The Christmas Dress

Sam attends a Title One school. For those of you who don't know, this means there is a high percentage of children attending his school from low-income families. So the school is allotted extra money for learning programs and teaching assistants. I'm not sure my explanation is completely accurate, so if you are still not sure you should Google it.  

Most of the school is on reduced or free lunch. Several children wear the same thing to school everyday. Could be a choice, I'm not sure. 

This last December we got a call and an email explaining that a drama group from BYU held a Dress Drive and had collected over 400 dresses for our school. The dresses were displayed, much like a store and every girl in the school got to "go shopping" for a dress and take one home if they wanted one. 

That afternoon Sam said, "The girls in my school got dresses today." I told him that I had heard about that. 

Then he said, "I should have asked my teacher if I could get one for Lola." We laughed, I told him that Lola had plenty of clothes and dresses. Then I saw something in his expression that made me say, "You did ask your teacher, didn't you ?" He smiled and admitted that he had. I asked what she said and he told me she had said no.

A few days later he started talking about a picture he was drawing to give to Lola for Christmas. 

On the last day of school before winter break he closed himself up on the closet under the stairs and did some serious wrapping. I thought it was way too much effort for a drawing and I suggested (through the door) that he put it in an envelope. He declined. 

On Christmas Eve he was talking about his gift for Lola and tried to get us to guess. I said I thought it was a drawing and he said that was only part of it. We guessed and guessed and he ever told us it was a "Christmas blank." When we still couldn't guess he said the blank started with a D. We still had no idea. 

On Christmas morning Sam was almost as anxious for Lola to open his gift as he was to open the ones for himself. Almost. 

We were so surprised to see a dress in the package. I immediately put it together and knew where the dress had come from. He told us that when he had asked his teacher if he could pick a dress for Lola that she had said yes and then she went with him while he picked it out. 

Of course she had to wear it to church that day.

I think the look on his face says it all.

Christmas... a little late, I know.

The opening of the Jammies.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We had lunch with the Alger and Wells families and then dinner, scriptures, and song with the Johnson, Nichols and Cote Families. And the poochie kins opened their traditional Christmas Eve Jammies.

 Lola's jammies are just about the cutest jammies I have ever seen. They have little monkeys on them doing girly things like being ballerinas and princesses. She looks so fuzzy and cozy in them too. I just want to squeeze her. And they have a little bit of sparkle on them... NOT GLITTER... SPARKLE.... I learned the hard way not to buy any clothes with GLITTER on it. That stuff comes off the clothes and get EVERYWHERE! 

 Here is Sammy boy in his Christmas Eve Jammies. His is a pair of Flannel pants with a Tony Hawk T-shirt. Tony Hawk is a famous skate boarder. It was kind of and interesting coincidence because later that night, Santa brought Sam a rip stick, which is kind of like a skate board. He really liked his jammies.

 Lola really liked her jammies too, but you can't really tell from this picture.

Santa came and brought us some wonderful things. This is the traditional Loot Shot.

The poochie kins on Christmas morning.

This is Lola in her Christmas dress that she got from her brother. Look at his face. Doesn't he look so pleased and satisfied that she is going to wear his gift to church? More to come about this dress in a future post.

For your viewing pleasure. #3

For your viewing pleasure. #2

For your viewing pleasure. #1

Pictures by Anj

I have a brilliant cousin. Her name is Andrea, but I like to call her Anj. She is a photographer. And a student. And a pastry chef. And a librarian. And a nanny (a true, born mother actually). And a world traveler. And a soon to be Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As you can probably tell, WE LOVE ANDREA!

At the end of last summer we had a Busath family reunion in Yellowstone. While there, Anj was kind enough to do a photo shoot with us. She does such good work. She can make even us look good.

Thanks Anj!

Sam's Christmas Concerts

This year, Sam had several concerts for the holiday season. First was a piano recital, which I forgot to take

my camera to. Luckily, Grandpa J took some video, so we'll have a copy of that soon.  I loved watching him play in his bow tie. In fact I got the giggles because he was so cute and looked so professional and did

such a great job. It was a really fun night.

 

  Next was his first band concert. I'm not sure where Sam is in the picture above, but the dude with the silver hair reminds me of a certain neighbor we had growing up... And check out that guy on the greenish sweater. He recorded the whole thing with his iPad. I could really use one of those. My birthday is March 30th for any of you wondering...

 In this picture you may or may not be able to pick Sam out of the line up of Trumpet players who are standing. He's in the line somewhere near the teacher standing at the mic. This whole concert was very cool for me and very nostalgic. PEPLOW!!!!

Here is my boy, leaving the stage with his trumpet.

And of course, there was the annual Christmas Sing at Sam's Elementary School. He sang so well and he looked so handsome.

Each of these nights I felt super proud of this kid. He is having such a great year at school and band and piano. He is improving in all and trying really hard at each, and keeping very busy. Plus he is a really fun kid to have around at home. We are so glad he is in our family!

Lola's First Birthday - POST EDIT

Lola's Birthday was on a Thursday. We decided to party on Friday. Since Grandma and Grandpa J work at the temple on Friday, they came by on the actual birthday and brought a cupcake for Lola. She loved it!

 On Friday the party happened. We invited Grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousins over for some cake and ice cream. We played a game where Lola chose what she wanted to be when she grows up, she chose to be a Veterinarian. Also, we played a game where she was supposed to pick her favorite cousin. She picked Sam. I do not recommend this game. Feelings were hurt, people cried.

 We stripped her down for the cake part. Does it look like she knows what's coming?

 As I put the cake down in front of her she leaned  forward and tried to get a big bite out.

 Then she was taking dainty little pinches of the frosting.

  Then slightly bigger handful's.

 Then back to huge bites.

She got a little messy, but not too bad. Matt took her right up and gave her a quick bath.

And here she is in her birthday bib and hat. This picture cracks me up. Is she drunk on cake or partied out? You decide.

P.S. POST EDIT -  She picked a horse out of the line up, which stood for becoming a vet.

Some of her other choices were:

a remote control - couch potato

 a ruler - teacher who spanks,

a calculator - accountant,

 a whisk - chef,

 telephone - telemarketer,

 and some others that I cannot recall right now.

The items were lined up on the floor and the one she crawled to and picked up was her career choice.

We learned this game from our Cousin Eric's first birthday. Eric is like 23 or 24 now. We played the same game at Sam's first Birthday party. I can't remember what Sam chose to be, isn't that sad? I wish I had had a blog back then to refer to.