First Day of "School"

Nate started "school" this year--I mean, he's so advanced, we wanted to capitalize on the learning.  Every 1 year old should be in school.  Ha, ha...I'm totally kidding, so please don't peg me as a crazy pageant-type mom just yet.

Nate's school is at our church, which does have a great program that is always pretty popular.  It fills up every year, so we are glad we got in and can take advantage of it!  It's basically a mothers day out type program in terms of how it is set up.  This year, he is in the infant class and goes 1 day a week from 9am-2pm.  Amy, our nanny, uses this time to run errands for us, get her own appointments and stuff done, etc.  It has been great for everyone!  Nate loves it.  His teachers are very nice, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the art he brings home every week!

Here is our little "genius" on his first day of school.

Teacher gifts I whipped together.  I found some free printables online -- it says "With you as my teacher, I'll be one smart cookie".  I cut them out and tied them around some packages of cookies we randomly had left over from a Junior League project.  I thought they turned out cute, especially for a totally last minute thing!

Crawling to get the camera.

Much more interested in mom's necklace!

Goofy boy.  I love his pointed toes--takes after his momma with a natural point to his feet.

Cutie.

Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas this year was so much more exciting than it has been in years past!  Having a little one, just makes everything better when seeing it through their eyes.  I wanted to make everything "special" and start some of our own traditions, and Michael willingly tagged along.

Reading the Night Before Christmas that GB and Abuelo got for Nate.

 One tradition we started: the Trains at Northpark.  

Added plus, the exhibit benefits Ronald McDonald House of Dallas!

Nate was old enough this year to appreciate the coolness of this annual exhibit!  And, we had a ton of fun taking him.  We went the day before Christmas Eve, so things were crazy busy!  The line was super long and I didn't think we'd be able to see the trains...there was no way we could handle close to a 2 hour wait.  So, we decided to grab an early lunch instead.  On our way out, I suggested walking back by the exhibit just to see how things were, and surprisingly, the line was so much shorter.  We only waited about 20 minutes to get in.

Waiting in line.

 

Nate loved the trains, and was just mesmerized watching them go around the track.

He loved the little windows that were low to the ground...perfect size for him to check out the scenes on display!

It was fun to see the D.C. model since it hadn't been too long since we were there.

The model of Dallas was really cool!

A picture of Michael's hospital and my office building in the same shot.

On Christmas Eve, we took Nate to the family worship service, which was great.  It was short, but a really sweet service.  And the sanctuary was full of families with young kids, so we didn't have to worry about Nate making any noise!

After church, we came home and opened one gift.  This is another tradition we will do each year.

Nate liked helping.

 

 

Michael was slightly embarrassed when he realized the cool gift wasn't just PJs for Nate, but the entire family!

 

After we opened the gift, we read the Night Before Christmas one last time before heading to bed in anticipation of Santa Clause!