December 2009

2009 Wraps Up for the Family with a Big Christmas Reunion
Our Christmas Season began with the kindergarten program at Mr. Man's School PTA Night. Oma was able to come and watch our very own star in his first school program celebrating the Christmas spirit.

The crowd hushes as the star of the show approaches the stage.

And here they are-for your listening pleasure folks-after months of musical practice, we present the amazing talent of the kindergarten singing a holiday classic-Jingle Bells!

Mom takes a moment to get a photo with the star of the show!

Oma with the three muskateers after the performance.

Dad poses with his all star Kindergartner-ever the proud Papa!

We all got into the Christmas spirit with Dad's work project, making homemade gift boxes for our soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a picture of the boxes the adults assembled, and the airplane one of the kids made, showcasing the dangerous skills of a soldier jumping out of the airplane! Kids have great imaginations don't they.

This is the cookie crowd. The kids went crazy with the sugar cookie decorating! They had a great time, although we are pretty sure that most of the icing ended up on the kids.

Here is a sweet homemade note for one of the soldiers from our Mr. Man. It says exactly what the soldiers need to hear- simply-thank you!

It is hard to believe that my children have all been born during the war on terror. Even though the kids don't fully understand the meaning of war (thankfully), they are always concerned about the soldiers and their families. The kids understand enough about the soldiers absence, to know that it must be hard for the men and women fighting for our freedom, to be far away from those they love. Somehow they know that those men and women are heroes and should be prayed for and thanked.
It gives me great pride to hear my children tell a uniformed soldier "thank you for serving" whenever they can. Children have such tender hearts - if we could all remember the innocence of youth, the spirit of Christmas would be a permanent state of living, and the word "war" would never have to be explained or understood again.

Nana and the Principle Pose for Proud Parents

Yes-I should have the bumper sticker that says "My daughter is an honor roll student at . . . "
but instead we decided to go out to dinner. We were very proud of our third grader-who started out the year in second and was quickly promoted due to her own intellect! Go Girl!!!!

This felt so good for our sis that she has continued to work hard on everything she tackles in school.

Beautiful Girl! Just as sweet inside as she is outside.

The Christmas Project

The Year 2009 brought some trials, but a lot of blessings for the Napoleon and Hill Families. The Napoleons saw a new baby born into their family-the 4th addition, and saw concern over a serious illness calmed and treated for Kalani. The Hills spent the first six months of the year seperated for Jeff's new job, but reunited in a new area, a new house and close to our old friends the Napoleons. Facing the tough economic trials of the year, made us realize how blessed we feel to have stable work, healthy children, good insurance, good homes and food to share. We wanted our children to have the opportunity to realize the blessings we have, by understanding the needs of so many children who would not be so lucky in the season and year round. So we all decided to go shopping for other kids who would be so happy to see a special gift just for them on Christmas. The kids had such a good spirit about doing it, and had a great time picking out the toys they wanted to give. They even insisted that they wrap the gifts themselves! They had such a good time doing it, that we decided to take a picture so we can remind them next season of the fun they had serving someone else. The best part was sharing the hot chocolate after we were all done. Mmmmmmmm!

This is the best picture of the kids. It really shows their true personalities.
Everyones a comedian right?!

Santa Comes to School

Kindergarten was the only class lucky enough to visit with Santa at school this year. We asked for a Spy Gear Kit and a Discovery Kids video camera! Serious toys-so Santa gave him a candy cane just in case the toys didn't work out. Lucky for him-they were there on Christmas morning or else Santa would've been getting spinach on his cookie plate next year!


Santa was so nice-he even let Little Bubbers sit on his lap and tell him what he wanted. The request was made for a transformer-he got a cnady cane too-just in case. Sure enough, the transformer was there under the tree on Christmas day! Santa really knows how to come through for good little boys!

It's Alvin and the chipmunk! Santa had to check on his reindeer after this picture-they were double parked on the roof!

School Parties
Mini Santa and I played guitar and sang Christmas songs for the kindergarten class!
Sugar and Singing go hand in hand!


Mini-mini Santa had a great party with crafts and cookies and good little friends!

"Ok people-what's next? I'm ready for anything!"
Mom had a great time dressing up like an Elf and reading to the Pre-school.
Of course, all the people at the grocery store thought it was a little weird as I was hurrying to gert candy canes before I went. Whatever happened to acceptance? Whatever happened to the Christmas spirit of joy in adulthood? Clearly people are not used to seeing adults dress up like elves in the middle of the day at the grocery store. If it was California-people wouldn't even think twice-it would be weird for someone not be dressed up as an elf in December. Oh well-it was still fun and it was great to be a part of Little Bubbers first Pre-school Christmas party! He had a great time-as shown by the smile on his face in the picture. It's a contagious laugh, so don't get to close or you'll get it too :)


The Gingerbread House