Daycare Christmas Parties...

What's better than a pajama Christmas Party....

 snacks...

 crafts....

 and coloring....

TEAM Christmas...

We kicked off the holiday season with the TEAM Talent Christmas program...

TEAM Talent is an amazing group of kiddos that work all semester creating and learning their lines for the Christmas debut!

It was sweet, loving, and hilarious!  I look forward to their program every year...it definitely gets you in the Christmas spirit!   

Ava Kate in awe of Santa and Ms. Claus...

Owen hangin' out with Santa....

Our TEAM Christmas Party was a few weeks later.  We all got dresses up (out of the norm of our typical scrubs and T-shirts) and enjoyed a nice dinner at the country club and a fun time with friends!

 

Most of our TEAM...

 Luke, Holly, Danielle, Travis, Trey, and Amber...

Jim Bob and Amber....

 fun times....

 Holly, Janett, Danielle, Nicole, and Alex...

A weekend at home....

Before the craziness of the holidays, we had a weekend at home with nothing to do!  It was great!  We played and played and played.  

We stayed in our pajamas all weekend...we didn't leave the house...we built forts...we crawled through tunnels...we built towers out of blocks...

...we made s'mores

Ava Kate also mastered the art of climbing....we can no longer take our eyes off this girl if there's a stool around!

It's really nice to slow down sometimes and just enjoy doing nothing!

Operation Christmas Child

Christmas is such a crazy time of year....pair that with trying to parent/raise loving, thankful, caring, GOD loving, humble children and you get two parents in search of anything and everything to teach/show our children what it looks like to love, be giving, and care for others.  Every year at this time we try to give to others that are in need....this year we chose to do this through Operation Christmas Child.  We picked a child Owen's age so he could pick out everything he thought the little boy would want.  The only catch was that it all had to fit in the box provided. This was the first year that Owen actually understood what we were doing...it just warmed our hearts.

Of course, a car was the first toy chosen!

Full of toys, crayons, coloring books... now time for some clothes!

Making sure the box would close....

Lights of the Ozark

Our annual night at Lights of the Ozark...

We typically have dinner at Tim's before the lighting of the square, but apparently everyone had that idea this year...so we moved to Damn Good Pies.  Four families with a lot of excited children made for a dinner of fun and chaos!  We all keep adding to our families which adds to the excitement each year!!

Chris and Cohen

Danielle and Ansley

Ava Kate all bundled up waiting to see Santa....

 the crew....

 ...and the sword fighting begins!

 Pictures with Santa!!!

the watkins family....

 our kiddos...

 Owen giving his letter to Santa....

Ansley...

 Owen was excited about seeing Santa, but I think the pony ride was his favorite part of the night!  Just look at that smile....

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

We started putting up the Christmas decorations the weekend before Thanksgiving.  With two small children (aka mommies little helpers) and going out of town for the holidays, it's the only way we can get it all up and have time to enjoy it.

We started the process on Friday night after the kids were in bed.  We managed to get both of the trees up so they were ready for decorating with the kids the next morning!  Owen was so surprised and excited when he saw the tree....he thought Buddy the elf (our elf on a shelf) brought it!!

Owen really enjoyed decorating the tree for his room!  He insisted on doing it all (mostly) by himself.

The finished product...

The Little People Nativity was also a big hit.  Owen loved setting it all up and Ava Kate loved carrying them all around the house....especially baby Jesus!

Owen also wrote a letter to Santa (with a little help)...

Owen loved climbing up in the chairs to "reach" a higher spot on the tree, but since the chair didn't move....neither did the ornaments!  He climbed up and down the same chair for almost thirty minutes putting as many ornaments as he could fit onto that one spot on the tree!  It was precious....and he was so proud of himself!

Ava Kate couldn't quiet figure out how to make the ornaments stay on the tree, but that didn't stop her from trying!

It took a few days, but we got it done...

The weather was perfect for putting up the outside lights, so we made it a family affair.  Josh did most of the work, but the kids and I helped with the trees between playing golf, baseball, doing side walk chalk, and going a wagon ride!