December Happenings

December was a BUSY month but we had a ton of fun!!

Peyton's Girl Scout troop got to visit the Maker's Space at Cerner where they had a lesson on STEM and toured the Cerner facility - very cool!

We celebrated Thanksmas with the Arthur/Mintun clan that was able to make it!  We enjoyed a tasty lunch followed by singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and playing the saran wrap ball game - it was great to see the St. Louis Mintun's!

We got to go see the new Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, as part of a work event on its premiere night!  The movie was great and Garrison won one of the raffle prizes - his own BB-8 droid!

The kids had their holiday parties and I was able to volunteer at Peyton's.  We played several fun games and had snacks - can't be beat!

I wasn't able to make it to Garrison's party but did peak in on his class at the end of the party.  On my way there, I found this gem - Garrison's tree may be leaning a bit but he did a great job coloring & cutting out his name tree!

Since the kids were out of school, I took the day off and Grammy came up as well - we had a fun day!  We went out to lunch, did a little shopping and even rode the ferris wheel at Scheels!

Our neighborhood also had our annual sleigh ride where we went on a hayride to look at all of the lights.  It was chilly but not terrible and it was fun to hang out with our friends!

We celebrated Christmas with the Sanders family.  We enjoyed a yummy meal and the kids had fun playing with their cousins!

Our preparations for Christmas continued as we decorated cookies for Santa and made our gift baskets for our neighbors!  This year we made homemade hot chocolate and cookies to deliver to our neighbors!

Christmas Eve came and our Elves brought a letter back with them from the North Pole.  The kids were able to hug and kiss their Elves before they went back to the North Pole until next year.  Garrison was excited to get to hug Cookie but sad to see him go!

And we got a Christmas treat - SNOW!  It hasn't snowed at Christmas for several years but the kids were excited to see the white fluffy stuff on Christmas Eve.  Granted, I'm pretty sure they took longer to get dressed than they played in the snow (it was SUPER cold) but they had a great time!

Christmas Eve this year was at Grandma & Grandpa Todd's.  We had a fun afternoon relaxing as a family, enjoying some yummy food and of course, opening presents!  Baby Nora was the biggest hit (with Peyton & Whitney especially).  We had a great celebration!

Once we got home, it was time to get ready for Santa to visit our house!  The kids put out reindeer food and cookies & milk for Santa to arrive!

Grammy & Grandpa arrived shortly thereafter and we played for a bit before bedtime.

Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for bed.  Daddy read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to Peyton & Garrison before we tucked them in and they were off to dreamland!

EARLY on Christmas morning, Peyton was up.  We let Garrison sleep a bit more but we woke up him around 7 to see what Santa had left.  The kids were super excited to find their gifts under the tree!

Next up, the kids passed out our family gifts and we got to open each other's presents - it was so fun to see the smiles on their faces!!  After presents we enjoyed a yummy cherry coffee cake that Peyton baked for our celebration!

After breakfast, we opened presents with Grammy & Grandpa and enjoyed having some play time!

Peyton asked if we could have a family sing along while she played the 6 Christmas songs she learned this year!  The we enjoyed a yummy Christmas lunch!

After lunch, we chilled as a family for a bit and then the kids left with Grammy & Grandpa for a little getaway as part of their Christmas break.  On Tuesday, they went to Springfield to check-out the Wonders of Wildlife museum!  They even got to stay in a hotel and go for a swim a couple of times before coming home on Wednesday - they had a great time!!

Wednesday night, the kids went to visit Grandma & Grandpa Todd to continue their fun over their holiday break!  All of their cousins came over to play while they were there!

Garrison had his friend Will over to play - they had several epic battles and fought off a lot of zombies!

Peyton with her new pogo ball!

My friend Marla and her family came by to visit on New Year's Eve!  It was so great to catch-up while they were on their way through town.  Many years ago, the parents all went out on New Year's and Peyton & Evan spent New Year's with grammy & grandpa.  We have a picture from them so we had to take a picture of them now - they've grown up quite a bit!

Our New Year's this year was spent with our neighborhood friends and we had a great evening at the Perryman's!  We enjoyed lots of tasty snack foods, drinks, a balloon drop and toast at midnight (ok, well, we had our toast at 9 for the little kids but a few families held out until midnight!).  We had a great time!

Here's to an amazing 2018!!!!