Pre-Christmas Fun!

There were lots of fun festivities to help us get excited for Christmas this year!

First was Kelton's 3rd grade program.  They did a mini version of The Nutcracker and it was great! Kelton was super excited to have a little solo! 

Next was Katie's Learn and Grow Christmas Program.  At first, she was thinking she didn't want to participate but then was really glad she did!

Next up was the 5K Reindeer Run.  Kelton's first 5K.  The weather was good and he did great at just under 30 min.  I took it easy because of my ITB injury and came in about 30 sec behind him.

 

Finally was the Christmas Cantata at our church.  Kelton was part of the children's choir and they did an amazing job.  It was so beautiful and a wonderful way to celebrate the birth of our Savior!

 

This year seemed so busy, I didn't have much time for projects but I did make 12 sets of coasters for friends and family.  I also made some yummy body scrubs and bath salts for my sister in law.

Now we'll get just a little break before our marathon of birthdays gets started!

Third Time's a Charm!

The first of December, we headed back to Eric's parent's house to spend the weekend.  Our main objective was do some deer hunting, but even more fun was that Kolsen and Karolyn ended up being there too!

Eric and Kelton struck out on Friday evening.  Early Saturday morning I went out with them, but the deer where awful skittish, so we weren't able to get very close.  There was a buck that had kind of separated from the other does and I took a shot at it.  I felt like I hit it and Eric said he heard it hit, but it was far enough away we couldn't tell.  We walked up closer and there it was!  I couldn't believe it!  My third deer and I finally got my buck!

The other super exciting thing that happened Saturday was Papa dropping skittles out of the airplane!

Of course, Katie had to ride Cheyenne!

Ever the budding farm girl, Katie insisted on going out in the cold to help Papa with chores.

Konny made sure all the doggies got plenty of love'n!

And there was a dog pile on Kolsen! 
You can't even see him under there!

Just like in previous years, Hartzell followed us so he could continue reporting back to Santa!

The kids are super anxious to get back to Nana and Papa's to see their cousins again this weekend and Kelton is eager to take another crack at getting a deer!

Thank you, Mister Rogers

I had planned to blog about some of our latest family fun tonight, but my mind just won't focus.  There is absolutely no way to make sense of what happened today in Connecticut.   I was at first tempted to think I should yank my kids out of school, but they love school and this type of thing happens at malls and movie theaters too.  My job isn't to velcro them by my side, but to continue to cover them in prayer, every single day.

I am completely overwhelmed by the news.  A friend posted a quote on facebook that that offers a different perspective and I thought I'd share.

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world." - Fred Rogers

And God Bless those helpers because it will take a lifetime for them to recover from what they had to see today.  God Bless the survivors, for their recovery will be lengthy as well.  God Bless the parents, whose children will likely not sleep tonight.  God Bless the entire community of Newtown.  Lord, please lay your healing hands on our nation.  This cannot continue happening.

Super Silly Elf on the Shelf!

Hartzell has been one crazy little elf this year!  The kids are always delighted to get up in the morning and see what mischief he's been up to.  Thankfully, there's only been one time he wasn't in a new place because he was too tired to fly back to the north pole.  :-)

Jingle Bell Jingle Bell Jingle Bell Run!

The kids, my mom and I ended up participating in a fun run last weekend while Daddy was out scouting for deer.  It was the 1 mile Jingle Bell run for the Arthritis Foundation.  Since I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis when I was 11, I knew this would be a great event to particpate in.

Hartzell left us a good luck message that morning.

We planned for Kelton to run ahead a far as he felt comfortable, Katie and I would run together and my mom would push Konny in the stroller. We wore santa hats and tied jingle bells to our shoes. We could not have asked for better weather, it was 60 degrees!!

We all had so much fun!  I can't wait to do something like this with the kids again.  They loved it!

Kelton finished at 8:47.  I had Katie hold my hand the whole time because it was rather congested.  I let her run on her own when we could see the finish.  The other adults around us slowed down and cheered her on with me as she ran though the finish (giggling).  Kelton was waiting and she jumped into his arms.  I have to say it ranks in my top 10 favorite moments as a parent!  It was so cute!

Kelton ran the 2 Mile Turkey Trot last month also and did great!  I had a funeral to attend so I couldn't run with him but one of my friends did instead. 

Next weekend, Kelton and I are signed up for the 5K Reindeer Run.  Hopefully the weather is nice!

New Ornaments (and an unexpected new tree!)

We didn't do our new ornaments on the same night we put up the tree this year because I was still waiting for one to arrive in the mail.  I was so excited about what I chose for them this year and thankfully, they loved them too!

Just a few days after that, Eric and Kelton discovered the tree had tipped over and broken.  Thankfully only a few ornaments were broken and only 2 of those were special.  I've already replaced one and I think I can repair the other.

I don't have a picture of the tree while it was down, but you can get an idea of the carnage here.....

I purchased a new prelit tree this afternoon.  Thank you to Walmart's Everyday Low Prices!  The kids enjoyed redecorating it and we did some decorations outside too.

I do love Christmas, but I'm really hoping that we don't have to decorate the tree again this year!

Gotta Love 4 Day Weekends!

Isn't it funny how you spend almost 2 days getting ready for one meal that takes less than an hour to eat!  :-)  But it's so worth it!

We were blessed again this year to provide Thanksgiving dinner for a local family.  I bought their turkey the same time as ours and walked out of the store with 43 lbs of turkey!  I think my favorite part of Thanksgiving is loading up the back of the car and dropping off that meal on Tue evening!

For our meal, the kids were delighted to have Nana and Papa come eat with us!  It was a beautiful day too, so they were able to get some time outside to play while I worked on the big meal.

Thanks to my slow cookers, everything was done and warm at the same time!  Like usual, I made the meal free of soy, dairy, gluten, peanuts and tree nuts so everyone could eat everything.  We found a new treat this year, Rice Whip!

Of course it's not a holiday without matching jammies!

I did a little bit of black Friday shopping on Thursday night, but overall, I wasn't really feeling it this year.  Instead, I rang the Salvation Army bell during the day on Friday.  I think this will make a  much better tradition than fighting crowds for stuff we don't really need anyway!  The boys were sweet to visit me and bring coffee.

Saturday, we put up the tree!  This was the first year that Konny really got into it! 

We hung up our stockings...

Finally, our Elf on the Shelf, Hartzell, returned to us.  He's up to his usual elf antics already!

It was back to work and school this morning! 
By the end of the week, I'm sure we'll all already be looking forward to Christmas vacation!