Christmas

 Christmas came and went way too quickly, but it was a lot of fun.  The kids slept in a lot later than normal (So Santa could come around 7 AM instead ;)) and most of their gifts were clothes-related.  No more kid toys, only smaller, more expensive things!  Ha!

Here is how we spent Christmas Eve, Christmas, and the couple of days after Christmas:

Christmas Eve: Stephen served at our church at an earlier service, but the kids insisted on going to the candlelight service later.  So, the kiddos and I went together!  Once home, the kids got to each open one gift.

Christmas morning: We did our Santa gifts, then opened the tree gifts, and then my mom and aunt came over and we ate a huge brunch!

Sydney

Taylor

Parker

Alabama: The day after Christmas, my whole family headed to a house on a lake in Alabama!  It was a beautiful location with not much (anything!) to do around it.  We spent two nights here and had a great time.

JOY pics

 My favorite Christmas tradition!

2024

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2012

Taylor is 14!

My Taylor is 14!  It's hard to believe.  She is so smart, funny, athletic, and hard-working.  She is a good friend to everybody.  When I walk through the halls of the middle school, she is always surrounded by others.  Her teachers and her coaches love her.  I can't wait to see what the future brings for her!

We celebrated her birthday across a few days.  Her actual birthday was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and we played pickleball and went out to dinner.  The next Friday, she had some friends over, and we took them all to Taco Mac for dinner, and then went shopping.  She had two girls spend the night, and the next day, we went to Six Flags and brought her friend Eden.  It was all a lot of fun!

Actual birthday:

The elves always bring advent calendars on 12/1.

Birthday party:

Six Flags: