December 1- kinsey ran 3.2 miles for the first time!! (so did the others) advent!! started the Jesse tree and all of our other advent calendars, cleaned the kids rooms..well!, did school, wrapped lots of presents, played 'people' with ephram, ran errands, had the klick's over for dinner (in jammies:) and had a wonderful night of dinner/fellowship/catching up/bible reading/carol singing/piano listening/children playing/laughing and hanging out.
December 2- a little school, watched Alex, field trip to Oakview to learn about Christmas through the years, lunch with the klick's, cookie planning, tons of disney blogging, first book report for oldest two, lots of books for ephram, kinsey read the family bible passage (yay!!), and went to Fusion at Journey.
December 3- jingle bell run with the fam and katherine!, leslie watched ephram, great runs.., made pizzelles, girls played with morgans all day, braden had a scout event for his derby car, met the klick's at chili's then did sleigh rides/cupcakes at gigi's/and a toy store...super full fun day!
December 4- church, lots of outside play, awana, and choir....and ended with our traditional nights of advent calendars/songs/and Christmas books:).
December 5- walk/ran with leslie, school, piano lessons for oldest two, gymnastics for middles, carter and ephram played, writing class for cailey, Christmas crafts with the kiddos, chili for dinner:), and family movie night: Frosty.
December 6- got up early to go meet laura at the Y (in China Grove), realized i could do school with the older 2 while driving (math/spelling/english) worked out while the kiddos did PE class, hung out and chatted all day (awesome-ness:), kiddos played, and watched Elf for the first time!
December 7- was up early thanks to ephram:), drove back to raleigh after goodbyes, did some school in the car then some at home, heart attack mac and cheese casserole for lunch:), cleaned a bit, read Christmas books, Cailey tried a Broadway dance class and liked it a lot more..so we're switching, fun 'mix up' dinner, ingredients purchased for Christmas cookies, and our traditional Christmas nights:)
December 8- walk/run with leslie early, school, baking begins, listened to lots of reading (while baking), enjoyed my time with two big helpers (kinsey and ephram:), gingerbread house party at beth's, more baking, advent fun, and crashed.
December 9- walk/run with leslie, watched alex, run 3 with kelly at the y, crafts with the kiddos, baked rugala, cookie bars, people chow with help from Braden, played games with Braden while the girls were gone, dipped marshmallows, girls had AHG, finished most of the baking, piano recitals for cailey and braden who were precious, and had this as my fb status:
December 10- woke up with cailey girl who had a slumber party in my room, prepped for the get together all day, made chocolate covered pretzels/taco dip/reindeer noses, cleaned, made hot chocolate/punch/ cleaned more, and had friends over for a fun evening of fellowship and eating yummy food.
December 11- church, mall together for an angry bird scavenger hunt at Barnes and Noble/ hunt for a book for poppy, day of rest...which was needed after the busy week, awana (layered night), and early bedtimes for all.
December 12- early walk/run with leslie...week 2!, piano for oldest two, school with kinsey, school with olders, gymnastics for middles (cailey went so she could go straight to the writing party with Emilee), played with carter and ephram...so fun!, kinsey went home with caroline to play all day, picked her up at the Y, made cookie plates with the girls, braden to scouts, cailey to basketball 'tryouts', delivered cookies to some friends, held baby landon:), crashed again.
December 13- school, crafts with ephram, watched emily ruth, ornament with all, cfa for Santa Cow night with corbetts/klicks/morgans/williams, saw sweet katherine, craft/playtime for the kiddos, sweet moment of carter sharing his ice cream cone with ephram, and a great time to catch up with the ladies:).
December 14- school, played with the kiddos, had a impromptu pajama pancake party with the Morgan's:), super fun and relaxed evening while the kiddos played with their friends:).
December 15- ran with leslie, field trip to the planetarium with the klicks and co op, had them over for a lunch playdate, school, games and colored with ephram and kinsey, listened to lots of Christmas piano songs, and read tons of Christmas books/did the felt tree.
December 16- watched alex, did an angel craft with the little boys, did a little school, took girls to AHG Christmas party, did tons of laundry, decorated our gingerbread house from cheryl with the kiddos, brian worked late (until 1am), three oldest had choir rehearsal, hung out with ephram, and did jesse tree, etc.
December 17- three oldest had choir rehearsal 10-2, brian and i took ephram to the mall to play/ride the train, went out to lunch with e, ran errands together, had a GREAT time with our little guy and loved hearing him (at 2 1/2) say "look at that HUGE tree!" (couldn't believe he said huge!), wrapped presents, hung out with cailey girl looking at clothes online..and realizing she loves shoes unlike her mama, went to the Hileman's open house, and kiddos went to bed super excited about being able to eat their gingerbread house (candy) for breakfast.
December 18- gingerbread house candy for breakfast (for kiddos), church, shopping date with cailey, kiddos played outside for the afternoon, awana briefly for gift switch, bayleaf choir show (SO happy to have leslie to sit/laugh/talk with:), and reception to celebrate a job well done.
December 19- piano lessons, a little school, gymnastics, switch kiddos so braden and kinsey could have playdates with caroline and caden, polar express party at sheree's filled with games/decorating trees/singing/movie, scout Christmas party where braden was in his first skit, and baby boy got a BIG boo boo on his toe:(.
December 20- cleaned, playdate at Triechler's, watched Jay during naptime while Braden went to Bryce's Christmas party at school, klick's here for dinner (with kids), klick and morgan kiddos came over to hang out with our kids, out with girlfriends to Casalinga for dinner, and shopping with kelly.
December 21- watched alex, arts and crafts all day with the kiddos, listened to kinsey read Christmas books, read tons to the kiddos, played games, rainy day, went to the klick's for dinner/games/playing/laughing/and Christmas caroling with a grand finale of "I want an Ethiopian for Christmas"... Very cute and fun!
December 22- super fun polar express party at kelly's, braeden came for a playdate/sleepover, brought food/groceries to a friend in need as a family which was SUPER fun, went to Lake Myrna to look at the lights and drink hot chocolate in the 72 degree weather..yep..pictures with Santa in short sleeves!, jesse tree with Braeden, and they watched Santa Buddies which was a gift from Cheryl.
December 23- walked with leslie late since she had the day off:) while tommy watched ALL the kiddos (including Braeden), watched Gracie, had a playdate with marsie...then extended it at CFA, watched Emily Ruth and Winston, kiddos played outside in the sunshine all afternoon, brian came home early (YAY!), and went to see a live nativity at Haye's Barton then to see Creedmoor lights with the Morgan's.
December 24- went to church, made red sauce, Brian ran errands, I ran errands with the girls, made an Italian dinner of shrimp and linguini and baked ziti, ate our yummy dinner together on our fancy dishes, last advent candle, watched Christmas movies/hot cocoa/popcorn together, prepped breakfast for Christmas morning, and filled stockings with a few more goodies.
December 25- It's Christmas Day! Sang "Happy Birthday to Jesus", had a surprise early riser (Cailey) yet waiting an hour for Ephram to wake up, stockings, opened a few gifts, ate breakfast together on our Christmas dishes, opened the rest of the gifts together, had a great time giving!, packed up and went to Charlotte to continue spending time with family/presents/dinner together, cousins played together, and beat Leigh and Mom at scrabble.
December 26- got no sleep the night before b/c of Abby up talking and waking the girls:(, spent a few hours before going home, stopped at Ham's for lunch, unpacked the van, kiddos played outside while i rested and Brian played Star Wars with ephram, listened to (and played with) brian play with his new nerf machine gun...so funny!, watched cailey facetime her girlfriend/send email/play wordfeud, had a happy kinsey on her scooter, and happy braden with his bey blades and star wars ship, walk/ran with leslie late so we could sleep in tomorrow, and caught up on Psych:)>
December 28- planned on going to Marbles but ephram was too sick so i stayed with him while brian took the others to Chuck E Cheese (ephram was lethargic and so pitiful with his hand under his cheek laying beside me on the bed as i read to him:(), kiddos came home with gifts for e, TONS of outside play with their bikes and scooters for the rest of the day in the brisk but sunny day, brian tried his new waffle maker for dinner, and watched 2 Little House episodes with the girls.
December 29- went to the Durham science museum with the family and had a super fun time there until 2:40!(had no idea of the time and was shocked when we got in the van and saw!), lots of exploring/learning/chasing/playing, etc., came home and played games with each child while ephram got a quick nap, tried out a few new games, went running with leslie and started week 4, and played some more with the kiddos:).
December 30- went to Marbles museum with the family lots of fun:), then to Krispy Kreme and got to watch several different kinds of doughnuts be made, cleaned, kiddos played outside, BBQ chicken pizza, more games, last minute dresser hunting...and buying...planning of room rearranging, and wordfeud with cailey.
December 31- ran with leslie, brian and tommy picked up the new dressers, worked on fixing up the boys room, went to see Dolphin Tale with the girls and Morgan girls...SUPER great movie!, finished up the boys room, cleaned, started homeschool room, had Morgan's over for games/Chinese food...SUPER fun! (Pictionary, nerf gun wars, tons of laughter, "you'll shoot your eye out", tag in the dark, etc.!)
