Tappy New Year!

The tres amigos celebrated New Year's Eve with their good buddies Mr. Dave, Miss Izzy, Adam and Owie-Boots. So much fun! We drank "bubble juice" (sparkling cider), opened crackers, played with rocket balloons, played a Seinfeld game, the wii and played superheros in pjs to our hearts' content. Eli also shouted "Tappy New Year" many times throughout the evening. I'm not sure what a "tappy" new year is but we sure wish you one!

Dora, Diego and Whose Line Is Is Anyway?

This morning Eli and Noah were watching Dora and Diego while I was getting ready. Now if you know anything about Dora and Diego, you know that they are big fans of having kids yell out stuff during the show. I heard Dora say, "Say your line..." meaning the kids were supposed to say "Give it back" to these pigs that stole their treasure. However, Eli and Noah simultaneously said, "Peace" and "They opened their treasures and presented him with gifts." (These were their "lines" in the Christmas musical.) Then Dora said (as she always does), "Louder!" (As an aside, does anyone's child really need to be told "louder"? For our amigos, volume is never a problem.) And Eli and Noah yelled, "PEACE" and "THEY OPENED THEIR TREASURES AND PRESENTED HIM WITH GIFTS!" I giggled as the pigs gave back the treasure and the boys nodded triumphantly at the TV.

Amazing Grace...

http://www.box.net/shared/lvrrekl98g

Here's Eli's version of Amazing Grace from the kids' new karaoke game from Linds and Jer. Enjoy!

Christmas Day...

We had so much fun on Christmas day hanging out with Steve's side of the fam! After waking up and praying and singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus (Noah and Grace's idea), the kids opened their gifts with Gigi, Papo, Nancy, Auntie Mimers, Grammy and Papa Joe watching. They especially loved their gifts from each other. They really know each other well, I don't know that I would have chosen the gifts they did for each other but now I think I'll have them choose gifts for everyone. If you get a Mr. Potato Head R2D2 for your next birthday, try it...you just might love it!
Then we headed up to Cheyenne for more fun! We played Wii, the kids opened super exciting presents and we ate great food! Grace's presents from all the Cheyenne and Boise-based clan was a muppet that she gets to design herself. How cool is that? She gets to choose its eyes, its nose, its hair and its clothes. And then it gets made by the same people who make regular muppets. She had so much fun with Sicken and Bla-Bla designing various muppets and having people vote on which muppet should be produced. The boys loved, loved, loved their new toys and there was some cut-throat Wii competition going on with the grown-ups. (Pretty sure the Wii was for the kids but you wouldn't know it if you looked at hours spent playing the thing per person!) Our kids always have such a good time in Cheyenne. They cheer as soon as they see the Wyoming sign when we cross the state line. It's so fun to watch them play with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and big cousins. Don and Noah had quite a hilarious foam airplane war in the backyard. Eli and Dave colored together for a very long time. Grace and Sicken and Bla-Bla designed the muppet and wrote a riveting princess story. We're so blessed to have family that loves our kiddos so much!
I've also included photos of our Christmas with Grammy and Papa Joe. It was such a good time. After they opened their gifts they got to play with them/put them together with Grammy and Papa Joe. Eli wanted to put together his scuba diver and shark legos with "just Grammy." And Grace and Papa Joe researched the breed of horse that she got for her American Girl doll and set up a very tricky jumping course. And Noah loves his new lego dune-buggy that Papa Joe and Daddy helped him build. It's super fun to have so many cousins their age on that side of the family and they love to get together with everyone but it was also nice to have some time with just Grammy and Papa Joe.
So there you have it...awesome Christmas! Doubly blessed!

Christmas Eve...

You know, we should know by now that when God shows up, he shows up BIG! You'd think I'd remember that. But I forget and every year I freak out about the Christmas musical and every year people talk about their hearts being touched by the kids and all they have to share through the service. And again this year...I freaked out. I thought that this musical, this year, BY FAR, was the most difficult we've ever put together. And it probably was. And because it was so difficult, I missed out on how touching it was. And you know what? People were touched. They were touched by our little dancers who danced with their whole hearts for Jesus. They were touched when Matthew sang his solo with a voice as pure as an angel's and with humility that humbled us all. They were touched when the kids offered their "gifts" to the baby Jesus...their wobbly cartwheels, their crayon pictures, their newly acquired flute-playing skills, and, in the case of our Eli, their kisses. And we all realized that Jesus is happy with what we give him. When we play our very best lullaby on our little violins to him and our notes are mostly in tune or when we play a concerto so beautifully that it makes grown men weep...Jesus is happy with that. We just need to humbly and happily bring what we have to offer and God does BIG THINGS with those little gifts!

The Law of Stinky Crazy Hair Day

Heretofore, the day after school gets out shall be called "Stinky Crazy Hair Day" and none of the fair amigos shall shower and all amigos shall have crazy hair. Also, all amigos shall reside in a tent built by the amigos in the land of Mommy and Daddy and shall (attempt to) nap in said tent according to the law set by the princes and princesses of the land of kids.

Oh, the DRAMA!

This week has been drama week for the Pouliots. It started with Grace's first grade Holidays Around the World program on Tuesday and culminated with Eli and Noah's preschool programs today. So first...Grace.
As you know, Grace is a big fan of a spotlight. Girlfriend is not shy. So she was just THRILLED to learn that she would be singing a duet in the first grade program at school. Grace and another little girl named Ella were to dress as reindeer and sing the beginning of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer all by themselves before the other kids joined them on the chorus. She practiced Rudolph and all of the other songs from the program over and over at home, in the car, in the shower, everywhere. Finally, it was the day...Tuesday, December 16th. Grace had been counting down. The first graders got to do the program twice, once for the school and once for the families in the evening. Luckily, I got to go to both. I say luckily because when you put 100 first graders and all of the people that love them in a gym in folding chairs and your precious child is short (read on the first row of the risers) it is IMPOSSIBLE to see her. But during the school performance I had a great view (easier to see over small people sitting on the floor)! Grace and Ella came out on the stage first. They stood before two little microphones and the taped music began. The girls came in singing and they were not shy...they were nice and loud! After their duet, all of the other kids came in and lined up on the risers and the girls just kept singing their little hearts out and shaking their jingle bells. I'm not sure that I could have done that at 6 years old in front of the whole school and then hundreds of grown-ups but those two did it! Whoo hoo, Gracie! The whole program was just awesome. The teachers figured out a way to give each of the 100 kids a part that they were super excited about. I don't know how they did it but it was awesome!
Then, today, Noah and Eli had their holiday programs. Unfortunately for us, they were both at the same time. Steve was out of town (poor guy!) so the grandparents all stepped in and we had at least one grown up in each classroom to celebrate Joshy (Matt and Brooke's second), Noah and Eli. Noah has been pretty excited about today because today he got to be the gingerbread man just like Grace was when she was his age. They did the whole gingerbread man story and Noah got to say all of the lines. The best part, though, was watching that little gingerbread man run in place. He was RUNNING! When it was time for his lines, he was winded from all of that fast gingerbread man running! I'll try to post a video of both Grace and Noah's performances if I can figure out the technology. Then I got to watch sweet Eli sing "You Are my Sunshine" and "Jingle Bells". He was really into it, did all of the motions and sang his heart out. He's also been practicing all week..."Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, All the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" Such a fun week!