Christmas (and a little extra)

 Earlier in December, Erin had a speaking part in the 4th grade musical. She was a reindeer!

Waiting to sing.

 Just a little bit of her performance. She did great, as well as everyone else (for 9 and 10 year olds).

Christmas

 Christmas Eve after Santa dropped off the presents.

 This was about 2 hours after we finished opening presents - around 8:30am

Jack was very interested in Luke's new tool set, while Luke was happy to watch Howie play a new Wii game. Erin was thrilled to get a doll bed for her American Girl doll. There is a large Hot Wheels Race Track behind the couch and it gets daily use from all of the children.

 Howie played his new Wii game while Howard was in my bedroom setting up Howie's new PS3. Howie freaked out big time when he saw the PS3 Santa brought him. Apparently Howie thinks it's the best present ever. The upside for Howard and I  is that we can now watch Netflix in our bedroom.

 By far, Erin's favorite gift is her iPod touch. It never leaves her side.

 Jack and Luke both love their Lego sets that we got them. I love how they can play for hours, especially Jack. I have a feeling I will be buying him Legos for a LONG time.

Luke showing off his new blue Ninjago minifig.

Overall, we had a successful Christmas season. We finished shopping on Black Friday, so we were able to relax and have fun in December. We looked at Christmas lights twice, made sugar cookies, helped at the City Rescue Mission a couple of times, make gingerbread house, did Advent activities each day, and watched our favorite Christmas movies. I'm a little sad to take down the Christmas decorations this year, normally I can't wait to put it all away. I have one more week to enjoy the Christmas season.

Christmas Snow

We had a small snow storm on Christmas day. Only about an inch of snow, but the wind was brutal. It was so pretty!

Holiday Spirit

December has treated us well. We've been able to do some fun activities without being overwhelmed. Fortunately we finished Christmas shopping shortly after Black Friday.

 

A couple of weeks ago we went downtown to visit the Reindeer after church. Luke and Jack enjoyed it the most. Luke was especially excited.

 This is Blitzen.

 Howie and Erin were a little bored.

 

We also had fun playing near the giant ornament at the base of the Devon Tower.

 

 Luke was able to demonstrate a somersault for us successfully.

We've had some exceptionally nice weather lately and we were able to decorate the house a little more than usual this year. Thanks to Howard and my brother-in-law at Thanksgiving, the job was able to be finished quickly.

 

 Unfortunately the wind knocked down some of their hard work, so the kids "helped" Howard fix it a few days later.

 

Last Friday Howard and I were able to attend his squadron Christmas party. It was the same day as the Connecticut shooting. Despite our smiles, we were pretty sad all day. The party was a nice little break from the horrors of the day. It still breaks my heart just thinking about it and that there are so many parents hurting this Christmas season.

Festival of Lights

Last Saturday evening we went to Chickasha, a small town about 40 minutes southwest of our home. It is home to the Festival of Lights and the nearest Dairy Queen. We hit up both places since we don't make it down there very often. We attempted to view it about 2 years ago, but the car line was miles long (literally) and moving at a snails pace. This time is was about 75F and we decided to arrive early and walk through it. We only wore sweaters because of the wind, but we overheated the more we walked around. In all it was a perfect night. By perfect I mean - no kids threw up (like last time), no complaining, or misbehaving. I like it when my kids behave - it's just makes everything go smoothly.

I didn't pose them in height order, but they just happened to be standing this way for both pictures. It's just a coincidence. 

 

 
 

I snuck in a shot of myself since no one else ever wants to take pictures.

There was a live nativity, but no people that evening. It was just the animals.

There were several little "chapels" on the grounds, so Erin decided she wanted to pretend marry Jack.