Dear Santa

Wait a minute.  All of these letters are supposed to start with "Dear Ian!"  Have no fear; here we go...

Dear Ian,

This year you really "got" all of the festivities and activities of Christmas.  You believed with your whole heart in the magic of Christmas, Santa and his reindeer, and in Chapel and at home, you were learning about the birth of Jesus.  The lights on houses thrilled you.  You started wrapping your toys in your Loveys and giving them as gifts to Daddy and me.  This year, Christmas was truly in your heart and special for all of us. 

And this year, you wrote your very first letter to Santa.  Well, you dictated and I wrote, but you wrote your own name and decorated your letter all by yourself. 

Here's the outside of your letter.  I gave you dot letters to follow and trace, and you did a great job. 

And here is your actual letter.  I love that you asked me the check the "quite good" box versus the "very good" box at the top of the letter.  Maybe you are more self-aware than I realized.  Anyhoo.  You asked Santa for a basketball hoop and ball, a John Deere 40 tractor, a toy Rudolph and some new books.  And you promised to leave Santa some milk and cookies.  It was so cute.  Then you used your crayons to decorate your letter.  You really took your time and worked hard on it, and I know Santa appreciated all the work. 

We then put it in an envelope and put it in the mail for Santa.  Even the mailman thought it was sweet. 

Although this year is only your fourth Christmas, I think this one will go down as one of my favorite Christmases ever.  Your enthusiasm and happiness over the season was contagious, and I know that your Christmas spirit really helped raise mine. 

Thank you for all of these wonderful memories little boy.

We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

Otter Antics: The Final Weeks

Dear Ian,

Here's the final post in our series of Otter Antics for the year.  Your elf was a busy little guy as we prepared for Christmas and Santa's arrival.

 One day we found him in your car seat.  You had spent the night with Grandma and Papa Davis, and apparently Otter missed you.  He had to come with us to pick you up! 

 Here's a picture of him trying out your guitar.  Thank goodness we got a musical elf to be part of our musical family.  And he even wrote out some sheet music to Jingle Bells!

Mr. Craig from Daddy's work and his wife, Ms. Jerilyn, bought you this giant Lovey as a Christmas gift.  Otter thought he would be great to sit on! 

 On his last day with us, Otter left you a sweet letter and directions on how to make a special treat for Santa's reindeer when they arrived Christmas eve. 

You and I (and maybe even Daddy) were a little sad on Otter's last day at our house.  You were always so excited to see where Otter was every morning and what he was doing.  That sweet, energetic little search just made my morning.  I am very glad that Santa sent us a scout elf to our house, and I know we are looking forward to him coming back again next year.

I love you, Little Buddy,
Mommy
 

Works of Art #40 - Christmas Edition

Dear Ian,

Things are in full Christmas swing around here, and to help prepare for the holiday, you and your class have been super busy. 

 First you brought home an adorable reindeer made out of Popsicle sticks.  He's so cute! 

 Next came this gorgeous poinsettia flower.  I LOVE this.

 Here's a neat snowflake made out of recycled toilet paper tubes and painted with white and white glitter.

 Look at this neat candy cane you made!  I especially like the pattern you did with the red and white.

 This is a cute stocking you decorated.  I know that you made this in art with Miss Lynn, because my class made one, too.

This is a neat wreath you made with dot markers.  I really like this one, too!

Finally, here's the gift that Miss Katie and Miss Mallory helped you make for me and Daddy.  It's a Rudolph made out of your hands and a foot print.  I love him!  He's going to hang with the one you made a long time ago when you stayed home with me and the one you made last year with Miss Laura.  I love the fact that by the time you graduate Advent, we will have a whole collection of these banners.  It makes me smile.

You might be wondering where we put all of these great ornaments and decorations that you made.  Well, wonder no longer:

 This is your very own Ian Christmas Tree.  Here's where we have placed all of the hand-made ornaments that you have created.   We have last year's ornaments hanging next to this year's, and I cant wait to see how they change and develop as you grow.  It's a neat tree.  And it's all yours.

Merry Christmas, Baby Bear!
Mommy
 

Otter Antics: The Catch Up

Dear Ian,

That elf of ours has been a busy little dude.  He's brought joy and happiness to our mornings, as you race down the stairs each morning to find where he's landed for the day.  And thankfully, he's at least been neat about it, so I haven't had to clean up after him too much.  Without further ado, here is our latest Otter Sightings.

 Here's our intrepid little elf getting a lift from your fire engine so he can see the ornaments on the tree a little better.

 That crazy Otter.  Here he is making cereal necklaces for you and himself. 

 I wonder who he's calling.  Santa?  I sure hope not.  I cant imagine what the long distance bill is going to be if he did.

 Wow!  On this morning Otter brought you a new book!  Curious George's Christmas.  Otter had to read it first, though, it seems.

What a funny elf.  We woke up this morning to see that he had decorated your chair at the table with red and green paper streamers.  It was really neat!

 Uh oh.  Looks like Otter is on his way up the stairs to either check on you or to see if your room is clean.  Fingers crossed you picked up your toys before bed this night.

 This special Otter moment was the day after you had a great day at school.  Otter decided that you had been so good that you deserved a special treat.  He wrapped up a small gift just for you.

Here's a picture of you with the gift from Otter.  It turned out to be a Grinch floor puzzle.  

We've really been having a lot of fun with Otter.  A few mornings, Mommy didn't get her self together enough to snap a picture, but regardless, Otter has brought a lot of fun to our morning routine.  

We love you, Ian!

Mommy, Daddy and Otter

Bad Mommy

Dear Ian,

I have been terrible about getting on here and posting this month.  So far December only has one lonely little letter, and we are on the 19th of the month.  In my defense, I have been running around like a crazy lady getting things ready for Christmas and sharing in the revelry of the season with you.  See, I'm not a bad mom after all; instead of writing, we've been living.  Creating the memories that I will, eventually, get down on this blog.

We've been busy little elves, you and I.  We've Christmas shopped together, watched Christmas movies snuggled up together on the couch, and gone Christmas-light touring through neighborhoods around town. 

So there's a reason for my absence, and I know it's ok.  I will be getting back into the swing of things once our school Christmas Holiday starts and once I can finally breathe a bit.

Love you much,
Mommy

Otter Antics, Week Two

Dear Ian,

 It's officially been three weeks since Otter the Elf moved into our house to keep an eye on you for Santa, and he has been a busy little dude.  Like before, I took pictures of all of the crazy things we caught him doing so we can let Santa know he himself is a little naughty at times.  

 Here we found him in the chandelier over the dining room table.  We're assuming he was helping us decorate, as those lovely snowflakes weren't there before he arrived.  I guess he got stuck
putting them up for us.

 The next day we found that funny little elf at your spot at the dining room table.  He had apparently raided your closet for something to play with and found your legos.  He is quite the architect and built himself a little house of Duplos.

 

 This little escapade we caught him in was pretty funny.  Taking a late night joy-ride on your bee...

 Uh oh.  The morning after we put up our Christmas tree, we found Otter in it looking at all the ornaments.  He got a little close to some of Mommy's breakable ones...

 Nutty Elf.  Apparently traveling to the North Pole every night is dirty work.  Or maybe Otter just needed to warm up in this little bubble bath.  Either way, it made brushing your teeth the next morning difficult.

 Awww.  On this morning, Otter was being really sweet.  He brought you a new coloring book, and he even colored a picture for you!  How thoughtful.

 Sleepy Otter.  This morning we found him snuggled up with one of your Lovies.  Good thing you didn't mind sharing.

 Daddy thinks that this night it was too cold for Otter to go all the way to the North Pole, so he used Daddy's Ham Radio to communicate with Santa about your day.  He even has his own call sign!  KC4 ELF!

And the last picture in our weekly wrap-up:  Otter used your Montessori letters to spell out a special message to you!

Love you, Monkey!
Mommy