiues to excel, his spelling tests have improved alot since last year, and he loves reading. He spends alot of time curled up with his Diary of a Whimpy Kid book which he is trying to get done as he has asked for the entire series and a couple other book series for Christmas. It is so cool to see how the reading has taken off this year. Last year most of the reading was done with me, him reading to me, now he likes to curl up in bed and read. He carries books with him all the time. He begs to go to Barnes and Noble and loves library day at school. Being a book fiend myself, I love that he loves to read.
Alek has had a rough couple months in terms of some interactions with some boys who he used to be friends with. We have tried to help him realize what true friends are, how it is not the number of friends that count, but the type of people they are and also how to handle certain situations--how when people pick on you, your brother or make fun of you, the problem is with them and not you and we should feel sorry for them. It is such a tough thing to teach, learning to use your words and walk away while still standing up for yourself. Unfortunately this has spilled over into school a bit and Alek was a bit overwhelmed. Thankfully we have an amazing guidance counselor who Alek sat down to talk with. Afterwards he told me how awesome Mrs. V is and how she has so many answers. It is so hard to watch your kiddo go through this and frankly not want to kick the little butts of the kids making your son hurt. The mama bear claws come out! It has been a learning experience and I am glad he has the support he needs and we have come up with a gameplan to help him avoid any situations with there possibly could be issues.

Maks received his first kindergarten report card. He did so well academically we are very proud of him. He was evaluated the past few months by school for ADHD profile and basically they came back and said he is borderline, which could also mean, he is 6 and a boy. They told us to forward it on to our pediatrician but no need to seek out an official diagnosis at this time. The accomodations they have put in place have made a difference. He gets hyperfocused on an activity and has a hard time transitioning. They also felt given he was at two different schools each day probably played a role. They feel by next year when he is full day 1st grade at one location we will see a huge difference. But they are on top of things and he is doing well. He loves going to both schools. Both teachers have told us that his math thinking is advanced and how he processes questions and problems in his own way is exceptional, so that is pretty neat to hear. He definitely thinks outside the box!

He also is enjoying his weekly piano lessons with Mr. McG at LL. At the xmas show Mr. McG came over and was raving to us about Maks and the piano and how surprised he was at how well Maks is doing and his focus and attention are amazing in class. We are hoping Santa brings a keyboard so Maks can practice at home . So Maks has made a lot of strides the 1st trimester at school and we are really proud of him. He wants to do well and we know how hard he tries, he really is an amazing kiddo.

So as Christmas vacation is officially here, we look forward to Santa'sarrival and lots of fun with family and friends!