School parties and the Parker Christmas

What a wonderful week full of family and fun! Hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas as well!

On Monday, we attended Nola's preschool program and party. Nola decided that she was "shy" about saying her line. She mouthed all of the other kids lines and then had a huge pause when it was her turn. Nola managed to say it though. Too funny!

Waiting for Santa with her buddy Morgan.

Me and my girl!

Nola and "the fake skinny santa". It was true - he wasn't very good! But the kids still had a good time!

Nola and Ms. Gerhardt - what a great picture!

On Tuesday, we made breakfast for Brenner's second grade class and spent the day with them. Not as many pictures because that isn't as cool once you are in second grade. We had a great time with the kids - watching Polar Express, having hot chocolate, playing a question game, and seeing Santa.

Nola also got to see this Santa - a bit more realistic!

School was out early on Tuesday, so a couple of friends came over to play. Nola and Draco made this gear - Nola proclaimed "we ARE engineers!".

Some hot chocolate outside!

All of those treats call for extra exercise. The kids seem to enjoy doing them with me!

On Christmas Eve, we headed to Hermitage to set Grandpa Bob's bench. Hard to believe he has been gone four years. The weather was decent and it was nice to be there together. We had some nice neighbors help us - that bench is heavy!!!

We also took some of Emi's ashes to spread - she loved going to Hermitage with Matt!

Time to ice the cookies on Christmas Eve!

We will just call this quality control :) Later that night, we headed to Christmas Eve church service with a ton of our friends - it was so much fun and the kids had trouble falling asleep.

They didn't have trouble getting up though.....This is 5 am......wonder when we will get to open presents in the daylight! I am not complaining - time goes too fast already!

Brenner was very excited that Santa brought him the original Star Wars Trilogy. I had never seen any of them.....we watched all three on Christmas!!!!! Bums we were!

Brenner continues to like military themed games/toys.

Nola loved her new baby doll.

Nola also liked her bike!

 

I designed t-shirts for Matt's business - he liked them and I was happy with they way they turned out! It was a great Christmas day - we also had the pleasure of having breakfast with Grandma Val and PawPaw Hinckle!

The season of giving

Even though Christmas is a few days away, we are in full giving momentum. We have had a spectacular week of events - much family time.

At my work party, Santa showed up :) Santa (Larry our maintenance guy) was perfect. Nola was very excited!

Brenner "leaned" on Santa - he is pretty tall!

Matt has been working very hard on my Christmas gift - a wine cabinet. It looks wonderful! Love you, babe!

All of Matt's handiwork inspired Brenner to make me this "painting". He wants me to hand it on the wall - I am still trying to find the perfect spot. For now, it is propped up behind the Christmas tree.

Grandma Val got us tickets to the Nutcracker. We headed to Kansas City on Saturday. Nola was soooo excited. She looked lovely and was still quirky with her socks.

Nola patiently waiting for the ballet to start. The Kansas City Symphony played, the costumes were amazing, and the dancers were flawless. What a very special day!

Thanks, Grandma, for making this so, so special!

While we were getting all fancy, the boys were at Hermitage doing something special to remember Grandpa Bob.

Matt along with his sisters designed this memorial bench. It turned out wonderful and Matt worked hard to get it done so that we can place it on Christmas Eve.

Later in the day, the boys did a little muzzle loader hunting. Didn't see a thing, but had a good time together.

Sunday was the Christmas program at church. Brenner did a wonderful job as Joseph.

Nola also sang her heart out as an angel. Afterwards, we had dinner with my folks and my sister's family. I didn't get any pictures but it was a lot of fun. We all had a good time visiting and eating :) A great way to end the weekend.

Comfort and Joy

What a season we are having. Lots of time with the kids showing the love of the season by focusing on giving. We had some fun happens this week!

Well - this isn't giving but Nola learned to tie shoe laces! I literally showed her twice and she had it! Way to go, Nola!

It was Christmas gift box time - I had some good help with the sprinkles :) Pants were optional for kids apparently! One of my favorite things to do is make these gifts for our friends. Love that the kids want to help.

Nola also helped with the dishes!

Some great work of Brenner's this week. I had to laugh at the writing - and made sure to send it to Drystan's parents :)

Brenner had a weekend assignment - Gingerbread Fred! Brenner had to keep a journal about activities this weekend.

On Sunday, the church kids went to a local nursing home to spread some Christmas cheer.

Sunday afternoon program practice. Brenner is Joseph.

I think he likes the role :) Beth, who is playing Mary, is also a classmate of Brenner's. They seem to enjoy the roles!

Project time and Christmas Parade

It was a tough week for me - I was so sick that I didn't go on my work trip and actually didn't make it into work until Thursday. So - the pictures are limited this week. Good news is that we are all feeling better. On Friday night, Matt took me out to dinner and a movie which was very nice. We had a busy weekend with church activities. We were also saddened by the events in California and the news and political candidates spewing hate at every turn. Make us wonder what kind of world our kids will be adults in. For now, we keep looking forward and teaching them to keep shining God's light - even with all the darkness of the world. Anyway - lots of extra hugs and kisses for them this week.

Brenner working on his independent reading assignment that is due in a couple of weeks. The assignment was to read a book and then pick an outlet to present - oral, poster, etc. Brenner chose to do an advertising poster and has been working hard for a couple of weeks on it.

Brenner's finished poster for Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Old School. Good jot buddy!

Matt headed to his guy's shooting weekend and the kids and I (along with Grandma Val) went to help with A Night In Bethlehem. The weather was gorgeous!

Brenner and the other shepherds. What characters!

And angels were also present :) Nola rode on the float and Brenner walked along the side.

I walked behind helping to hand out hot apple cider to the crowd.

The parade route!

My job was to take the group photos as the tours started into Bethlehem. Grandma Val along with a church member helped run the printer! They were a life saver! Afterwards, we went to Columbia for a little shopping and dinner. It was so crowded - now I remember why I do online shopping!

Brenner's writing about the first Thanksgiving. Love his spelling and neatness. This did make me laugh after watching Sinners and Saints on the History Channel last weekend!

A nice note to Brenner's teacher :)

Brenner's goal setting worksheet about math. However, when I tried to get him to do math this weekend, he said "I am not doing that acorn thing." Too funny - but he still did math :)