Well, since I literally just finished packing up Christmas due to a number of delaying factors, I figured this post was actually timely. Plus, when I write these posts, I smile and I love remembering the fun things I have done recently with my kiddos. So, enjoy a trip down memory lane from the latter part of December 2016.
Lindsay Jane, styling in her new hairdo, was an excellent helper to me in preparing jars of ingredients for teachers, nurses and other super helpers in our lives. I always use cooking to teach my kids about math measurements, which I am certain is not novel by any means, but it is amazing how much they pick up in a short amount of time when they are able to use other methods of learning all combined together. You educators are all like...duh...haha.
We did have some interesting crafts from our church Sunday School this year. Connor brought the first over-sized ornament in and I though, "Well, ok, they are only little once..." and I placed it front and center where everyone could see. Well, as you can see, the other little Cole's noted their brothers' ornament in a place of honor and ran to the truck to dig theirs out to accompany. I mean, I really only needed about 10 that size to fill the tree. But, I looked at them and loved them, remembering, "they really are only little once".
We made a TON of cookies this year. This session included our Tahti and Zaiya. :)
Karen, forever the artist, always has a way of outdoing us in her designs!
Zaiya donned his snowman shirt and enjoyed the family Christmas tree cookie extravaganza immensely. Maybe eating more than decorating...but what gives when you are 6? :)
Jimmy made many appearances and was a super fun prankster this year. Lindsay Jane loved this day as Jimmy shared tea with her little doll.
Ever hard to photograph, Mommom, Kay, Lindsay Jane and I were all able to go to see the boys' Winter program. Complete with a 4th grade recorder performance, my heart smiled as I watched the boys...singing in French and English, looking so cute trying to keep up with the choreography and growing up before my eyes. It was Landon's last performance in the Winter Program as Woods starts middle school in the 5th grade. What?
Y'all know how much I love food crafts...we had to practice this one before doing it for Connor's 1st grade class. It was a little tricky because there are dairy and nut allergies in his class. That is extremely limiting in my food craft world! Just a side note on that - the hat was not a part of the classroom snowman, lest you think I am not a very astute dairy and nut avoider...
I also absolutely love when our neighbors come over to help decorate cookies and do their own food crafts. my little buddies and I, keeping up the holiday tradition in the neighborhood. Makes my heart so happy.
Winter party time in Mr. Hale's class! Have I mentioned what an amazing teacher Connor has, AGAIN? Wow! We love Mr. Hale so much. Connor just loves school and loves learning from Mr. Hale who is super fun, creative and a real superstar 1st grade teacher. We are blessed.
My happy little boy.
Some of Connor's buddies doing the snowman craft.
Me and my little buddy. :)
More concentration shots...which I always adore in kiddos.
Connor's friend, Wyatt's snowman, complete with a pretzel hat and a written on UNC jersey. I love it! Love that he made this craft his own!
Connor making a gingerbread house out of graham crackers with all kinds of yummy treats to put on the icing!
Sweet Mr. Hale explaining their gift. He got each of them a book, personalized for who they are individually and their reading level. Super awesome.
Jimmy had a snowball marshmallow fight with Elsa, batman and superman one night and Lindsay Jane was so delighted!
Last year, we started a new tradition of surprising the kids one night during the Christmas season, after they have put their pajamas on. We get hot chocolate in their Polar Express Mugs and head off to hunt down the best Christmas lights! They love it!
This one was the runner up...
And this one the winner. It is hard to tell from these pictures, but this house had a series of 5 different songs playing and the lights were set to the beat of the music. It was amazing! The kids (and adults) were super impressed!
Jimmy had a bit of a run in with one our visitors over the holidays. He reassured the kids that he was fine and that Santa sprinkled healing elf dust on him when he went to the North Pole for the night.
Then, Jimmy surprised the kids by getting into a Mason Jar, which allowed them to carry him around all day without touching him - which if you don't know the deal - if you touch the elf, he cannot fly back to the North Pole to report to Santa how the kids are doing.
The kids were super excited about this. Jimmy had a lot of fun hanging out with us that day...
He watched Lindsay and Landon make glow in the dark moon sand ice cream cones...
He watched Lindsay Jane make her bed and beg for a picture of her sitting on her bed and being silly...
And, he received a special gift that night from Connor. I had to take a picture because this was so cool. Connor got into Pearler Beads over the Christmas break. He made this dog. If you will notice, the dog is divided into many different colors which were not on the pattern that you follow when making these crafts. Connor explained to me that this was a dog on the inside - you can see his heart, his lungs, his stomach and his intestines. You can see his brain, his muscles and his bones. Wow. My little buddy scientist...
I have to admit, when he decided to send this gift back with Jimmy to the North Pole, I was a little jealous of Jimmy. Good thing Jimmy and I are tight...
An important part of our family Christmas tradition is doing the daily Jesse Tree. This has been an amazing way to teach the kids about the history of Christmas and Jesus's birth, first prophesied in the Old Testament. Every day has a symbol that is representative of a prophecy that comes true from the Old to the New Testament. Each day, there is a short devotional and passages of scripture from the Old and New Testaments. It is such a worthwhile tradition. The time spent getting the kids to gather can be a challenge, but I never regret it...even on the days that are accompanied by numerous time outs and fart noises accompanying...keep.it.real.
We also enjoyed several special moments with special friends in our lives who are like family. The love we have for our friends is definitely something we find ourselves giving great thanks for during special times of year. Christmastime is especially meaningful as we bind together in our family of Christ and celebrate Jesus's amazing birth and all of the ways that event changed history and gave us hope.
Speaking of special friends, we had a new event this year...a Grinch Party with the Smith's! Janise and I went green and red for our snacks...which were SO fun!
Emelia loved the frozen strawberry puree hearts.
All in their pj's, they watched the Grinch and had such a blast with their sweet friends who are like cousins!
Such sweet bonds they all share...
Super cool food, huh? It was all so tasty too! I feel a new tradition coming on!
The next morning Jimmy got out our toilet paper! That rascal! He wrote "3 more days..."
Next stop...Lynch Family Christmas gathering. The quilt behind us in this picture was made by Stan's grandmother. Hard to believe we got a family picture as decent as this one! Thanks to John, the great photographer. :)
We had this little buddy join us too. He had a blast! Here he is playing the guitar.
He and Lindsay Jane were putting on a concert, which was tooooooo cute.
The other boys were comparing Pokemon and Minecraft secrets...
Lindsay Jane was looking up at Zaiya here, who was trying to teach her to play the drums...
Super cute!!!!
Zaiya then moved on to the sax...
Here, Nanny and Moo were trying to tell Cole what was next...and not to carry the guitar around like a baseball bat...boys.
Sweet cousins!
Cole family 2016.
Anna and Laura prepping for the dirty Santa game...
Shenanigans...
Daddy daughter bonding...
And...more shenanigans from these two...that is about what you expect, right?
And, this was one of my favorite Jimmy treats this year. He put elf hats on our whole family. The kids loved it!
And one of my very favorites...Santa Tracking. I loved watching the kids this year...
This was my sweet view. We had just worked together to make Jesus's birthday cake. The kids were gathered together at the table tracking Santa. I know this may be the last year I see this and know that they all still believe in Santa. Though that means that things will be different, it also means fun in different ways as Landon gets to be our helper in giving. Though I am hanging on to every little day they are little still, I am treasuring the people they are becoming.
I mean look at those sweet faces.
And, more sweetness... we went to our annual Christmas Eve service at our church. It was such a wonderful time of family bonding in Christ. I traditionally serve communion and did so again this year. It is such a blessing to be able to assist in the Christmas Eve service as we celebrate Jesus's life in such a meaningful way. It always brings such joy to my heart.
We then headed home, opened our traditional Christmas pajamas, ate a new traditional meal we decided...Italian take out...more Santa tracking, reindeer food spreading on the lawn...
...putting out cookies (and a slew of carrots) for Santa and his reindeer...
And all the little ones went to bed...
And...we went to bed at the ripe ole' hour of 2:30am!!!! I cannot believe we did that this year! We did get a little side tracked as our dear friends stopped by for a visit and we shared in some really sweet fellowship with them.
Stay tuned for pictures from my "good camera" from Christmas Day!!!
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