Boxing

Andrew has been boxing on the Wii. He boxes so enthusiastically that at times he has to take a break to get a drink or wait for the pain in his side to go away. It's hysterical.

I took a video of him boxing, but it's going in the wrong direction when I upload it. I'm sure there's a way to rotate it, but I have't been able to find it.

Happy New Year

We will open the book. Its pages are blank.
We are going to put words on them ourselves.
The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.
~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

What We've Been Up To

We went to a PTA meeting to watch the 2nd graders (Abby) sing Christmas holiday songs.



Abby had her class holiday party. One of the activities was to make a gingerbread house.



Andrew's kindergarten class performed the Gingerbread Baby. Andrew's main job was to run the smartboard. He also had a small part in which he was part of a crowd that was shocked to see the gingerbread baby in crumbs on the floor.



Andrew's class also had a holiday party. They did their own version of a gingerbread house and made Christmas pins.



Adam and I spent a day at the Biltmore which you can read about here.



We baked and decorated Christmas cookies. One of us may have eaten too much icing and vomited shortly after decorating said cookies.













We also unwrapped some gifts.







The kids' main gift from me this year (they spent Christmas day with their dad and Santa dropped his gifts for them off there) was a Wii.



We have been playing a lot of Wii!

Next up, Panthers vs. Saints. Please pray it warms up. It's supposed to be 18 Sunday morning and mid 30s in the afternoon. That's a wee bit cold.

The Biltmore

We had a great time at the Biltmore yesterday.

It was a little cold at times.

But the skies were Carolina blue.

I never got a picture from the front of the Estate (no photos allowed on the inside). I couldn't get Adam out of the gift shop. I may have a daughter who hates to shop, but I have a son who LOVES it.

It's Drawing Near

Can you believe how close it is to Christmas?

Look...they're all touching and no one is crying. Miracles do exist.

Tomorrow Adam and I are heading to the Biltmore. We're both very excited. It's going to be a fun (and long) day. We've been told the bus won't arrive back at school until 6:30 or 7:00.

It's been a whirlwind of activity around here. Christmas programs, a birthday party, Abby sang at the PTA meeting, the boys have started playing basketball--there are practices and we've had a couple of games, a sleepover, another birthday party and book reports. We've also cut out, baked and decorated Christmas cookies.

Tis the Season...

This Girl

This girl never ceases to amaze me. She has the sweetest personality. She's loving. She's funny. She's sensitive.

She's always landed on the shy side. Never caring to draw attention to herself. When she was telling me about the second graders performing at the PTA meeting this week and how she was excited about being on the stage and singing, I was a bit surprised.

When she told me that she wanted to wear her pajamas to school yesterday for their Polar Express party, I was more than a bit surprised.

When I learned today that she received the Principal's Award for showing self control, I was not a bit surprised. I couldn't be more proud of her.

I love This Girl!

A Trip Uptown

Last Saturday morning the kids and I put up our Christmas tree. It's quite the experience with six little hands. Each of the kids have their own box of ornaments. They really had a good time pulling out their ornaments and hanging them on the tree.









In the afternoon, we headed Uptown to explore and enjoy the Christmas lights. An unexpected surprise was that Santa and Mrs. Claus were at The Green. The kids loved talking to them.




It's almost as if Andrew cannot believe he's actually touching Santa.





After we had walked (and ran) until we were tired, we headed to Fuel Pizza for dinner and to watch a little football.





Quite a fun day!

Thanksgiving

Things have been busy here, but nothing too blog worthy. Our Thanksigiving was pretty quiet. We spent the afternoon with a good friend and the evening with my aunt, cousins and their families. The kids spent the morning doing Thanksgiving word searches and other Thanksgivingish activities.

[I tried to white out our last name on Andrew's hand turkey.]

Andrew brought home a rather interesting art project from school.

And who do you think he chose for his wife?
That's my boy. I wonder what Ashton would say about that.

A Cause for Celebration

This past Saturday there was a shower for my cousin, Traci, and her husband, Adam. They are in the process of adopting a precious girl, Maylin, and boy, Pierson, from Taiwain. Pierson and Maylin are brother and sister. You can go to her sister's blog to learn more about them.

In an effort to defray the costs of bringing Pierson and Maylin home, Traci is using her talents to make jade bracelets, t-shirts, journals, artwork and other items to raise funds for their upcoming trip to Taiwan. She is also setting aside a portion of her profits to donate in order to assist other families in completing their adoption dreams. Please check out Loved By Choice Designs and get some of your Christmas shopping done while sitting in the comfort of your own home!

Fall Fest

Last Saturday we headed to the Fall Festival at the elementary school. We climbed and disappeared into the mouths of strange alien-looking things.



And then slid out the back of them.



We did some jumping.



We played basketball with some friends.



We threw some baseballs ~ 32 mph.



And one of us became a ladybug.

Andrew's in the ladybug class at school.

This was the first year that Adam ran around on his own~that takes some getting used to on my part. I'm finding that this growing up thing is difficult for me. It's hard to let go, even if it's just a tiny bit.

Outtakes

I have 83 pictures almost exactly like this one.


So I put them behind bars and wouldn't let them out. (not really)

Birthday Part II

Last night pizza was the choice for the birthday dinner, and I didn't end up at that crazy kid place with the person dressed up in a big rat costume...know what I'm talkin' about? I don't like that place. We had a great time at dinner with lots of laughter, then headed home for a game of Exago and more cake.





We love you Andrew!!