Merry Christmas!

We wrapped up school, started basketball practice, had a sleepover, baked cookies, went caroling, had our first snow - oh and had Christmas! What a fun time we are having! We wish you the very merriest Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus!

Nola at her first practice. She was really disappointed to be the only girl. She cracked me up though - when they said "stretch" - she popped down into the splits!

Nola and her buddies at her Christmas breakfast at school. We brought healthy glazed donuts!

Nola told Santa (whom she told me wasn't the real Santa but a man named Cliff) that she wanted sleigh bells from his sled for Christmas!

Who knows- wacky girls!!!!

Brenner's friends at his party (which was pretty lame). Some snacks (well lots of snacks) and nothing else. I think his teacher had already checked out earlier in the week!

On the last day of school, we invited some friends over to spend the night. We baked and decorated gingerbread cookies. They turned out really tasty and the kids were great helpers!

On Friday night, Matt and I headed to some friends for a dinner party. Brenner took a picture of us. He is still working on focusing!

We then took a picture of the kids - they are getting to be so grown up!

Remember when Nola could hold KC?

It snowed Christmas Eve morning so the kids went out and played before church. Our angel :)

Where's B?

After the snow fun, we headed to a local nursing home with our church to carol for the residents.

Nola sand her heart out! That evening, we went to Grandma Val's church in Concordia to their Christmas Eve service. It was wonderful to hear Brenner and Nola sing (load and proud in a crowd of about 12!). I think they made everyone smile a bit bigger!

The cookies are ready for Santa. Brenner has been questioning if Santa is real. I think he knows but still wants to believe (and didn't want to mess things up for his sister). However......

....on Christmas morning (5:25 am was our wakeup call), Nola said she saw an elf in the night when she got up to get a drink of water. That made Brenner ask some extra questions!

The kids gifts to one another!

The aftermath - Nola's face was priceless. I was proud of the kids - they wanted me to go first and took their turns wanting to see what everyone received. Nola wrapped extra presents and notes for each of us - what a sweet child.

Brenner "big" gift! Trails here we come!

This laser tag game was a big hit - last minute purchase that was well worth it (so far anyway!).

Next we packed up and headed to Grandma Val's for lunch and presents. Brenner and Cousin Colten discussed Pokemon cards for quiet a while! Eadlin cheesing it up!

Nola IN her gift bag - silly goose. It was a great time - my sister game me a framed picture that included letters my Grandpa Hilbrenner wrote to my Grandma (Nola). It made me weepy but in a good way! The only down side was my dad wasn't feeling well. Please continue to pray for him.

Some notes that Nola's classmates wrote to her.

How Nola would handle Santa being stuck in the chimney - lots of poking!

Ballet, Christmas Program, and Hunt Christmas

Christmas is inching closer and closer, and we are having a ball! Lots of activities....so it is easy to get lost in the bustle and forget to not take each day for granted. Make the most of each day - that is what I am trying to keep in mind each day so that the hamster wheel doesn't get the best of me!

Last Sunday, we went to the Nutcracker ballet in Kansas City with Grandma Val, Aunt Lynnie, Cousin Eadlin, and Elly. Last year we got iced out but this year the weather was beautiful!

Nola practicing her moves before the doors opened :)

On Saturday, we headed to Anheuser Busch Warm Spring Farms. Just a few miles from our house - but the line was 50 minutes to get in! 

The wait was worth seeing the Clydesdales - here is a momma and her colt.

Picture time! We had a lot of fun with my friend from work (Danielle) and her husband Kevin.

The kids being silly before we headed home to have soup and snacks with our friends.

On Sunday, Brenner played The First Noel for the prelude before heading back to get dressed for the Christmas Program - Star Trip - Our Faith Awakens!

The three wisemen were Luke Skywatcher, Yoma (Brenner), and Only One Kanobe. They did a great job!

Nola was a reader and did a fantastic job reciting her memorized lines!

The cast - bravo!

We had a crowd with Uncle Chris, Aunt Lynnie, Grandma Val, Grammy Vo, and PawPaw Floyd (plus Aunt Theresa and Uncle Chuck who were MIA for the photo). Thanks for coming everyone!

We then had Christmas with Matt's side of the family - lots of fun!

The kids flew through the presents - didn't get too many pictures but the boys were fascinated with the coin and coin books from Grammy and PawPaw.

 

Brenner after unwrapping the Rival Nemesis nerf gun. Do you think he was excited?! Nola got many wonderful/fun gifts that she took to her room and played with intently!

Congrats to Brenner for reading the Mark Twain Award books - he has read 7 of the 12.

Nola telling you how to cook a turkey :)

Some writing from Nola - I love my mom and dad. I love them......

...because they she bakes cookies and cake. My dad loves to play with nerf guns. I love them.
What a sweet girl!

New 'do and many other things

Wow - it has just been so busy around here! We are all doing well with lots of fun activities to fill our days!

Nola has been begging me for months to get her hair cut. So we went to Kendra to help us out. This is the first cut - Nola was so excited!

She looks so grown up! Kendra cut 6.5 inches off!

That smile shows how much she loves it!

Brenner's awesome third grade teacher came back (she has taken a job in another district) to take the kinds to see Wonder. Mrs. Owen then came to our house to have pizza - Brenner had a ball! Mrs. Owen is so awesome!!!!

November was Native American History Month and my work brought in several dancer to teach us about the various dances. We even had the opportunity to dance. It was a great event!

Our church had a living nativity. Brenner dressed as a wise man (pictured) and Nola an angel (not in the picture).

This past week I headed to Washington DC for work. I learned that the Kennedy Center has free concerts every night at 6 pm (thanks, lady in the hotel elevator that I chatted with!). On Wednesday night, a colleague and I headed over and heard the US Army Chorus. They were fantastic!

I jumped on an early Thursday morning flight so that I could get back for Nola's first grade Christmas concert.  She was very excited!

Pictures are out of order - but this is Nola posing at home before heading to school.

Sing it. girl!  Nola is always very animated - she is fun to watch. And - she insisted on wearing one of my winter scarves.

Not sure what was going on here - but I love it!

Nola with her buddies after the concert!

Nola came home from school on Friday and asked me for wrapping paper and tape. I eventually went to her room to see what was going on - she decided to select items from her room for each of her classmates and write them a special note. I am so proud of her. I recently bought a sign that said "BElieve THEre is GOOD in the world". We all need that and Nola was doing it. When I asked her why - she said "I just want the others to be happy." Wow - what if we all did that?

I spent 13 hours Friday doing my goodie gift boxes. 12 varieties and 8 boxes later I called it done. So excited for folks to receive them!

Saturday afternoon, friends Danielle and Kevin invited us to Tuba Christmas at the mall. It was a lot of fun. We then had to do some dress shopping for Nola (going to the ballet tomorrow and her fancy dresses were too small!). Fun day but realized we hadn't been to the mall at Christmas time in a loooong time (ugh!).