December 2016.

 A cute girl we know from church starred in her high school play, so we went to see it. The kids loved loved it!! They were cute getting autographs of the actors afterwards.

We go to the best dentist in the world, Dr. Woolwine at Sonterra Family Dental. His office had a Christmas party. We had just taken family pictures that morning (in the rain!) and went to the party on the way home. The Santa there was a great one! The boys know what's up and don't give a hoot about Santa, but he girls were especially cute with him. Isla didn't really answer him and acted shy, and Faye talked his ear off until she was pulled away. She had a detailed list and asked lots of questions about his elves. (Our kids have historically been non-believers, but ever since Faye wrote and sent Santa a letter and GOT ONE BACK in the mail, she's convinced.)

Carson won his class spelling bee and advanced to the school level. He received a list of words to study, and we spent hours going over the list, memorizing the words for his level and on up to the 8th and 9th grade words. There were some crazy ones I had never heard of! Carson is not naturally an amazing speller, but he worked hard and is good at memorizing things, so we had high hopes for him. On only the second round of the spelling bee, Carson choked on a super easy word! So disappointing! He rattled off the incorrect spelling and quickly said, "Can I start over?" (The answer is no.) The funny thing is that he didn't really care that much, but I was super mad and disappointed for a long time!

 At the Urology Department's holiday dinner. I traded my drink ticket to someone for her raffle ticket, and we ended up winning two prizes that evening. 

 Sunday, December 4.

Gingerbread cookie making.

I found my new calling in life: drawing things on plywood and cutting them out with a jigsaw. This is the beginning of a nativity set for our Christmas yard.

We made graham cracker gingerbread houses with friends. The kids and I also made one big house from scratch, which was so fun!! Each of the little houses turned out very differently, and Everett decided to label them and make it into a village. Faye's was basically a pile of candy and was deemed the town dump. Everett decided his was the fire station. Our big one was the town hall, and Isla's was just a house. Carson's didn't turn out to very sturdy, and Everett labeled it a "shed," but Carson wasn't too happy about that.

Finally got that other top tooth out!

Faye invented a book holder one morning, (Really just a re-purposed necklace.) She was insistent that I help her sell these on Amazon. We compromised and I posted a picture on Instagram instead. The girls love when I read them Junie B. Jones books. I really dislike the series because of the incorrect grammar and the fact that Junie B. is super sassy, but oh well!

At our church Christmas party. The kids all wore pajamas and visited rooms decorated like different Christmas stories. Had to document how Everett's eyes are always bigger than his (tiny) stomach, and he had about a half pound of ham on his plate. That night, lots of kids Carson's age or a little older were wandering the halls, maybe too old or too "cool" for the Christmas stories activity. I observed Carson, who sat and listened to each story and quietly participated in everything with us. I'm grateful he still maintains his innocence and is willing to stick with us!

Sunday, December 11.

Letter from Isla. "Dear Santa" is totally backwards. "Can you bring me barbies and some puzzles and Zingo."

Everyone must have gotten smarter, because last year this puzzle sat out with very little completed all Christmas break, and here we are now!

One of my favorite things is watching my kids draw during church services. Isla started this little guy, while studying Faye's face for accuracy. After adding the legs at the bottom thought for a minute. She whispered to me and asked me how to spell "jellyfish." This is her interpretation of Faye, as a jellyfish.

Whenever we go downtown for produce, we put pennies on the nearby train track to get flattened for us. Isla is always nervous about the train coming.

Not the first time grown men have had to be glued/stitched back together at our house after church basketball.

Annual caramel apples!

Piano recital. Carson has been perfecting Fur Elise for a while, and this may be the first time I've seen him play with maybe a tiny bit of feeling. It made me tear up! He also played a hymn. Everett had been working on "Away in a Manger" from the easy hymn book. It was a bit of a mess the week leading up to the recital, but somehow he pulled off a nearly perfect performance! So proud! Notice the armpit tickle, followed by the reaction.

Last day of school before Christmas break means class parties all day long! Such a crazy day. I didn't make it to all of everyone's parties, but I was in charge of Carson's, and we played some fun Minute to Win it games. Isla was super cute singing Jingle Bells and Rudolph, which she had practiced and carefully memorized the words. After her party, in her empty classroom, Faye showed us how she sometimes sneaks in during recess and plays tricks on her teacher by subtly changing things around the classroom. And then the traditional Friday playdate after school. Love having a group of boys playing sports in the backyard, and various other kids running around the house.

With lots of Amazon packages arriving in December, Isla found a good use for those large packing bubbles. Ha!

Sunday, December 18th

Annual Sunday-before-Christmas pot luck dinner and nativity reenactment!! So fun to celebrate with lots of friends and seeing the kids act out Jesus' birth story. I didn't realize that the girl I cast as Mary might have a little crush on the boy I asked to be Joseph. The picture where "Joseph's" dad is trying to convince him to go stand by her cracks me up. Everett was the innkeeper because he was having this random knee thing he gets sometimes where he can't straighten his knee or walk. Carson was a wise man, and the girls were angels.

Out of school for Christmas break and running holiday prep errands. Free pastry at Panera!

A lovely day at Orsinger Park, where we brought a couple of friends to play.

Christmas Eve Bethlehem dinner. We pretend we are traveling with Mary and Joseph. We ate flatbread, hummus, goat cheese, and new wine (grape juice).  Christmas day we do stockings, have breakfast, and then open presents. This year since Christmas was on a Sunday, we went to church halfway through the present opening. The kids really took their time and didn't mind only opening a few and then attending church. 

The day after Christmas in San Antonio!

Our annual free trip to Sea World. Isla didn't know the splash zone was going to really soak her and was not too happy about it! We stayed til after dark riding the little roller coaster and playing in the play area, and sadly I lost my phone that night.

Delivery of a tiny baby boy. Details still seem too hard to share.