December 10

 

The children's choir sang at church last night. Lucy is in the front row, 3rd from the left. I took some pictures while they rehearsed.

Today is my baby's last day as a six year-old! Where has the time gone?

December 9

Elliott and Clay headed to Elliott's jiu jitsu competition early yesterday morning. 

Elliott did not win, but he had fun.

 While the boys were gone, we had some girl time. A friend's little girl came over and joined in on the fun.

 When the boys got back to town, we took all the kids shopping for each other for Christmas.

 Kat, Elliott, and Lucy asked to camp out under the tree. Gus enjoys this tradition- anything to be with his kids. Julia didn't even try (insert sad sigh). Kat only made it an hour or two before she went to her bed. I can't really blame her. If I had a choice between the floor or my bed, I would choose my bed.

December 8

 The other day at the store, Elliott wanted to get peppermint ice cream. You don't have to twist my arm, Buddy. It was a smaller store, and all we could find was this peppermint bark ice cream. I was reluctant to buy it. But it was delicious! In three days, we finished the entire 1/2 gallon! We watched Elf last night and had hot chocolate and finished off the ice cream. A few of us had hot chocolate poured over the ice cream - yummo!

This is how Clay came to our Elf movie night. Ha!

December 7

 Elliott and his jiu jitsu buddies are training for a competition this weekend. He has one match and he wins/loses by submission, not points.

While Elliott trained, Lucy worked on her cross stitch some more. It's coming right along.

December 6

 Kat came out today wearing the same thing as Julia. Julia was not amused. I may have peed a little.

 

 

 The youth group had a Christmas party last night. This is Julia's sweet group of friends. Kat wasn't able to go to the party because she is grounded this week.

Julia and Brody. They have been buddies since birth.

December 5

 Poor Elliott thought that since Monday was our last co-op, that we were on Christmas break. Sorry buddy. We have a couple of weeks left to push through before we take a break. Since we don't have homework from our co-op classes, we have a lighter load. For Julia and Kat, this means doubling up on math assignments daily (otherwise we can't get through the entire book). For Elliott and Lucy, it means that, in addition to math and grammar, we are working on memorizing the names of all 45 U.S. Presidents and we are learning a Christmas song in sign language.

We started our advent. We are doing the Jesse Tree this year.

December 4

My heart was full yesterday. Some days this parenting gig is hard (actually, most days it is). But sometimes there are rewarding days. Yesterday was one of those days. It was our last co-op until January. Some of the classes made presentations during assembly. 

Julia (with her hood pulled up) and some of her friends

 

 Elliott and some of his friends

 

Lucy and Kat with friends

These are the art projects Elliott's class did for Charlotte's Web

Lucy's Bible Heroes (a writing/grammar class): 

 

 

Elliott's Americana class danced the Virginia Reel, a folk dance. Click HERE to watch the video:

 

We sung happy birthday to Lucy and the other December birthday kids

 

 Shannon teaches Kat's Lego Robotics class. She told me that they had a math-intensive project yesterday and Kat was the only one that understood it (isolating a variable). My girl is a math stud like her daddy! 

 

 To top it off, we got to hang out with my favorite 16 year-old. Love this kid!

December 3

Julia and Lucy had their piano recital yesterday. Click HERE to watch Julia's song (it was too large too upload onto this site). 

When Lucy agreed to take piano lessons, she said she would NOT do a recital. Then about a month ago, Isaac gave her the song Jingle Bells to practice. She got good at it, and he asked her to pray about being in the recital. About 2 weeks ago, she decided to play in the recital. I wasn't sure how the recital would go (if she would be too nervous/chicken out). She did great! She didn't seem to be even the slightest bit nervous! Old Mamaw came to watch her recital too, which was sweet. Here's Lucy's video:

 We are so thankful for Isaac, the girls' piano teacher.

 These two are confused on the season (or at least how to dress for 60+ degree weather in December).

Between church and the recital, Clay and Elliott went to the gym for a toy drive/open mat.

December 2

Happy Birthday Nikole!!!

 

Clay and I took the kids over to Old Mamaw's house to make fudge. Lucy enjoys changing the lights around on Mamaw's tree. 

 

 

 

 After we got home, it was time to decorate our house for Christmas. It was easier this year. Clay put up the tree, Julia put on the lights, and I made the kids help carry boxes upstairs.

December 1

 Elliott's chore yesterday was to bath Gus. Doesn't Gus look thrilled?

Lucy and I stopped in for a visit with Old Mamaw. Gosh we love her.

Last night Elliott and Lucy attended the Elementary Christmas party at church. Kat and Julia helped with the party. This means that Clay and I had a few childless hours to enjoy dinner and Christmas shopping.  

We have officially applied for Julia to go to high school next year. She chose to attend Clay's alma mater. The way the applications work here, she couldn't choose the other school as her second choice. She could only choose one or the other. Now we just pray that she gets in. This one is a lottery system to get into.

Also, we are not moving. At least not in the foreseeable future. The house we made multiple offers on has been taken off the market. The husband and wife are divorcing and he bought her out of the house to get the divorce over quickly.