Our month of December included a baby shower, broken bone, basketball, and plenty of Christmas festivities and family time. Travis and I even took a quick getaway at the end of the month, but I’ll cover that in the next post. Here’s the recap of our month:
We kicked off the month with dinner at Cici’s Pizza with our small group on December 1st. The girls were excited to be able to get as much pizza as they wanted as well as dessert. After we ate, we met Daniel and Nicole and their boys at Tinsel Trail in Huntsville to walk around together and look at the decorated trees. We’d never been before, and I didn’t realize how many trees there were! It was a lot of fun and something we’d definitely do again. Some of the themed trees were really creative. The weather was perfect that evening, and we had a great time.
We headed down to Trussville on December 2nd so we would be in town for Jenn’s baby shower the next afternoon. The girls helped decorate Paw and Rae Rae’s snowman tree. They were also so excited to meet Jenn and Chandler’s new puppy, Walter. Well, Savannah and Brooklyn were excited at least. Abigail is mostly just scared of dogs at this point, especially ones that jump up and lick. We were surprised and excited when Alabama beat Georgia in the SEC Championship game that evening!
On December 3rd, we enjoyed celebrating Jenn and her baby BOY on the way. Her due date was in January, and we were looking forward to welcoming our newest nephew. The shower was really nice, and Jenn got so many cute things. It was also great to see several ladies I hadn’t seen in a long time.
Brooklyn’s math teacher, Mrs. Hess, sent out her weekly email, and I spotted Brooklyn sitting on her desk during an equivalent fraction game :)
I’m going to miss this view next year when Brooklyn isn’t walking home from Mill Creek anymore…
Working hard on homework after school
Savannah had her first basketball game of the season on December 5th. She tried really hard, and we were so proud of her effort! She even made a 2 point shot!! Her team lost 11-8 against Felicity and Hannah’s team, who had a lot of players who seemed like they had played before. It was a good experience, and I’m sure Savannah’s team will continue to improve!
Savannah’s class went to the library on December 6th and worked in groups to solve some winter-themed riddles. She wasn’t thrilled about being paired with only boys, but she said it was still fun ;)
All of the 3rd grade classes went to see The Nutcracker on December 7th, and the kids were supposed to dress in fancy clothes. Savannah borrowed a dress from Brooklyn and looked so cute in the dress and her boots! I was sad that I couldn’t attend, but they only took one parent from each class. Savannah said she enjoyed the play!
Brooklyn had her first basketball game of the season on December 7th at 7:30 pm. Whew. This schedule with the late night games is going to be tough. Her team lost 17-7. I was really impressed at how great Brooklyn played on defense. She stole the ball several times from the other team and made some good passes too. Unfortunately she either jammed or broke her finger when the ball hit her pinky finger funny. She was upset after the game that her team lost and felt like she didn’t play well. We thought she did really great for her first ever game though!!
Some of the kids in Brooklyn’s math class made origami frogs as part of their unit on fractions, and they had a frog jumping competition on December 8th. Travis helped Brooklyn make her frog at home, and I loved that she added googly eyes and a tongue to it ;) She named him “Sir Froggington III”. She was so excited to tell me that her frog won the competition against all the other frogs in her class!
I checked Brooklyn out of school that afternoon to go to the walk-in clinic at TOC to get her finger x-rayed, and it was a super fast process. I was surprised! Brooklyn’s finger was very bruised, swollen and tender pretty quickly after the basketball game the night before, and it still looked that way the next day. We saw Dr. Burke, and he told us that she has a small buckle fracture in her pinky. He told Brooklyn to wear a ”buddy brace” (basically a Velcro strap to strap her pinky to her ring finger) for 3 weeks and not to play basketball or do any pushing or pulling with her right hand. She is disappointed, but thankfully with Christmas break coming soon, she will hopefully only miss two games. She has been toughing it out and has figured out how to still write with her right hand and is even doing some things left handed right now.
Abigail and I realized we were wearing matching shirts that day! :)
The Johnsons came over after school, and Savannah wanted to try out Brooklyn’s old roller skates. Bristol was sweet to help her figure out how to use them. It had been a long time since Savannah had skated!
Savannah’s team played Coach Dusty’s team on December 9th at 2 pm, and her team ended up winning 8-4! Savannah is still learning all the ins and outs of basketball, including that you can’t press until the last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter. She wants to play defense any time the other team has the ball, no matter what side they are on 😉 She got tripped up and took a hard fall and got a “wood burn” on her elbow today. She is tough and is trying her best!
That night, the girls went to Tim and Bev’s house for a kids’ Christmas party while Travis and I went to a party for the grownups at Phil and Gena’s house. Audrey helped with the kids at Bev’s house and took these cute pictures.
This month, we hosted Baugay and the Loveless crew for lunch on December 10th, and it was extra special because we were celebrating Baugay’s 91st birthday. We were nice and didn’t make her blow out that many candles ;) It was fun!
Mill Creek did the 12 Days of Christmas Dress Up Days again this year, which is always fun for parents trying to make sure their kids are dressed in the right thing ;) We didn’t participate every day because we didn’t have all the right stuff, but the girls did do Tree Topper Day on December 11th. They were supposed to wear a hat, hair accessories, or antlers.
Savannah made me smile when she came home from school and made this card for her friend whose dog died. I love how she shows her friends that she cares!
Savannah had her third game on December 11th. Her team was on fire tonight and won 13-1! Savannah got her first rebound tonight! She was close to scoring a basket too. We can tell she is starting to figure things out. She hustled really well up and down the court. She also got tripped up again and took another really hard fall and hurt her knee toward the end of the game. She started crying as soon as she got to the bench. She usually doesn’t cry when she gets hurt, so I could tell it really hurt. After seeing her fall hard two games in a row, I was starting to contemplate buying knee pads for her to wear during the games…haha. I didn’t realize how rough basketball can be until the girls started playing!
On December 12th, Savannah and some of her classmates had fun playing Tetris at school. I also received a gift from Mrs. Gray for being on the book fair committee at school…it was the softest gray blanket! The girls couldn’t wait to snuggle up with it that afternoon. We also noticed that the bruising on Brooklyn’s broken finger was actually getting worse, not better (which the doctor told us to expect). I also worked on a Jingle Bell toss game for Brooklyn’s class Christmas party.
One thing I appreciate about Mrs. Borys is how often she lets the kids work or play around the room instead of just sitting at their desks all the time. Santa also came to school on December 13th :)
Gabby was looking awfully cute on December 14th!
Abigail had her class Christmas party that afternoon, and I was glad I was able to be there to help with it. Mrs. Curry had several stations for the kids to rotate through: Candy Cane fishing, tree building (with Solo cups), snowman magnet craft, and Christmas tree decorating (using an ice cream cone, frosting, and candies). Mrs. Curry made it so easy by having everything planned out, and all we had to do was send in supplies and volunteer at a station. I helped with the snowman magnets, and it was fun to see how the kids’ magnets all turned out differently. Abigail had a fun time!
Brooklyn had to sit out of her game that evening, but we still went to cheer her team on. Savannah and some of the other kids enjoyed shooting baskets during the breaks.
December 15th was PJ day at school – always one of their favorite dress up days :)
Savannah had her class party in the morning of the 15th, and Brooklyn’s was in the afternoon. It was a full day! Mrs. Borys had her students also rotate to various stations, including ornament decorating, card making, Bingo, and cookie decorating. I helped glue the popsicle sticks for the tree ornaments ahead of time, and the kids enjoyed decorating them at the party. Savannah had a great time!
Brooklyn’s party was that afternoon. As opposed to the other girls’ teachers, Mrs. Maynard left it up to me to plan all of the activities for the party as her room mom. She only allowed one other parent to come as a volunteer (the other girls’ teachers allowed as many parents to come as wanted to). Hindsight is 20/20, but I realized after the party that I planned way too much for the amount of time we had. Since this would be the kids’ last Christmas party ever at school (I’m assuming they don’t have Christmas parties in middle school!), I thought it would be fun for the kids to make a hot chocolate ornament. (Their snack at the party was hot chocolate and cookies). I glued all of the popsicle stick mugs together ahead of time and planned for the kids to paint them during the party and decorate them after they dried. We did the painting part first, and then the kids rotated through a few game stations before drinking their hot chocolate and finishing up their ornaments. I felt like it was very chaotic without enough adult helpers though, and next time if I help with a 5th grade party, I will make sure to plan less activities or ask for more adult help. The kids seemed to enjoy the games, especially the jingle bell toss. I think Brooklyn had fun too. Surprisingly, she has been happy for me to volunteer at school this year. In 3rd and 4th grade, she went through a phase where she seemed embarrassed for me to be there. Thankfully, she seems to have moved past that (for now, at least!).
One of the games that Brooklyn’s class played during their party was “inflatable reindeer antler ring toss.” I bought the kit on Amazon, and only one of the antlers made it through the party. The other one developed a leak after the first few minutes. I brought the other one home though, and the girls had fun playing with it after school and during Christmas break. It was harder to ring the antlers than it looks!
We went to the library on December 16th and Abigail and Savannah both took a purse with them :)
After lunch, Cici came over and helped the girls decorate a big gingerbread house from a kit she’d bought. It turned out really cute!
This was Abigail’s first year to write out her own Christmas list. Travis was reading it one night, and he was trying to sound out all of the words she’d written down. He got over halfway down the list (with help from me), and said, “What’s a peck ruffle skrunt??” She was very offended and said, “It’s a PINK RUFFLE SKIRT!” :) For reference, some of the other things on her list included: gumballs, big stuffed animals, Christmas books, American Girl doll clothes, pretend washing machine, different colored paper, a watch, and stick on earrings :)
December 18th was a half day of school, and we did a double take when we pulled up to school that morning and saw an Elf on the Shelf sitting on the brick sign. It was the principal, Mr. Wilson! :)
Santa visited Savannah’s classroom that morning, so it was a very Christmasy day :)
Gabby always loved spending time in Brooklyn’s room!
That evening, we walked down to the neighborhood clubhouse where many of the Mill Creek teachers and admin came to sing Christmas carols. I think this was the second or third year they’ve done this, and it’s become a fun tradition! Afterward, we drove over to see the Woodard Family Lights, another favorite holiday tradition of ours.
December 19th was the last day of school before winter break (a half day), and we kicked the break off in a fun way by meeting Daniel and Nicole and their boys at Cici’s Pizza for supper and then going ice skating in Big Spring Park. None of the kids had ever ice skated before, and Travis and I hadn’t been since high school or college…so it had been a while! The girls were excited and a little nervous too. Abigail had never even roller skated before…so we were doing things a little backwards. It was a very cold night with temps in the 30s, so we bundled up with lots of layers and surprisingly never felt cold while we were out there. I guess skating got our blood flowing!
We were surprised that a cold Tuesday night would be so crowded, but there were a lot of people when we arrived. It took a while to get everyone’s skates on and laced up, but we were finally ready to get out there. Brooklyn and Savannah stayed close to the wall as they skated most of the time, but eventually they got a little more comfortable. Abigail used a skate trainer for most of the night, but a few times she wanted to try without it. She was definitely very wobbly! All of the girls fell, but no one cried except Abigail one time when her bottom got wet 😉 They all loved it and didn’t want to be done when we finished around 9! I think it definitely would have been easier if it wasn’t so crowded. There were so many people that I was worried about other people knocking us down or us running into someone. But we all had a great time! My ankle muscles were so sore, and my legs hurt all over by the time we finished…haha. I’m sure I was using muscles that rarely get used! The girls would love to go ice skating again sometime. It was a fun night with friends!
The girls admired their gingerbread house for a few days, but finally they couldn’t stand it anymore and had to take it apart to eat it…haha.
On December 22nd, we got packed up and dropped off Gabby at boarding and headed down to Trussville during mid-afternoon. Abigail predictably fell asleep on the way. The girls were so excited and wanted to open presents right away when we arrived…haha. We ordered pizza for dinner, and Jenn and Chandler came over and ate with us. Charlie got in big trouble during dinner when he started munching on some of the presents that the girls had bought at the school holiday shop. Whoops! It was just two of them and thankfully he didn’t damage the actual items…he just ate the wrapping paper and packaging. That didn’t stop Savannah and Abigail from bursting into tears though!! Chandler played jingle bell toss and reindeer antler ring toss with the girls after supper. Other than Charlie’s misdeeds, it was a good day! 😉
On December 23rd, the girls went on a walk with Paw and Charlie and saw the ice cream truck while they were out. Pretty funny for December! The day was mostly spent relaxing around the house.
Christmas Eve was on Sunday this year, and after church, we had “sammies”for lunch before the gift opening began.
Rae Rae wrapped assigned one wrapping paper to each person’s gifts, so the girls were excited to finally find out which wrapping paper was theirs. Our big gift to the girls this year was a basketball goal for the driveway. Unfortunately it hadn’t come by Christmas, so we wrapped up a note saying it was on the way. We were hoping it would arrive soon, but (spoiler alert), it ended up being a fiasco! Abigail got a huge pink unicorn from Aunt Jenn and Uncle Chandler. It came shrink wrapped in a small box, and it was fun to see how big it was when it came out of the packaging. Definitely wins the award for the biggest stuffed animal at our house now! Brooklyn was really excited to get a Keepers of the Lost Cities t-shirt and the entire book series, which is her favorite series right now. She also loved the journaling set from Rae Rae and Paw. Savannah was excited about the spy kit she received and a bunch of new books.
The girls couldn’t wait for everyone to open the gifts they’d picked out for others. Abigail gave Travis a magnet that says “My Hero” on it…so sweet. The girls were really excited to give Champ and Walter some toys they picked out at Dollar Tree. They also enjoyed looking at the calendar we made for Rae Rae with pictures of the family.
Rae Rae ordered an entire case of Sour Patch Kids “coal” for Travis, which was hilarious. A few years ago, she put actual coal and switches in his stocking because he never made his Christmas list, so this was a fun way of giving him coal again. He’s usually pretty bah humbug about getting gifts, so it’s not surprising that his name is perpetually on the naughty list!
After everyone finished opening gifts, we played a Saran Wrap ball game that Rae Rae made. We’d played it once before at a Dvorak family reunion, but it had been several years. It took a good while to get to the center, but we finally made it! Savannah cried a time or two because she couldn’t seem to unwrap the layers fast enough to “win” anything. We are definitely a competitive family 😉 We ate a delicious prime rib dinner that night before the Bares had to leave to go to Chandler’s parents’ house.
Santa came to Rae Rae and Paw’s house that night. It has been hard for me to be as excited about it this year since the girls all know about Santa, but they still wanted him to come 😉 I decided to wrap the Santa gifts this year for the first time ever in the hopes that it would make it more exciting (and to prevent any early morning peeking from curious girls). Brooklyn told me afterward that she prefers the Santa gifts unwrapped, but the other girls liked the wrapping. Maybe we will alternate in the future. All the girls got some new books, and Brooklyn was super excited about the Keeper of the Lost Cities hoodie. Savannah was excited about getting Bubble Talk, a board game that the girls had played at a recent small group lunch. Abigail got a salon chair for her dolls.
The rest of the day was spent watching football and old home movies, playing Bubble Talk, and opening up some of the gifts the girls had gotten, etc. Abigail couldn’t wait to try out some of her new stick-on earrings :) We decided to drive home that night so that we would have the next day to get ready for Michael and Lauren arriving to stay with us for a few days. We really enjoyed our time in Trussville!
We spent some of the day on December 26th getting the house cleaned up, but there was also time for fun too. Travis introduced the girls to Home Alone (minus a few scenes), and Savannah and Abigail had fun dribbling their basketballs in the driveway.
We loved having Michael and Lauren stay with us! They were at our house from the evening of the 26th to the morning of the 30th. Abigail clung pretty closely to Lauren when she was downstairs and gave her lots of attention 😉 Michael wasn’t feeling great on Wednesday for part of the day, but we still got to spend more time with them than we normally do. We don’t have people stay with us very often, and we really loved having them!
On December 28th, we went over to Cici’s to do Christmas with her and the Loveless crew. We ate a delicious brunch and then the kids opened their gifts. Michael wore the Santa hat and passed out presents, which he normally does when he is able to be with us. (He had missed the last few Christmases with us). Brooklyn and Savannah were surprised and excited to get 3D pens from Cici, something that wasn’t on their wish list. Abigail got some roller skates and wanted to use them immediately…haha. We made her wait until the next day though so she could wear her helmet ;) Savannah was surprised when she opened a polar bear “statue” from the Loveless crew. Alisha had found it at a store and thought of her….so sweet! Michael and Lauren gave the girls stuffed animals with leis from their honeymoon trip to Hawaii. I thought that was the most thoughtful thing that they shopped for the girls (and boys) while they were on their honeymoon!! Brooklyn had the idea to make matching bracelets for Michael and Lauren that say “better together” as their Christmas gift. I loved that!!
We spent the rest of the day playing games (Power Grid, bunco, Pass the Pigs), and the kids enjoyed playing fairy gardens and running around outside. It was a great day and wonderful to have everyone together.
Abigail was so excited to roller skate the next morning….it was cold, and she’d never roller skated before, but it was amazing to see her pick it up pretty quickly! After a few minutes, she informed me that “roller skating is easy” and she didn’t need any help. Gotta love her confidence 😉 Savannah practiced her skating too!
Come back soon, Michael and Lauren!!
When I picked Gabby up at boarding this week, she had something weird going on with one of her eyes. The vet tech said it was her third eyelid down. They noticed that she had a really swollen lymph node in her neck on the same side, so that may be related to her eyelid thing. Apparently sometimes the third eyelid comes down in older cats and there’s nothing you can do about it. They told me that Gabby’s swollen lymph node is likely her intestinal lymphoma that’s spread, unfortunately. At this point, I was mentally preparing that we would probably have to put her to sleep soon. We found out in November that she is also diabetic, so that is another health thing she has going on. So hard!
Some good news to end the month though! On December 29th, Brooklyn had a follow-up appointment with the orthopedic doctor to check on her broken finger, and the x-ray looked great this time. Her finger had completely healed up in just a few weeks! Dr. Burke told us that her finger would probably be stiff and sore for a few days, but that she could start using her finger again normally. She was also cleared to get back into basketball. It’s amazing how God has designed our bodies to heal so well from injury!
Notes and Quotes from December 2023:
- 12/4/23 – Travis helped Abigail with her homework tonight and had to sign the paper when they finished. Abigail saw his signature and said, “Is this SCRIBBLING??” Haha!
- 12/23/23 – Abigail and I have an extensive bedtime routine of hugs and kisses, and tonight she gave me one extra kiss at the end. She called it an “extra sweet lucky kiss.” :)
Thanks for reading!!
