My Favorite Gifts

The boys came home from their last day of school bearing gifts! They each came in the most adorably decorated sack! I could kick myself because I didn't take pictures of their actual gifts!! Oh well, these cute pictures will help me remember forever!!

Wyatt made me a little snowglobe ornament that had his little picture inside sitting amongst the "snow!" Grant made me a beautiful glittery (on the inside) ornament he made in art class. They both adorned my favorite little tree in the basement for the rest of the season and I will treasure them FOREVER!!!!

360 Meet

This was an exciting meet, because not only was it our home meet, but it was also Grant's 1st time competing!!! It was a super cold, super snowy day and while a day at home would've been just fine with us, we were also hoping the meet wasn't cancelled! And thank goodness it wasn't! Even Mimi and PawPaw got to come! PawPaw had never been to a meet at all, so it was all sorts of special! We had a super great time watching our 360 boys compete!!! 

Grant did great for not only his first meet, but also going first at each event. It was a little nerve-wracking for him and a bit overwhelming, but he went out there and did his thing! I was so proud of him for getting out there and trying his very best!! He got 6th place (out of 6) which he wasn't too happy about. But it was a great learning experience for him and he can't wait to get back out there!!

Wyatt did great too! After a horrible slip on the mushroom, he inched his way back to the 2nd place spot, just .5 points behind his teammate, Creighton! He did get a 10.0 on the high bar, which was a personal record for him on that event! Couldn't have been more excited!!

The team placed 3rd overall. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd were all decided by .1 of a point! It was such a close meet!!! Thats why its so exciting!

Happy gymnasts right there!!!

The Nutcracker

Oh how we love going to The Nutcracker. My mom and I have been numerous times together, and we still want to go see it each and every year. But there was no way we could afford to go to the Kansas City Ballet this year. The boys were so disappointed, because after their trip to the Nutcracker two years ago, they have been begging and begging to go back. So when I saw that The American Youth Ballet was putting on a performance at JCCC, I knew that was our chance. I surprised all three of them with the tickets and we couldn't wait for the day to come! When the day did come, we woke up to the threat of bad weather- snow and ice. Luckily we don't live to far from JCCC so we knew we would take the risk of driving there! We had great seats to watch an adorable performance! We all loved it just as much the KCB performance!

Gingerbread House Day!

One of favorite traditions is Gingerbread House Day! The boys knew that the activity card would show up in their Advent pocket at some time, they just didn't know when! So when they pulled it out, they were ready to get going on it right away! But- we had to wait til after school because I knew the set I bought was going to take some time. (Note to self: only buy the pre-assembled sets from now on!) They came home form school, put on their Christmas jammies, turned Pandora on, and got busy!

Our Outside Christmas Lights

Levi has done it again with our Christmas light display. Had the weather been better and our weekends had been less busy, we probably would've had more lights! But we were so happy with the amazing display Levi put on this year!!

 We had the Nativity set, a winter forest, an animal party by the campfire and lights of shining lights all about!

 Don't forget the other little forest on the side yard!

And the prize-winning piece- Santa's runway! Hard to tell from the pic, but Levi made a runway, with flashing lights, number markers, and a giant sign that said, "Santa, Cleared to Land." 

So many lights, so much fun!!

Sitting on Santa's Lap

We did our annual "skip school and go to Crown Center" day! We hadn't missed a day of school yet, so I figure this was totally acceptable!! The boys had already been to Crown Center with my parents the day after Thanksgiving, so we didn't go and look at everything we typically would. We were on a mission to see Santa!! Well, and visit the candy store!!

We got there right when Santa got there, so we had zero wait time! We walked right up and got on his lap. He asked the boys if they had been good and of course they said yes. He reminded them to listen to their mom and dad and never leave dirty clothes on the floor! Then they asked what they wanted- Grant said a drone with a camera, and Wyatt said an iPad. Big dreams for these fellas! I may have had a little secret I had to tell Santa, so after they hopped off his lap, I got my turn to tell him something. 

After we saw Santa, we walked around and explored Crown Center for a bit, and while we came to the front, we saw it started snowing for the first time this season! We just had to go outside and get a feel (and taste!) for it!! When we saw it was really starting to come down, we decided to head home so we could enjoy some snowy play!! It was a perfect wintery Christmasy day!!

St. Nicholas Day

St. Nicholas Day is a tradition on our house. The tradition goes all the way back to when I was a child and its one of the favorite days of the holiday season in our house. The boys were funny and thought of they put out their high-top basketball shoes, that maybe St. Nicholas would leave more goodies for them! Other than the traditional (chocolate) gold coins, they got some Smencils in their shoes. Everything else was too big and sat around their shoes!

 They also love how Shed is always nearby, diligently watching for St. Nicholas as well!

O Christmas Tree

We love Christmas trees! So much so that one Christmas tree in our house just doesn't cut it! If I had my way, I'd have dozens of trees around my house! But we've managed to deck the halls as much as possible!

This little tree is in our basement TV area. It is filled with some of my most precious ornaments- handmade ones from the boys. Lots of preschool crafts, photo ornaments we've made over the years, and now ornaments they make in school! So very special to lay by the light of the tree and see so many special memories!

 This is our Jesse Tree. Each night, we read a Bible story followed by a devotion. It starts with the creation and ends with the birth of Jesus. Its a tradition we've had for the last 4 years and the boys are now at the point where they can pretty much tell me the stories!

 This is a picture of the boys Christmas tree in their room. They've had a tree in their room for many many years. The first year they put the tree up, they went through the box of my ornaments I had when I was a kid and they picked out their favorites- I had a HUGE collection of ornaments! Over the years, they've added lots of fun ornaments of their very own. They also like to add the occasional stuffed animal to the tree as well. They also like to wrap "gifts" for their stuffed animals. Their tree has the coolest lights- they are LED coloring changing lights! The tree skirt is a blanket my mom made me years ago with little Christmas teddy bears scenes. 

This is our main tree! Each year I always think I might switch to white lights but then I sit back and look at this tree in the a dark room and I just can't imagine it! The warmth, glow, and joy all 1,300 colored lights bring! Our ornaments are so colorful as well! I'm always baffled when people just go buy a box of colored balls and decorate their tree with them, or create a theme tree??!? I love the uniqueness of our tree! I can pretty much name where or how I got each ornament.  A collection I could never have enough of!

These Crayola ornaments are mostly likely my favorite collection on our tree. Wyatt put them up this year and he kept them all in one area so we can see them all together!

 And we had one extra special tree in our house this year- my mom and dads! My mom has always done a beautiful Christmas display at her house, and while they are no longer at that house anymore, she managed to recreate the same magic downstairs in their little apartment!

I have visions of 4 more places I'd love a tree in our house, so we will see what next year brings!

2nd Place Wyatt

Wyatt placed 2nd place at his 2nd meet! He was so excited to get to his second meet after the first one went so well! There were a lot of kids in this meet! He was competing against 12 kids in his age division. He missed a key element in his high bar routine, and also one in his floor routine, so he was docked a few points for those, but he only missed 1st place by .5 of a point- so so close!! The good thing was though was his teammate took 1st place, so it was awesome to be able to share the top spots with his teammate! He was super happy he got a silver medal and is already gearing up for the 3rd meet!!! What fun it is to watch his confidence and skill continue to grow and grow!! 

We love you and are SO proud of you Wyguy!!!

Getting his medal

Salute!

Boys Christmas Pics

One of my dear friends is a photographer and offered us a chance to have a little mini session with her to try out some props. I couldn't say no to her amazing work! I loved these pictures so much, they were featured on our Christmas card this year!

Welcome Back Shed!

We just couldn't wait til December 1st because we just knew that Shed would show up! We were hoping he would be coming sooner, but he made us wait! That's ok! When he showed up, he made the wait well worth it!! He came bearing so much festive fun, we couldn't believe our eyes!! He had a whole spread just waiting for us! He found his favorite chair he loves to sit in every year! He wrote us a special note.

I  mean, look at this spread of goodies! Granted, the Santa and snowman countdown and Christmas activity books were from me, but everything else was Shed's doing.

 Cinnamon roll reindeers, Christmas Crunch cereal, and I do believe that was a chocolate Christmas light. And those cute reindeer plates and Santa suit cups- so fun! 

 On Shed's note, he told us about this special bag he brought with him and how each morning, we were going to find pieces to something in the bag that we would use to put together a project and by Christmas Eve, it would be finished. We were so excited to figure out what he had planned! Grant and Wyatt even wrote him notes. Grant's said, "What will you put in the bag?" and Wyatt's said, "I am happy you are here to." We just love when Shed comes!!