Love Bag

So, in keeping with the whole "I am not Catholic" theme, this whole idea of Avery's first penance was news to me. But, it happened.  On February 13th (Friday the 13th nonetheless), Avery had her first penance.  When I asked her what she was going to tell the priest, she informed me that she was told that she didn't have to tell anyone but the priest, so she was keeping it private.  Alrighty then...

She then informed me that there were a few things that she didn't feel comfortable telling the priest.  So, of course, I tell her that if she isn't comfortable, she doesn't need to tell him.  To which she replies, "Well, Mrs. H. said that god knows everything, so he will know if I lie to the priest."  I'll be honest - I had somewhat of a hard time with this one.  I mean, seriously?  What could a 7 year-old possibly have done that is bad enough to be confessed?  That said, I attempted to be good and told her to just tell God privately if she didn't want to tell the priest.  I thought that was a good solution (and also happened to be one suggested by a co-worker, but whatever).

So, anyway...they have their first penance and then go about their day.  Then, at around 1 PM, all of the parents assembled in the auditorium and waited for both classes to come in so that we could surprise them with the love bag ceremony.

What is a love bag you ask?  Well, it starts off as a regular brown grocery bag that is given to all parents of 2nd graders in September (i.e., I've had 5 months to make this thing).  And, all parents are told that they are supposed to decorate the outside of the bag and then put things that show your child that you love them inside of the bag. However, these things are not supposed to be materialistic (i.e., no iPads, iPods, etc.).  They are supposed to be things that you make, hand down, etc.  Easy enough, right?  Except that the decorating of the love bag has now taken on a whole new meaning and has gotten quite intense.  They specifically say to keep it simple - not to go overboard.  But, hello????  When I KNOW that there will be parents who do go overboard, how am I supposed to keep it simple??!!!!  Oh hey, Avery - that's your love bag - the one that is just a brown paper sack with your name on it.  Yeah...no.  So...I went into craft mode.

I entered Michaels having literally no idea what I was going to do with the bag to make it look cool.  I went the fabric route, but then realized I can't sew.  So, I decided to go the poster board/stickers/stencils/pictures route.  $70 worth of supplies later, I was out.

Then came the tough part -decorating this thing when Avery wasn't around because, of course, this was all a surprise.  In an effort to do so, Josh took the kids on a Saturday morning and the plan was for me to go to his office to work on this thing.  So, I get ready to go and go to get the $70 worth of supplies - CAN'T.  FIND.  THE.  $70.  WORTH.  OF.  SUPPLIES!!!!!!!!!!!  You have no idea the sense of anger I felt.  So...off to Michaels again.  $70 (or, really- $140) later, I was out.  Except, now?  The kids were due home any second, so nothing got done.

Luckily, I did have a couple of weeks before the bag was due and I did get it done.  And, I think that it actually turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

And, what went into the love bag, you ask?  She got some pretty cool stuff.  I wrote a poem for her (not sure if you can read it?)...

I also made her a photo book of her first year of life (I had to stop there, as it was 70 pages already).

Grammy and Grampy wrote adjectives about her using the letters of her name and then framed it.

Auntie Kristen and Uncle Ra-Ra gave her a coupon book good for things like a trip to the ice cream store, the movies, the mall, etc.

Aunt Lexi and Uncle Will wrote her hykus and the girls drew her pictures. 

Alex and Josh wrote her a letter.

And, Opa and Grandma made her this insanely creative thing...it came in a box and started with a cutout of both of their hand prints and then, as she pulled that out, all of these hearts were connected with a string and each heart had a reason why they loved Avery on it.  It was pretty cool.

Overall, although I was a little skeptical at first, the entire ceremony was very nice.  All of the bags were lined up very nicely on the stage and the principal presented each child with their bag.  Prior to that, they all sang the songs that they had sung in the penance ceremony that morning.  It was really cute.  They had a great time opening it and were very surprised - so much so that I believe my child just may have yelled "What the HECK is going on??????" in front of all of the parents as she walked in....and, this my friends is just one of the many reasons we love Avery.
 

 

Christmas in Houston Part II

Both of Lexi's girls have a double bed, so in an effort to allow for both Josh and I to be comfortable, I slept in Charlotte's room with Annabel and Charlotte and Josh slept in Annabel's room with our kids.  Which, was great.  I love spending time with the girls and thought it was cute that we were all having a slumber party every night.  And, what was really cute (insert sarcasm) was when Charlotte would wake me up every morning at ahem....6:30 AM.  You see, Charlotte has a clock in her room that turns green when she is allowed to wake up.  So, every morning?  At 6:30?  "Aunt Whitney?  Can we watch TV now?  My light is green."  And, every morning, I would wake up, get them set up in the media room and then go back to sleep.  So, really, not too bad overall.  What was REALLY shocking????  The same thing happened on Christmas morning!  I am pretty certain that none of them attempted to go downstairs until at least 7/7:30.  But, when they did?  They witnessed the mound of presents that Santa left...

 

 

 

Alex picked out this tie for Josh all by himself at the Santa's workshop at school.  Pretty impressive!

 

Some of the favorite gifts were the towels that Grandma made for all 4 kids - Avery and Alex use theirs daily.  Very cool.

 

 

And, of course, I have to brag about the sign that I had made for Opa and Grandma.  As you all know, the kids bring their scooters with them whenever they are all together and do quite a lot of scooting, so I thought that this would be perfect to hang on Opa and Grandma's driveway in WI!

Finally, after a couple of hours, all of the presents were opened...

 

 

I think that everyone can agree that it was once again, a plentiful Christmas morning. 

 

That afternoon, because you can do these things in TX on Christmas, we took the kids to the playground for a couple of hours to let them run around.  It was a gorgeous day - mid 60's and sunny.  And, to celebrate, we let the kids play while the adults sat near enjoying a beverage.  Apparently, I was really enjoying my beverage because I can't find a single picture from that playground trip! We went home after the playground and enjoyed a great dinner that night...

 

 

And, after dinner, we drove to a nearby neighborhood to check out all of the lights!  The kids scooted all throughout the neighborhood and had a great time. 

 

And, of course, Charlotte had to pee halfway through. You gotta do what you gotta do!

Yet again, it was another memorable Christmas.  Last part of Houston trip to follow.  One of these days, I will learn how to better summarize our life and what we are doing.  Then again, who am I kidding?  When have I ever been good at leaving out every detail???? 

A Glimpse into my Future

First of all - I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but if you are reading this blog, you are NOT allowed to judge.  Got it?  Ok...

So, last night, Avery asks me - "Mom, who is Susan B. Anthony?" 

So, I tell her, "I think that she is the woman who sewed the first American flag?"

Avery - "Um...no, Mom.  That was Betsy Ross." 

OOPS!  She is SEVEN and is teaching me about American history.

Somehow I think that this will not be the first time my daughter knows more than I do...