Medieval Times & Christmas Cross

One of the many benefits of having kids is the absolutely adorable Christmas programs that they are involved in when they get to school!  This year is no different and Zachary was part of a play at his school called the Christmas Cross (he was Joseph).  Very cute! 

 

 

 

Both of them took part in the Medieval Fair program at school with Kaleb being a king and Zachary being a knight.  They were super excited about that! :)

 

 

This is Kaleb's class - all kings and queens! 

 

And Zachary's class - knights, peasants or court jesters.  They all made a shield, so these are the results of their labors.

 

Each class decorated their rooms, and Kaleb's teacher brought in the king's throne.  Kaleb is sitting there with one of his best friends Lindsay.

 

We ended up having a special treat when we went to the newly opened Jeremiah's Ice in Longwood to get a gift certificate....and how can you go there without actually getting some yourself!?  That was the first time that we had ever tried it, and it was delish!  It is basically a slushy (of a million different flavors) with vanilla soft serve ice cream.  Yum!

 

The boys are in intramural hockey right now, and both of them seem to be taking in their father's footsteps! :)  This is a picture of Kaleb right after he scored a goal!  Looking pleased with himself...

 

 

We had a really fun experience when several families got together and went to enjoy an outdoor Christmas movie - the 1960s classic showing of Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer.  There were lots of Christmas decorations around and Addison would run to each one and then turn around and tell Amy "picture!!"  So here they are! :)

 

 

Uncle Rob was there, and she adores him for many reasons, but one of them is that he'll throw her up in the air and catch her.  Hard to actually get a picture in the dark, but this is a mid-flight picture of Addison flying!

 

Settling down to watch the video.  It got a little risk that night, but thankfully we had coats!  The kids enjoyed the popcorn, because how can you watch a movie without popcorn!

We always joke that Addison does a LOT of things that our boys never did.  Amy walked into her bedroom one day to find that Addison had managed to crawl INTO the crib, and then was standing and jumping as high as she could.  Boys never did that.....  This girl never ceases to amaze!

 

Phrase of the week:  Fanta! (Santa!).  One day when Amy got home she asked Addison what she had done with Grandma that day.  Addison said a very long drawn-out "uhhhhhhhhhhh.........TALK!"  Ahh, just like women to talk all day! :)  A while back when Bruce got home (Jennifer's husband) from work, he had a conversation with Addison about whether she had a boyfriend.  She answered "Yes!"  He then asked her "who is your boyfriend?"  Her response?  Daddy! :)



And the Christmas Crazy Sets in!

Ack - why is it that the Christmas season is not only the BEST time of year, but it is also the busiest time of year?  Amazon loves us, as we have fully embraced the free 2 shipping and decided to skip the malls this year!

We wanted to share this year's school pictures of the boys - Zachary is in grade 2 and is 8 years old.  Kaleb is in kindergarten and is a whopping 6 years old! :)

 

The weather has been nice, so we've been enjoying some time outdoors.  Kaleb enjoys badminton, so Amy and Kaleb were batting it back and forth while Karis and Zachary played catch.

Kaleb loves to play 'restaurant' and we found our chef dress-up costume for him to use while he served his mother whatever her heart desired.  If only supper was this easy to make! :)

Last weekend we headed out to the West Orange Trail to go on a bike ride, and enjoyed the playground as well.  Addison got on the slide, looked down at Amy and informed her "Mommy, picture!"  Apparently she has caught on to the fact that Amy takes pictures of her and was telling her that the slide was a worthwhile picture moment! :)

Karis and the kids were ahead on the trail, while Amy enjoyed a more leisurely pace!

The Cochrans (Jr and Sr) joined us on the ride, so it was a fun event!

One of the Z-families most favorite things to do each year is to go and look at the lights.  This particular house has their lights set to music, and it plays a well-known song on your car radio and the lights "dance" to the music.  So cool!

Last weekend we had the AHS Christmas party.  We always have the best of intentions of getting there early and then are already about halfway through the breakfast by the time that we arrive.  Both last year and this has been a disaster with parking, to the point where Karis mutters "this is NOT worth it!" but Kaleb so desperately wants to receive the gift, which is a free Disney ticket, that we suffer and make an appearance anyway.  It was fun to see friends once we DID park and get into the breakfast room!

 

Addi was tired out on the way home so took a 20 minute nap....just enough to wreck her nap for the afternoon.  Just GREAT!

 

 

 

Phrase of the week:  MOMMY!  PRETTY LIGHTS!  No Z-child has ever seen a Christmas light that they didn't like, and Addison is no different.  She yells house after house to Amy that those are pretty lights! 

 

She is also in a phase where she loves to sing all of the "Desus" songs at night as she goes to bed.  We always sing "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and then we change the word "Children" to our kids names.....and she will tell Amy which child the next stanza has to be about, and once she goes through our family, it moves on to Grandma, Kieran, Devin etc.  Anything to avoid going to bed!

 

Amy's mom has been watching Addison and the boys (when they're not in school) during the mornings while Jennifer is on maternity leave.  One morning this week, it was cold outside and Grandma did an errand after dropping off the boys at school and when they came out of the store, Addison informed her "Bama, cold...Addi freezin!"

Extraordinary Thanksgiving (although a bit belated)!

So FINALLY we have the catch-up from the actual Thanksgiving holiday weekend! :)  Only a few weeks late right!?  Well, it really did happen but we decided not to combine it with the post last week, because we didn't want to exhaust the readership! :)  ha ha!

We had the honor and pleasure of going over to the Grodacks for Thanksgiving again - it was really fun to get together with a large group and visit.  It just makes the day so much more fun!  The kids always have a blast playing together too.   Addison was so excited all day - she kept talking about "baby Coby (Colby)" and Brady who are the youngest Grodack children.

The group pictured below starting from left to right:  Corey holding Brady, Elaine holding Colby, then Aubree, Zachary, Calleigh, Braelyn, Kohlden, Evan, Blake, Kaleb, Duncan (Corey's husband), who is holding Addison (poor Duncan looked like he had adopted the Z children in addition to his crew!), and then in the back from L to R:  Bruce, Ron (Elaine's husband), Jennifer, Julia (Jenn's mom), Megan, Tangie, Maddie in front of Tangie, Allen, Karis, Amy, Bobbi (Amy's mom of course), and last but not least Lolo and Lala (Allen's parents).  Thanks Corey and Duncan!!

Under the pergola that Duncan made - how impressive!

Playing a few pre-meal warm-up games!

Addison and Brady enjoying some coloring time!

After the meal, Amy and her mom headed off to the outlet  mall to try and get some shopping done before the crowds hit the next day.....WRONG.  Crowds everywhere!  They left at midnight, and there were still people pouring in!!  What is up with that?

On Friday, Amy hit a second-hand store and then dashed back home so that we could go to SeaWorld for the morning with the Johnsons and Cochrans.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, could not have asked for much better!  It wasn't a long time at SeaWorld, but a lot of fun none-the-less.

A favorite picture spot for the Z family!

The sun was a little bright....... waiting to catch-up with the Js and Cs.

Dueling slides...Addison had a great time going down these with Zachary

Just hanging around....

Zachary, Elin, Erik, Addison, Devin, Kieran and Kaleb

The next night, we had the Thanksgiving group over to our house to reciprocate - it actually was supposed to be a camp-out in the original plan but it was too cold that night!!  It was fun to sit outside though and let the kids play until the sun went down and then head on inside to where it was warm!

Parents chatting with the kids play football and ride the toys!

Studied nonchalance perfectly captured! :)  We eventually gave him a chair to sit on...

 The evening was filled with games, hot tub for the kids and a bit of charades.  Addison decided that she really liked the pink jello, so after getting down from her high chair she went outside to the little kids' table and sat down to finish all of their food that they had been in too much of a rush to get to the hot tub to finish!  See below - caught in the act!

Charades.....

  Once the charades were over, then the games REALLY got started.  The boys loved the games so much that they have asked to play several times this week!  They were basically versions of musical chairs, but with a game called "cockroach," a "dance-off," "statue", "river and the bank" and the last "telephone game."

Look at those moves in the dance-off! :)

River and the bank....Um, pretty sure Kaleb must be out on this round as everyone's supposed to be on the same side! :)

This next video is absolutely adorable - Addison of course thought that she was "playing" cockroach even though she of course was the loser each time as she'd be the last time to her feet but the kids were very good-natured and just let her keep playing.  If you look closely, you can see that as she's wildly swinging her hands and feet in the air that she's got her tongue going back and forth from side to side as well.  It was so precious!

That night when Addison finally went to bed (much past her bedtime), we thought that she'd fall asleep dead to the world but instead we heard her in the crib saying good-night to all of her friends... "Good night Coby, Good night Brady, Good night Aubree, Good night Calleigh, Good night Blakey, Good night Evie, Good night Maddie, Good night Braelyn.......every name that she could remember and pronounce, she was telling them good-night!"

Phrase of the week:  Addison came walking into the room where Karis and the boys were and casually "Hello guys!"  Umm....are we 16 already?  Yet while her language is taking off with leaps and bounds, we like to cling to some of the ways that she says things wrong....like how she says Jennifer "Fe-fer!"  Even Jennifer calls herself that now! :)

The Two Ls - Leno and London!

So apparently having four days off at Thanksgiving did not actually lead to posting on time!  Now the question is, do we catch up with a monster post, or try and break it up?  We'll see how this goes! :)  This post is devoted to Leno and London (one more impressive than the other!)

So two weekends ago, we had the Florida Hospital gala.  That Saturday night one of Amy's bosses had a dinner at his house for the out-of-town lawyers and bankers that come to the gala, so we went over there for Indian food and the most amazing desserts that his wife made.   YUM!  After the dinner, we headed out for a date night.......at Publix!  Yes, quality time can happen anywhere.....what could be better than a quiet store and no children begging for some latest treat?!

Trailing behind, rubbing his stomach.  Is he envisioning the food he's going to eat?  Still hungry? Who knows!

The gala entertainment was Jay Leno.  He was funny, but a little off-color.  How is it that he can be clean for the Tonight Show for all those years, but can't make it through a 45 minute show without making jokes that are not appropriate for a church group, or for children (and there were quite a few kids there this year, oddly enough!)?  Anyway, it was fun to see everyone and the food is always good!

Jennifer came as Corey's date, even though she was about to give birth!

The man himself...

The requisite picture - it sure helps being able to know exactly what Amy wore each year, because then she can recycle her dresses by simply coming back to look at the blog and figure out what she hasn't worn in a few years! :)

Speaking of giving birth, Jennifer has given birth!  London Eliese arrived on December 2nd after a relatively easy birthing experience (easy to say right when you're not the one pushing out a baby! :). It was all very exciting, and of course little London is just as adorable as can be!  Amy went to the hospital to see Jennifer, and had to swing by the gift shop to buy these chocolates that Jennifer bought for her when she was at the hospital....these chocolates were amazing, mouth is still watering! :)

Love those checks, is she perfect or what!?

Jennifer looking as fresh as a daisy - if only we could all look this good after giving birth!

Karis' parents went to Korey and Rachel's place for Thanksgiving and for Gianna and Nikolas' baby dedication, so we enjoyed a little facetime with them while they were there.  It would have been a little easier on the iPad, but Karis started off on the phone....

Addison has started to have a love affair with brushing Amy's hair and putting in a "pony" - the brushing sometimes can bring a tear to Amy's eye, but it helps toughen up the scalp! :)

Zachary was Adventurer of the Day recently for his group - pictured below.

Phrase of the week:  No ma'am!  Addison has started to use exceptional manners - saying No ma'am when Amy asks her a question!    

During Amy's night-time routine with Addison, there are a few things that have become mainstays:

1.  Addison always delays bedtime by asking for "huggie" which is just more snuggle time - she sits up with her head on Amy's shoulder, but before getting comfortable she will tell Amy "Hair 'way" as in "move your hair away from my resting spot, it's in my way!"
2. When she lays down in the bed (with her baby right by her side), she holds up her hand and begins to chant "Hand!" until Amy leans down in the crib and holds her hand for a few minutes.
3.  We always do Eskimo kisses ("mo!") and butterfly kisses.  With the butterfly kisses, we have to do both eyes, and she giggles with each one.

Okay - the verdict is in - the Thanksgiving catch-up will be on next week's blog!