Merry Christmas!

It seems that we wait all year for this morning, and then BANG, it's all over.  I made the kids stand on the stairs for a minute to really push the anticipation to it's maximum.  As their gifts are getting smaller and smaller due to electronics, creating that awesome "oh-ah" moment becomes more difficult.  

Hope you all had a great Christmas and remember that the real gift isn't under the one under the tree -- He's the one in our heart and lives.

Middle School Concert

Middle School Choir is some serious business.  They are required to dress up for concerts -- white tops and black bottoms.  All the kids looked so good, especially mine.  The director did a great job of mixing in Christian songs with the contemporary.  She also had a great mix of fun with serious. 

Trim the Tree

 This is probably the last year for footie jammies - sad, but true.  What will Christmas be without my kids in their footie jams?   Almost every dear memory of Christmas time includes this toasty nightwear.  I suppose it gives me a reason to savor this year a bit more.

These two tweenie-weenies won't even wear normal jammies.  It's a hobo array of hoodies and flannel pants.  I will say, they were really helpful when they helped put out the Christmas decorations this year.  We've hit a stage where, when they help, it's actually help.  This is huge here.  Like last night -- I teasingly said, "Why don't you come up with a sidedish for my beautiful dinner?"  Without skipping a beat, Claire said, "I'll make a salad."   "GREAT!"  And so we had a beautiful salad with my "beautiful" tuna melts. 

Happy 12th b-day!

Yeah -- 12 is a big one.  It's the first b-day in junior high.  This also brought on less presents.  I guess the packages get smaller, but the price gets higher as the girls age.  This year was a huge step -- cell phones.  *yuck*  I'm not ready for texting, face timing, and the likes.  Whether I'm ready or not, here it comes.

M & M's

The kids have picked their own costumes for years.  Really -- I don't sway them at all.  This year they picked M&M's.  I was a little floored by the simplicity, but it was a good year to go basic.  Isaak truly wanted a rip off shell for the red M&M (imagain "Sexy, and I know it . ..), but my sewing skills have their limitations.

Pumpkin Carving

 Every year we break into teams to see who can carve the best pumpkin.  Hands down, my team wins every year -- except this year.  Brant really put in some effort for his team this year with a Frankenpumpkin.  My girly team created a pumpkin carriage, complete with princess stuck in there.  Cute, but not the winner.

Crazy Hair Benefit

Ike and Ava's elementary school had a fundraiser -- pay $1 to wear crazy hair to school.  It was a big hit (pay no attention to the pained look on Ike's face).  Pretty sure they raised a ton of money.  It was sort of a in-lieu-of-Halloween thing.  I still miss the halloween fun at school, but I understand why they quit having the school parties -- what is with the bloody costumes and street walker costumes in size 6x.  Really?