Merry Christmas 2022!

Merry Christmas from the Houstons!  Throughout this holiday season, may we never forget the greatest gift we were ever given, the birth of our Savior, Jesus!

For to us a child is born,

    to us a son is given,

    and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

-Isaiah 9:6

Before Christmas, we were able to check out our local Botanical Gardens light display.  We also made our way to the Sunset Hills neighborhood to see the Christmas balls!  We enjoyed hot chocolate in the car while we looked at all the festive lights.  Zander has said that he would like this to be a yearly tradition... you know how much I like annual traditions. ;)

We made Christmas cookies at Grammy's with the Kennedy kids, a.k.a our cousins!  Maddox and Emerson were the most excited about helping with the cookie making and decorating process.  Zander and Eli would stop in every few minutes to monitor the progress and see when the cookies would be ready for consumption!

We also made our annual Happy Birthday Jesus cake!  I forgot to take a picture of the finished product but the boys made a red velvet cake with funfetti icing this year!  I always think it is cool that Jesus has the biggest birthday party every year!  Who else do you know that celebrates a birthday spread out over a few months of preparations and where we exchange gifts to represent the greatest gift we've ever been given?! :)

Daddy was off work on Friday so we went to our local bowling alley since the temperatures were in the 20s (and moving to the single digits that evening).  I won the first game and Zack won the second game. The kids even traded places in the rankings so everyone was a winner for our bowling outing! ;)

We went to Grammy and Grandpa's for Christmas Eve dinner.  It was definitely "sweater weather" with the cold front that had made its way to our house!  Burke is not a fan of sweaters. ;)  We watched "Polar Express" after a delicious dinner.  It seemed fitting we would watch Polar Express considering we had taken a train ride earlier this month on the Polar Express to the North Pole.;)

The boys enjoyed all their presents Christmas morning.  Santa brough Zander an Ipad (which he has requested for many years).  Maddox got his own Nintendo Switch! Both boys were excited to get what was on their wish list.  Maddox also requested a "real pup" but that will need to wait for a future year.  We don't want Burke to have to share the attention with another four-legged animal in our household. ;)

Christmas was on Sunday this year which meant that we got dressed and ready to head out the door after breakfast Christmas morning.  It was so special being at church with my family as celebrated Jesus' birthday.  I read somewhere that Christmas won't fall on a Sunday again for 11 years.... it is crazy to think about how much will change in that time frame!  

We wish each of you a Merry Christmas and pray you will always feel Jesus' presence in the little moments surrounding this Christmas season.  After all, he humbly came as a baby in a manger.  What a precious gift we were given all those years ago?!  I am so thankful that God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world!  What an incredible hope I have for the future because God gave us this Christmas season!

Countdown to Christmas Break!

We have been busy counting down to our Christmas break! We had dress up days each day, parties in the boys' classrooms, visits with family members back home, making gingerbread homes and spending time with Grammy while mommy had to fit in a few workdays!  Here are some pictures from a busy couple weeks!

Grammy and I got to help in both the boys' classroom parties.  I helped Kristen, Mollie's mommy, with the party in our 1st graders' classroom.  For Zander's party, I helped run a station that Mrs. Flowers had set up for them to participate in.  We had caroling in the cafeteria one day at lunch.  I loved how Zander and Emerson joined in since they share a lunch time! The Grinch even made an appearance during our lunchtime one day!  The kids got to go on a field trip to our local high school's winter play (Charlie Brown Christmas).  I was at a district meeting but Kristen snapped a picture with our M & M!  We had a winter market through student council.  Zander was such a huge help in his leadership role, getting all the items to replace our inventory.  I sent candy grams from our winter market to all three of my little ducklings. ;) 

This picture cracks me up!  Maddox was sharing some of his stuffed animals for Zack and I to cuddle with.  Burke looks like one of the stuffed animals here.

We made our way back home last weekend to see Zack's side of the family.  Fun was had by all as we celebrated with the Cantrells, Grannie, GranDan, Aunt A, Uncle Jay, Henry, PawPaw, Granny V, Uncle Grant and Sib.

We made gingerbread houses when we returned this week.  Zander had won a gingerbread home kit because of being the fastest through a ninja warrior obstacle course at Awana.  We had fun but let's just say, I don't know if gingerbread house making and decorating will become a yearly tradition! haha

Grammy entertained the boys as I went into work for a workday this week.  As of tomorrow, I am officially on Christmas break!

I got together with some of my friends for our yearly Christmas celebration.  We ate a delicious meal, enjoyed each other's company in our matching shirts from last year and exchanged gifts.  They dared me to bring out the sorority pose in this picture.... it cracks me up every time! ;)

A Trip to the North Pole on the Polar Express!

Over the summer (while we were at the beach to be exact), Linds mentioned taking a trip to the NC Transportation Museum to have the cousins ride the Polar Express!  Last year we decided to start doing activities or outings as our Christmas presents to the kids (and grandparents) rather than items wrapped under the tree.  We had a successful first year at Disney on Ice in 2021 and moved forward with planning our 2022 Christmas celebration!  We thought this was the perfect year to do the Polar Express as our boys are getting older and it will be more challenging to convince them to wear matching pajamas and board a train to the magical "North Pole".  They embraced all the fun plans for the evening and I think everyone (young and old) had a memorable train ride to the North Pole and back!  Everyone got hot chocolate, a cookie and a special bell from Santa.  I will always remember the excitement of the kids jumping up and down as the train pulled into the station to pick us up for an actual train ride complete with a stop at the North Pole where we got off the train, saw elves dancing about and even Santa made his annual appearance and handed out the first gift of Christmas!  Now I can't wait to watch the movie and continue our countdown to Christmas!

We've been celebrating Christmas at school too!  There has been a mischievous elf that has been moving around my office.  One day he even put Santa hats on all of our pictures!  The kids love seeing where that tricky elf has moved each day! 

We were able to catch our local Christmas parade last weekend!  Some of our favorite people were in the parade as well!

We've had daily dress up days!  Here is plaid day!  Emmy and I matched!

The kids did an awesome job at our church's children's program. They had small group singing parts and our 5th graders did an excellent job with their lines in the Christmas County Spelling Bee play.  I've been helping on Wednesday nights as we prepared for this performance and it was always one of my favorite hours of the week.  These kids started practicing in August and it was evident that their hard work paid off.  Maddox somehow found himself near a microphone and his voice was heard loud and clear on each song.... thank goodness he knew the words since the songs have been playing in our car since August as well! ;)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Zack finished the decorations outside last weekend! I love coming home in the evenings to our Christmas display! :)

We squeezed in a visit to see Santa in between our children's program dress rehearsal and Seph's birthday party yesterday.  The boys were able to tell Santa and Mrs. Claus exactly what they wanted.  The top two things being an Ipad (Z) and a Nintento Switch (M).  Maddox has also requested a "real puppy"!  haha  You can see below what happens when you add a three year old to the mix!  I can't wait to show Eli these pictures when he is older! 

Dad even got to eat lunch in my car.... something I was not able to do in his car growing up! ;)

The biggest activity of the week was Zander singing "Christmas Shoes" with NewSong.  He was asked  about two weeks ago to join them when they came to our church.  He did such a great job on the stage singing his solo.  I was so impressed with his ability to get up there and sing with a very famous band.  We had practiced the song each day leading up to the event.  I realized the night of the song that I hadn't had him practice the instrumental version.  He had always had the lyrics included for him.  He also never ran through the song with the band prior to the performance that night.  He walked up on stage when he was told and did an amazing job singing in front of many people!  We prayed beforehand that God would be with him, calm his nerves and that his voice would be used to point others toward Christmas and Jesus.  I could not be more proud of him for taking advantage of this opportunity he was given. 

Talking with Eddie Carswell, writer of the song "Christmas Shoes", before the concert

Zander with Billy Goodwin, the voice behind the famous song "Christmas Shoes"

Some of Zander's friends from school were there Friday night!

My co-worker sent me this picture as we left school one day!  Zander decided to use my umbrella and it's so cute to see his little shadow followed by his little brother!  It was pouring rain that morning.  You can see there was no need for umbrellas that afternoon. ;)

Zack has been reading a kid-version of the Iliad with the boys before bed.  Each boy has their own copy!  It is so sweet to watch and hear while I'm checking off the nightly to-do list.

These cousins continue to enjoy our mornings together before school!

We added a new ottoman after Maddox stood on our coffee table and went through the glass last spring!  It stores their nerf guns inside and is a great seat for Mario Kart racing!  I am equally excited that if a child stands on it, they won't go through glass!  Maybe one day we can have nice things again! 

The boys enjoyed celebrating Seph's birthday with bowling and laser tag!  M broke 100 on his first game of bowling with a score of 105.  Z came in 2nd in laser tag behind Uncle Chris!

Google sends the cutest collages.... check out these three little ducklings (what I call them as they are getting out of my car each morning at school) over the years! ;)