Weekly Wrap-up: December 13-19

Even though this was the week before Christmas, we were apparently in the full swing of things, according to my pictures.  To kick things off, our small group went to Woodmont Christian Church’s Walk Through Bethlehem on Sunday evening.  It started off with a worship service of Christmas carols.  I don’t know what was more novel to the kids:  instruments in worship, or songbooks! 

Turn to hymn number 413?  Yes, we will!

They were so sweet and dutiful and earnest in this foreign church environment, searching out each hymn and singing right along.  I loved watching them. 

Then we headed over to the main event:  a re-creation of an ancient Jewish town—presumably Bethlehem—culminating in a live nativity scene.  The town was amazing:  it was full of these interactive booths where the children learned about ancient culture.  They did everything from grinding flour to rolling dough to (watching) grapes pressed to make wine.  They tied ropes, tried goat cheese (Anna’s face was priceless—not a fan!), used a potter’s wheel, and so forth. They learned about the Shema, saw a century old scroll made of lambskin, and watched the production of olive oil.  Truly, it was an incredible event:

The kids were totally enraptured, but the whole time, I was in wonderment over the logistics of pulling off an event like this.  I kept getting distracted by questions like, What is the budget for this?  Do they pay these people to run the booths?  Is that guy really Jewish?  How does one acquire a giant, stone olive press???  Was that made in the United States?  Was it imported?  What were the shipping charges?  Seriously, I would love to sit in on a planning committee meeting for this event.  I have so many questions!

It was fun getting to go with a big group from church.  I think Mrs. Ashraf and Coleman were the oldest and youngest we had with us:

On Tuesday evening, we went with Chris and Jill’s family to eat at Moe’s in Opry Mills mall and then to the Opryland Hotel for the lights.

We had to let them get their sillies out before attempting to get normal smiles out of them!

As always, it was so fun to see all the lights.  The highlight, though, was a fountain/light show that depicted Christ’s birth through words and music.  Only in Nashville.  It was quite amazing, though.  Afterward, Luke turned to me and said, “That was awesome!”  It really was!

I didn’t get as many pictures this year, just a couple of the cousins:

On Wednesday, we had our annual Y.E.S. Christmas party, this time in the Carpenter’s Square gym.  Again, I barely got any pictures because it was so busy, but here was my craft station:

And the craft station from the other side:

On Thursday, we left for Macon, and of course, when we arrived, we had to have Christmas right then and there!  (Well, I think we ate first.)  Anna’s first gift was a stuffed penguin that was a bigger version of a penguin she already had, named Penny.  When she opened it, she screamed in excitement, “BIG PENNY!”  We all jumped a mile…and then laughed hysterically.

After that, the evening was a whirl of opening gifts:

The kids loved all of their presents, and Greg and I loved the motherlode of gift cards we received.

If memory serves, we spent Friday relaxing.  Greg and I went to see the last Hunger Games movie, and the kids mainly played with all their presents.  Dad had given Greg one of Mike’s old (and really nice guitars), complete with amp, and he spent the evening teaching Greg a duet for “Silent Night.”  They gave us a great concert, and seeing them playing together made my heart so happy.

On Saturday, we all went with Gaga to see the new Star Wars movie.

I’m honestly not a huge Star Wars fan, but I am a huge J.J. Abrams fan, and I thought the movie was really good!

In closing, here are a few pictures I stole from Gaga.  I’m not sure of when they were taken (I think the one of Anna was from Thursday night and Luke’s was from Friday), but they really encapsulate the kids’ joy and being at Gaga and Granddad’s house.

Wow, all that Christmas, and to think, December 25 was still a week away!

Weekly Wrap-up: December 6-12

We had a good time at church on the Sunday after the gingerbread house party.  As always, the kids loved playing with Everley.

Apparently, Anna went to play dolls with Gramma that day?  I have no recollection of this.

Of course, it COULD have been when we went to Woodbine Family’s adult Christmas party that evening.  I think Gigi and Papa watched them.

We had fun at the Christmas party, which was at our friends, the Hatchells’ house.  After we ate, we played some Minute to Win It games.  Greg and I randomly drew each other as opponents, so we faced off on a challenge where you had to balance candy canes on fishing line:

On Monday, Anna started feeling sick and running a low-grade fever, just for the afternoon.  The Peters were coming over that night with Everley, so just to be safe, we had her turn in early, even eating dinner in bed:

On either Tuesday or Wednesday, we colored ornaments with some new coloring pens I had gotten the kids:

On Thursday, we led crafts at Y.E.S., with the help of the talented Michael Patrick:

While Anna and I did crafts, Greg and Luke had basketball practice:

That night, we had our CC Christmas party:

The kids all got on stage, and then they performed class by class.  Luke’s class did a preposition song and dance, and his teacher captured this action shot:

Luke won the 1 Timothy 4:12 award for his Essentials class.  We were so proud of him!

On Friday, we had two parties.  The first was for my niece, Tatum’s birthday.  She had a joint party with Landry, her cousin on Jill’s side of the family.  It was at Let It Shine gym, and the kids had a great time playing on all the equipment.

Then we headed home for the high school Christmas party.  As is tradition, I had made Oreo balls earlier in the day.

Shortly after we arrived home, the teens came.  I was really tired by this point, but we ended up having a surprisingly great time.  It was a laid back party, and the kids did great at playing games without constant guidance.

Anna did take an introvert break in her room at one point.

But she was soon back at it.

Enlisting Daddy’s help in Scattergories:

Like I said, it ended up being a really successful party…but by that point in the week, I was WORN OUT.  I’m not sure that this blog post properly reflects it, but this week was super busy.  We had something that required preparation every day of the week, and sometimes multiple things.  I had literally exhausted myself into mild illness, with a scratchy throat and fatigue.  So I took Saturday “off” and did practically NOTHING all day.  It was heavenly.  And it totally reinvigorated me!  By Sunday morning, I was ready to start again.

8th Annual Gingerbread House Party

This is going to be a blog that is mostly pictures.  For one, I took a lot of pictures, and I want to share them.  For another thing, the party took place over a month ago (though I’m back-dating this post), so my memories are fuzzy.  I do remember that it was a great party—and that it was my birthday!

I took some “set-up” pictures this year, complete with birthday roses from Greg on the kitchen table:

While I was getting last minute stuff ready for the party, my friend, Caroline, stopped by with a surprise birthday treat:

It was so sweet and thoughtful!

Soon enough, people began to arrive, and once we had a group, we started the kids on their houses:

This year was a cool mix of newcomers and “old timers.”  It was so good to have Chris, Jill, and kids in town so that they could be here for the party:

Trevi has been the past few years, but Everley was just now old enough to participate:

And of course, Ty and Canon have been a part of the party since year 1, but it was Jack’s first year:

Shana and her children (and Iris) have been faithful attendees since we moved to Nashville:

Josh and Joah are also experienced gingerbread house makers:

I always take a lot of pictures of the kids and their houses, mainly because I just like seeing how they grow each year.  Here is my nephew, Hudson, and a kid who is practically a nephew, Kingston:

It was so fun to watch Everley make her first house:

More Ty and Canon:

Three Kirbys:  Tatum, Chris, and Tamyra:

Some beautiful finished products (with Joah and Norah in the background):

It was Noah’s first year, and he did a great job on his house!

This picture is one of my favorites from the day!

After building houses, we ate lunch:

Coleman was too young to really build, but we are so glad that he, Will, and Melissa came!

Some of the big boys (and Noah!) ate outside:

The adults mainly stayed inside:

Josiah and Jennah came a little later and lost no time getting started on their houses:

After lunch, some of the girls had fun playing dress-up with Everley.  She was a great sport and really seemed to enjoy it:

Since it was my birthday, that meant it was also Canon’s birthday.  So of course, we had to have him a cake and sing for him!

Me and my birthday buddy:

One added bonus of having a gingerbread house party on your birthday is that you get a lot of awesome cards from kids.

My favorite, though, was Greg’s—which is the Doctor Who one in the picture above.  He cracks me up.

It was a fun party—although I did take a big nap afterward!  That night, our friend, Vanessa, came and watched the kids so that Greg and I could go on a birthday date.  We had dinner at Amerigo’s and then watched the new Bond movie.  It was comically bad, but we had almost as much fun making fun of it afterward as we would have had enjoying it!

What a big day…and I look forward to doing it all again next year!