A new season of our lives

Tyler made the MS basketball team this year.  Last year, only 8th graders made the team; so this year was a new adventure for the whole team including the coach.  Yes, the coach was a newbie also.  This was his first time to coach basketball!

Christmas Fun

Just a few highlights of the elf fun that has happened in our house this year.

While the elves were busy, I had plenty of time for crafts....

I made these turkey handprints with the kids right after Thanksgiving.  Better late than never!  And I think if I waited til next year I would not have been able to put Tyler's hand on a glass block!!! 

I made these cute snowmen handprint ornaments!  FYI--I REALLY discovered Pinterest while visiting my friend in Maryland and over the Thanksgiving holidays in the mountains!  I had set up an account at least a month ago and just never figured out how to navigate the site.  Actually, I had just never sat down and tried because it is so easy to find anything you can think of finding!!!  It is an addictive site!!!

I made these glitter ornament for Corynne and Lauren's dance friends and teachers.  I also made a Peace & Love, bright, multi-color version of these glitter ornaments for Corynne's school girl friends.  So fun and so easy!  Thank you Pinterest and 2 girl friends in Maryland, Robin and Susan, who taught me well!!!

Added a little fluff and jazz to hand wash for neighbor gifts!  

Oh, a couple of my friends and I made Homemade Vanilla to past out as gifts!  It was so easy, but when my son saw the trash can after we finished he had a lot of questions! "Mom, what did y'all do with all those bottle of Vodka!"

I helped with a 6th grade science lab.  This was my first time to help.  A different parent helps every Thursday with 6th grade science labs.  I carefully picked my lab assignments because we all know that is NOT MY FAVORITE SUBJECT!!!!  So my first lab was very crafty to go along with their study of trees and conifers!!!  Yes, right up my alley.  I enjoyed science today!!!!  (FYI-my next two times this year are baking projects!  hehehe  I will leave the microscopes, star charts and such to other people!!!)

Lyndsey amazes us everyday.  Today she sounding out words and actually reading them!!!  Could be she is a 4th child and just picks up on these faster because she is around her sibblings doing it all the time or it could be that she has amazing pre-school teachers!!!  Miss Milla and Miss Kim are amazing, and they run a very loving, nurturing, ADVANCED pre-k program!

And it would not be December if we did not dance at the zoo!  This year was SOOO different from previous years because we did NOT freeze during the performance.  It was a beautiful evening at the zoo.

We also went to Lyndsey's preschool "Christmas Pageant".  She was Elizabeth.  "The mother of a very special baby whose name is John."  Yep, that was her line in the program and she did it well!  She also did a great job making sure everyone else did what they were suppose to do.  AKA...She politely corrected them!  Hmmm....I am not sure if that was really her job!  But she assumes that role where ever she is!!

Nutcracker Weekend

Granddad and Noni came to Montgomery this weekend to catch up in action!  We started off the weekend with a Friday night dinner at Summer's Place.  We were told Thursday that a few cousins were coming to town, but when we arrived at dinner there was a big surprise for everyone!  Uncle Shawn, John Mark's stepbrother, who left for Afghanistan in August was BACK in Alabama!  Yeah, what a surprise!  Yeah, what a blessing for his family!  It was so great to get to see them all together again!  Happiest of all was his mother, Noni!

On Saturday morning, everyone went to watch Tyler play in a Trinity MS basketball game against Catholic.  Tyler was excited to have everyone there to watch, and he got quite a bit of playing time. 

Well, I should not have said everyone went to watch Tyler.  I had to take Corynne, Lauren and Lyndsey to Prattville for the dress rehearsal.  We really didn't see anyone on Saturday until the evening Nutcracker performance!   Daddy was a trooper with Colleen who ended up with a stomach virus at the basketball game!  Poor little baby threw up all over her daddy and the gym!  Good thing Dr. Dad can handle that kind of stuff much better than mom, so she was in good hands!

This year the girls participated in the Nutcracker in Prattville.  Their dance studio, Tammy's Academy of Dance, partnered with CJ's Dance Factory to present a magical, childlike version of the Nutcracker.  No professional dancers on the stage...just cute, kid talent!

Lyndsey was a Gingersnap this year.

Corynne and Lauren were snowflakes.  Lauren was also one of the little boys in the party scene.

The girls had a great time performing and did a great job!  We were proud of them!

On Sunday morning, everyone came over for brunch before they left to head to Dothan to watch another cousin in the Nutcracker.  They are such dedicated family to go to so many performances!

Lyndsey with Caroline...

Colleen, Corynne, Lauren and Ella

Tyler, Tristan and Will

Misty, Granddad, Brittany, Shawn, Peyton and Noni

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

 This year Corynne and Lauren decided to tryout for the church play.  I agreed thinking "my girls are not into acting so they will not get a part.  Corynne does not even like to be up on stage at church to sing."  Well, I was wrong!  Even though the rehearsals combined with the Nutcracker rehearsals proved to be very challenging over the months of November and December, the results were worth the stress!

 Corynne played the part of Alice, and Lauren was Shirley.

Corynne did a great job memorizing her lines on her own.  I must admit that I hit the panic button when I saw how yellow her script was, but she handled it all with no problem!  Lauren only had a few lines but she memorized that without any help also!

 

 

 Lyndsey was dressed as a "baby angel" for the angel scene.  She had so much fun being a big girl and singing on stage!

  The whole cast did an awesome job!  It was THE BEST Christmas Pageant EVER!!!!!

Cookie Party

My solution to a very busy weekend and I need a bunch of cookies for Sunday evening!  Corynne, Lauren and Lyndsey each got to invite a friend over to a cookie baking/making party!  

Lauren & Emma

Molly & Lyndsey

Bekah & Corynne

The results turned out perfect!!!!

Deck the halls, walls, and doorways!

Family dining area...

 Kitchen...

 One of my favorite Christmas decorations to pull out every year is our annual pictures with Santa.  It is so sweet to see the first picture of Tyler with Santa in 1998 and watch the years go by until 2011 where we have 5 kids piled on or around Santa.  Sweet memories!

Our big family tree in the formal living room.  And Colleen did not even bother the ornaments after she got her hand swatted once!!!

 Lyndsey's tree.  Well, it was in Lyndsey's room, but it is actually a collection of snowflake ornaments that I have given to Corynne over the years and snowmen ornaments that I have collected for Lauren.

 I guess I forgot to get a picture of Corynne's tree this year, but it was the same as last year. Hot pink, bright blue, and lime green with a lot of SPARKLE!!!

This was the new tree we started this year because Lauren moved upstairs to her own room and wanted a tree for her room.  Pink and butterflies!  We will see how this theme grows from year to year!

 And the fireplace, complete with lights this year thanks to my amazing husband who ordered me a portable plug in.  Yeek, the one thing that I have discovered I missed in the remodel was putting an outlet on the fireplace wall.