Christmas Celebrations

 'Tis the season to be busy!  We have been very busy this past week finishing up school with several celebrations.  First up was Eden's preschool party.  Instead of a traditional party, they bring socks, mittens, and gloves to donate to a local charity and put them under the Christmas tree at school.  Then they enjoy a Christmas cookie with their parents.  I knew things were not going to go smoothly when all of the kids had put their items under the tree and Eden was still sitting on the pew.  Miss Tammy practically had to carry her up on stage to put her mittens under the tree.  Next, all of the students sang 'Jingle Bells" for the parents.  Or maybe I should say, all of the students except for Eden sang 'Jingle Bells'.  Eden sat on the steps of the stage with her head in her lap and cried.  Poor thing!  It just kills me to see her react like that to being in the spotlight.  She just hates it and doesn't know how to handle it.  I know it will get better over time, but the "mommy" in me just wants to run up there and rescue her every time.

When it was over, we all went to the fellowship hall to enjoy a Christmas cookie.  Eden perked up a little bit but was still pretty weepy.  To her defense- she was getting over a virus and double ear infection so I know that she wasn't feeling all that great, but I still wish she could have enjoyed her party a little more.  (When I asked her why she didn't want to sing with her friends, she politely said, "Nettime (next time), Mommy"!  Yea, right!!!)

Our next celebration was Parker's school wide Christmas Program.  Every grade level performed 3-4 songs and then the entire school gathered on stage to perform two more songs.  Parker did a great job singing and looked so big up on stage with his friends.

Our final celebration was Parker's kindergarten party.  They started their morning decorating gingerbread houses followed by lots of yummy food and a gift card exchange.  Parker loved looking through his stocking full of goodies.  It was a very busy week but I have to admit that I am looking forward to a few days off to relax before the hustle and bustle of Christmas starts up again.    

Salvation Army Weekend

Every year, my family adopts a Salvation Army angel to buy gifts for at Christmas.  We usually pick a child who wants something big like a bicycle.  This year our angel was a six year old little girl named Joselin. 

 

This past Friday was the only day this month that we could all coordinate our schedules to go buy gifts for Joselin.  Aunt MerMer decided too make this a fun filled weekend and had planned several activities for the kids after they shopped, including a sleepover at Granna's house.  She picked Addison and Aubrey up on Friday morning and brought them to Cleburne and I checked Parker out of school early so that they could all go with Aunt MerMer and Granna to shop. 

Since we all pitched in towards the gifts, we were able to get Joselin several outfits, pajamas, a pair of shoes, socks, underwear, a new winter coat, books, markers, coloring books, a game, a princess doll and a Bible, as well as the bike and helmet on her wish list.

After the shopping was done, they headed back to Granna's to quickly wrap the gifts and take them down to the Salvation Army, since Friday was the deadline for turning everything in.

Aunt MerMer and Granna had a fun surprise for the kids after they took the gifts... a trip to Build-A-Bear in Fort Worth, which is something Parker and Eden had never done.  After dinner at the food court and checking the directory at the mall, they headed to Build-A-Bear.  (I had to add the picture of the directory because Parker make a special point to tell me about looking at a map in the mall.  Apparently he thought that was pretty cool!)

Once they arrived, they picked out their bears and "stuffed them up" (Parker's exact words when I asked him about it).  Notice their originality- out of all of the bears to choose from in the store, they all four picked the exact same rainbow bear.

After they "stuffed them up", they gave them a bath and named their bears.   

To top off the evening, they took a train ride around the mall before heading home.

After they got home, they curled up on the couch for a snack and video before heading to bed.  They all slept great- Aunt MerMer and Granna did a great job of tiring them out!

After a yummy breakfast of donuts from Granstan, they iced and decorated Christmas cookies and made some decorative Christmas trees out of construction paper.

I love this tradition that Aunt MerMer has started with our kids.  I know they will look forward to it every year and I can't wait for Lily to be old enough to participate too.  I hope that through activities like these, we will instill in them the importance of giving to others.  Thanks Aunt MerMer and Granna for a super fun weekend!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The day after Thanksgiving, we were all finally feeling good enough to start decorating for Christmas.  Cory had to go into work at noon so we spent the morning shopping for a new Christmas tree.  Our old pre-lit tree had several strings of lights out that we couldn't fix so we decided it was time for a new one. 

I wanted to wait until Cory got home to decorate it, but the kids were so excited and wanted to surprise him, so as soon as Lily woke up from her nap, we got started.  I'm pretty sure that within 15 minutes, it was completed.  The kids were grabbing ornaments and haphazardly putting them on the tree as fast as their little hands would let them.  I could not keep up with them at all!! 

 Lily lost interest after about 3 ornaments and decided her popcorn snack was more interesting!

The finished product! 

"What?  What's that you say?  You can't see the ornaments?  Oh, well let me ask the kids to step aside!"

It may have been a little bottom heavy, but they were SO proud of it and could not wait to show Cory when he got home from work.  (Don't worry- I evened it out after they went to bed that night and they never even noticed!)  Now I'm trying to figure out how to stop them from moving the ornaments every time they walk by the tree!

Girl's Weekend- Washington DC

Last weekend, my mom, sisters and I escaped for a fun girl's weekend in Washington DC.  Meredith had a wedding to attend on Saturday so we thought it would be a good chance to get away for a few days together.  My mom also has a childhood friend who lives near DC.  She offered for us to stay in her house and we had a great time visiting with her.  My mom had not seen her in 25 years so it was fun for her to get to reunite with a lifelong friend. 

We knew that Meredith would be tied up with the wedding on Saturday so we went a couple of days early in order to get some sight seeing in on Friday.  My mom's friend, Kathy, was a great tour guide since she knew the area so well.  We started our morning with a tour of The White House.  We had been told that we could not bring cameras on the tour, but when we arrived, they informed us that since it was the holidays, we could take as many pictures as we wanted.  Luckily, we had brought our phones with us and were able to get some pictures inside The White House, which was beautifully decorated for Christmas. 

Next we took a tour of the Capitol Building.  We almost skipped this tour because there were so many other things we wanted to see, but I am so glad we didn't.  It was a great tour and we learned a lot from our tour guide.  We also got to see the House of Representatives chamber and the Senate chamber.  As we were entering the balcony of the Senate chamber, we just happened to see Senator John McCain walking out.

After lunch in the Modern Art Museum cafe, we toured the World War II Memorial and the Roosevelt Memorial.

The Arlington National Cemetery was next on our list of things to do, which included seeing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

After the cemetery, it was getting late and we were all tired and hungry, but I knew I would be disappointed if we didn't see the Lincoln Memorial, so we stopped for a quick tour of that before heading back to Kathy's house.

Washington DC exceeded my expectations and I was sad that we only had one day to tour it.  There were so many other memorials and museums that I would have loved to see, but it was just impossible to do it all in one day. Hopefully Cory and I will be able to go back again soon. 

Saturday morning we went to a mall and shopped for a few hours before Meredith had to leave for the wedding.  Sunday we slept in, which is something I do not get to do very often any more.  We were all so grateful to Kathy for opening up her home to us for the weekend.  We had such a fun, relaxing weekend in DC!  The weather was absolutely perfect and there were hardly any crowds while we were touring.  It was a great time of year to go and I can't wait to go back!