Cinnamon Rolls for Christmas Morning

Carli was having a rough day.  Instead of harping on her for being selfish or disrespectful, I invited her to come help me finish making cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning.  We talked a bit about our feelings and how to better handle them rather than lashing out.  At the end of the cinnamon roll making, our attitudes were improved and Carli apologized to her sister for her earlier actions.  A parenting moment win!

Kayla Date!

It is Christmas break which means we must, we must, we must have a Kayla date!!  Had such a great visit with our Kayla and the kids LOVED getting to see her for a bit.  Just wished we could have made a date night with Ms. Patty too - but it seems she caught our bad luck of catching all the germ bugs.

Working

12 Days of Christmas: Days 11 & 12

The 11th day of teacher gifts, the girls made Giving Plates and we filled them with some homemade goodies!

"On the 11th day of Christmas Santa was all the buzz and we want you to be ready for him with a plate full of cookies just because!"

"On the 12th Day of Christmas my little elf brought to me, one last special gift that fits me perfectly!"

Thanks Mrs Ivy and Mrs Shofner for an awesome first semester! We had a lot of fun showing our appreciation for all you do. Merry Christmas!

Day 2: Christmas in Fort Worth

Day Two started off with a very yummy breakfast and then it was time for presents!  :)  Which was mostly for the kids b/c our adult gifts were the awesome hotel trip and food!  ha! 

Naggy and Pappy got the kids a zipline!

And Drew got his very own basketball goal!

Next it was time for our annual gingerbread house building with Aunt Megan.  This started on Ava's first Christmas when we went to the Gaylord Texan together and Aunt Megan helped Carli build her very first gingerbread house.  Carli insist Aunt Megan is the only one who can build one with her since.  :) 

And look who we ran into at the hotel!

I'm not sure what Carli was begging for, but I at least recorded the fact that she can beg!  :)

Dinner before a movie at the Cheesecake Factory was so good!  Ava got an Oreo Cheesecake and Carli got a Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake.

Then it was off to a REALLY nice movie theatre.  They had real comfy recliners!  Uncle Kevin and Aunt Megan treated us all to seeing the new Disney Movie Moana.  It was a very good movie and the theatre was great for Drew.  He had room to go from person to person and stand whenever he wanted too!

After the great movie, we came back to the hotel for some hot chocolate and to warm up by the fire!

It was an awesome day full of memory making!  The best kind of gift of all!  Thanks Naggy, Pappy, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Megan for the awesome time!  Merry Christmas!

Teacher Gifts Days 7-10

Seventh day of Christmas teacher gifts, redbox movie codes and candy for a family movie night. 

"On the 7th day of Christmas, we were feeling kind of Groovy, so we thought we'd hook you up with some free Redbox Movies!"

Growing up, we always brought homemade pumpkin bread to our teachers for Christmas. Our 8th day of Christmas gift continues that tradition.

"On the Eighth day of Christmas school lunch would make you gag, so we're bringing in our favorite treat of PUMPKIN BREAD wrapped in a bag!"

With the help of some pretty awesome substitute elves (the girls were sick), the teachers still got their 9th day of Christmas gifts plus Carli & Ava sent some pumpkin bread to over 20 other awesome folks at school.

"On the ninth day of Christmas my little elf brought to me, A Sonic card to buy some caffeine for my holiday san-i-ty."

On the 10th day of Christmas, the elves were back to feeling jolly and had a blast making ornaments to share with their teachers!

"On the tenth day of Christmas my little elf brought to me, a special homemade ornament for my Christmas tree!"

Day 1: Christmas in Fort Worth

For Christmas with Naggy, Pappy, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Megan we all met up in Fort Worth for the weekend.  It worked out well b/c Aunt Megan had a doctor's appointment to check on Baby Jax!  We stayed in downtown Fort Worth and it was so much fun!  It was nice and warm when we left our house but it turned frigid by the time we go to Forth Worth!

Looking at the water gardens was a bit of a cold affair!  But we were prepared and were well bundled up for it!

We spent most of our first day in Fort Worth meeting up, getting checked in and settled and freezing just a bit at the water gardens!  We decided to stay in the hotel for dinner that night!  Really, it was great food but the kids thoroughly enjoyed spending time with everyone!

It never fails when we go somewhere with Naggy and Pappy the girls insist on staying in their room.  Works out well for Keith and I but not sure how much sleep Naggy and Pappy end up getting!

We had a great first catch up day with everyone!  More tomorrow!

Craft Night at Troup Elementary

Carli wanted so badly to go to Craft night at the school last week.  We usually have hitting lessons on Friday but sometimes you need to call an audible and go with the flow.  So off to craft night we went!

They decorated cookies and at lots of icing!

They made reindeer food...

And Drew took a very LONG time to get over the trama that was Santa!

Making Icing Christmas Trees

They decorated the gym so cute!  It was just Drew's size!

Photo Props!

Reindeer hats

And we were all done after an hour but Carli was still having a blast...and we let her.  She colored and gathered up things from stations we didn't get to go through.  I would say my little artist had a blast!