A few of Jake's December Highlights

 Here's our man completing his swim class that he LOVED.  A medal, a certificate... what could be better? 

 A cupcake and improving his skills so much that he advanced to the last level before making swim team!!  You have to be 6 to try out.  We have a little while, but Jake is one step away from joining his sis!

An artistic rendition of Father Christmas

Another highlight?  Doing his first, official presentation in front of his class.  Jake decided he wanted to talk about Hawaii.  He picked all of the pictures, cut them out, and there were firm instructions from him, that he was to put the poster together on his own.  I only helped him with a couple ideas of what to say when explaining the pictures.  He was fantastic!  He had his class laughing and gave a little insight to Hawaii and all of it's islands...and then we celebrated at the end of it with Haupia, a traditional coconut dessert, for everyone to try.  Huge hit.  He was the man.  

Oh....I couldn't resist.  At the end of the semester, every class has a party of some sort to celebrate.  I'm the room mom for Kate's class, and we had a pool party during the school day at one of the children's homes with games and food and a little gift exchange.  It was a lot of fun.  When I got the email from Jake's class about his party, he was to come to a classmate's home on a Friday evening from 3-8pm!!  And they wanted each child to pay a whopping $36 to attend.  I thought, "Wow!  This is going to be some party!"  We were to help supply all of the food, but they would provide a bounce house and Santa Clause to come for a visit.  A little on the pricey side (I'm trying to be kind, I thought it was ridiculous!!!), but I wanted Jake to be at his class party.  

Still not quite sure what the $36 covered, because when Santa walked in, he looked like someone they grabbed from the street to bring good tidings to the kiddos.  And we even provided the candy he was handing out to the kids!  I couldn't help but laugh.  My favorite part were the "white" eyebrows.  The time it took to take this picture was about as long as Jake spent with Santa.  He was outta there.  Can't help but chuckle every single time I glance at this one.  Love it.