Opening Aunt Aimee's Gifts

Opening Aunt Robin's Gifts

Here is Aidan opening Aunt Robin's great gifts:

Christmas Morning Videos 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas.  For a 5 year-old it is really a magical time.  Aidan slept in till 7 am which completely surprised me.  But, it was nice not to be up at the crack of dawn.  He did go to bed pretty late the night before so that helped out.  He woke up and said, "Hey Dad, I didn't wake up one time!"  He was very excited that Santa came.


Here is Aidan opening Aunt Cindy and Uncle Brian's gift.  Aunt Cindy did the trick wrapping deal on it.  He thought that was pretty cool.


On Christmas Eve we always open one gift after driving around Kingwood and looking at lights.  Aidan opened Aunt Katie & Uncle Tim's gift that they sent.  He was super excited that it was a game.  Here's the video of him trying out the game for the first time and thanking Aunt Katie:

Have a Great Holiday

Christmas Tree Topping 2009

 

It's a tradition now.  We did it last year as well.  http://fordee.blogspot.com/2008/11/christmas-tree-topping.html

We really had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Now back to work tomorrow.  I'm going to show this to get things revved up at the beginning of the period... we all need some inspiration:



Hopefully it'll help the kids focus and think (and smile) - we only need have a few weeks left of the semester.  It's the stretch run.

Lightning Video

Lightning McQueen from fordee on Vimeo.

Lightning McQueen... finally.

For Christmas this year, Norma researched like crazy and found a Lightning McQueen car for Aidan. She read reviews, she tracked one down... and we picked it up and brought it home.

On Christmas Eve, I went to put it together. No steering column. So what to do? Certainly giving it to Aidan on Christmas morning and saying, "Well, Santa and his elves couldn't get it to work," that's not going to fly. Aidan would say, "Santa can fix it, call him up." So we decided to wait until the part came in and show it to him then.

So today we put everything together and after his nap we said, "Hey, let's go outside and play." We went through the garage and Aidan saw his surprise. He loved it. Of course.

Christmas Morning Video

2008 Christmas Morning from fordee on Vimeo.

Reading a story @ the Doctor's Office

This is a picture that Norma took today as Aidan and I read a story, "No Dragons For Tea". It is a pretty cute story and taught a good lesson about what to do in case a fire broke out in the house (of course, the fire was caused by having a dragon over for tea, which I think was probably a parental error of judgement).

Aidan has a bit of a sinus infection and the doctor said the start of bronchitis. So he gave A an antibiotic and we got him started on that today. He was great at the office. Told the doctor everything that was wrong, including "I have yellow snot!" (about 3 times)

He is now 40 lbs. But, he's been about 40 lbs for months now. He is such a skinny minny and doesn't eat a lot. In fact, we have to say about 30 times a meal, "Sit down Aidan and finish eating." He has a very busy schedule to adhere to - with all the playing, playing, playing and watching 'toons. :)

We are having a great Christmas break and enjoying time together. We aren't going anywhere (other than our trip to Chuck E. Cheese last week) and we are staying home and enjoying movies, video games, and football. Not a bad vacation.

Christmas Eve Tradition

Christmas Eve Gift from fordee on Vimeo.

Christmas Morning

We had a great morning. Aidan woke up and said to Norma, "Mom, we have to be quiet so we don't wake up Dad." He had totally forgotten that it was Christmas morning. He has a little cough going and he may be coming down with something. So that might be why he forgot. But, once he saw the tree... it was on!



Aidan said, "Thank You ______!" - to everyone that sent a gift. He was pretty excited. When I opened my gifts he kept saying, "You're welcome Dad!" He was very grateful for everything. We had a wonderful morning.

More pictures and video later.

Santa Picture 2008

Norma went early this morning and stood in line at the mall. Santa is a very popular dude this time of year. This year we were pretty late in taking him, but we have been working on getting Aidan to be good and sit on his lap. That hasn't happened over the last couple of years. (see 2005 )

Aidan did a great job. The whole time in the line he kept saying, "Dad, I just can't do it." He kept watching other kids sit on Santa's lap, but he didn't think he could. I kept saying, "Santa is such a nice guy. He will ask you some questions and you can sit on his lap." In the end I bribed him, as usual. :) But, it wasn't like he did it only to go to Burger King and get a toy. He really wanted to.

It was so cute to see him on Santa's lap, I didn't want to get him off and go to the next kid. Usually I'm grabbing him and Norma and I are running out of there while he is crying. The boy is really growing up. :) Christmas is going to be incredible tomorrow.

A Christmas Interview

The last two years now we have conducted a little 'pre-Christmas' interview with Aidan. Some interesting things get discussed. :)


Aidan Christmas Interview from fordee on Vimeo.

And last year's version:

Aidan's 2007 Christmas Wishes from fordee on Vimeo.

It is crazy that he's in the same dang shirt. We had NO IDEA. We just can not believe that. Same shirt, but different kid. He has really gotten bigger.

Two years ago we shot a very quick video on our camera:

What Does Santa Say? from fordee on Vimeo.

Santa Breakfast @ AHS

We had a Santa Breakfast at our school this morning, sponsored by the National Honor Society. Aidan had a nice time, but he was soooo shy. All the pretty girls in santa hats just set him off. He kept hiding behind my leg most of the time.





He had a nice time listening to the choir, orchestra and seeing all the other little kids there. But, he didn't go near Santa Claus. One of my former students was dressed up in the Red/White with the beard, pretty funny). We kept trying to get Aidan up there, but he refused. He was too shy. Such is the life of a 4 year-old.


I hope they do it again next year. They did a super job with it.

"It looks like Christmas Town!"

I told you it was cold!

It snowed tonight, and I mean REALLY snowed for the first time since we have lived here - since 1994. It is really amazing. I am still shaking my head about it. Aidan had a ball!


Snow balls! The snow was so perfect that it packed into snow balls. I couldn't believe it. Heavy, wet and perfectly 'packable.'



Aidan threw a snowball for the first time in his life. He said to me a few weeks ago, "Daddy, I want to see snow." I felt bad, but I said, "Son, I'm sorry. We don't live in a place that it snows. It may never snow in Houston in your lifetime." Guess Daddy isn't so smart! Less than a month later, he's licking snow out of the air. His comment was, "It tastes like lemons!" I'm not sure what that means.



Aidan said, "Daddy, it's just like Christmas Town." He was thinking about "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." It really made me smile.



A crazy night. We went to Target and bought an electric blanket. We have no heat because our heater isn't working. Dude is going to come and fix it tomorrow, but for tonight we wanted Aidan to be warm. So he's sleeping in our bed and we'll have a nice cuddly and warm blanket to keep us resting comfortably tonight. Tomorrow the heat will be fixed and we'll probably never need the blanket again!



What a night. We were driving back from Target and people were outside taking pictures on cell phones like crazy. It made me wonder if the cell phone companies saw a spike in texting and pic sending tonight! Tomorrow morning we have 'late arrival' for the kids. We always do on Thursday mornings. From 7 to 9 the teachers are in meetings, so the kids stay home until then. Then we have periods 2, 4 and 6. This gives teachers and opportunity to plan and meet. And tomorrow it'll give students the chance to get out in their yards, have snowball fights and they are going to be pretty wild come 9 am!

Santa's Farm 2008

Tonight we took a trip to the Kingwood High School FFA barn for their annual "Santa's Farm." It was a lot of fun. Aidan loved seeing all the animals. Our favorite photo is this one:

Totally cracks me up. He was yelling, thinking the pig was going to get him.

It was fun.

Santa's Farm 2008 from fordee on Vimeo.

Christmas Tree Topping

Aidan was the "star" of the Christmas tree decorating in our house this year. He put the star on top. (With a little help from Dad)


Christmas Tree Topper 2008 from fordee on Vimeo.

First Presents of Christmas Morning 2007

First Presents 2007 Xmas from fordee on Vimeo.

Christmas Morning 2007, Video 1

Santa must have come... there is EVIDENCE!

Christmas Morning 2007 from fordee on Vimeo.
What a great day it was.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve 2007 from fordee on Vimeo.

Christmas Eve video from this week. Aidan really loved everything about Christmas this year. Today I had my Xbox 360 return box delivered and he was sure it was more presents. I felt bad for him, but then again he is spoiled rotten.

Tonight we actually went to Wal-Mart. That happens once every 10 years or so. We spent our $150 of gift cards on groceries. We got the surprise gift cards through school last Friday at our Christmas lunch. For a couple of teachers, $150 can come in handy! Thanks to Grandma Fran for the excellent advice of using the gift cards at Wal-Mart for groceries. It worked out perfectly and (in my messed up way of thinking) that money gets substituted for our new laptops. :)

We took Aidan to see Alvin and the Chipmunks Movie. It was horrible. But, Aidan enjoyed it. He was dancing in the isle at the absolutely horrific musical parts. Norma and I just kept watching the clock slowly tick the hour and a 1/2 down. But, it was totally worth it for Aidan. He had a great time. Little bugger.