We got back from our vacation with the Hesters on November 29th, and bam…December was right around the corner. I really felt like Christmas snuck up on me. I think it would have helped if we had decorated our Christmas tree prior to leaving on the trip, but we ran out of time to do that. So, that was the top priority at our house once we got back in town.
This year, I wanted to figure out a way to fit our Christmas tree in the living room rather than putting it in the dining room like we did the last couple of years. We had to rearrange the furniture, but we made it work!
The girls were unwrapping the ornaments so fast that it quickly looked like a tornado in our living room with all the newspaper everywhere ;)
Abigail really got into the decorating and wanted to help as much as possible. She didn’t understand how to hang the ornaments, but she would try to just lay them on top of the branches ;)
The next evening, December 1st, my parents flew into Huntsville from NYC (they had gone up there to spend Thanksgiving with Jenn and Chandler), and we were happy to see them for a couple of hours before they drove back to Trussville.
Decorating the little white Christmas tree is another fun tradition the girls enjoy each year :)
December 3rd – I caught Abigail sitting in her room and coloring in a coloring book all by herself :)
Brooklyn lost tooth #5 on December 3rd. She has pulled out all of her teeth by herself so far except for the first one that came out when she was eating an apple. The tooth fairy almost messed up bad and forgot to come until 6:15 AM the next morning. Thankfully, Brooklyn didn’t wake up early like she does sometimes. She left a note for the tooth fairy this time that said, “What does the inside of a tooth look like? Draw it here.” And “Did you know I almost lost my tooth down the drain?”…because it fell in the sink when she pulled it out! Haha!
Sweet girls!
Abigail loves this little puppy that she got on our vacation!
Savannah and Chloe have gotten to be sweet friends this school year so far. I love watching them walk home from school together.
Fun at the neighborhood playground on December 5th
On December 6th, we stopped by to watch the Woodard Family Lights show at a house not too far away from our neighborhood. This was our second year to go, and I just love the show. It’s amazing how they coordinate the lights with the music.
On December 7th, Cici invited Carter, Brooklyn, and Savannah over to her house to help bake some holiday treats for some of the members of our congregation. The kids enjoyed mixing the ingredients, sampling all the goodies, and helping package them up into boxes. It was a fun morning!
Sunday afternoon fun in the playroom :)
I can’t look at these pictures of Savannah playing soccer in our backyard without thinking about how much better our yard looks now after our spring renovation. It’s just night and day different!
So much concrete and gravel!
Silly Abigail!
Brooklyn and Savannah had an appointment after school on December 10th to get their hair cut, and it snowed pretty hard the whole way back to our house. When we got home, our yard was covered in snow! I was pretty surprised that it actually stuck to the ground, and the girls were so excited. They couldn’t wait to change clothes and go outside to play…
Bundled up and all ready to play!
We had a blast just running around and throwing snowballs, trying to build a small snowman (the snow didn’t stick together very well…), and making snow angels.
I think this was Abigail’s first time to play in the snow. It snowed her first winter (January 2018 I think), but she was too little to play in it. She was excited to be out there, but didn’t really want to get down and get her hands in the snow too much. I think she didn’t really like how cold and wet it was :) But she wasn’t asking to go inside…she was just glad to watch her big sisters having fun!
We headed inside once it got dark outside, and Travis was just getting home from work…so it was perfect timing. It was a fun afternoon! The snow melted the next day, so we were glad we enjoyed it while we could.
This girl figured out how to climb up onto the tub and likes to stand by my sink while I’m getting ready :)
Gabby definitely doesn’t trust her because she’s so wild ;)
Savannah enjoyed putting up some Christmas window clings near our front door…
It’s almost Christmas, but we’re still getting use out of the Halloween monster teeth!
Savannah with some of her “school friends” (little sisters of the school-age kids that walk home from school)
Travis gets alerts from UPS when we have a package coming, which isn’t always a good thing when his wife is ordering lots of Christmas gifts…haha
On December 13th, we went up to school for the 1st grade Sight Word Superhero Parade. All of the 1st graders who had learned their 150 sight words by that point in the school year got to march in the parade. The teachers bought each child a cape and mask, and they all walked from the cafeteria to the front office and back again. Parents, grandparents, and siblings all lined the hallways, as well as many of the kids from the other grades. It’s a big deal at Mill Creek, and Brooklyn was really excited about it!
The kids all looked really cute in their capes and masks parading down the hallway :)
The kids got to pick out the color of their mask/cape, and Brooklyn chose her favorite color…red!
Everyone clapped and cheered as the kids were walking by. It was the cutest thing! Brooklyn enjoyed giving Travis a high five when she passed us in the hall. She was nervous that she was going to be shy, but she didn’t look too shy when it was actually happening!
After seeing what it was all about, Savannah says she is already looking forward to marching in the parade one day when she’s in first grade :) It was a lot of fun!
After all the kids finished the parade, we all headed into the cafeteria for pictures and hugs…
The kids all got a certificate from Mr. Fernandez (one of the vice principals)…
…and they got their picture taken with the Rocket City Trash Pandas mascot (who was also in the parade)…haha
I think all of the kids in Ms. Carter’s class except for two were able to march in the parade. They also have another parade at the end of the school year for the kids who have learned their sight words by May (but, seeing as how the school year ended, I’m glad that they had the parade in December too!).
It was a fun morning celebrating Brooklyn’s hard work in school!
It was a cold day, so after school we had some hot chocolate to help us warm up!
We struggle big time to get Abigail to eat healthy foods. She is a pretty good fruit eater most of the time, but vegetables are another story!
Brooklyn and Savannah don’t play with baby dolls very often, so when they do, it feels noteworthy like it was on this Saturday morning :)
On December 14th, Travis and I went to the annual Christmas party at Phil and Gena’s house. Gil and Jann (Travis’s uncle and aunt) offered to babysit our kids and the Loveless boys, so they had a house full for the evening. Apparently, it went well, but I’m sure they were all exhausted after we picked the kids up.
Who needs a baby doll when you have a real life baby sister?? Savannah is so motherly…I caught her after school one day feeding Abigail her snack :)
All bundled up and ready to go pick up Brooklyn from school on a cold afternoon. I know I’m biased, but it just doesn’t get much cuter than this…
Savannah discovered it was fun to slide down our steps feet first over and over again…until she got a carpet burn on her belly!
I love this picture of Savannah and Abigail. When I took this one and saw Abigail’s expression, she looked just like a mini-Brooklyn to me. Her hair was finally getting long enough at this point to pull a little of it back in a rubber band like Pebbles :)
Brooklyn’s class Christmas party was on December 19th. Kaitlin and I pretty much planned the whole thing and just asked parents to chip in a few dollars for food and supplies. Everything went really well!
We split up the prep, and I took care of the food, and Kaitlin handled all the game/craft stuff since she is so artistic and crafty. I was proud of how my reindeer water bottles turned out :) We also had cupcakes, chips, and fruit, and “Grinch juice” (green Hawaiian Punch) to drink.
Kaitlin made this poke-a-tree game based on a Pinterest find. Each child picked a number and poked a hole in the tissue paper to “win” a prize ;) The kids thought it was awesome!
We also set up a table for making candy canes out of pipe cleaners and beads. Simple but fun!
Kaitlin also drew this Grinch for “Pin the Heart on the Grinch”…I thought it turned out so cute!
We rotated the kids in groups around to each of the 3 stations and saved the food for after that. Everything went very smoothly, and the kids had a blast! We had just enough activities to fill up the whole hour, but we weren’t too rushed trying to squeeze it all in. We also had a good turnout from the parents in the class!
Ms. Carter asked all the kids to bring in a pair of socks for a sock exchange, so they did that after everyone had finished eating. She had the kids sit in a circle, and she read a story with lots of “lefts” and “rights” and the kids were supposed to pass their socks to the right or left as the story progressed. Well, it was hilarious! It didn’t take long at all to figure out that there were quite a few kids who didn’t know their right from left…including Brooklyn ;) It made me feel better that she wasn’t the only one at least. After Ms. Carter gave the kids a quick lesson on right vs. left, they were able to continue the story, and the kids had fun. It was entertaining for everyone!
At the end of the party, we had to get a picture of Ms. Carter and the kids with their socks. We had a great time!
Savannah and Chloe after school :)
December 20th was the last day of school before Christmas break! It was Pajama Day, which Brooklyn was excited about.
It was also a half day, so Brooklyn got out at 11 AM. Nothing like scootering home in your PJs :)
To top it all off, we had leftover cupcakes from the class party at lunch. A good start to Christmas break!
Notes and Quotes from December:
- 12/3/19 – Brooklyn was so excited to shop at Peppermint Village at school today. She took $4 of her own money and had a list of who she was shopping for. She came home with her bag of gifts after school and wanted to wrap everything and put it under the tree. I was busy with something, so I told her where the wrapping paper was and that she could go ahead and do it by herself if she wanted. A while later, she came down with everything wrapped. She had labeled everything, and they were all wrapped in birthday bags and baby shower bags…haha! It’s the thought that counts, and they are all sitting nicely under the tree. She’s the first one to get her shopping done!
- 12/9/19 – I was pushing Abigail around on a scooter in the backyard (all she was doing was standing on the scooter and holding on), and she said, “This is easy peasy!” :)
- 12/20/19 – Abigail: “I like Kiss-mas!”
Thanks for reading!
