The Day After Christmas

On Saturday morning at Henry's house, Nick was the last person in the house to wake up. Again.

Grammy said, "I know what to do. I'll take away Nick's blanket and pillow, then he will get out of bed." So that's what grammy did. She took away Nick's blanket and pillow, and Nick got up and walked out of the room.

But then we could not find Nick in the house. We looked in all the rooms and called his name but we could not find him.

Nick was sneaky, he went into Grammy's bed and hid under the covers where no one could see him.

Grammy said, "What! You hid in my bed!" Nick had a big smile on his face and grammy got into bed and gave him a big hug.

Then Henry came into the room and they all hugged on the bed.

Grammy said, "I love to have my little guys around me!"

Christmas Dinner

For Christmas dinner, Aunt Amelia and cousins Alasdair and Shaun come to visit. We made a big dinner, and mommy made Mac & Cheese so Nick would have one of his favorite foods to eat.

While we were eating dessert, Nick played music for us on his Great Grandmother Rose's piano.

After dessert we said goodbye to our cousins. Mommy remembers when her cousins were little like Henry and Nick, so she took a picture of them together with uncle Ned, so next year we can see how much Henry and Nick have grown.

Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, Nick was the last person to wake up. He sat on a ball and opened up his presents.

Aunt Stefani and Uncle Ned said "since we have snow on the ground, why don't we all go sledding down the hill." Nick had never been sledding before, but mommy told Nick he would have fun and we should try it.

We parked the car and walked up the hill.

There were lots of other people there. We found a good spot and Henry went first.


He rode in his snow tube, and he went down the hill very fast! He loved sledding. He put his hands in the air and said, "That was awesome! Really, really awesome!"

Nick liked sledding too. He went down the hill lots of times, and then he walked up the hill and went down again.

When we were all done mommy said, "oh boy, the next time it snows I'm going to have to find a place to take you sledding. You looked like you had a great time!"

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, mommy and Nick drove to Henry's house. Nick was so happy! He wore one of his Santa hats and he had a big smile on his face!

We drove in the car for a long time. When we got to Henry's house it was dark. Grammy was already there waiting, and she gave Nick a big hug and a kiss when Nick walked in the door.

Henry showed Nick his new room. He told mommy and Nick he was going to sleep on the floor in his mom and dad's room so we could sleep in his bed. He asked Nick if he wanted to sleep on the top or the bottom, but Nick did not say any words.

Then it was dinner time. Grammy made potato pancakes to have with dinner.

We all sat down at the table to have dinner. Henry made everyone Christmas trees with our names so we would know where to sit at the table. We all had ham and potato pancake. Well, not Nick. He ate pizza from Gino's, mommy brought the pizza all the way from Long Beach.

After dinner, Aunt Stefani said "I have a surprise. We are all going to make ginger bread houses together." We had to put icing on the pieces to make the walls stick together. Then Henry and Nick spread color icing on the top and put candy to decorate them.

In the nighttime, Nick and grammy cuddled on the couch together.

When it was time for bed, Nick decided he wanted to sleep on the bottom bed, so mommy had to sleep on the top. Mommy told Nick, "tomorrow is Christmas day, there will be presents under the tree."

Mommy's Note to Nick

On Thursday mommy gave Nick a note with pictures and words.
This is what the note said:

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Today is Thursday, December 24, 2009.
There is no school today.
Mommy and Nick will ride in the car for a long time.
We are going to visit Henry's house in Massachusetts.

We will sleep at Henry's house for two days.

On Friday we will have Christmas dinner with our family.

On Saturday we will drive home in the car.

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Nick read the note and had a big smile on his face!

Nick's Christmas Shopping List

Last Friday, Nick and his class went to Kohl's to buy holiday presents.

This was Nick's shopping list:

Nick picked out all the presents and then paid for them with money. Tonight mommy, daddy and McKenzie opened the presents. Nick bought daddy white socks; he bought mommy a picture frame with snowmen; and he bought McKenzie two Christmas mugs.

We all loved our presents. We gave Nick hugs and kisses and then took a picture of Nick with our presents. We said, "'thank you" and taught Nick to say, "you're welcome."

Nick's Christmas Tree - 2009

On Saturday, when Nick woke up, mommy said, "there is no AHRC today because it is going to snow. Instead we will go to buy our Christmas tree."

Nick was so happy. He helped mommy take the boxes of lights and ornaments down from the attic. When Nick opened the box he found his Santa hats. Nick loves to wear his Santa hats at Christmas time.

This is Nick dancing around in the snow.

McKenzie came with us to pick out our tree. This is Nick and McKenzie in front of the tree we picked out.

When we got home Nick helped carry the tree into the house.

Mommy and McKenzie put the lights on the tree, and then Nick helped with the ornaments.

When we were all done we looked at the beautiful tree we made.

Nick was so happy!

He was laughing, jumping around and screeching his voice.

Nick at Hick's

Today, mommy and Nick went to Hick's Nurseries. We go there all year round. We visit the Spring Flower Show in March. In the summer we buy flowers for our garden. In October we visit the fall festival, and in December we visit the Holiday Displays.

Mommy and Nick walked all around. There were lots of kids there today, everyone likes to visit Hick's at Christmas time.

Nick especially liked the big snowman and he went back to visit it several times.

Then we went to the cafe. Mommy asked Nick if he wanted anything to eat. Nick said "gingerbread boy," so mommy gave Nick money to buy the gingerbread boy cookie.

Then we saw a big line of kids. They were waiting to see Santa. Mommy asked Nick if he wanted to see Santa and Nick said, "yes."

We waited on line and then it was Nick's turn. Santa said, "what's your name?" Nick said, "Nick." Santa said, "what do you want for Christmas?" Nick did not say any words.

Mommy said, "Nick has lots of toys and movies and a computer that he loves. Maybe he has everything he needs."

Santa said, "well Nick, if you change your mind you let me know."

Nick at Nick's

Last Saturday, mommy and Nick went to New York City.

We went to Columbus Circle and met grammy, then we all walked the paths through Central Park.

We saw people skating at the ice rink.

And we saw ducks swimming in the lake.

Then we went to grammy's house and Nick played computer. Then we all went to a restaurant called Nick's.

Mommy and grammy ordered a big pizza, but Nick would not eat any of the pizza. He did like looking out the window at the buildings and stores and people walking by. When we left mommy said, "thank you for doing good sitting and quiet voice, you were such a good boy in the restaurant!"

The Gingerbread House

Nick has a new gingerbread house. He keeps it on the table and he looks at it all the time.

One day Nick took mommy's hand and brought mommy to the table. Nick said "gingerbread house" and "boy." Mommy said, "would you like to write a story about the house?"

This is the story we wrote:

This is a gingerbread house.
It has white frosting as snow.
And candy on the roof.
And look! A gingerbread boy!

Nick liked the story and he tried to say the words with mommy. Every day we read the story together in front of the gingerbread house.

Chicken Soup

Today mommy told Nick we were going to make Chicken Soup.

These are the things we needed:

1 box (32 oz.) Organic Chicken Broth

2 Carrots, peeled and cut

1 stalk of Celery, cut

1 small Onion, chopped

3/4 cup dried Brown Rice

1/2 cup Corn

1/2 cup Peas

1/2 cup String Beans

1 diced Chicken Breast

1 1/2 cups Water

Salt

We had to go to the vegetable stand to buy some things for our soup.

Then we came home, cleaned the vegetables and cut them up. Mommy said "you are good at cutting cucumber so you can peel and cut the carrots and cut the celery.

Then Nick put a little oil in the pan and put the onion and celery into the pot. He stirred them with a wooden spoon.

Then Nick put in the chicken broth, carrots and rice.

He stirred the pot so everything got mixed up. Then we added the water.

Mommy told Nick he could go play for awhile, then Nick came back to put in the chicken, corn, peas and green beans.

When we sat down for dinner, mommy served Nick a bowl of soup, but Nick would not eat it. Mommy said, "but you made the soup and you did such a good job, don't you want to eat some?"

Nick said "no."

Mommy said, "okay, you eat your fried chicken, rice and peas dinner, just like you do every Monday night. Mommy will eat our delicious soup."

And that's what we did.

Raking Leaves

Today, mommy told Nick he would help rake leaves in the garden. Mommy said, "our beautiful tree has lost all the leaves and they are on the grass and in the flower beds. We will rake the leaves and put them in the garbage."

We put on our gardening gloves and mommy took the rakes out of the shed. There was a little green rake and a big red rake.

Mommy showed Nick how to use the little green rake to take the leaves away from the flower beds. It was hard work because we had to be careful not to take the plants out too or else they will not come back next year.


Then mommy showed Nick how to take the red rake and move all the leaves from the grass onto piles so they were all together.

We made three piles of leaves on the grass.

Then Nick held the plastic bag open so that mommy could put the leaves inside.

When we were all done we had two bags of leaves. Mommy and Nick had to carry the bags to the curb together because they were so heavy.

Then mommy said "We are all done. Would you like to sit on the porch with me and look out at our clean garden?" But Nick did not say anything. In fact, Nick was not there. As soon as mommy said we were all done Nick ran into the house. He looked back at mommy and said "bye bye!" right before he slammed the door closed.

Autumn Walk 2009

Every year, mommy and Nick go for a walk in the autumn to see the leaves. Behind AHRC is a path we can take down a hill, and then we walk around the Robin Hood camp for kids.

When mommy picked up Nick he said "Wendy's!" We got to the car and mommy said "I want us to take a walk first, then we will get french fries." Mommy put on her coat and then looked up and Nick was already walking towards the path. Mommy had to run to catch up with Nick.

First we walked down the path.

Then we arrived at the camp grounds. There were buildings, playgrounds, pools, basketball courts and lots of hills and trees. We walked all around the property.

Nick sat down and looked around. We listened to the sound of the wind in the trees. The camp is next to a horse farm and over the fence we could see people and horses.

Then we walked back up the path.

When we got back to the car Nick was skipping and smiling.

When we got home mommy put the pictures on the computer. Mommy showed Nick old pictures from our walks.

This was taken in 2008.

This was taken in 2007.

And this was taken in 2006.

Mommy said to Nick, " These pictures remind me how big you are getting! I'm happy that we do this every year, I love our walks together. I hope you do too."