It is amazing how quickly I can get behind on posting. Wow. Christmas and New Year's and Birthdays and all - update GO!
Kate and the kids made Christmas cookies on one of their Monday Fundays in December. They were a bit strong in the sprinkles category, but the gingerbread men were YUM.
Singing in the Halls is a Lily B tradition. Every morning for the week before the holiday break, the students gather in the main school hallway to sing Christmas Carols each morning. Carter was not too excited about being there, but I think was happy for extra snuggle time with me, Chad and/or Aunt Kate. He did get the hang of it eventually, but didn't really sing. I was able to go one morning with Carter's class and one morning with Riley's class.
I was also able to attend the boys' class parties this year. Lots of fun!
A bit of Carter's journal work to peruse:
(I wrote captions when he told me what the drawing was of. They are pretty awesome!)
Mid-December I took Liz out for a special birthday treat! Mani/Pedis and a quick shopping trip. It was her first mani/pedi and she did so great. It was a blast!
Kate took Riley and Liz to see Best Christmas Pageant Ever at Theater Arlington and they had a great, silly time!
The boys took over their own gingerbread house making this year and they did such a great job. Very impressed with their decorating skills!
Stunning sunset just before Christmas.
And BIG NEWS - Riley learned to ride his bike without training wheels!!
Carter worked hard riding his bike the same day (still with training wheels) and he couldn't even stay awake through dinner!
The boys had a sleepover at the Loveladys for Liz's birthday. Carter's been scared to sleep over there because he doesn't want to have a nightmare - so the kids made a sign that says "No Bad Dreams Allowed." It worked!
They also hung twinkle lights to keep the bad dreams at bay.
Christmas Eve morning we spent at the Lovelady House exchanging Christmas presents. The boys and Chad, along with the Loveladys and Uncle Blake and Wyatt then went to Flight Dec to jump and Chick Fil A for lunch while I baked tons of sausage balls and iced Christmas cookies.
Christmas Eve night we went to Nana & Papa's for our traditional Christmas gift exchange. We ate tacos, opened presents and had a wonderful time. My mom did a scavenger hunt for their Santa presents and Riley did a great job reading all the clues himself.
The boys wrote their Santa letters very early this year and Riley went through many incarnations of this. I think these were the final ones. However, Carter still changed his mind at the last minute and was slightly disappointed by some of his gifts.
Riley started to come down with a fever on Christmas Eve, but he really pulled it together that night to open gifts. On Christmas morning, Carter woke up first and we had to wake Riley up. He again rallied, but you could tell he wasn't 100%.
We had a great time opening gifts and the day was spent assembling Legos and being altogether lazy before we went to Grandmommy & Haha's for Christmas Night.
Chad got me an awesome juicer for Christmas and we had a great time trying it out!
Carter got me these King/Queen luggage tags from the Clayton Holiday store......
At Grandmommy & Haha's the boys got these straw glasses and Carter tried them out. He looks amazing! (and a little like myself with glasses as a child!)
After Christmas, but before New Year's, my good friends from High School, David and Elliott, came over to visit. We had such a great time catching up! I have missed them! It's nice when you haven't hung out with someone in so many years and you can just pick up like you saw them yesterday.
Legos continued to be assembled after Christmas and into the New Year.
Riley got to go see Annie at the movies with Alex. (which was great timing because on this day, Carter had a fever and Chad was sick also!)
Lots of staying up late meant lots of falling asleep in the car.
Haha also got sick (catching the theme here?) and so Grandmommy to all 3 cousin boys to Cabela's by herself.
We celebrated Nana & Chad's birthdays early.
Chad & I went to a masquerade New Year's Party.
(Thanks Nana for watching the boys on your actual birthday!)
I discovered at this party that I am taller than I thought I was! Have thought I was 5'2" for years, but I'm actually 5' 3 1/2". Go figure!
Kate and the kids made cookies again. This time it was chocolate chip cookies and ginger cookies. I think ginger cookies are Riley's new favorite cookie.
Liz got a magnetic calendar for Christmas and after Carter played with it he had me make him a tiny calendar for his room. He's been diligently crossing off the days.
Didn't get this captioned, but it looks like a night/day piece.
And topper on all the sickness I mentioned above - I got sick last week. Chad left to go to San Antonio January 1 and I got sick the day before he came home. Grandmommy & Haha to the rescue to watch the boys and I spent much of the day like Princess here.
Kate's still doing fun things with the boys - like looking for iced over water.
And we were still celebrating Chad's birthday this past weekend upon his return from San Antonio.
We had a great get together with friends on Saturday night where the kids all played so well together and the adults got lots of good visiting time in.
So as I mentioned at the beginning - it's been a whirlwind - holidays, birthdays, illness, fun times, learning to ride a bike, etc, etc, etc. No wonder I got a bit behind. Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, Happy Birthday Liz, Happy Birthday Nana, Happy Birthday Chad!
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