Snow days, Norovirus, Family, and Presents

Matt and the kids had a couple of snow days and then norovirus hit our house - just in time for my days off of work! In between that fun - we have had lots of family time celebrating the real meaning of Christmas - the birth of Jesus. That focus is kinda hard to keep with Grandmas in the mix :) We pray you have a safe and happy week!

Our little entrepreneur - seeking out jobs to earn money. A kid after my own heart!

My view as I was leaving for work on the snow days!

Matt had an ugly sweater contest at work. We recycled my counted cross stitch Christmas sweatshirt from high school. Yes that is a heart candy cane, cute bears and "joy". He said he got a few looks - which is so funny!

Brenner was up all Thursday night with the norovirus. So both kids were kept home from school Friday since Nola was complaining of a tummy ache. They were playing nicely together!

Nola helping me make Rhonda's sugar cookies - a Christmas tradition.

Saturday at Grandma Val's house!

Farkle time!

Some lunch - we had a little mishap at Thanksgiving so all kids were required to eat in the dining room rather than the living room (with the carpet).

Cousins!

Mackie, Nola, and Eadlin

Double trouble - Gannon and Brenner.

Birthday buddies Aunt Lynnie and Brenner.

Stocking time - bring on the toothbrushes, mouthwash, and candy!

Even during present time he continues to pester.......

Nola opening up the doll she wanted from Grandma!

The hot chocolate bar was a hit!

Decorating cookies - so. many. sprinkles.

Matt losing bad and pretending to be happy during the saran ball wrap game!

All the fun ended as we were leaving Grandma's house. Nola sad her tummy hurt - she made it home before getting sick (thank goodness!). See the shirt pillow? My sister had those made from my dad's shirts and we all got to pick one out - pretty cool!

The kids were slated to play duets with their teacher at church. Nola stayed home but Brenner played The First Noel. Great job, Brenner!

The boys then headed to Grammy Vo's for Christmas. Aunt Theresa, Brenner, and Grammy.

Nola made it out of her room by the afternoon.

Matt brought some presents home from Grammy's house and Nola put them to use right away!

Celebrating the season

There are so many ways to celebrate Christmas - and I think we are trying them all this year!  We are enjoying our events and my heart if full. Truly the most wonderful time of the year.

We went to the community Christmas concert at the invitation of Nancy, our former piano teacher, and accompanist for the concert. It was wonderful! My favorite was Nancy' solo of Mary Did You Know - moved me close to tears.

Tuesday was the 4H Christmas party. Nola had a ball.....

....being silly!

Had to make bonbons for my peeps - the family enjoyed them too!

Matt and Brenner headed down to Hermitage Friday night. The cabin floor hadn't cracked - yet!

Saturday morning, Nola wanted to bake/cook. Here she is making some White Christmas bark.

We also got a little crafty making stained glass Christmas cards! Nola did great job using the iron for the first time!

Next we were off to church to help with the Angel Tree Project. Google it - great project. We had fun meeting new friends, making gingerbread houses, and eating candy of course!

While the boys are away, us girls did play! Shopping and an early pizza dinner. I kinda complained about dinner at 3 pm but Nola's strategy was actually well planned because everywhere was packed come 5 pm!

She obsessed over this coat.....perhaps Santa heard her request - she has been a very good girl!

Sunday was the Christmas Program at church - An Emoji Christmas (video at https://www.facebook.com/nelson.umc/videos/10215162822641252/). Nola was the angel emoji. Well done, Nola! 

 Brenner had a small speaking part and was ecstatic to be there bahaha!

Grandma Val made the trek despite the snow! She didn't share lunch with us as planned so she could get home but we sure appreciated her being there!

Sunday afternoon chilling out at home while the snow fell.

Nola decided that she wanted to rearrange her room - Matt accepted the challenge. And the best part - her room is CLEAN!!!!!!! A Christmas miracle :)

Music and parades

 I was in Washington for work so Matt was holding down the fort. The kids are anxious for Christmas but Matt and I are having a little trouble getting in the spirit. We will get there - perhaps faster if the kids went with the flow.

 While in DC, I love going to the Kennedy Center for their free concerts. On Monday, I caught a hand bell concert with some friends. It was awesome - high school and adult groups.

 I had to make it home by Friday evening so that I could go to the Pirate Plunder to see Brenner's school work and band concert. Here Brenner is with his social studies project.

 Brenner coded a dance video in Computer Tech. It was cool! 

 The 6th grade band played awesome!

 Snooze Alarm was great because of Brenner's triangle solo (he was the alarm clock!). Brenner also played the cymbals - when he crashed them his hair would fly up - it was funny!

 The city boy and country boy at the concert :) They have come a long way in 5 years.

 Nola attended a birthday at the skating rink......

 ....then it was off the Christmas parade with our church. The weather was gorgeous.

 I kinda made Matt put the lights on the tree without my help.

 It turned out great!

Some of Nola's school work. They learned a fun song about Missouri's border states.

Being thankful

A DJ on KLove noted this week that Thanksgiving is so great because people aren't expecting anything (except maybe a full tummy). No presents, candy, costumes - just family and friends to give gratitude for blessings. And thank the good Lord we are blessed - beyond all measure. I hope you are feeling the same way!

No school for Matt and the kids on Wednesday and I had an early release. So we went to HuHot.....

....before seeing Frozen 2. Brenner wasn't excited but we chuckled when we saw one of his soccer teammates there as well (with his younger siblings - he wasn't too pleased either). But we enjoyed the show and agreed with Brenner that there were "a lot of solos - maybe too many".

Our Thanksgiving day tradition continued with serving at the local community dinner. This year Matt and Nola delivered meals around the community. Grandma Val, Brenner, and I worked with others filling the orders. Brenner was a master at the green beans - someone referred to him as the "Bean Man" which made Grandma Val smile as that was Grandpa Hilbrenner's CB handle. He was there with us for sure! Nice hair net, Grandma!

After we sent out 350+ meals, we headed to the school to have some food ourselves. Brenner refrained from eating the green beans lol!

The tryptophan must have kicked in......

Matt and Nola were giggling down stairs so I went down to check it out. They were programming Nola's Sphero - and having it say funny stuff along the way. Brenner is obsessed with poop everything - calling everything a poop stick. So Nola programmed the ending to say "Brenner is a poopstick." He laughed at first and then got mad because he thought we were making fun of him. We have to learn to laugh at ourselves!

On Friday, we hosted a friends lunch and had a ball! Such good people. We wanted a selfie with Brenner but those all turned out blurry!

Miss Nola is growing up!

Silliness as we were taking our Christmas card picture!

Another out take- those two are silly!

Both kids were glad to have a break in school. This picture was posted on the school fb page - Brenner and his classmates working hard at math! Go Brenner! He had a chance to earn extra credit over break but he purposefully left the sheet at school.....