Dashing Through December

Well, it seems every time I think I'm getting caught up on our blog, Real Life jumps up and says - HA!  Ain't nobody got time for that!  Get in here and wash these dishes!  ;oP

*sigh*  But that's okay.  I'm just gonna keep truckin' along, whether I'm a month behind (or two...) or not.  It's all good.  And even though these pics are pretty late, they're still awesome and I'm so happy we get to share them with y'all.  :o)

SO - this post covers December 5th through January 30th.

Emily got all dolled up to go see Matthew perform in a "Christmas Sing!" concert.

He was in Choir for this quarter, so they got to learn and perform some really cute Christmas songs.

Click this link to see some video.

(For some reason I'm not able to post the video here, bleh, sorry.)

Matthew's Video Performance!

He did great!

And 2 months later, he and Emily are still walking around the house singing those songs.  :o)

Power nap!

Later, Emily helped our Navy Wives Club do a Toys for Tot drop-off at the Clinic on base.

Then we were back at the school to watch Joshua and Evelyn's performances at the school's Holiday Show.

Guess that nap wasn't powerful enough.

Click these links to see Evelyn and Joshua!

Evelyn's Flute Performance!

Joshua's Saxophone Performance!

Oh - and Joshua is also part of the school's Show Band - Eagles Reign.

That's him on the right, in the sunglasses.  :o)

The band is really good, and lots of fun to watch.

He's just too cool-lookin'!

Yep, she slept through the whole thing.

We put our Christmas tree up later that evening.

And yes, Ivy lost her mind.

She sought shelter under our newly-erected tree (where she continue to live for the next 4 weeks.)

Emily loved dancing to the music from the tree.  :o)

On December 6th, Evelyn participated in the Middle School Academic Games, just like she did last year.

She was kinda nervous, but did great - and she placed 2nd in Science!

She rushed off to get her medal so fast I couldn't get a pic!

She was sooooo happy!  Woohoo!

Overall, her school won 3rd place.

Go Evelyn!

To celebrate, we went to Dairy Queen.

Where we just had to take a picture with these awesome giant spoon-door handles.  :oD

We caught up with Daddy and Emily at the Library, where they were in the middle of an intense crafting session.

That morning, they also attended a Brunch with Santa event on base.

Which is why Emily is now painted as a cat.

Meow!

What a fun day! :oD

Check out Emily's snowflake!

I'm not sure if you remember, but on the last post, I shared how we went to a Mommy and Me Science event and learned how to make snowflakes.

She was soooo excited about it!  :o)

Come on J, you can do better than that - pose for me!

Ahahaha - that's better!  ;o)

I didn't get many pics of them decorating, but they did great.

Special remembrance ornament for Peeta.  :o1

When we took her out of the box this year, our angel was in pretty poor shape, so we had to improvise.

Luckily, I had this awesome angel made out of a mop that I love setting up in my kitchen each Christmas (thanks Aunt Mary!)

So she made her way to the top of the tree.

And isn't she gorgeous?!

:oD

I love these fools.  :o)

Then we got busy making snowflakes for our door decoration.

Ivy really had way too much fun with all our Christmas stuff.

She attacked the little bell on that snowman's head at least 10 times a day.

We needed more snowflakes, so Emily got to work.

Our completed door!

:oD

Later, we went to gymnastics (as we do every Monday evening).

Check her out!

She's soooo much braver on that high beam than she was at first.

She's even smiling!

The next day, Emily got her new shoes for Christmas.

(So did Evie, but she wasn't as excited.)  ;o)

She's seriously a puzzle-master now.

Another Mommy and Me event on the 10th.

She made a candy cane with modeling clay.

Oh - and this - Emily cut out the whole Olaf head by herself.

Yes, even the little parts on top!

She's getting big. :o)

Emily was all smiles the next morning - this is before she realized she was getting 4 shots that day - eek!  But no worries, she did great, even the doctor was impressed that she didn't start crying until the 4th shot.  :oP

Oh, but then we came home to find this:

2nd Place in the Door Decorating Contest!  Woohoo!

We also stopped by the store for some special "I survived 4 shots" ice cream.  ;o)

Matthew proudly showed us the new ninja water bottle he bought with his Eagle bucks at school.

Very cool.  :o)

Well, December 13th was a wonderful and busy day for us.

Thanks to Jen, Chris and I attended a Wreaths Across America event while she shuttled our children to their Honor Band Auditions.

In an effort to "Remember, Honor, and Teach", Wreaths Across America is a wreath laying ceremony coordinated nationwide to place a wreath on the grave-sites of our fallen heroes at Veterans cemeteries all over the country.  Our Navy Wives Club was in charge of this year's New Orleans event.  :o) 

And it was such a beautiful and memorable ceremony.

I can't wait to take the kids to next year's event.  :o)

So yeah - Joshua and Evelyn had their Honor Band Auditions on the other side of town.  Joshua tried out for the Middle School Honor Band (6-9th grade), and Evelyn tried out for the Elementary Honor Band (4-6th grade).

This happy crew had a great time spending the day together.  :o)

They even got to visit City Park for a while.

Where Joshua went all "Pride Rock", haha!

And Matthew did what Matthew does best.

:o)

Later that evening, we were able to view the results online.

Unfortunately, Joshua did not make it.  :o/  But he was cool and said he was glad he tried and hopes to try out again next year.  :o)

But - Evelyn did make it!  In fact, she was the only student from her entire school who made the Honor Band!  :oO  Very awesome.  Go Evie!

(since then, she has had her Honor Band performance, which I pray I will be able to share with y'all soon...)  :oD

We visited the Nursing Home on the 14th to host Bingo.

Matthew said is was pretty cool that he was able to help people play.  :o)

Joshua really likes his new tiny saxophone/pencil sharpener.

:o)

Emily helped me get the Christmas cards addressed and mailed out.

On the 16th, we watched the kids perform in the annual Nativity Play at church.

They were great!

:oD

More craft time at the Library.  Painting is her favorite.  :o)

And Ivy made herself cozy among the Christmas decorations.

:oP

Matthew and His Weird Books - Part 25

Heart Disease and Fighting Infectious Diseases

Ha!

She cut Santa out by herself.  :o)

We got to go to Matthew's Holiday Feast on the 18th.

And Evelyn made Candy Sushi in her Cooking Class.

:o)

Evelyn sported her newly-made Christmas sweater for her class party on the 19th.

Awesome!

And we got to watch Joshua's class present poems putting Weak Verbs to death.

:o)

Matthew was lookin' good with a fresh haircut.

And later, we went to a Pajama Christmas Party at the Library.

Where they sang carols.

Made ornaments.

And constructed gingerbread houses for the fridge.

:o)

Guess these 2 played a little too hard that day.

Ha!  :o)

Our midgets were lookin' good before church the next morning.

Hehe.  :o)

Emily and Evelyn made an Olaf from modeling clay.

And then Matthew pushed her around the house in a box.

Santa came to our house early on the 22nd.

The kids were very happy about this, woohoo!

Lol!

Emily was really into all this Christmas stuff.

She was so excited that Daddy was happy about his gift that she threw herself in his arms to hug him.

Awwwww.  :o)

Hugging Evelyn now because she was happy and thankful for her gift.  :oD

And for our cat, who constantly attempts to drink out of our kitchen faucet, we got a drinking fountain.

She was very happy about this.

And yes, she made a complete mess.  :oP

We headed into Houston on the 23rd and celebrated Christmas at Lita & Epa's house on the 24th.

Later, we had a fun Gregory family Christmas.

And even later, we had an awesome Hernandez family Christmas.

Maw Maw put those elves to work!

Emily fell while we were there.  :o(

But no worries, we used this bow to hide her bump!

;o)

After going to church on Christmas morning (which I got no pictures of, my bad), we had Christmas at Nana and Paw Paw's house.

What a wonderful Christmas!

The next day, we took the big kids to see the new and final Hobbit movie - The Battle of the Five Armies.  It was amazing!

:oD

Yes, he's asleep.  Lol. :o)

And that's our December!  I have a few New Year's Eve pictures for the next post, and then it's on into January.  :o)  We're in full Mardi Gras swing now, so Let the Good Times Roll! ;o)

Laters!