On the first day of Christmas...

The first day of our Christmas festivities found us at my parent's!  We headed up today to celebrate Tiffany's birthday and then Christmas Eve tomorrow night.  It's always a good time at Mom and Dad's, and this year did not disappoint!

Mom wrapped up a gift over and over and then had the kids play a dice game to see who won it.  They had to roll dice until they got doubles and then had to put on a hat and gloves and start tearing away at the package.  It was a hoot!  Just when one kiddo would get all suited up, another would roll doubles and rip the hat and gloves right off of them!  In the end, Taylor won the game.  She was a sweet winner though, and decided to keep the gift at Grandma's (it was a game), so that everyone could play with it!

Of course, no December 23rd is complete without a birthday celebration for Tiffany!!!  Happy 8th birthday!!!

While the boys are away...

While the boys are away...the parents will play!  While the kiddos were at Mom and Dad's, we got invited to go the Indianapolis Zoo with our friends, Brian and Ashley!  Even though it was a bit chilly, the zoo was a lot of fun!  We were able to see the animals that were out, watch the dolphin show, see the lights, ride the air lift, and have dinner at PF Chang's.  It was such a fun night and a great way to round out the end of our first week of break!  We're headed to my parent's tomorrow to start the Christmas festivities!

Here we come, Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Jim!

The boys woke up this morning to a message and a gift from their elf, Mickey!  The cousins all head up to Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Jim's a few days before Christmas, to have a big sleepover, so our elf always leaves a few days early.  Luckily, he usually leaves the boys something special to take with them.  This year was no different.  The boys got pj's and candy cane suckers.  They were pretty excited, as you can see!

After loading up the car, we headed North, to drop the boys off.  As we got closer to Grandma's, we started seeing more and more snow!  The boys were pretty excited, especially when I found a sled at their house and blew it up for them.  Mom and Dad have a perfect sledding hill in their back yard, and since there had been an ice storm a couple days ago, it was nice and slick!  The boys were in heaven!

Friendship Kitchen

On the first official day of Christmas Vacation, we woke up this morning to same sheet of ice that we went to bed with!  Not a soul has gone down our road all morning, but we have some work to do!  We volunteered to host at the Friendship Kitchen, which serves meals every Saturday to anyone that would like one.  The Leaders, the Jennings, and ourselves took this Saturday and we had chili, cornbread, and grilled cheese to make, so no ice was going to stop us!  Chad had to put salt down (and had been since about 10:00 the night before), but everyone else was able to get out and get to the kitchen.  We had a great time with our kids, serving others!  

 These are some of the cutest little helpers I've ever seen!  They were all a huge help and made the day a lot of fun!

After working, we packed up and headed to Little Mexico to celebrate Callie's birthday!  We hadn't been able to go out due to conflicts, so we thought this was the best time.  Unfortunately, Chad wasn't able to join us, but we still had a good time!!!

Friday Night Basketball!

The boys were in Little Dribblers again this year and had the chance to go "perform" the skills they had worked on for the past 5 weeks.  Ava and Blake were in it too, so we made a nice night of it.  The kids did a great job!  We had planned to go hang out afterwards, but when we left the school, we were greeted to a nice sheet of ice on everything!  We decided against a night out and just made our way home...very, very slowly!

 Even Papaw came to see the kiddos!

 Having some fun with my new iPhone 7 Plus and the camera features

Let's get ready for Christmas!

Christmas break is getting closer, and the boys can't be more excited!!!  Ok, maybe Mommy is a little excited, too!  To get ourselves in the holiday spirit (as if we needed much help), we decided to decorate some gingerbread houses.  I think the boys did a pretty nice job!

It's Christmas Time, Once Again

I love the holidays!  I love everything about them...time with family and friends, buying the "perfect" gift for those I love, the wonderful food, the holiday movies, the Christmas music, and getting to snuggle up on a cold night with those I love most!

Of course, I can't snuggle up every night...sometimes we have places to go.  A few nights ago, we had a very special place to go; Ben's school Christmas program.  It was a great night!  Ben was on the front row, which was nice considering last year he was hidden by some reindeer horns, lol!

There is nothing more precious than the sound of little children singing...definitely puts the joy of Christmas in your heart!

 Kyran, Ben, Blake and Finn (Finn went to the babysitters with the boys for several years)

Ave - 2nd row, middle in navy dress with gold sweater.  This was her very first Christmas program and she rocked it!

 Ben - front row, middle.  Still blows my mind that this little guy is in 1st grade!

 Blake - end, on right.  Second grade marks the last Christmas program for this guy...he'll move on to the spring program next year!

 I may be biased, but I think these four crazy kids are some of the cutest around!

 I think they were getting tired of pictures...as you can see from Kyran, below :)