School Christmas Party

On December 17th, Mackenzie had her school Christmas party. Due to snow and ice in the area, both kids were out of school most of that week. They only went to school on Wednesday and Friday, which means Josiah missed the whole week since he only goes on Tues/Thurs! Poor little fellow missed his class party due to school being canceled. He did get to participate with Mackenzie's class, though, which was wonderfully fun!Mackenzie at my cookie decorating station. Thanks to Hannah, the older helper, I was able to walk around the room and take pictures while Hannah helped the kids at the cookie station! I did make the cookies (ahem, thanks to Pillsbury) and other parents provided the icing and sprinkles.
Josiah was delighted to get to decorate a cookie, too. :)

Both my kids at the cookie decorating area.

Mackenzie and Josiah eating M&M's at the Bingo station.

Thanks to another Mom for snapping this picture of Josiah, Mackenzie, and me.

Mackenzie, Savannah, and Mackenzie B. Aren't they cute?!

We had so much fun at the party together. Later that same day, we loaded up and headed to visit relatives for the week leading up to Christmas. I am so thankful that I was able to be there for the party, and that they did not miss the party due to the weather. We did enjoy having snow days that week, though! More updates coming soon about the trip to see family.

On a random note: Josiah has some cute words that I want to record on here so that I don't forget them. He says "exstruction" instead of construction. Like exstruction vehicles. When talking about football, he always says "flootball." And in reference to Indiana Jones (such as Indiana Jones Lego Wii game), he says "Indi-indi-anna Jones" every time. So cute. I don't correct it, either. They learn too fast and I don't want to rush that growing up process!

Wonderful White Christmas

I have many, many blog posts to be done, but for now, I will just post about today. Sometime soon I hope to post about the kids Christmas parties at school, our time with relatives, and our Christmas Day. For now, suffice to say it has all been so wonderful. Below are some pictures from today of the kids enjoying the snow that has fallen over the past couple of days. Not just the kids, but Tanner, too! :) All of us enjoyed the snow.
Santa Claus brought Tanner to join our family. Oh what fun we've all had with Tanner, our new 12 week old Cockapoo! Mackenzie has bonded with Tanner and takes care of him just like a good little momma. She thinks of his every need and obviously loves him. She is so proud of him and wants to show him off to everyone. She spent some time on the phone today calling people just to tell them about Tanner! A proud little girl.

And Josiah, well he loves to play with Tanner...and Tanner loves to play and run from Josiah! They do make a funny pair playing together. Both kids are very good with Tanner. Tanner obviously loves them both.

Tanner in the snow. What an amazing past couple of days! More to come about the past week and a half as I find time to do more posts. For now, at least this post provides some pictures for those of you requesting them! :) Love you all.

Snow Day

Last night as we drove home from Red Lobster, where we had stopped to celebrate our 10th Anniversary, we realized that we might have stopped for a little too long on a snowy night. The roads went from clear to covered in less than one hour. We drove slowly toward home. We saw other cars on the roadside and we could feel the slick road beneath our van tires. We opted for the flattest route home and drove carefully. Even so, we made it about half way up the big hill, about a half mile from home, and slid back down the hill into the ditch. We were able to point the van in the downhill direction, driving slowly forward down the hill. We parked the van on a flat residential road nearby, donned our warm coat and hats, and hiked home! We are so thankful that we are all safe and nothing happened to the van. We are thankful that we were so close to home that we were able to walk the rest of the way. And, we are thankful for SNOW! :)This morning, the kids were delighted to find a winter wonderland waiting for them.
I just love pictures of my precious children playing in the snow. I am so thankful for the outlet shopping that enabled us to have snow suits to keep the kids warm.

My beautiful baby girl.

My handsome little man.

Enjoying the snow in the backyard.

Digging in the snow in the front yard.
After enjoying some time outside, we came in for the classic cup of hot chocolate. I am so thankful that school is out today. The change of pace is such a blessing in our busy world today. I think the Lord smiles down as He pours the snow into our lives, knowing full well that it "interrupts" our routines. What a blessing, indeed. I am thankful for the interruptions that give us more time together to enjoy God's changing seasons.

Pray that those, like my David, who have to be out on the icy/snowy roads due to work, will be safe. Thank you!

Miniature Gingerbread Village

Well, this picture is out of order, but suffice to say it is Mackenzie's masterpiece! Josiah ate his before I could get a picture of the completed master piece.

At Wal-Mart today, we found a miniature gingerbread village kit. As you can see from the picture below, it came home with us! :) Mackenzie, Josiah, and David built really cute miniature gingerbread houses while I oriented a new nurse via email and phone. I think they were having more fun, but I'm so thankful for the flexibility of my job and I really enjoyed hearing them in the room next to me. I had fun stopping long enough to snap pictures, too. :)

Up close of Mackenzie diligently decorating her gingerbread house.

Up close of Josiah eating his cute gingerbread house! As soon as he completed his house, he pulled the gum drops off as he does not like the taste of them. Then he ate it!

My sweetie working on a sweet little gingerbread house.
I do love my family, and holiday traditions are so much fun. :)

In the past, the kids made a gingerbread house with Granna and Z-Pa, but this Thanksgiving was packed with activities already so that one got skipped. Mackenzie was asking to make one, and the miniature kit seemed just the perfect ticket!

Christmas Parties

We had a day full of parties! My new job's Christmas party was following our case manager meeting at lunch today. We laughed so incredibly hard during the gift exchange. Fun times. Then, we enjoyed being guests at my new boss/Josiah's best friend's parents personal Christmas party. I was honored to be included among their friends and family. The kids had a blast together. And, a special visitor came... Ya know, I think this picture of David, Santa, and me turned out pretty good!
Here's Josiah and Mackenzie with Santa at the party tonight. Mackenzie asked Santa for a puppy, which is what she's been asking for all along...Josiah was a hoot! He asked Santa for everything that he could think of, which ranged from a long list of Star Wars characters to a variety of Legos, such as Atlantis and Star Wars. I loved their original thoughts to Santa at The Fantasy of Trees, myself, where Mackenzie asked for a puppy and Josiah asked for everything the puppy needs.

I snapped this picture in route to school this morning. Yep, we had a wintry start to the day full of Christmas parties! How cool!!! He, he. ;) It was 20 degrees as we headed to school. The snowflakes pouring from the sky were just gorgeous. Too bad it didn't stay around longer. Maybe we'll get some more this winter! God's design and changing of the seasons is nothing short of amazing.

What a weekend!

My dad and Lisa arrived on Thursday evening for a visit. Grandparents day at school was on Friday, and Mackenzie had called and invited Papa and Lili to join her for that and for the Christmas program, too. Indeed, they came and we all had a wonderful weekend. Above is Mackenzie lined up with her class on the way into the auditorium, ready to perform.
They performed on Thursday night and Friday morning. I snapped this picture of Josiah folding his precious hands in prayer at the beginning of Mackenzie's Thursday night program. I loved the sunglasses he was wearing inside the auditorium while praying. Too funny. Too precious.

An overview of the entire group, Kindergarten through 2nd grade.

Savannah and Mackenzie after the performance.

Avery was "Lucky Star," dressed in green. Just above Avery's head, in the choir, is my Mackenzie. The kids all did such a GREAT job!

After the program, we spent the afternoon and evening at Dollywood. Fun times.

We got several great pics of Lisa, Josiah, Mackenzie, and my Dad.

(Lili, Josiah, Mackenzie, and Papa or Poppie)

And since I could not make up my mind about which one I liked best, I uploaded them all!

Josiah and Poppie

Dollywood has beautiful Christmas decorations. I do believe that is my favorite time of the year to walk around up there. Quite magical.

Poor ducks. Josiah loved getting to chase them!

We got to ride The Polar Express in 4D! So fun! (David was still at work when this picture was taken, or he'd be in it, too. We missed him, but we were glad he could join us later that evening.)

Mackenzie and Papa (far left) riding the Shooting Star.

Mackenzie and Poppie

Lili and Josiah riding the Veggie Tales roller coaster.

Josiah running to the next ride while Mackenzie and Lili talk about the rides together.

Josiah, Lili, and Mackenzie on the Scrambler.

Mackenzie and me on the swings.

Dad and Lisa in front of the Carol of the Trees area.

Lili, Mackenzie, Josiah, Papa

While they were here, we celebrated Lisa's birthday with her. The kids decorated her cake all by themselves! I baked the cake and put the layer of chocolate icing on it. The kids did ALL the rest by themselves. Mackenzie did the pinkish color, including the writing. Josiah did the yellow. Pretty good, huh?! Certainly decorated with love. :)

Lili blowing out her candles.
We had a fun weekend, full of activities. We are thankful for family.

Thanksgiving Week

Our Thanksgiving week was a wonderful week packed full of activities. Seems I uploaded the pics backwards order, so we'll start with the most recent events and work backward through the week! :) Above is the annual picture from the Fantasy of Trees. I am so pleased with it!
Here's Josiah talking to Santa.

The kids enjoyed visiting with Santa so much that I had to call them onward in order to allow other children a turn with Santa, too! How different from the years when the kids were afraid of Santa.

Zac took this one of the four of us at Fantasy of Trees. I love it!

Here's Granna, Z-Pa, and Mackenzie and Josiah.

My two precious babies. Aren't they sweet?!

Uncle Zac with Josiah and Mackenzie.

Mackenzie

Josiah wanted his picture taken on this rock at Dollywood, so Mackenzie jumped in, too!

While at Dollywood, Granna and Z-Pa let the kids go "mining" for arrowheads! They loved it, and they found 6 or 7 arrowheads. That was a highlight of the day, I do believe.

Granna, Z-Pa, Mackenzie and Josiah with the arrowheads.

Earlier in the day, as we entered Dollywood, the kids got to feed the ducks.

Fun times.

Two sweet kids enjoying the ducks at Dollywood.

Candid pic of the kids with Uncle Zac at Dollywood.

Uncle Zac, Josiah, Mackenzie, Granna, Z-Pa

Here's our table set for Thanksgiving Day!
I do enjoy having Thanksgiving at our house.

A humongous THANK YOU to Betty for all the work she did in the kitchen to prepare for Thanksgiving. I helped, but she surely did the majority of the meal.

More food. What a blessing, indeed.

Ariel view of the pies. I made the chocolate and pumpkin pie, Betty made apple and cherry, and Uncle Dale (Betty's brother) brought a lemon meringue and chocolate chip pecan pie! The kids had specifically requested chocolate, pumpkin, cherry, and apple. That was funny. We made them all and were happy to have Dale join us for Thanksgiving. The kids were admiring the pies that Dale brought. Josiah exclaimed, "Wow! A spike pie!" When he saw the meringue. Too hilarious.

One last food picture from Thanksgiving Day. We had the four of us, David's parents, David's brother, David's Uncle Dale, and our two neighbors from Bulgaria, Geri and Trifon, all together for Thanksgiving at our house.

Even earlier in the week, on Monday night, David and I went on a date...just the two of us. Thanks to David's parents for keeping the kids so we could go out. We enjoyed dinner at The Flatwater Grill. It was fabulous. The walls of the restaurant are glassed in windows right on the lake. What a date!

One morning, while David and I were both at work for a few hours, the kids got to make things with the Easy Bake Oven and Cupcake Maker, thanks to Granna and Z-Pa's help!

Both kids thoroughly enjoyed Uncle Zac, though I think most of the pictures are of Mackenzie with Uncle Zac. Josiah latched onto him and was quite the little shadow for Uncle Zac! I don't think Uncle Zac minds too much. ;)

And even earlier in the week, on Sunday, November 21, 2010, was Zearl and Betty's 40th Anniversary. We got them this cake to celebrate with our H2H group that evening at our house.

A wonderful week. Good company. Good visit. Wonderful memories made.

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving, as well.