Christmas season is upon us!

Monday after Thanksgiving we FINALLY (in Shelby’s opinion) dug out the Christmas decorations.

For the first year in as long as I can remember, I wasn’t excited about Christmas decorating- it felt rushed…Christmas snuck up on me.  But the best thing to cure some holiday blues is most definitely the excitement of your children.  I’m so glad my kids love Christmas and what it means.  In fact, I asked the kids earlier this week, “What is Christmas?”  Shelby’s response was, "It's about giving and sharing and loving and hoping people are well and have what they need."  Me: "Yes, and what are we celebrating?"  Shelby and Coleman: "Jesus' birthday!!!"

Since the living room tree takes some time to fluff, Shelby was happy to lug her own pink tree into her room, set it up and dive into decorating it. Little brother watched patiently.

   

Mary is ALWAYS nearby.

All complete!  One happy, festive girl:

Meanwhile, Daddy found a tree to put into Coleman’s room, but it needed some fluffing.

Coleman didn’t decorate his for another couple of days so there are no pictures of that.

On Saturday morning, we were up and at-em’ early.  We had our semi-annual meeting with Coleman’s teachers first.  Coleman is doing great and there were no issues to report.  He is right on track developmentally and is ready to really start learning to write more letters and words.  We LOVE his teachers this year!  I can’t believe our baby will be in Kindergarten soon!

Then it was off to Shelby’s school for pancakes with Santa.  (I know, both schools before 9 am on a Saturday, that is just wrong!!) 

Shelby had a letter to hand to Santa.  It said she wants a puppy, a trampoline, and an easy bake oven.   That child is STILL holding out for a puppy!  She will be the crazy dog lady when she has a house of her own!

Little Buddy told Santa that he wants a trampoline. 

 

Coleman had to check out the climbing wall in the gym on his way out.

On Sunday, the kids made a gingerbread house.  With a little help from Daddy putting it together, they did the rest all by themselves!

Then on Monday morning, Shelby had a gingerbread house craft day in her classroom that Daddy went to.  (Just like the pumpkin decorating day that Mommy attended!)  Daddy didn’t take a camera but here’s a picture of the house they made:

Silly Buddy says MERRY CHRISTMAS y’all!!!

The Baseball

This weekend Daddy and the kids did a little project that Dad has been promising for a while.  They set out to see how a baseball is made.

First, Daddy took off the stitching, revealing 2 odd-shaped flaps of leather.

Then, they got to unwinding.

They took turns,

They worked together.

It seemed never-ending!

Here, I think Coleman is thinking, “What have I gotten myself into?”

Finally, no more string!  They found what is in the middle of a baseball!

All this, in ONE little baseball.  Great idea, Daddy!

Goodbye November!

Wow, that flew by!!

So, how did we finish off November 2011?

Shelby spent some time as a pilgrim.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving day at family’s house in Dallas.  My aunt and uncle have lived several places around the country over the years but his job landed them back in Dallas last year, so it was awesome to spend the day at their amazing house.  Mimi and Jack were there too, and we enjoyed a full DELICIOUS meal followed by football, games, trampoline jumping (and maybe a little nap on the couch!)  Shelby and Coleman loved the trampoline so much that it gave them an idea for a Christmas wish.   Jeff smoked the turkey and it was delectable, as usual.

 

Over the month, we had a thankful tree.  The kids and I stopped out in the field at Coleman’s school to pick up some branches one day after school.  We went home and put together our thankful tree, and everyone added to it throughout the month of November.  At the end of the month we read it during dinner (we didn’t have Thanksgiving at our house, so not on that day!) and I was so proud and amazed at how the kids filled up those branches with names of friends, family, God, and other important things like food and shelter.

We got some new décor.  I picked these letters up at Hobby Lobby and love the color they add to our wooden (blech!) walls.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Jeff and I headed out to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington to see the Texas Tech / Baylor game.  We went with Tyler and a group of his friends, some of which are still college students…Hence, the beer hat and etc. Ahh, Nate:

It was windy and COLD!  We ate out of the back of the Tahoe.

Did you know that when you tailgate at the stadium, the fires HAVE to be on the grass?  Not the concrete.  Makes sense in a drought, huh?  ……. not.

We got to hang with some old friends the Plunketts!  Steve, Drew & Jeff all went to TTU together.  Being on opposite sides of the metroplex, with 2 kids each, we haven’t seen them much in the past few years!

There was more talking than game-watching, but I did watch the band

Turns out the game wasn’t worth watching for Tech fans anyway…

Next, it is on to DECEMBER!  Ho ho ho.