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Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Final Week!

6 Years, 32 Weeks.


A flurry of activity and final preparations this week, as we are down to the final days before Christmas.

The kids enjoyed their first week of winter break and are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the holiday.

Here are the pictures:


Maddy getting set for her gymnastics program Friday afternoon.

Braelyn and her team take a pause from practicing their routine.

She was thrilled that Mommy could come see their performance.

It went well!  They were so happy!

Very proud of these two twins!

Attended cousin Patrick's pinning ceremony Friday evening.

His mom, Auntie Net, was the one who pinned him.

The group afterwards for supper at Hubbly Bubbly.

Having fun with their pal Juliana.

Kohl preparing Mommy breakfast Sabbath morning.

Taking her plate upstairs for her.

Brae taking a snooze with her guard.

Drove to Avon Park to attend Uncle Kerry's funeral Sabbath afternoon.
He had passed a week ago of Stage 3 pancreatic cancer.

His son and daughter talking about him.  He was a good man and our family will miss him greatly.

Lala with Uncle Kerry's widow Auntie Meding (with glasses).

Meanwhile, Mommy took the kids to the dog show at the convention center.

They enjoyed seeing all the different breeds of dogs and seeing training and agility tricks.

Sunday morning Braelyn at basketball practice.

Tux getting into the spirit!

Maddy hitching a ride around the house!

Monday morning attended cousin Patrick's graduation at Calvary Assembly.

Met up with Lolo and Lala and the rest of the family.

Kohl getting love from Auntie Esther!

The group having supper at The Coop afterwards.

Group shot. 

They all came over to our house to hang out, watch a movie, and put together a gingerbread house.

Or at least, tried!

Visited the Science Center on Tuesday to get some creative energy out.

They attended a tinkering class.

They enjoyed building things with the blocks.

Maddy and her reindeer pen.

Mommy still working a lot to meet their deadline at work, so we met up with her for supper.

They missed her so!

Wednesday we swung by the library to stock up on some reading material over their break!


Quotes:

  • Driving home from school:
          Maddy:  "Daddy, how many more days until Christmas?"
          Me:  "Well, tomorrow is December 1st, and what date is Christmas?"
          Kohl:  "December last?"


  • Kohl reminded me that we had to open a present from Papa and Nana, that they wanted us to open prior to Christmas:
          Kohl:  [excitedly]  "Daddy, I know which one I want to open.  It's a bag with
                                         my name on it!"
          Me:  "But Kohlden, we can't open up presents that are under the tree.  You have to
                    wait until Christmas."
          Kohl:  "But Daddy!  It's not under the tree…it's beside the tree!"


  • I told Madelyn to eat breakfast one morning, and she took out the Cheerios from the pantry and placed them on the counter by her bowl:
          Me:  "Do you need the milk?"
          Maddy:  "Yes."  [she promptly sits down]
          Me:  "What are you doing?"
          Maddy:  "Can you pour the cereal for me?"
          Me:  "Do I have to do everything for you?"
          Maddy:  "You don't have to eat it for me!"


  • We had borrowed some books from the library, and Braelyn was trying to figure out how many books each kid had checked out, the total being 17:
          Brae:  [to Maddy]  "How many did you get?"
          Maddy:  "Six."
          Brae:  "Okay, so then Kohlden got six too."
          Kohl:  "Yeah."
          Brae:  "Do you know how I figured that out?"
          Twins:  "No."
          Brae:  "I got five books and Madelyn got six.  5 plus 6 is 11, so 17 minus 11 is 6."
          Kohl:  "What does minus mean?"
          Brae:  "Take away."
          Kohl:  "But I didn't take away any books!"



Have a great weekend!!




Friday, December 16, 2016

Holiday Festivities

6 Years, 31 Weeks.


This week was full of continuous holiday fun and activities, mostly with the kids and the school as they were wrapping up the last remaining days before Christmas break, but also with friends and family over the weekend.

Time continues to fly as we near Christmas, and the children can hardly contain their excitement.  Each day they do a quick combover of the presents to see if any new gifts appeared from the previous night.  Christmas is a mere 8 days away, and we eagerly await the time off from work and school, anticipating more fun moments and memories with friends and family.

Here was our week:


Participated in a golf tournament on Friday at the semi-private community, Bella Collina, in Monte Verde.

It has a gorgeous clubhouse, reminiscent of Tuscany, Italy, in the heart of Central Florida.

See what I mean?

The carts all lined up, ready to go.

It was blustery cold, and I had on several layers.  But playing this beautiful course made it worthwhile.

What's the cure for blue tongue?

Finally going over Thankfulness poster, where we wrote something we were thankful for every day in November.

Bringing the gift for a boy we "adopted" for the holidays at church.

Picture with the grandparents after the service.

They joined us and our friends at the Christmas party at the Hilliard's Saturday evening.

It was a wonderful get together with lots of fellowship and food!

Braelyn and Lindsay guarding the entrance to the kitchen.

They didn't want anyone stealing all this yummy goodness!

Abel and I enjoying some holiday cheer!

Lala's turn as we all played the White Elephant game.

Our gag gift, a huge can of Big Franks, which Kent ended up opening!

Jennifer "stealing" Tangie's gift bag of chocolates.  Lolo ended up stealing it from Jennifer later on!

They certainly enjoyed themselves and the warm fire!

Braelyn had a team workout and practice early Sunday morning.

Kohl and Maddy playing in our tub.

Maddy helps Lolo pick up a TV from Best Buy.

A one-on-one date with Maddy Sunday afternoon.  This girl loves her sushi!

Took her Christmas shopping for her siblings.

The cashier loved that she was paying with her own money, and took her time counting
all the change that Maddy gave her.

We picked up our holiday cards and proceeded to stuff the envelopes.

Got the whole crew to work on them before bedtime, they were so excited to help.

Buddy done with his pile, ready to move on to the next section.

New seating arrangement in the van, girls sitting together in the back.

Dentist appointment for Brae Monday afternoon.

Maddy enjoyed playing the games while sister was getting her check-up.

And the holiday cards are on their way.

A foggy morning to start the day on Tuesday.

Tuesday evening delivering holiday cheer and cards and bottles of apple cider to our neighbors.

Crashed a party at the Mahavirs!

Mid week treat to Scoops!  We haven't been there in a while!




$10 dollars from the Tooth Fairy Thursday morning!



Have a great weekend!!