Christmas Pajamas

We went to Meredith and Craig's house for Christmas Eve lunch and had the kids wear their new Chirstmas pajamas.  Getting a good picture with all 10 kids is still not easy but we somehow managed to get a decent one.

Granna and Granstan with all 10 grandkids

This was the best we could get with the Harsheys!

Granna and Granstan

Parker and Addison

Eden and Aubrey

Lily and Ryan

Sweet girls!

The Rowlands

The Browns

The girls (minus Hadley who was over pictures at this point!)

The boys

Love these girls and their sweet relationships

After lunch, we did a Chinese Christmas exchange with the kids.  They had never done one before and loved stealing gifts from each other!

We kept the triplets busy with some Paw Patrol while we played!

We left in the early afternoon so we could get back and have Christmas with Grandma and Papa that night.  Thanks again MerMer and Craig for hosting a fun afternoon!

Christmas Cookie Decorating

We haven't decorated Christmas cookies in a couple of years so Emily and I decided that we needed to make sure and put that on our list of holiday activities this year.  She offered to host our decorating party at her house so I went and picked up Holland so she could join us.  (We decided the triplets needed one more year before they were ready for decorating cookies.)  She made the cookies and I brought the icing and sprinkles.  One trick that we've learned over the years is to let each kid have their own cookie sheet to put their cookies on so the sprinkles all stay in one place.  Emily had everything set up and ready when we got there.

It only took us a few minutes to realize that decorating cookies with preteens/teenagers is SO much easier than decorating cookies with toddlers!  We didn't have to worry about them licking the knives or pouring sprinkles all over the floor! 

Holland did a great job and only needed a little help from Granna.

One of Lily's creations

Even Emily and I got to decorate a few!

Before we knew it, they were all decorated and ready to enjoy!  We let them all choose one to eat and also made sure to put aside a few for Santa!

It was a fun afternoon and now that we know how easy cookie decorating is with bigger kids, we will definitely be making this an annual tradition!

Parker's Band Concert

Tonight was Parker's first band concert of the year.  Due to COVID, they weren't sure if they were going to be able to have a concert, but they moved it to the high school basketball arena at the last minute so that everyone could be safely socially distanced.  

Parker is in both the jazz band and wind ensemble.  The jazz band played first and Parker had a solo in one of the songs.  They sounded so good!

After the jazz band, he moved over to play with the wind ensemble.  They also sounded great and it always amazes me how difficult their music is.  I don't remember playing anything that hard when I was in middle school.

Mr. Hiller, Parker's favorite band director, moved over to the remote learning campus this year and Parker has missed him so much.  But Ms. Ruddick, the assistant band director, has stepped up and done a wonderful job leading the band this year. 

Parker had a lot of supporters at his concert, including Holland, who was spending the night with my mom.  She loved listening to the music and even asked for a trumpet for Christmas so she could be just like Parker!

Parker and his girlfriend, Caitlyn

Update:  We found out a few days after the concert that Parker was one of four students who made the region band!  He worked hard at his tryout music and was so excited to make 2nd chair in the 2nd band!  We aren't sure what the region band will look like this year (it may be all virtual) but we are so proud of Parker for his hard work!

Basketball is Back!

My favorite season started today... basketball season!!  Parker found out the Friday before Thanksgiving break that he made the A team again and we've all been looking forward to the first game tonight.  They had a shaky start and it took them until the second quarter to find their groove, but they easily beat Brewer 36-19.  Parker played well and scored 6 points.  It was a great start to the season!

Parker was excited that Aunt MerMer and Uncle Craig got to come see him play.

Santa Pics

We usually drive up to Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth for our annual Santa picture with the kids but they cancelled them this year due to COVID.  I was so disappointed that we weren't going to have a picture with Santa for the first time since Parker was born.  And then I saw on Facebook that the local coffee shop was doing pictures one Saturday.  The kids weren't thrilled but after a little encouragement from Cory, they all agreed to go and take a picture for me!

I made the kids take one picture with their masks on just so we could always remember what Christmas 2020 was like!

I even joined them at the end because you're never too old for a picture with Santa!

Because they were all so sweet to cooperate and get a picture for me, I treated all three kids to a drink at the coffee shop.  I told them that they're going to have to take a Santa picture for me until they're out of college! Hopefully next year we won't have as much trouble finding a place to get our picture.