Jenkins Family: Pre-K Christmas Program & Meijer Gardens

The boys' pre-K class participated in their elementary school's Christmas program Tuesday night. It was quite the production. We're starting to learn what it's like to be the parents of elementary students...like, you must show up early to the Christmas program. Very early. Apparently it is vitally important to stake claim to a whole section of seats, so you must show up and stand in line (in the cold) so you can procure your spot. The note we received about the program stated that the doors to the church where the program was held would open at 6:30. I thought that was sort of strange that they had to communicate when the doors would open, but understood when we got there about 6:15 and saw very long line. We didn't think it was necessary to stand in the cold, so we waited in the warm car. After a while, we made the decision to get in line just to make sure we could get in the building. I hadn't stood in a line like that since I got my iPad, but I was given snacks while in that line. We ended up getting decent seats, but it turned out the boys were on one side of the stage and we were on the opposite side of the building. We got a few blurry pictures.

Before the program. Noah is in green, Seth is in blue. Seth wasn't too thrilled to be there.

That's a little better.

Not happy about getting his picture taken.

The boys did much better this year singing than they have in the past at Christmas programs. They actually mouthed some of the words and did some of the hand motions. Noah was acting up a little bit before they started singing by harassing his neighbor.

Instead of recognizing that harassing your neighbor isn't the right thing to do, in typical twin brother fashion Seth decided that it looked like fun and joined in.

The pre-K, kindergarten and 1st grade classes sang their songs first. We gave the boys the option to stay for the rest of the program, or leave and go look at Christmas lights. The boys surprised us and decided to stay and listen to the rest of program. They loved it.

Yesterday afternoon, we went to Meijer Gardens to see the Christmas and Holiday Traditions Around the World display. The Christmas trees are always decorated beautifully and as an added bonus, there were reindeer there to see and learn about. We had fun, but for some reason it was very difficult to get the boys to cooperate for pictures. I decided to include our 'outtakes' just to keep it real.

The reindeer were named Prancer (7 months old) and Holly (4 years old). Noah asked if they were Santa's reindeer. The nice woman explained to Noah that they watch the reindeer for Santa and if one of his reindeer gets hurt or can't pull his sleigh, those reindeer will step in and replace it.

Seth, left. Noah, right.

Cute picture of Seth.

This is what it took to get there...

Noah

Chris thought he was getting a nice picture of him and the boys. Little did he know...

Noah petting Prancer

I loved this tree because it had icicles on it. I love icicles! We stood there for a few minutes and heard the comments of several people as they walked by. People have very strong opinions about icicles and aren't afraid to express them. One woman was completely disgusted by the icicles and the very next people who walked up thought it was pretty.

Seth wanted to take a picture. This is Seth's point of view. Nice and blurry.

We thought he was taking another picture, but it turns out he just turned the camera around and took one of himself.

Of course Noah wanted a turn as photographer.

Noah wanted his picture in front of the Canada tree because it had an owls all over it. He said that his favorite animal is the owl. He has been giving us a really cheese smile for pictures. I'm not sure why he started it.

I asked him to give me a nice smile. This is what I got.

I tried to snap a sweet picture of me and Seth. What a ham.

I wanted to get a picture of the boys in front of the replica of 5/3 Ballpark since they love the Whitecaps. This was the best one.

Their favorite part of the day.

I resorted to bribery. I told the boys that we would go and get frozen yogurt if they would let me get some pictures of them smiling and looking at the camera. Success!!! For a while...

We took the picture taking (and bribery) back to a beautifully decorated tree. So cute! I didn't realize until later that Noah's arms were inside his shirt.