Party Please!

It's the most wonderful time of the year....and the most busy!  There are always so many fun things to do around this time of year that it is hard to say "no" - so it always becomes a whirlwind to be sure - but a fun one!

We went to the "Charlie Brown Christmas" play over in Winter Garden a few weeks ago - it was a very cute little production and Kaleb and Addison especially enjoyed it (with Zachary begrudgingly admitting that he liked it....but he's getting too old for plays!).  We believe that with the right attitude you can enjoy plays at any age, so we keep going - at least until we have three mutineers on our hands! :)  We were joined with several friends - Cochrans, Johnsons, and we ran into Isidros while there.

 Afterward, we tried to all go out to Thai food but the restaurant was not able to accommodate us sitting near each other, so we split up with the Zs and Isidros going to the pizza restaurant where we actually got our very own separate room which was very nice.  Afterward, we walked over for ice cream and caught up with the rest again.  While standing around on the sidewalk afterward chatting, we ran into the Grodacks!

Not happy at all to have ice cream....

Our next stop on the fun train was the Hilliard/Bergherm Christmas party where they did a white elephant gift exchange.  We tried to prepare our children about how the game worked and that they may come home with something that they did not like......and then each kid ended up getting something that they were very happy about!  At least we were prepared...  It was super fun and made for some greater laughter.  Thanks to both of them for hosting such a great event!

 At church and school of course the events are fast and furious during Christmas time - from ginger bread house decorating to singing Away in the Manger upfront at church.  It is an automatic home run win when you put little kids upfront in a costume for sure!

 Zachary and Kaleb were both in a play at school - The Power of the King - Zachary had a speaking part again this year and did not seem nearly as nervous as he did last year thankfully.  He did a great job - we were proud of him!  Now to work on the "dramatic part" of the acting with more facial expressions! :)

A few days later at school they had their "Christmas Around the World" - Kaleb was in Germany and Zachary was in Ghana (thank you to Ebay for allowing us to easily buy an African shirt!)

Two very handsome boys!

Kaleb's German Class

Zachary's Ghana group

Taking a picture afterward with Ms McRee (Zachary's class did not take a picture)

Cute little boy in front of a cute little gingerbread house!

Little sister was not going to be left out of the sugar cookie decorations!

We celebrated little London's birthday out at the park with a play-doh party - Addison had a grand time and the boys enjoyed playing....what else? Sports!....in the park

We had a fun Sabbath afternoon outing to Lake Louisa park two weekends ago - what beautiful weather and we enjoyed having a picnic lunch and then going on a walk.  Addison is a big fan of Becca, so hung on her like a little shadow!

Our little gymnast!

 The Apopka Adventurer Program had their year-end Christmas program as well out at the Westmonte Park (what a great park!) so the kids enjoyed swinging and decorating even more cookies!

 We then dashed home and turned around to head on out to the AHS Christmas Party - even though Amy is not an employee of the Corporate Office anymore, all of the local executives get invited so we headed over there to enjoy the activities - complete with people on stilts making balloon animals, face-painting (AGH - an hour wait), a reindeer, Santa, food galore, and the best part - lots of visiting!

Getting a balloon

While the boys congregated on an open field to play

Spider man face.....after a very long wait!

 Random pictures:

Zachary has a sports devotional book that he just started....and he love sit so much he's already halfway through. Great that he loves it, but where to come up with another one in such rapid succession!?

My little happy face - love you!

Face-painting is always a hit!

The obsession has begun with a Rubik's Cube - hoping to master this!

Love this time of year!

Phrase of the week:  Kaleb and Karis were talking one day about what things Kaleb might like to do in his life....aka a bucket list of places to see....and here was his list:

1.  I want to see Houwii (Hawaii)

2.  I want to learn another lagege (language)

3. I want to see the Iful tower (Eiffel)

4.  I want to see Astralla (Australia)

5. I want to see the Fiji Islands

6.  I want to see Sweden

7. I want to see Jepan (Japan)

8.  I want to see Iceland

9. I want to see Greenland

10.  I want to see Bethlham (Bethlehem)

11. I want to see Africe (Africa)

12. I want to see China's Panda Bear

13. I want to see Anrtiticea (Antartica)

14. I want to see Paris

15.  I want to see New Zland

**Excuse the spelling, but we wanted to capture his precious way of spelling these places - we'd love to see these places as well - so as the kids age, perhaps we will have to try and knock some of these places off of our list!