'Twas the Weekend Before Christmas

The weekend before Christmas our girls had a birthday party at our gym.  They love playing with all the stuff...and even Emory was old enough to get in on the action.

Hanging out with Aunt Kim and Paisley..

We did some last minute Christmas shopping...and my hubby picked some things out for himself at TJ Maxx.  HA!

On Sunday we went to church like usual...

And then had lunch at Pamaw's house afterward.  Pam had some of those Hobby Lobby craft kits and the girls tore into them.  It was so cute to watch them all sitting by the Christmas tree "crafting" away.

Sunday night we hung out at Jason and Sarah's with some family friends who were in town from New Jersey (why didn't I take a picture of all of us??)  Emory LOVES babies right now...she loves to look at Hollyn and she loves to play with her toy babies and feed them "bobbles".

On Monday morning Emory and I finished up some shopping while Brynn and Ansley and Charli decorated Christmas cookies at Pamaw's with Pamaw and Mollie.  They had a big ol' time.

Then that night we had SUCH A BLAST!  My aunt and my cousins who live in Bolivar, MO (near Springfield) were all in town.  They came over to see our house, and then we all headed to Brynn's indoor soccer game.  The cheering was HILARIOUS...thanks Ty!  We had such a great time visiting and watching Brynn play...I think she played the best I've ever seen her...must have been the thunderous cheering section.  HA!

Then we ALL headed to  BG's for some yummy dinner to celebrate the evening.  Brynn was slightly smitten with these two.  =)

And Emory was just smitten with all the yummy food (aka potato skins ).

Need I say more??

On Tuesday my cousins came back over and the big girls (me, Tori, Morgan, and Brynn) went shopping at some cute boutiques in town, and and the boys (Ryan, Ty, and Marshall) took Emory to Lowe's and Home Depot.  =)  Then we all met up before heading to Zalma later that night to go to my Aunt's house in Zalma for a hilarious night of Christmas games and a fish-fry.

We are so blessed by our awesome families and so thankful to get to make special memories with them!

Nonna's Christmas Party

Our last day of Footprints before Christmas was on Thursday, and then the next day on Friday we headed over to Nonna's for her annual Christmas party.  It is seriously one of my favorite events of the year!  The kids have so much fun and I love hanging out with my friends whose kiddos go to Nonnas.  (And there is always a ton of delicious food!)

First up every year...the FREEZE DANCE!

Emory was just watching all the big girls...

Then we headed into Nonna's kitchen for all the yummy food...a bunch of the kiddos headed straight for their table...

While we were waiting for Santa to arrive, we did the freeze dance again.  It's just this random song (not a Christmas song or anything, but just a tradition).

Emory was busting some moves...

with some help from big sis...

Then we heard bells and SANTA ARRIVED!

He called Brynn very first, so she headed up to sit on his lap and tell him what she wanted.

Nonna has a TON of Christmas decorations, and literally hundreds of Santa figurines.  Emory's favorite word all December was "Tan-ta" ANYTIME we saw a picture of Santa ANYWHERE!  When he walked in she was all "tan-ta!  tan-ta!" But when it was time for her to sit with him.....

I had a feeling this was how she was going to feel about him this year.  We all laughed so hard, and poor Santa, he kept trying and trying to get her to sit on his lap...to no avail!

Thanks to my friend Lindsay for capturing our attempts.  =)

 
Sorry Santa...it ain't happening this year!

All Nonna's kiddos (and some siblings)

THANK YOU NONNA for such an awesome party!

Footprints Christmas Program and Teacher Par-Tay

The last week of school before Christmas Break was filled with lots of fun activities and programs!

On Tuesday, all the Footprints kiddos sang for the Senior Adult Luncheon.  It was so cute...the kids did great and I know the "Forerunners" (as the Senior Adults are called at our church) loved seeing the kids sing and parade around!

They even joined in on several songs!

They practiced a couple of mornings for their big Christmas program, and still had lots of time in their classroom...these girls love to practice writing letters on their whiteboards!  SO CUTE!

They had a class party at school, and got to wear their PJ's!

Then on Thursday is was time for the big Footprints Christmas Program!  The 3's and the Pre-K classes did a special song and memory verse, and then sang a bunch of songs with their music teacher, Mr. Fred.  The kids wore their PJ's like they were singing by the fire with "Pawpaw Fred."

Playing their drums for the Little Drummer Boy song.

The Fellowship Hall was decorated and after the program all the parents and grandparents came in for treats and to celebrate!

That night we had the annual Teachers Party and we had it at our house.  We had SO MUCH FUN...we wore our ugly Christmas sweaters, had lots of yummy food, laughed so much, played games, had our annual Dirty Santa ornament exchange, etc.  Kristi even did a makeover on Chasidy!

FUN GAMES!  (See unfinished house project in the background...TV built-ins)...HA!

My girls had a sleepover at my moms, and we were up late hanging out and having fun!  Ryan came back after taking the girls to my parents and he snapped a couple of group pictures for us.  =)

I LOVE my job and these girls SO MUCH!  They make it such a blast going to work!  I seriously think Kari is laughing so hard in the picture it looks like she is about to throw up/cry (but I promise she is laughing!) HAHAHA!

We had to teach Mrs. Diane what a "selfie" is =)

Such a GREAT last week before Christmas!