Twas the Night Before Christmas

Christmas Eve was, of course, the longest day ever! The one who made it so tortuously long was Rylee who kept wanting to open her pajamas present. She was relentless! Finally after a long day of hanging out we ate a lovely Turkey Dinner and then sat together to watch the Nativity. After that we let the kids open their pajamas and they loved the ones I made for them. I loved making them and thought the material I picked out was so cute for them. I gave them the ornaments they paint and they were excited to see the finished product. 

After the pajamas the kids put out Cookies and Milk for Santa and Carrots for the Reindeer.

The two younger kids were put to bed and then an hour or so later the older two headed off to bed. Yay, peace at last!

Painting Pottery

Every year the kids get new ornaments and this year I decided it would be fun to take them to the pottery painting shop and have them paint their own ornaments. I let the kids pick out whichever one they wanted and they got to work.

Ryker picked out this spiral ornament which happened to be the last one in the shop. He painted it and got all done and placed it by the fan to dry. Another kid who was in the shop painting was walking by and accidently knocked the ornament off and it fell on the floor and broke. It was a bummer but Ryker took it in stride and accept the round ball replacement. Unfortunately by that time, he was over the painting and did a slap dash job on the new ornament. What can you do?

Kefford had a Donald Duck mug that broke recently and so I painted him a new mug. I put the BatMan symbol on one side and K+E on the other. It turned out really cool!

While there I found four cute little penguins all in different poses and I had the kids paint one each. It was fun to see their personalities come out in how they painted their own penguin.

When I went to pick up the ornaments a couple days later the owner was just getting them out of the kiln. He had me help tie ribbons on the ornaments and of course while I was doing Avynleas it slipped out of my hands and broke. Gaaaaaahhhh. He was so nice about it and gave me another ornament so that I could bring her in some other time to redo it free of charge. I took her in the next day and she had fun doing it again and said she liked her second one better! It was a fun time and all the kids said they would love to do it again!

GingerBread Men

Since we were not going to be at the Farm for Thanksgiving, Alison gave us a Gingerbread Man kit so that the kids could still do one. The kids had a lot of fun decorating the Gingerbread Men and they made them really cute. :)

Thank You Grandma Alison for the fun activity!

A Week of Christmas Music Programs

The week before Christmas was an ultra busy one! We had music programs galore to attend and somehow we managed to fit it all in. First up was Kenedy in her Choirs Christmas concert.

Then Avynlea had her Third grade music program. 

Next up was Rykers Bell Choir Concert.

Then finally we had Rylees first grade concert.

All of the kids did a fantastic job and looked so cute. Kenedy did her piano solo in between singing and performed so good! I usually go to the kids programs at least an hour early because it fills up fast and early but I had dance that day and did not get there until 15 minutes before it was to start. All of the chairs were filled and the side and back were lined with standing parents. I managed to squeeze in on the side and when the second grade kids were done with their performance I snagged two chairs that a friend had been using in the front row! So happy! Alison was able to come to all of the programs and I am so grateful for her for making the hour drive every day to support my kids! Ryker had to be at his concert an hour early and I had to pick up Kenedy from the Middle School at the same time. So I dropped Ryker off along with Rylee and Avynlea so they could save seats and I went and picked up Kenedy. When we got back to the school we had front row seats and Alison was there with the girls! Finally, I volunteer at the schools on Friday and the Kindergarten and First Graders were performing at two times, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Alison wanted to go to the later one which was  fine with me since I was volunteering. After I was done I went into the gym where the seats were still set up from the first performance waiting for the second and I placed my coat to save a couple of chairs. I went on home, ate lunch and got some things done and then went back for the performance to find my seats still being saved. :) I went an hour before because I didn't want to be the jerk who waited till the last minute.