Happy Birthday, Graydon!

Graydon is ELEVEN today!

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If I had to pick one thing that Graydon is "known" for these days, it would have to be his hair. He has a nice head of hair and gets comments on it wherever we go. It was even a topic in his speech when he ran for Student Council Vice President. "Why should you vote for me? Because I have nice hair!" He had the other students rolling with laughter, and it must have worked - because he won! 

He tried out for the school basketball team a few weeks ago and made it! He's looking forward to playing games, but he is also excited that they'll be traveling to other schools and that there will be cheerleaders at his games. He doesn't have a big sweet tooth and likes meals that have a lot of meat. He is a really good reader, but he doesn't enjoy it. However he is a huge fan of the 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' series. Graphic novels are the way to go for him these days. His first choice for how he spends his free time would still be playing video games. It's hard to compete with that. But we do try to keep it within limits - otherwise it might drive me crazy! The big thing he wants right now is a phone. We're trying to hold off as long as possible on that one - but he is very persistent! 

We're so thankful to have Graydon in our family. He makes us laugh, has a tender heart, and is an overall good kid. 

Happy birthday, Graydon Andrew. Enjoy your special day!!!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve before church.
















Candlelight service. The boys were nervous about holding their candles.




The kids and I went to the 6pm service. The kids still had to wrap their gifts for each other. We finished out the evening by watching The Muppets Christmas Carol. Still, they probably weren't all in bed until after 10:30pm.

Finally. . . the stage is set.


Christmas morning began around 8am. Before opening any presents, we lit our candles. Curtis lit the first two.


Bella lit the second two.


And Graydon lit the center candle this year.




They opened their stockings next.




Finally. . . present time! In order to stretch things out, we did some Christmas trivia in between gifts. Whoever guessed correctly got to open a present (or choose someone else to open a present if they just went). 



















Graydon did a present count and found that he was one short (they only get three, so that's 33% less than he was expecting). We could tell he was starting to feel a little sad and that's when we told him that he needed to hunt for his last gift because it was too big to wrap and fit under the tree. He found his third gift hiding in the garage.


It was his Big Joe chair.


Christmas Day is always a nice day to relax and enjoy being together. We tried watching the movie 'Babes in Toyland' but everyone lost interest not too long into the movie. The weather was in the sixties so Andy and Curtis went outside to rollerblade (Curtis got new blades this year). Christmas Day is the beginning of our celebrations. We'll still have Christmas in Wisconsin to celebrate!

December

I brought out an old activity for a family fun night. I made these photo booth props eight years ago and decided to release them from the box they've been stored in all this time. In my memory, there were more Christmas props. But oh well, we had a good time with it.














I greet students outside the school every morning. It is pretty chilly most mornings and I often bundle up with a hat, scarf, and gloves. One morning, a sweet parent brought me this cup of coffee. It was such a thoughtful gesture and started my day off on such a great foot.


We ended up with a snow day this past week. It began as a two-hour delay, but the snow kept falling, so they called the whole day off. By mid-morning, the snow had stopped and it ended up being a beautiful day. Mabel and I went for a walk. The weather has become really mild these past few days, so we've actually been on a few walks this week. She loves walks and I love taking her on them.


The boys finished out their biddy basketball seasons this weekend. We finally get our Saturday mornings back! They began flag football in August and that season ended just as basketball began. I'm so looking forward to lazy Saturday mornings again.


Graydon is going to be playing basketball for the school team, so while weekend basketball is over, his school season is just beginning. Bella is also playing basketball. Our January and February evenings are going to be filled with practices and games. But at least we'll have Saturdays off!


Our church's Children's Christmas program was this morning. The boys played 'Silent Night' on the autoharp. They sounded so good!


We made Christmas cookies this afternoon. Curtis kept this tradition alive this year. I don't love the taste of Christmas cookies and can take or leave them. I was prepared to leave them this year, but Curtis really wanted to decorate.








We didn't make as many as in previous years, but we have plenty.


Christmas is just a couple days away now. This season always seems to go so fast, but I've really enjoyed it. Of course, it's busy. But we've been able to fit a lot into these few weeks. We've watched a few movies that are a must-see every year: Charlie Brown Christmas, Grinch (cartoon version), and Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol. We also watched a new Christmas movie this year on Disney+ called Noelle. And this evening, we'll be watching the full length Grinch (the people version). We've had an indoor snowball fight (with white cotton balls) and a Christmas dance party in the kitchen. In addition to our baking today, we made our candy cane thin mints last weekend. The kids painted Christmas scenes on canvases and I saw a Christmas show in Chicago. Christmas music is often playing and our Christmas-scented candles also put us in that holiday mood. It's been a full few weeks, but it has also been so lovely. I love this time of year so much!