Visiting Santa Claus

It's a tradition that we go to the Americana every year and visit with Santa Claus. We have not visited him anywhere else and I like it there because the Santa is good and its the same one every year, but also I can purchase all the images on a flash drive to take home. I never pay for photography, so for once in a year occasions, like this, I will pay the money to get the images for forever. Its worth that $30 I have to pay.

I wasn't sure how Santa was going to go this year. Erik I knew was going to do fantastic and he was very excited to visit Santa. We read "Santa Bear" all the time in the Berenstein Bears collection so he was excited to make a very short list for Santa and not be overly greedy. His only request was Star Wars "stuff" which means he has no idea what is out there but wants to learn about Star Wars toys. Santa asked for clarification, but Erik didn't know.

Elliot was a wild card this year. I knew he was afraid of Santa in school this year, but then gave him a hug at the end of class. It was interesting with him. We tried to do the picture first with the boys and Elliot wouldn't do it even on the trike backed up to Santa, he was too smart for that trick this year. Then we took the family picture and the boys got to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas.

  

   

Elliot started to warm up at this point and tell Santa what he wanted. Santa's camera people kept snapping pictures because we weren't sure if Elliot would get on his lap at this point.

  

Then Elliot told him what he wanted, "wolfman" which we don't even understand ourselves. Santa's face was funny when he heard Elliot's request. I think it might be the very first time a little boy asked for wolfman for Christmas. I'll tell you the story behind wolfman.

We read this book, "The Biggest, Baddest Wolf" which is just a story about being nice to people because you never know when you will need their help in the future. Well from that book Elliot started pretending to be a wolf and during Halloween he learned about "wolfman" and this game is one of his favorites. So that is why he is asking for wolfman for Christmas... Makes sense in a two year old's brain.

Well after telling Santa what he wanted and giving him hugs he was comfortable enough to sit on his lap so we got our official Santa picture this year with no tears. This is one of the reasons why I love the Americana Santa. He was very patient with my two year old and knew exactly when he was warmed up enough to take a picture. A very smooth operation.

  

    

   

4 Year Old Christmas Concert

Today was the last day of school for Winter Break and Erik's annual Christmas concert at his preschool. This little show is very short, maybe 10 minutes, but its adorable and the four year olds did a fantastic job of listening and singing the songs. Erik has been singing the songs all month so I knew exactly what he was going to sing and was just to happy to see him enjoy himself.

There was also a special treat. One of the mom's from Erik's class is the band director at our local high school. Earlier in the day they put on a concert for the kids, but they also played a song or two with the children and played as they all walked in.

So I wonder, are all mom's like this, but as the little four year olds are walking out with their friends and teachers my eyes start to tear up. It just makes me so emotional to see my little guy doing these things and being such a grown boy who can sing in a concert. Just a second ago he was my very first baby and we were navigating parenthood together. When did he get to be so old?

I didn't realize this until I saw the pictures, they purposely sat the kids boy/girl and at first, when I looked at these pictures, I realized Erik and one of his favorite friend were sitting together. Then I realized to my amusement, they separated friends, probably for a good reason. I think our teachers might have experience with this whole Christmas concert thing.

My poor boy is suffering from allergies on top of refusing to nap all week so he was a bit of a wreck today. You can see how tired he is in this picture, I am not sure if he even realizes it was me taking the picture.

For some reason he always spots daddy first and gets this huge smile. It is most definitely because he is so tall. I love when I see this "I see where daddy is" smile.

I mostly took pictures of the set up process and listened to the concert. I really wanted to make sure I paid attention this year instead of being so focused on pictures. I do have to admit that I really can't help myself.

Here are the kids singing their song, just one quick snap for that one.

Here are some of the other classes that were there besides my kid.

I love this face, not sure who he is making it at, but pretty adorable.

Thumbs up at daddy, his second time, since Carl was mad I missed this picture the first time.

Getting hustled off the stage and Erik is standing with one of his favorite friends from preschool.

Also Erik gets so distracted by looking at everything, he is the last one to get herded out of the room and dragged by his teacher. Very typical for my little guy, pretty sure that is what happened last year.

This is how Elliot watched the show and he did very well and was excited and quiet through the whole thing. I was proud of him!! And he got to hang out with this little guy sitting next to him.

Geeky camera stuff:

I knew from experience I couldn't bounce my flash in this room and that the light pretty bad. This year they did turn on the lights onstage making it a bit easier to shoot. I brought along my prime 85mm lens knowing it would be a good long length so I could stand in the back and be out of anyone's way, yet still get the shots I wanted. Due to the low light I shot at 800 ISO, wide open at f1.8 so I could get a faster shutter of 1/125 and avoid as much motion blur as possible. Since I was so far away it made it not so shallow with the kids around him, but as I got closer it narrowed the depth of field. Then I did some panoramic shots with my 24-70 mm lens because I knew I wanted to get a picture of all the classes this year. Its a harder lens to use though because I have to shoot at f2.8 getting a slower shutterspeed and lots of motion blur. 

Santa Visits BPEC

Its that time, BPEC is closing down for the winter and the jolly old man in the red suit paid everyone a visit. This is my very first experience with the two and younger crowded with Santa and I didn't really know what to expect. Erik didn't start BPEC until after winter when he was 2 years old.

Of course let me preface by saying this day is a really good opportunity for me to catch up on BPEC photos for Elliot and Erik's book and to give you a glimpse of what is catching their interest these days.

For Elliot,  our routine at school is gone, but we definitely have some favorites. Elliot is way more interested in art than his brother was and really enjoyed this gluing project. He covered almost all of his stocking. He also loves dot art and does every project that has to do with with. He stacks the caps almost every time.

He also loves the bikes and everytime he is riding them I always have a mom amazed that he can ride a bike already. He is 2.5 but I guess its not common for that age or at least in our class for a 2 year old to be riding a bike. He is one of about three kids who rides a bike there. Its definitely on his top to do list.

Then there is circle time when the kids get to do silly things. Like crawl like a bug and hop like a frog which look almost exactly the same in a photograph.

Then came our visitor and Elliot's instant reaction was to crawl into my arms and hide, laying down almost like a baby. He was not happy over his visit at all. I knew he just needed time to get use to him since he hadn't seen Santa yet this year. Unfortunately Elliot's present was one of the first to be presented and when I carried him to go to Santa he literally screamed and started freaking out so we sat back down and watch everyone else sit on Santa's lap. Elliot was probably the only kid who didn't sit on Santa lap or approach him in the entire class. I guess there is always one. By the end of class he warmed up and gave Santa a hug and by the ride home he was telling me how he wished he did "Santa ups" so we made progress.

The first hug which I didn't expect. See him hiding in there.

Then he went for more hugs.

The next day was Erik's class and his turn. Erik is funny these days. Whatever friend he favors in whichever class he is in, is his best friend. In BPEC he has called several boys his best friend and his current favorite is Connor who he was playing with this morning.

Erik's class is a little different in that they aren't allowed to have free play. The kids have projects for the first 40 minutes which is honestly hard for Erik. He never wants to do the projects and more often then not we sit reading books or wandering the room because he is not interested. Today because it was Christmas craft he was a little more interested than normal.

Today was cute because in his refusal to do a project he sat down here and pretended to be the teacher and talk about what is on the board.

And he wrestled with one of the dad's instead of doing projects. Ironically Connor's dad, his current "best friend."

Then all the kids sat down for circle time and their attentions were captivated.

Finally our visitor arrived and it was time to pass out the presents and tell Santa what you wanted for Christmas. We were sitting right next to Santa and every kid in that room did a great job of telling him what they wanted. Erik's request was for Star Wars stuff, when prompted for specifics he said Luke Sywalker. He really has no clue when it comes to Star Wars and since his interest is persistent I think I have to give up and just let him learn about it.

 

 

Lastly I love this picture because so many of the kids were working hard on making this structure. I was very curious how it was going to turn out. It was true 4 year old cooperation.