December Catch Up

December has flown by!! The weekend after Thanksgiving we met my parents at a Christmas Tree farm near their house and picked out our perfect tree.  Usually I have pictures of us decorating the tree, but for some reason lately I haven't been taking as many pictures.  Maybe next year!  

The next weekend Cappy, Anthony and I took the kids downtown to the Christmas parade on Beale Street.  It was fun!  

The next weekend Bryce had his first swim meet with the Germantown Gators swim team.  There was no 8 and under division at this meet so he had to swim 50 meter swims (with proper turns) for his first time ever.  And he was competing with 7, 8, 9 and 10 year olds.  He did great!  He didn't DQ for anything and finished in the top 1/2 in each race.  And when we broke it down to compare him to other 7 and 8 year olds (like normal meets will be) he finished top 6 in most of his races.  The only race he had done before was the 100 IM and his goal was to better his time at this meet.  He beat his summer time by 5 full seconds!! 

  

One day Cappy and I were shopping at Hobby Lobby and ran into......!  

Last Friday was the kids last day of school for this semester.  They both had Holiday parties that day. I'm the room mom in CeCe's class and the class photographer in Bryce's class so party days are hard.  Luckily Anthony was able to come and help.  He stayed in Bryce's room most of the time and helped run the games and took some pictures for me.  

 These next few are from CeCe's class website.  This one is from Polar Express Day

 Gingerbread house decorating.  Cappy came to help in the classroom too!  

 She read a book to the class after they finished decorating  

 This one is from CeCe's party.  This is Noah and he is a very special friend to CeCe. 

School was dismissed at 12:15 Friday and right after that CeCe, Cappy, Papaw Ruff and I drove to Nashville to stay the night at the Opryland Hotel.  We explored around the hotel when we got there and the first tree we saw was Dolly Parton's tree!!!!  

 Friday night my parents went to the Grand Ole Opry but CeCe and I opted to stay at the hotel.  She put on her PJs and we walked around the hotel some more and found some candy cane frozen yogurt.  We sat and people watched for a while!  

 The next morning we explored some more (HUGE hotel, even after all of our exploring we didn't see the whole place!)

After lunch we were so excited to head to see the Rockettes perform!!  The show was FANTASTIC!! CeCe is still tap dancing around the house!  

Thanksgiving Fun!

We were excited to head to the lake Wednesday.  It's always fun being there with the cousins!  Anthony and I ended up with CeCe's cold from the week before (she missed the whole week of school from a rough cold and ear infection) so we didn't feel 100% but we made the most of it!  

Fun on the tire swing!  Bryce and Jude were off exploring (aka, getting muddy!)

All piled together on the couch after baths.  

Thursday we went to Uncle Dave and Aunt Lynda's farm for a super fun day! 

Hay rides

And sled rides of course! 

Bright and early Friday we headed to West Point to have lunch with the Duke family.  Everyone was there so we snapped a few pictures of the cousins!  

Halloween and Another Fun Football Weekend!

Halloween week was busy at the kids school!  Friday the 3rd grade had a big sock hop.  They've been practicing dances from the 1950s in PE for weeks and this was the big show!  Parents were invited to go watch so Cappy and I went up there and it was GREAT!  All the kids knew all of the dances and it was very organized and fun to watch.  We slicked Bryce's hair back and he looked sharp! 

Here is Bryce and his dancing partner Meisha doing the bop (I think)

 They had a short time when the kids were supposed to find a mom or grandparent partner to dance with, Bryce is a good little dancer!  

 That afternoon we went back up to the school for both of the kids fall parties.  We split time at both parties (I'm the room mom for CeCe and the class photographer for Bryce so it was a busy 45 minutes for me!)  The 3rd graders went back into the gym for games and snacks for their party.  The kindergarteners stayed in their classrooms and played games, did crafts and had snacks.  Both parties were fun!

After school we raced home to get CeCe's hair in rollers......introducing Dolly Parton!!  She loves all things Dolly (singing, clothes, makeup, etc) so this was the perfect Halloween costume for her!  Too bad it was FREEZING that night!  

 Mary/Anna came down to help CeCe get dressed up

 All ready for the cove party and trick or treating!

 Bryce had no interest in dressing up this year but I told him to be included in the cove party (our cove got together outside with chili, hotdogs and a fire pit) that he had to have some sort of costume!  

Bryce's friend Upi came over after school and they hung out at our cove party until 7 when Anthony took them to Upi's house for his cove party and trick or treating.  Their cove party got moved inside so Bryce stayed warmer than we did!  It was a fun but super cold night!  My parents were at our house but decided to stay inside instead of braving the cold wind for the party and trick or treating.  They passed out candy for us and watched the Grizzlies play!  

Saturday morning we got up and Bryce, Anthony and I drove to West Point (CeCe stayed with my parents this weekend and was so excited about it!!)  We had lunch with Anthony's parents before driving over to campus.  The weather was forecasted to be even colder than Friday but the wind was not nearly as bad so bundled up it was pretty pleasant in the stadium.  Our friend Kelley used CeCe's ticket and I loved having her sit with us!  The game was a little too close for comfort but thankfully the Dawgs pulled out another victory and are still #!1!!!  

Last Week

Last week was a busy one!  Sunday CeCe had a Girl Scout (Daisy Troop) outing to Menagerie Farms in Collierville.  It was a great place!  

The next day she had her first field trip.....to Menagerie Farms just like the day before!  It was such a fun place we were excited to go back.  At the big intro to the day in the big pavilion they had goats for the teachers to milk.  After the teachers went the lady called two kids up to the front to try it and CeCe was one of them!  She was nervous but did it!  And it wasn't really to milk the goat, it was to try and squirt Mrs. Bittner with the milk!  

 Feeding the goats

 Eating our picnic lunch 

Wednesday Bryce had his first field trip to Germantown Farm Park.  It was such a nice place and there were different stations for the kids to learn new things.  This was at the composting station!  

The leaf station

 And the bug catching station.  Notice Bryce's hands in his pockets?  He let his buddies catch the bugs!  

Friday CeCe had pumpkin carving day.  All of the kindergarteners carve pumpkins with their parents at lunchtime.  The weather was perfect and we had fun carving the pumpkin with her!  

 Her class and their pumpkins

 Friday night we went downtown to dinner and a Grizzlies game (preseason).  We had the best time!  

 Saturday CeCe and I had to do a little Halloween hair prep......

 Today Bryce went to his friend Upi's house for the afternoon and Anthony was working so CeCe and I met the McCanns at the Germantown Farm Park (where Bryce had his field trip) for a fall festival.  It was fun but HOT!  She didn't pet any of the goats but sure picked up this turtle to enter him in the turtle race!