Jack's Birthday Party

We celebrated Jack's birthday last Saturday. We had twelve kids between the ages of 2and 6 with us (that is the nature of Oak Hill). We had a great time, but needless to say were exhausted by the end. Charles's comment was that all my work was beforehand and all his was during the party which I admit there was some truth to since he was in charge of all the games that I had planned. He did an excellent job. It was also super fun because Aunt Rebekah and Aunt Karen (Charles's two sisters) were able to join us.

One funny aside was that I bought candles called Magic Candles which I noticed were 10p more than the other ones, but they had nice stripes so I went for them. Only to find out when Jack was blowing out the candles that they are what American would call trick candles. Here are some pictures and videos to record the event.

Theo at the party


Photo of Jack's drum cake and guitar cookies


Video of the kids 'attempting' to play Duck Duck Goose



Video of Jack 'attempting' to blow out the candles

Jack the King

Last Friday was Jack's Nativity Play at his pre-school. The play was very well done with the pastor reading the Birth of Jesus from the Children's Bible. When he got to the part about Mary being pregnant, the pastor asked 'Why was her tummy so big?'. This was obviously meant to be a rhetorical question but Jack blurted out very loudly 'Because she was going to have the Baby Jesus!'. Let me just say he did very confidently and with gusto. Everyone started laughing. The pastor then said 'You are exactly right and it looks like God has given you a good voice to proclaim his good news'. It was a very Jack moment.

Here is a video of Jack's favourite song in the play. It was hard to get up close enough but you can see him behind the kid who is standing up and rocking.



Here are a few more pics.

Jack was assigned the role of a king:


I tried to coach Jack on how to sit with his legs crossed so people wouldn't see his pants. It doesn't look like my coaching was too successful!


Jack's best buddy, Josiah, was assigned the role of Joseph

Who's in charge?????

As a typical four-year-old, Jack is often reprimanded for trying to negotiate with us on certain issues (almost always after we have given an answer that he isn't pleased with). Our normal corrective conversation would go something like the following:

Erin: Jack, who is in charge?
Jack: Mommy and Daddy
Erin: Why are Mommy and Daddy in charge?
Jack: Because God has put them in charge of me (you can tell we have been through this a lot!).

Today when I was disciplining Jack and going through the above conversation he answered just as I indicated above. But afterwards as he was walking away he said 'I don't know why God put you all in charge.' He didn't say it with a mean tone at all, just more of a curious, 'I wish I knew' tone.

I held my tongue but thought about saying 'I am not sure either!'

Country Elves vs. Hip Hop Elves

We couldn't decide which we liked better so we went with the country dance and hip hop dance. You can chose your favourite. And yes, one picture is Jack and one is Theo - even though they look so much alike!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Jack has chosen Hark the Herald Angels Sing as his favourite Christmas song this year. He asked before bed tonight if he could sing it for the camera. There are a few glitches as you will soon see (two takes, picking nose, missing lines, repeating lines, laughing Mom, etc.), but I commend Jack for how he continues his performance despite all these distractions. Shame on you Mom for laughing! :)