First Basketball Game -- 20-14 Win!

Noah had his first basketball game today and it was cute to watch all the kids playing. I have to say it's pretty funny to watch - the kids are all just beginners and they are walking/double dribbling/fouling, etc, but man, the smiles on those kids faces as they are running up and down the court. Noah had FUN today. I was so glad to see him smiling and enjoying himself and the fact that his team won was just a great big plus. With all the craziness I know he is having fun and learning at the same time. Now, if we can just get him to pay attention to the ball instead of making sure that Grammy, Papa, Mom and Dad are watching him!

A Visit With Santa

We took the kids to see Santa this evening and the bigger ones were so excited. They have been asking for days when we were going to go see him. They had written their letters a couple of nights before, so they were ready to clue Santa in on what they were wishing for. Kate did amazing - better than we had hoped. We went in with a game plan - Keep her facing me as I place her on Santa's lap and then hand her a candy cane to distract her. Except that when I sat her down she did a total turn around and checked him out very closely before she decided he was okay with her as long as he didn't take away her candy cane. We managed to snap a few pictures and get a good one taken by the elf before she lost it. I love seeing the kids during all of this. The magic of Christmas is truely a wonderful thing. =)

Letters to Santa

The kids wrote their letters to Santa tonight. Noah wrote his out himself, letting Santa know exactly what he wanted. His list hasn't changed a bit - I love a guy who knows what he wants. ;)

Rachel on the other hand, has no real idea what she wants... I wrote her letter word for word and then she signed it at the bottom. I also wrote Kate's letter per Rachel and Noah's request asking for what they thought she needed and would like. Love these guys for thinking of little Kate-Kate. =) Now to go see Santa tomorrow - I think I'm as excited as the kids are!

Snow at Mamaw's House

Hello Snow

Kate's first snow. Noah and Rachel spent the night at Mamaw's last night so they are enjoying it at her house this morning. =)

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Before the tree trimming and straightening... We had to do a lot of work to straighten this thing out! Glad we finally got it standing straight and tall!

We decorated our tree last night - the kids were so happy and excited to see the ornaments and put them on the tree. Amazingly this year I had limitless patience for all the bunched up ornaments close to the the floor. In fact I love looking at them - seeing two and three ornaments spread across one branch because that's where little hands wanted to place them. Bless their hearts, they get so proud to see the ornaments there where they put them. Kate enjoyed watching the kids decorate and also she liked playing with the Sesamee Street ornaments Rachel hung down really low just for her. She is super close to crawling and we may be in trouble by Christmas. We had a time trying to get the tree stable and after a couple of hours of trying and trimming I think we finally have it. Let's hope so! Doug put the lights on and then the kids put most of the ornaments on with me hanging the more breakable ones near the top. The tree is so tall this year that Doug had to help me hang ornaments - something he usually leaves up to us. Our star broke in all the excitement of the tree being unstable, so when we get the new one and have it all situated I'll get a picture of the whole thing on here to share with everyone.

I want to send out love and prayers to the Immel family today - I lost a special friend to cancer last night. She was very young and has a husband and two young children. She lost her battle after 3 and half years of fighting. Shauna was such a strong and inspirational woman. I was lucky to know her. Hold your family close - Life is a gift and a blessing.

The Perfect Tree-

We found our Christmas tree yesterday and as usual, Doug went for the biggest tree on the lot. It almost didn't fit in our dining room where we had planned to put it. (That's Clark Griswald for you...) We found it at the Co-op: handy because we didn't have far to drive to get it home. We will be decorating it tonight as Doug and I had the opportunity to see a movie last night (Yay!) and by the time we got everybody home and settled it was too late. We need to buy new lights - Noah has requested colored lights. I now understand why Mom always wanted white lights... and we as kids always wanted the colored ones. I can't wait to see the kids faces when it's finished. =) Slowly, slowly it's beginning to look and feel like Christmas at our house. I love this time of year.