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Derek Thomas' blog

Christmas Week Activities

I have not even touched my camera this week.  I knew I took a lot of pictures and I just didn't want to download and edit them!  This morning, I did.  I uploaded 350 pictures and that doesn't even include all the pictures from the weekend before at the Hensons.  I am going to slowly go through these and get them on here so I can remember all the things we did!

On Monday night (late afternoon really) we went to Canton to see the lights. Afterwards we met my dad, Zeb, and Sara at Fernandos for some yummy Mexican!

on the firetruck

Tuesday morning we headed to the Hensons to make a gingerbread village with the Moyer girls.

I believe it was Friday when we went to my parents house to make a gumdrop tree. It ended up being my mom's centerpiece for the Christmas Eve dinner.

Then they all played Christmas Bingo while they waited for Zeb to get off work.  He took our kiddos shopping for me.  Then we met at Chick-fil-A for a late lunch and headed home to nap before a Christmas party that night!

Glory to God in the Highest

Sara Beth reciting Luke 2

Leigh reciting Luke 2

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! 
Hail the Son of Righteousness! 

Light and life to all he brings, 
risen with healing in his wings. 
Mild he lays his glory by, 
born that man no more may die, 
born to raise the sons of earth, 
born to give them second birth. 
Hark! the herald angels sing, 
"Glory to the new born King!" 

christmas at the hensons

we celebrated christmas this past saturday with the henson family.  everyone was able to come and everyone had a great time!!  g started off the morning reading luke 2.  then we ate a feast of a brunch.

g loves to read to his grands.

honey, next year you are going to need two of these tables.  no way you are gonna be able to keep reed and sam away from the kids table!

then it was present time...

g worked hard at picking these out...z's is reflective for when he runs way before the sun comes up: frank's is for a tri-athlete and he is training for an ironman: and chase's is for golf cause he's a golfer! of course they had to be silly!

then there was playtime.  and lots of it. everyone played with their toys and...

everyone elses!

william quickly put together his space shuttle--amazing at how quickly this little boy can work!

then we ate dinner and oh my! it was yummy!

 cute napkins all kiddos had

(laura got the good picture) but the little boys needed to show off their matching outfits

christmas at fpds

friday was sara beth's christmas party at school.  santa came for a visit and really surprised the kiddos.  

This is what the class gave the teachers.  They signed the backs of each tree for a keepsake.

of course, there is always food at a party.

It makes me so sad to think she is half-way through with kindergarten!

And more randoms...

These are all iphone pics...

Last Thursday I made Leigh some cookies for her class.  Friday was her turn to take a snack and she wanted cutie oranges and Santa cookies.  I made the ones for her class, but I had plenty of extra ones that I let the girls decorate.  I helped Leigh with her white icing, but Sara Beth did hers all by herself.  You can tell, SB wasn't pleased with this one.  She felt the Santa hat was too big.

But, this one was better.  I was quite impressed with how well she did without any directions from me.

Molly and Wiley had their sweet baby girl last Wednesday.  This picture was in the mix on my phone and she is just too precious not to show off!

Friday night Kate spent the night and we were going to go to Christmas Fest, but opted at looking at Christmas lights instead.  It was so fun!  Saturday morning, we went to a pancake breakfast that was a fundraiser to buy Christmas presents for people.  The lighting in this pic is horrible, but the kiddos had so much fun eating pancakes and sausage.

Santa was there so we got a quick pic of the girls.  Sam wanted nothing to do with him and we were getting our real Santa pics later that afternoon so I didn't pressure him at all!

After  naps and Santa pics we took a tree to my grandmother's room and set it up for her.

They loved decorating her tree and Doe enjoyed watching them, but you can tell they were done with pics for the day...

Randoms...

I love the first cold Sunday of the winter when I get to pull out the coats that I wore as a little girl!  Unfortunately, I think that is Sara Beth's last year to fit into one!

Monday was Leigh's Christmas party at school.  I love how a table is set up for the little sibings!

Sweet Mrs. Lesa Nuzzo and Leigh Leigh

How cool are these gingerbread houses?!!  They are plastic and are very easy to snap together.  When we are ready to get rid of it, I just soak it in hot water.  We are slowly working on it and putting it together.  It is a fantastic way to get rid of Halloween candy!  Daddy wasn't going to be home on Tuesday night, so I gave them early baths and dinner so we would have plenty of time to work on this!  Even Sam got in on it!

I'm gonna wait to show it until we are done.  I am completely letting the kids doing it and I am keeping my OCD mouth shut!  And it has been so fun!  Hopefully we will find some more time this afternoon.