December 17

The kids got dressed up so we could join our co-op friends for Christmas caroling at a nursing home today. It's neat to see some of the people who don't respond to anything else, respond by singing along to Christmas songs. You could see the joy on their faces just seeing the kids. It was sweet.

 We made candy trains for Hulk's Polar Express Party at school tomorrow. They turned out cute, but they were a headache. Four stores (rolls of Life Savers are hard to find, as are small packets of gum), an hour of hot gluing them together, and I am not going to mention how much they cost... but he was thrilled with them. I am glad he will get to take a fun treat to school to share with his friends.  

December 16

 

Lucy and Abbie had a slumber party with Mamaw and Bapaw last night.

I took the other kids to a Christmas party across town with other foster families. There was food, bouncies, face painting, balloons, etc.

December 15

Doing schoolwork while Julia is in her piano lesson. Having never taught kindergarten before, I was nervous about teaching Elliott to read without having the public school system to fall back on. He's doing great.

December 14

Tracy and the boys came over today and we had some Christmas fun together.

 Gus wanted in on the photo. 

 

 We made cards for our friends Phil, Scottie, Caleb, and Brady, missionaries in Romania.

 

The kids made ornaments

 We made peppermint bark to take to the fire station.

 The kids had to use clues to find the pieces to a nativity scene.

They also had to do an obstacle course. 

 

 

 We took the peppermint bark to the firemen to tell them thank you and Merry Christmas. The firemen ended up giving us a tour! It was really nice and totally unexpected.

December 13

 

 

 

 

 

We had Lucy's birthday party today after church. The kids had fun making Gingerbread houses and eating a TON of sugar.

We watched A Christmas Story tonight. I don't really like this movie, and haven't sat down in years to watch it. Well, I was so tired last night that I was happy to rest. It still isn't my favorite movie, but I sure enjoyed watching Clay watch it. He loves it and laughs alot.

December 12

 

 

Kat's 3rd/4th grade and also 4th/5th grade basketball teams won their division championship today. Four games, and 9 hours at the gym was worth it to see that big smile on her face. The championship games were crazy intense, but alot of fun to watch as her teams upset the two teams expected to win.

The champ chose to eat her victory meal at Golden Corral. Gag. 

While eating, I realized that tomorrow is Lucy's birthday party and we needed food. Doh! Nothing like a quick trip to the grocery store at 9pm after a long day... and decorating. Oy! These birthdays right before/after Christmas are killing me! We didn't time those babies very well. :P

December 11

Happy 4th birthday Lucy!

 This is my favorite picture from the day. 

We try not to do schoolwork on the kids' birthdays, just so we can spend the day celebrating the birthday child. When the weather is 68 degrees in December, you do something outside. Lucy chose the zoo.

 

 

Poor Clay got stuck working late tonight. After we dropped Julia off at gymnastics, Lucy decided she wanted pancakes for dinner. We headed to Cracker Barrel.

Then we still had about 2 1/2 hours to kill until it was time to go back and pick Julia up from gymnastics, so we went to Toys R Us and let Lucy buy something with a birthday gift card. Next we headed to a fun park that has alot of Christmas lights.

 It was warm enough out that the kids played on this playground. That doesn't happen too often in December! In face, most of them took their jackets off because they got hot!

 

 

December 10

 

The kids' Christmas activity tonight was to paint these trees. Hulk said, "We're like real artists!".

You know the 3 year-old has watched the movie Annie one too many times when, after being told to go make her bed, she replies, "Yes, Ms. Hannigan!". 

Also, for the record, tonight is the last time I will be tucking in a three year-old. My baby will be 4 tomorrow. Sigh.

December 9

After dropping Julia off at gymnastics tonight, we went to a Christmas party for foster families. We were fed and the kids had fun in bouncy houses, getting their faces painted, doing crafts, and getting toys.

You all should have seen how many beautiful children were at the party. It makes my heart happy to see kids who come from hard backgrounds have joy in the hearts. 

December 8

 

We took the kids to see Santa tonight. We waited in line for an hour. An hour! Julia mentioned that she didn't see any other kids her age in line. :P  

Lucy asked for paint, Elliott asked for a skateboard, Julia wants a dollhouse kit, and Kat asked for Easy Bake Oven kits. Hulk? Well, he's talked about an art kit for awhile, but apparently he's easily influenced by his environment. He saw the 4-wheelers at Bass Pro and that's what he decided to ask Santa for! Uhh....

PS - We're not sure if Julia still believes in Santa or not. She caught me being the Tooth Fairy a couple of teeth ago, and now she just comes directly to me with her tooth pillow to get a dollar. Surely she realizes... but she hasn't told us otherwise.