Matthew-ism

Funny story....

We were all working to put away Christmas decorations.  Lindsey and Matthew were working hard NOT to work.  Lindsey was pestering Matthew to name his LEAST favorite holiday.  He kept insisting he didn't have one.  She insisted and was all in his face demanding he pick one.  At last he responded, "Fine, YOUR birthday!"  We all busted up laughing.  It was classic!

The week after Christmas

On Christmas day we got a text giving us some amazing news.  Some friends of us in our ward are pretty important people at Advocare who happen to be sponsoring the Bowl game where Texas A&M  Football is playing, and they arranged for us to have some tickets to the game!  We got word on Christmas and told our kids and they whooped and hollered and cheered!

We really were in the VIP section with food, and drinks, and coloring activities, it was awesome.  We saw the trophy that the winner would get.

It worked really well that we'd already been planning to head to Houston for a few days to see the family we weren't with on Christmas.  We went via Waco and spent an afternoon with my dad and Samantha having pizza and played ticket to ride with our new addition that grandpa gave us.  It was a nice afternoon.

Then to see Grandma and Grandpa McKneely's in College Station.  It was nice to spend time just with them. We watched classic Christmas movies we hadn't had a chance to watch  yet, Home Alone and Elf.  Stephen helped his dad fix the fire place and was crowned hero.  Kaitlyn whipped up a batch of her cupcakes for Grandma.  Grandpa rescued the tired parents and took the kids outside to play kickball, and the kids learned the card game "Scum".

Then we went on to Cypress to be with Andy and Laura and it was warm enough that they could swim! Then that night we went to the game.  Lindsey decided to stay behind with cousins so Andy came with us.  And just for documentation of a memory I hope we don't remember--after getting home from the game at 1:00, we awoke at 2:30 by Lindsey who informed us Kaitlyn had thrown up.  We figure she got over heated in her favorite fuzzy onesie pajamas and couldn't handle it.  It was NOT fun!

When we got home we had a huge project to do....The boat needed detailing.  We were a little frustrated because the weather leading up to Christmas had been unseasonably warm and nice but the boat wasn't done at the mechanic but sure enough after we got home and when the weather was cold, the boat was done.  So despite the cold, we washed and detailed the boat (AND the van and corolla as well).  Teaching our children to work and work hard can be challenging but is important!

But after the work, we did have some time for play.  We went bowling with our friends, the Furness' on New Years Eve and spent our evening with the Torpy's.  We have such a wonderful group of friends.

One of the things I loved about Christmas was that Santa gave us gift cards for family experiences and we used our Cinemark gift card to go see "Sing!" and it was adorable!

Ave Maria

This girl makes my heart want to burst I'm so proud of her!

A few weeks ago when we decided we were going to be home for Christmas, Stephen was asked to play the violin in our Christmas service at church.  When he got out the music and looked at it, he wondered if Kaitlyn could handle the job of accompanying her.  She sat down and the piano and played it with very few mistakes.  It brought tears to my eyes, it was beautiful.  She really has a gift!

She had 10 days, and no school so plenty of time to practice.  Her piano teacher allowed her to have a lighter load that week so she could practice and she and Stephen practiced each day leading up to Christmas.  They even had impromptu concerts for neighbors and friends.

When it came time for her to perform, she was poised, a little nervous, but it was so powerful, beautiful and I was so proud of her.

There was one little moment when she lost her place and stopped but it was just for a beat and she picked up right where she left off and in the perfect spot, Stephen caught it too and stayed with her.  It by far was my favorite Christmas gift.  

December 2016--week 3

Some fun things this week....

We were given tickets to go see Trans Siberian Orchestra at the American Airlines Center.  We went with the Keelers because we thought they'd enjoy it.  We had really great seats in a box in a VIP area.  It was loud.  Parking was awful and we were worried we wouldn't get there in time.  Before too long all the songs sounded the same.  But it was fine.

December 23rd.

Holidays can be hard when you've lost ones that you love.  For me, I reserve December 23 to be my day to remember mom and grieve her loss.  It's an anniversary of her death.  This year I went with my girls and took her some poinsettias, we also shared some chocolate.

 

Then that evening we invited some friends over for dinner (Chili, hot dogs) and played games and watched Charlie Brown Christmas.  We also decorated some special sugar cookies our home teacher gave us in a kit--they're sweaters!  They were pretty fun to decorate!

Christmas Eve 2016

We usually are all together with the McKneelys at Christmas.  But we spent an extended amount of time with them at Thanksgiving and they all were in Dallas last weekend for our concert and for the blessing of Elena Charlotte Bennion and so we decided it was a good year to have Christmas at home.

The Bennions also decided to be home for Christmas so we invited them over for a pizza dinner and a Luke 2 reenactment.  It didn't disappoint.

"Good Will Toward Men"

It was a glorious weekend of singing!

Matthew, Kaitlyn and I participated in the MCO Christmas Concert.  

It was Matthew's first concert and he did wonderful!  He LOVES singing and loved MCO.  They sang "Santa Claus is coming to Town" and "In the Bleak Midwinter"

Kaitlyn also has enjoyed her time in MCO and is making some wonderful friends.  Her niche really is in music and we are so grateful she's able to participate in this. 

And we're grateful for family and friends who came to support us.  Even Sarah and Alex were able to time their Christmas trip to be in Dallas to be able to come.   

December 2016--week 2

'Tis the season!  And that means church Christmas parties.  Kaitlyn and I were at choir rehearsal, but the rest of the gang went and a couple even had their photo taken with Santa! Sam was not interested in a photo....

I was excited to go with Lindsey and her classmates to the Dallas Museum of Art.  It was a fun day.  I am so glad I went.  At the last minute a bunch of chaperones and her teacher were unable to make it and they re-did all the groups which resulted in Lindsey not being with any of her friends.  She got off the bus to meet me at the museum and burst into tears.  We made the day fun anyway but I am so glad I was the chaperone to try and smooth that over.

But she was THRILLED to see this fun chair made of stuffed pandas at the museum, she's got a thing for Pandas.

So proud of my 4 children who participated in their Christmas Piano recital.  Cera Keeler is their teacher and she's been very good for them.  This was Matthew's first recital.  It's a lot of work to get 4 children to practice like they should but when they do, they progress so nicely.  

 Grandpa Lewis came to attend the piano recital.  While here he took some time to read a story to my children that he always enjoyed when he was their age.

 Something fun we've been participating in is our church's Christmas social media campaign "Light the World".  There are different things we can do each day.  It's really helped me with my desire and tradition of doing an advent calendar.  This year, each day we're invited to do something that turns us to Christ.

One day the invitation was to share stories of Christ,  So for Family Night we invited each of our children to share their favorite story about Christ from the scriptures.  We learned about Christ calming the seas, healing the 10 lepers, and walking on water.  But when it became sweet Matthew's turn he used this nativity scene and told us his favorite story was when Jesus was born.  When I asked him why it was his favorite, he responded, "Because that was the beginning of all the miracles."  The spirit filled the room and I was so touched

On another night we were invited to show compassion.  Sweet Sister Irene Brown passed away a few weeks ago and so we went and heart attacked Brother Jim Brown.