Happy New Year!

We are celebrating New Year's Eve at the beach, where we are watching the Tide play for a shot at the National Championship game. A fun fact about me is that I have a difficult time watching games, unless we happen to be ahead by four or five touchdowns. Although many consider those types of games total snoozefests, that is usually the only time I can relax and watch. My nervousness about a win can be measured by my proximity to the television. The fact that I have the iPad deployed means that it's still anyone's game.

We have had a wonderful Christmas, I celebrated a birthday, and we are taking some time to relax at the beach. Last year has been good overall (certainly far better than we deserve), and we are very excited about 2016.

Updates to come soon, but in the meantime we are wishing you much peace, light and happiness for 2016.

School Field Trip: Alabama Theatre

As should be obvious by now, last week at school was the best ever. There were games, activities, a Christmas concert, parties and then a school-wide field trip to the Alabama Theatre. I was very excited to hear the organ, and the group had a Christmas sing-a-long.  Then everyone settled into their seats to watch Santa Claus 3: The Escape Clause. 

We sat with a fellow set of twins who are dear friends. Afterward, the monkeys checked out, and we grabbed lunch at Chick-fil-A.  

#BestWeekEver

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Christmas Party, K4

George's K4 Christmas party was last week. Students were supposed to dress up as their favorite fictional Christmas character, and Santa was the obvious choice. Unfortunately, this was the first year George did not have a Santa suit, and he refused to wear his Elf pajamas and go as "Elf". That only left the Frosty option, and he rocked it.

George's class made bell necklaces, sang songs, opened presents (book exchange) and devoured their delicious spread.

Neighborhood Party

Last Saturday we joined Skip's parents for their neighborhood Christmas party.  They served some scrumptious food, had a train running through the neighborhood and even managed to nab Santa during his busiest time of year! We had such a good time, and we enjoyed visiting with everyone.

Christmas Party, 3rd Grade

Last Thursday I found myself in an errand marathon, like the many other parents who were racing to go to multiple parties on the same day. 

Here's how it went down: 

- Duo to school by 7:30

-William George and I went to Publix to pick up cupcakes for the girls' party

-George delivered to school by 7:50

-Return to Public for four gallons of orange juice (DOH!)

-Pick up trays from Chick-Fil-A

-Food delivered to the girls' school at 8:30am.  

Their party started at 9, and they enjoyed playing games, eating and visiting with their friends, parents and teachers.  

This little game involved the stacking of miniature snow balls. Gracie won her round, but I missed getting a photo. Lauren made a valiant effort.  

After the party ended at 10am, I had to scoot out to get to George's party, but we rescued them at noon when we returned to check them out.  

Dance Exhibition

Last week as school wound down, extracurricular programs began wrapping up for the break. William George had his last gymnastics and computer class, and his teacher sent this cute graphic:

Lauren and Grace had their last dance class with a brief exhibition. Usually the older girls do not perform, but this year we had an extra treat.

After dance we grabbed dinner at Panera Bread and then went to the library for a special showing of "Elf". We ran into some friends, and we talked until the trio were too tired to continue with the movie.  Since this is a busy week, we have to pace ourselves, and therefore, we came home to turn in.

Last Wednesday, the duo's school had their Christmas program, during which the entire school sang various Christmas songs, and then each grade performed a three-song set. A little known fact about me is that I LOVE Christmas music. In fact, I don't mind when various outlets start playing those lovely songs on November 1st because it is the most beautiful music, and we usually only hear it a few weeks out of the year. Also, I really enjoy a large choir, but sometimes I would prefer that a choir just belt out 10-12 Christmas classics, versus going through a full cantata, complete with narration, etc.

Anyrate, the children sang beautifully, and we could not have been more complimentary to the school's (part time) music teacher. This young lady teaches at three different schools, and yet she managed to orchestrate a wonderful performance from these K-5 students.

These song birds had so much fun!

Acolytes

Grace and Lauren wanted to sign up to be acolytes at our church during the traditional service at 11:00am. A very sweet friend of ours coordinates the acolytes and conducted a training day back in September with children in the church interested in serving.

Sunday was the girls' first day to serve, and they were very excited. They were also a little nervous, too, but our friend's son, Preston, served along with them, helping to put them at ease. Skip had a cold all weekend so he stayed home with William George, while the girls went to church.

I hadn't plan to film, but couldn't resist capturing a little footage for Skip, who has to miss it:



Acolyte Service 2015 from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.

They really enjoyed participating, and I was glad to be in the traditional service again. We used to attend that service and even had the girls dedicated during that service (nine years ago), but since most of our children's programs are scheduled during the earlier hours we have been attending the 9:45 for years.

After church, we celebrated by going to Target to pick up new pajamas for their AR party at school today. (Completely off topic, I have done a very poor job of documenting special school days this year. There are no pics of red ribbon week and nothing from 4K either. I'm going to have to give myself a "straight face" on that one.) We agreed to let them pick out their own pajamas for the party (instead of just wearing their new Christmas pj's) if they met the mid-year goal required to attend the party. Instead, they met the year-end goal to attend both the December and May parties. They made their choice and insisted on picking up a new pair for George as well.

William George has insisted on wearing his pair basically non-stop and is feeling very festive.

His school party is Thursday, and the class may dress up as their favorite Christmas character. Personally, I think he would be perfect going as "Elf," but George's last experience with pajama day was less than optimal. After so many days of getting on the highest color, students earn a ticket for a pajama day. Since this is awarded on a student-by-student basis (versus class-wide), he went to school in pajamas, while everyone else was wearing clothes. During carpool line, they told me he had not "looked happy" today and that when he went to chapel that morning he looked particularly miffed. Needless to say he came to the car wearing his extra set of clothes, having ditched the PJ's after chapel.  His friends have loved wearing their pajamas to school, but not George.

But maybe... just maybe... I can talk him into the elf pajamas.

Field Trip & Christmas Parade

Last week, William George's 4K class had a field trip to Children's Theatre to see Dear Santa, and I got to tag along. George was very excited, and we watched the show with his friends before running a quick errand to pick up a long-awaited canvas print from a recent photo shoot.

After that, we had lunch at Chick-Fil-A, where George had "a hamburger from Chick-fil-A," which is what he called a chicken sandwich. Normally, I would have balked at CFA, but they are currently serving their peppermint milkshake, against which I have no defenses whatsoever.

Later that night, we all went to our town's Christmas parade, where we rode on our church's float. We have attended the parade each year, but it was our first year to be on the float. The trio had fun seeing their town from a new vantage point, and they loved seeing all of their friends.

Because it was so chilly, we were able to persuade the trio to leave before the tree lighting ceremony. All in all, we had a wonderful time!

Santa Visit 2015

Yesterday after church we climbed into our car, wishing it was a sleigh, and went to visit Santa.  

William George was a little traumatized because he had had a field trip on Thursday to see "Dear Santa," a production based on the premise of Santa retiring. We explained that Santa retiring would be preposterous, and therefore, the play we saw was surely fictional. But no fear, we were ready to see our Santa (the real one!) and that we could relay our wishes to him.  

While waiting in line, the trio wrote out their lists.  

Before you know it, it was our turn to see Santa, and the letters were read and placed in his mail basket for safekeeping.  

After visiting and talking, the Lauren gave Santa a big hug, and then William George reached up and gave him a huge bear hug. Gracie said she was feeling too bashful to hug, but enjoyed the visit nonetheless.

Santa was taken with their enthusiastic hugs and did not spend a significant amount of time on the pesky details of naughty/nice issues (whew!). Grace, George and Lauren are very excited and looking forward to Santa's visit later this month.



Santa Visit 2015 from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.

Fun Friday

As mentioned before, William George is home from 4K on Fridays, and we have dubbed those days "Fun Friday". Sometimes I wonder if Pixie thinks Fridays are fun.

Playing Outside

Fall