New Year 2011

Confetti Countdown Filmstrip New Year's

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Growing up

Aminah is growing up in so many ways. Each day she amazes me with the things that she says. She has grown 3/4 of an inch since Christmas. I put the pants on that she wore Christmas Eve and they were "highwaters." So I measured her and sure enough she grew. The preschool told me on Friday that they are wanting to move her up to the next level of Pre-Kindergarten (that is for the older 4 year olds) because she is ready. Yesterday the Sunday school teacher said, "She is ready to move into the Kindergarten class." I know that she is comfortable where she is and she is so ready to start teaching the class herself so I guess she is ready, but I'M NOT. How can my little girl be growing up so quickly.

On another note we went to visit our friends new grandbaby Saturday night and I told Aminah that we were going to go see the new baby. She wanted to get all dressed up. She wore a dress with lots of foofoo and her tiara. I had to take pictures. I think she wanted to make sure that the new baby did not outshine her!

Kisses

Aminah: Mommy do you know what kisses are?
Mommy: What?
Aminah: Your heart coming out your mouth.
Mommy: Where did you learn that?
Aminah: I just though of it.
Aminah pauses for a minute and then says: Maybe I will teach it.

So the next time you kiss someone remember that it is your heart coming out of your mouth.

Homework

Apparently homework is frustrating for a 4-year-old. All she is being asked to do is write her name. It is something that she is not mastering. She can do most other things that are required of her, but this homework thing is beyond fun. When I told her that she needed to do her homework she grumbled and groaned. So we are sitting together and with each letter she isn't enjoying herself. She puts one hand on her head and said, "This is NOT happening!" I told her it was happening and that she needed to finish writing her name. "No TV or Computer until you finish writing your name." I tell her. Then she continues to moan and says, "It's not FAIR" with more dramatics than an accomplished actress. So that was Monday night. Tonight . . . more of the same. She keeps writing the letters wrong just so she can erase them. I told her that she has at least 17 more years of homework and she should get used to it. She just rolled her eyes at me. And thus it begins.

Christmas Morning 2008

Christmas was such a great day. When we woke up we came out to see what Santa brought. He filled our stockings and brought Aminah a doll house. We went to Aunt Pat and Uncle Brownie's house to open gifts there. They have a tradition of praying and thanking God before opening gifts. I asked if Aminah could pray first and then they could do their prayer. I figured Aminah would do her regular prayer that she always says at school, but no she decided to give her first heart felt prayer. It was like this, "Dear God, thank you for all these gifts, thank you for everything you do for us, for loving us, and for all our stuff." It brought tears to our eyes. She was so thankful for and I was so glad that I let her pray that morning. They decided that her prayer said it all, and we started opening our gifts. Nothing is as wonderful as the gift that God gave us with his Son. Of course I believe a close second is the gift He gave me when He let me be Aminah's mommy.

Christmas Time

This year we had a fantastic Christmas. We had lots of fun leading up to the actual Christmas day. Here is a snap shot of what occured. We had breakfast with Santa at my school, a girl party at Jill's house, performances at Aminah's preschool and at our church. We had a great day in the snow with Luke and Linsey. We also had Christmas Eve at my house with Justin, Ashli, and Dane.

Aminah's Christmas Program

Aminah had her Christmas Program at the Preschool and she was very excited. She had practiced her song and we invited "Bubba", Ashli, and "Baby Dane." Here is a really cute picture of Aminah and Dane (her step-cousin or her uncle's grandson or something like that) :)

Halloween Party at Preschool

At the beginning of the month Aminah's teacher at preschool asked for parents to donate items for their Halloween party. I didn't sign up at the time because there were quite a few parents already signed up and I usually will do about 3 out of the 4 parties. I had already spent quite a bit of extra money on the school fundraiser earlier in the month and felt I had to bow out of it this time. There were plenty of other parents that had signed up and all of the slots eventually were filled. As the month went on the teacher wrote "Thank You" next to each parent that had brought in their donations, so I knew that it was being taken care of. Earlier this week I received a note on the sign-in sheet asking if I could bring in either a large bag of candy or 12 toys. I ignored the little note, feeling that they already had plenty from what I had seen coming into the room. Then the day before Halloween there was another note from the teacher asking me again to either bring in 12 toys or a large bag of candy. I had arrived early enough to speak with the teacher and told her that I wasn't going to be able to do it this month. I told her I had looked through my "gift cupboard" at home and found 6 toys but didn't have 12 and she said, "well we just want to make sure that the kids have enough stuff." I felt pressured, but knew the kids would have plenty of stuff, so I didn't bring anything in. Well as it turns out I was right. When Aminah came home on Halloween day she had 67 items in her bag! Here is a list of all that she brought home:
Candy:
4 Smarties, 6 Tootsie Rolls, 3 Sour Punch, 3 Lolly Pops, 3 Starburst, 1 Nerds, 1 Dots, 3 Snickers, 3 M&Ms, 2 Almond Joy, 2 Hershey, 4 KitKat,
Other Edible Items:
1 Cookie, 1 Fruit Snack, 1 Rice Crispy
Toy Items:
1 large container of Play Dough, 1 Sponge Bob Pen with Etch-A-Sketch, 2 Eye Patches, 1 Pumpkin Sticker, 3 Spider Rings, 1 Butterfly Pen, 1 Bat Straw, 4 Lip Whistles, 1 braclet, 2 Stamps, 1 Ball and Jack set, 1 Rubber Rat, 1 Rubber Lizard, 1 Parachute Pumpkinman, 1 Bottle of Bubbles, 1 Fake Finger, 2 Chinese Yo-Yos, 1 Pumpkin Whistle, 1 Fake Gun, and 1 Glow Stick
So as you can see I wrote it all down, because I was quite amazed. I'm so glad I didn't contribute MORE to their plethora of stuff. (How often do you get to use a word like plethora? - means overabundance)

Flower Girls

Aminah was in her first wedding today. She was a flower girl with her best friend Linsey. The girls were adorable and took their job very seriously. Aminah's teacher just got married a few weeks ago and so Aminah knows a real flower girl. She was able to share all kinds of information about what a flower girl does and what kinds of things a flower girl has. Apparently, flower girls get a coloring book when they are done. Unfortunately, the bride didn't have this bit of knowledge because there was no coloring book. Also it appears that flower girls are supposed to wear white instead of brown. Again the bride wasn't aware of this rule either. Another mistake the bride made was that she didn't have flowers for the girls to wear in their hair. I guess the bride didn't know much about weddings because Aminah also noted that the bride didn't wear a veil. Next time you need a wedding consultant just ask Aminah, because it seems she "knows" a LOT about how weddings are supposed to be, even though this was her first wedding.