Gingerbread!

On our last night in the cabin we decided to decorate some gingerbread houses from a village kit. We divided the supplies evenly and split up to create some magic!

Uncle Kevin had to get creative to break up the candy canes for his reindeer's antlers.

Hannah is always full of pizazz and she handled a last minute structural fail like a champ. I loved it that her finished house had a front that looked like a face.

Lake went for a deconstructed take on the gingerbread house. He created a shelter under a bridge. Definitely creative and abstract.

I was feeling pretty excited about my structure!

We only had five little houses, so that meant that one team had to have two players. J and his sister Natalie teamed up for the triangle house.

We put out the finished houses with instructions for J's dad to guess who created what and give out two awards: Miss Congeniality and Best in Show.

It was like Christmas morning all over again when we came down to see the results!

Turns out Miss Congeniality and Best in Show got to go home together :)

White Christmas

We've lived so far from family for so long that we were really excited to be able to spend the holidays with our extended family for the first time in a long time. This year we did Christmas with J's family and all of his siblings and cousins. He's one of seven, and our kids are four of nine cousins, so it was a full house! His parents rented a cabin in the north Georgia mountains and we all came to celebrate together.

Because of J's work schedule, we weren't able to get there until Christmas Eve, but thankfully we did not have to go far, so we still had most of the day to play.

After a big dinner, we let all the kids open one gift.

Merry Christmas morning!

Within minutes of getting out of bed, it began to snow. We were so excited about a white Christmas! We overheard Ella telling another cousin, "yeah, it's Christmas so get ready because it's going to snow a big pile!" We've had two very snowy Christmases in a row, so next year could be interesting.

After breakfast and a reading of the Christmas story, the kids were excited to open their gifts.

By mid morning, the snow was coming down hard and fast, so we suited up the kids and they headed out for some snowy adventures.

They had a great time in the snow!

Christmas night we had another round of Christmas pageant performances.

And we attempted an all cousin photo shoot.

The weather definitely kept things interesting, but we were content to spend a few days inside playing before heading back home. Jack's working on his DJ skills with his new music maker.

Ella and Sadie really enjoyed playing in the tent and tube for Grandaddy and Marmee's house.

Bo had some adventures of his own in the tube as well.

I found myself so overwhelmed this year by the overwhelming gift of the Son. That God would sacrifice his Beloved to make me his beloved. It's too much to even get my mind around sometimes! What an amazing gift.

Chrismas came early

We were so excited to spend a couple of days in Atlanta before Christmas with all of my siblings and the kid's cousins. Unfortunately, daddy had to stay behind and work. Hopefully we'll have some Nelson family time that he gets to enjoy with us next year.

There was much playing with toys.

Lots of rides on the red horse.

And Bo loved his silly hat and dinosaur games.

This is how we roll at Chick-Fil-A

We also had much fun on our carriage ride around a local shopping center.
They let us all pile on for a loop!

The highlight of our time was our family Christmas pageant. Joseph and Mary spent much time preparing.

Jack waited dutifully with the narrator for his entrance.

The cast in all its absolute cuteness!

We also had fun with a little early present opening!

Before we had to scoot out of town, we were able to enjoy a big family breakfast in our Christmas pajamas.

Sadie really enjoyed her first taste of cinnamon roll!

I can't resist posting a few pics of the other cuties we got to hang with.

Bradford is an absolute delight and I love it that his whole face smiles when he gets excited. Watching the boy eat is also entertainment at its finest.

And the twins are growing up too fast! They are on the move and preciousness.

Choose your own adventure

The pink pig is one of those longstanding Atlanta traditions. My mom remembers rides as a child, and we went a few years ago with Bo and Ella when we were around for the holidays. We planned to go with all of the cousins while I was in Atlanta before Christmas. I'd mentioned the event to my kids and they were really looking forward to it. When the morning we set aside to go finally arrived, it turned out that my kids and I were the only ones who were still going to attempt to make it happen.

I was whining to my brother that I wanted to bail, but my kids are old enough to understand the change in plans and that I didn't think it was fair not to follow through.

My brother, in his infinite wisdom, said, "well, it's about a memorable experience, right? Give me a few minutes. I think we can come up with something memorable."

Meet Pink.

He was a real cutie!

After a brief explanation of the rules and the safety features of the experience, it was time to load up the wagon. Jack was a little hesitant.

He opted to begin the experience walking behind the wheelbarrow with Gigi.

After a brief stop for a candy corn, Jack realized the wagon was where it was at and joined the crowd.

And they were off once again.

Electrolyte fuel replacement was next on the list.

There was much speculation later that day about how the pink pig actually benefited from the drink since the kids were the ones drinking. We ultimately decided that there was some system of wires from the cups and the wagon that replenished kids and pig simultaneously.

We stopped on our way up the hill for a photo of the group.

After another chocolate treat and a trip under the hollow tube bridge that made a funny noise on the helmets there was a journey through the backyard to the final treasure.

We were so glad we were able to follow the clues and find the buried treasure: gum for all!

In the end, the kids were thrilled with the experience and had a great time. Jack was the only one who was a little suspect of the ride. "But I still want to go do the wicked pig," he kept saying. He was not to be convinced that a wheelbarrow with a pink felt face was the real deal!

Thanks Uncle Andy for your muscle and your imagination! Can't wait to see where the pink pig takes us next year :)

Week in Review

Man, is it possible that another week is already over?! Oh, what a week it was.

There was the snow. It was only a couple of inches, but it was sure exciting. The kids went charging into the yard.

They squealed in delight as they went down the slide.

We made snow angels.

And they ate as much ice and snow as they could cram in their mouths!

Considering the temperature was 12 degrees that morning, we didn't last long outside. We did enjoy some hot chocolate to help warm us up though.

With Bo home from school for two days, I was also able to get most of my holiday baking done. Each of the kids got a small ball of cookie dough to roll, cut, and ice on their own.

Now that was hours of fun!

We were back to school Wednesday for Bo's classroom party. He enjoyed showing of his gingerbread house.

We all got to participate in story time.

The kindergarten music program was also a big hit. Ella looked at me as Bo's class took the stage and said, "when I'm in school, I will get to be on stage for a show. Yipee!!!"

We capped off the week with some festive holiday pancakes that only mommy seemed to enjoy.

I can't believe we're headed into Christmas week! There was a lady with a young boy at ballet this past week and she casually mentioned that his birthday was December 3rd [or 4th or 5th or something like that.]
"Oh," I remarked, "how fun he has a birthday coming up! What are you planning to do to celebrate?"
She looked at me blankly for a moment and then kindly reminded me that they had, in fact, already celebrated.
Oooops.

I'm looking forward to fun filled celebrations with family members this year and enjoying traditions and food and the peace that comes from a precious Baby born so many years ago.