O, Christmas Tree

This is the very first year we have put up a live Christmas tree. We said goodbye to the artificial one and donated it to Goodwill.

I LOVE the real tree. Emma Claire had fun hanging ornaments and Arnold had fun breaking them (round ornament = ball, in his mind).

Supper with Santa 2011, Brookview

Emma Claire is working through her fear of Santa this year, mostly because she REALLY wants a "pink disney princess scooter".

She still is afraid of "beards", but after a short panic attack when he arrived,

she had the courage to sit with Santa with best friend, Addie.

Arnold is not pictured with Santa, because he threw up all over Brad just after Santa arrived (which leads to another story of shared stomach flu in the Kadue house this weekend).

Daddy's Boy

Arnold loves his daddy. Without fail, he will always choose Brad over me. There is no other person that he would rather be with.

Playing

There is nothing I love more than seeing Emma Claire and Arnold play together. That is what siblings are all about, right? Having a playmate for life. Now... they don't always get along, but most of the time, they do. Emma Claire is very much in charge and is always looking out for Arnold. Arnold has pretty much always just followed her lead, but recently, is learning to hold his own.

Halloween

Was so much fun this year...

The kids had lots of opportunities to wear their costumes...Westwood Nature Center, All Saints Carnival, Costume Day at school.

Our tradition has been to trick or treat with Addie. It was at our place this year. Suzanne and I took the girls out in the neighborhood (Brooks and Arnold tagged along in the strollers). Emma Claire and Addie trick or treated for Unicef. They got pretty good at their pitch by the end of the night. "Please may we have coins for the sick kids". The most memorable line of the night for me was by Emma Claire. Addie did the pitch at a neighbor's door: "Please may we have money for the sick kids". Emma Claire chimed in: "I'm sick."

Arnold's First Haircut

The finished product...

Banter

Jenn, one of Emma Claire's teachers happens to be an Auburn alum. She is also a football fan. Ole Miss plays Auburn on Saturday.

Note Brad's response to the following:

"Hi Dino Parents,
After our conference last week both Cristy and I were talking about the children and the dinamics within the room. We feel like it would be best for us to start a zero tolerance policy with our children. We started implimenting it this week and are already starting to see some results. We have asked both Becky and Margaret to help us with this.
Zero tolerance is basically once a rule is stated to the child and they continue to disobey that rule they are automatically told to walk away from the area and take a break. We have rules at school to keep children safe and to make sure everyone is able to have fun. We are no longer giving two, three or four reminders. We feel like three and four year olds should be able to remember the rules to keep everyone safe and be able to have a fun time.
We highly suggest to make this easier on the child to start practicing this at home as well. We are all here for support and encouragement! Please let us know if there are any questions or concerns!
Teacher Jenn and Teacher Cristy"

"Thanks for the update. We certainly support this and will be consistent at home. I will say that the zero tolerance policy has been effective for us with Emma Claire at home and this is a good reminder to us to be consistent.

Thanks for all that you are doing!

-Emily"

"I concur with Emily’s sentiments, though let me add that for this week only we’ve told her it’s OK to curse if it’s pursuant to “Hotty Toddy”. We’ve also told her it’s OK to play rough with any stuffed Tigers or Eagles that may be at school. And finally, she’s only to use Red and Blue paints this week…no Navy or Orange. Thank you.

Bradley Kadue"