reflections

The PTA has a program each year for students to show their artistic abilities in different categories.  This year, Bryce's teacher did a writing with her students and invited them to submit them to the Reflections program.  Bryce submitted his and placed in his age/category.  The original ceremony was moved due to snow so they had it tonight!  

All of the school winners.  

This is Bryce's teacher and his classmates who participated. 

Bryce's essay.

winterfest

Kings Dominion debuted Winterfest this year and we finally got to check it out tonight.  We've been to the Christmas Town lights at Busch Gardens and were excited that Kings Dominion started their own version and it's included with our passes.  Win!

There were lots of great photo opportunities!

The Eiffel Tower was really pretty and the lights changed to different colors and patterns every few minutes. 

The kids rode some of the rides that were open.

We watched a cute little 3D Christmas movie.

The kids love Rita's.  It wasn't too cold for Bryce to get an Italian ice, but Emmy opted for hot chocolate with frozen custard. YUM!

Snow girl angel

Snow boy angel 

We got a family pic with a few of the Peanuts gang.

Santa! I know him!!

We finished the night with some crafts.

christmas caroling

Tonight we went Christmas caroling with our church and it was quite memorable!  We loaded up the church bus and headed out to visit church members who don't make it to church as much as they'd like.  

We typically split up into groups and go to various houses, but we didn't have as many stops this year so we took the bus and it was so much fun!

These two were excited about their matching shirts!

Mrs. Hadra so excited to have all the kids come sing to her!

The excitement of the night came at our last stop.  We passed the house and needed to turn around.  As Jason's dad was backing up, Bryce told him that he was almost in the ditch and that if he went any further we would be in the ditch.  The next thing we heard was "PaPa, you're in the ditch".  Sure enough the bus was stuck!  We got out and walked to the last house and then Jason came to the rescue and pulled the bus our while all the men pushed!  There is always a good story to tell after Christmas caroling with church!

I don't have any pictures, but after caroling we went back to our associate ministers house for snacks and games.  It was a fun evening!

out of suits

We celebrated Christmas with some good friends last week and it was so much fun.  We went to a French restaurant in Carytown and it was so good!

It's fun to get dressed up and have drinks and appetizers and a yummy dinner and dessert every now and then!  Jason takes dressing up to another level.

Looking forward to celebrating this girl's wedding in a few short months!

We went to Maggiano's last night for Jason's department Christmas dinner.  Mine and Jason's idea of dressing up is a bit different.  Luckily, he's out of suits so maybe he'll wear something normal to the next event!

festive fun

Emmy and I had a girls night recently and we got pedicures.  Emmy is much quicker so she got her nails painted too.

Pretty nails and a fun shirt to start celebrating the season.

We opted for a gingerbread train instead of a house this year.

The kids spent the night with Nana last Thursday while we went to dinner with friends.  They had fun watching Christmas shows and making Christmas treats.  

They were back at Nana's this Thursday night for more fun while we were at Jason's Christmas dinner for his department.

Yummy!

Bryce's class had a fun schedule of holiday dress up days, but the snow interfered so we're making up for them where we can. 

Today was "Aren't you plaid it's Friday?"

I know I'm glad it's Friday!

teeth

This girl's teeth are really starting to fall out.

She's hoping the other top tooth (it's loose) comes out before Christmas so she can sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth".

She lost one on Sunday and when she woke up Monday she told me her tooth was still in her tooth pillow.  We told her the tooth fairy must have gotten stuck in the snow!

She was excited to see that the Tooth Fairy hadn't forgotten her the next night!  

snow

We had our first big snow of the year last weekend.  The forecasters had a tough time predicting this one.  So much so that I didn't think we'd get more than a little freezing rain or dusting.  I didn't even go to the store to prepare for this storm.  We ended up with almost a foot of snow!

It was snowing Sunday morning when we left for church and it had accumulated quite a bit by the time we got home!

Jason did most of the snow play this year and for that I am grateful!  See Bentley back there?  He loved it!

We were out of school Monday through Wednesday and then went in late today.  

It was quite a winter wonderland.

family Christmas party

We went to a family Christmas party at church tonight and we dressed for the occasion!

One of my friends had the same dress as I did and we were able to find similar dresses for our girls!  So fun!

We had a manger themed dinner.

We had birthday cake for Jesus for dessert.

The kids were able to shop for family members.

People from church donate items for the kids to "buy".

There were fun Christmas themed games.

Families paired up for a gingerbread house competition.  

They didn't have much time to work!

It was a really fun night!

Happy Birthday Pap

Pap would have been 73 today.  We miss him dearly and days like today are the hardest.  We were still able to celebrate despite the snow.  We brought in fried chicken from KFC and we had a brownie cake for dessert.  The kids loved the fun candle Nana had this year.

Each year I give my mom an ornament that reminds me of Pap.  This year was a VW van.  He loved his Volkswagen vans.  

December is a hard month with Pap's birthday, his and my mom's anniversary and Christmas, but we do what we can to cherish his memory through it all.