Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we invited our friends over for dinner, dessert, and a live nativity. Ainsley decided she was too old to participate this year (sad), so she took care of our baby Jesus until we needed him. Because of that, Kaylee ended up playing multiple parts. She chose to be the angel and all of the animals. There were some silly moments - apparently Joseph couldn't walk the whole way and needed his own turn on the donkey. And, there were some really sweet moments. I love how Landon (Joseph) has his arm around Aubrey (Mary). We missed being with our family on Christmas but are grateful to have good friends with whom we were able to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Gingerbread Houses

A few days before Christmas our kiddos invited some friends over to make gingerbread houses. For a moment I considered trying to make the gingerbread. I soon came to my senses and bought a couple boxes of graham crackers. I did make the frosting though. It was called Royal Icing, and it worked fantastically!

After everyone else was done, Kaylee was still meticulously working on hers. Very Kaylee-like. 

 

Christmas Shenanigans

As is our tradition, we dug out our Christmas decorations the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We decorated. We admired. And, we goofed around. 

I was going to send out a Christmas card with a photo of the kids in their Santa hats but apparently if you wait until three days before Christmas to order your cards it's too late. I tried. I was going to send them even though they probably wouldn't have gotten to anyone until after Christmas but it just didn't happen.  

I was going to make goodies for our neighbors too. I tried. I made some of my Aunt Debbie's famous caramels. They are so good, and always turn out perfect. Not this year. After letting cool, I pulled out a knife to slice through the delicious caramel. Much to my surprise the caramel wasn't set (not even slightly), and it was really grainy. I suppose that wasn't meant to be either. I'm starting to feel like Little Critter in "Just for You". Oh well, there's always next year!

School Days

The month of December has been unusually busy with school events and programs. Not to mention the everyday things like homework and speech practice.

Towards the beginning of December both girls went to Holland, Texas (I never knew there was a Holland, Texas until now) to compete in a University Interscholastic League (UIL) contest. Kaylee competed in Storytelling, and Ainsley in Oral Reading. This was a first for all of us.

It began with the girls trying out for their respective teams. Four children were chosen per team. They were both selected. They practiced after school once a week for several weeks. The meet was an all day affair held on a school day. They competed against six other schools. Both girls made it to finals! Kaylee ended up winning 4th place for 2nd grade storytelling, and Ainsley won 5th place for 5th grade oral reading. They had a lot of fun and were both happy to have placed. They are both planning on trying out again next year.  

About a week after, their school had a UIL celebration where they received their awards and ate yummy treats. Their school won 4th place out of the seven schools participating. Not bad for a brand new school!

Landon participated in his preschool Christmas program last week. It was a cute show. They held it during the day, so I was the only one who was able to attend. I recorded it though, so Chris and the girls were able to watch it later. Yay!

Kaylee also participated in a Christmas show last week. Kinder through 2nd grade put on the Christmas musical and grades 3 through 5 will put on the spring musical.

Kaylee has been working on a Living Museum project for over a month. She chose to research Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross. On Monday the three second grade classes invited parents and the rest of the school to come to their Living Museum. They did a great job!

Ainsley's class had their Christmas party Monday because they went on a field trip Tuesday. Ainsley also wants me to write that Landon was being a beast at her party, so Chris and I had to leave to take him home. She was not very happy about that. Kaylee's class had their Christmas party yesterday.  

They are now off for Christmas break and going a little stir crazy already. I was practically begging them to go jump on the trampoline today because they are so full of energy and letting it out in the form of beating on each other. The weather has gone from extremely hot to pretty cold, so going outside wasn't very appealing to them. I may just bundle them up and force them out tomorrow.

On a completely unrelated note, Ainsley had to get a tooth pulled this morning. She was totally stressed out. So much so, that after she got her tooth pulled, as we were getting ready to leave the dentist's office, she passed out. Just like Kaylee. She's fine and back to her usual self, but really, what is going on with my kids?!