McKenzie's Little Gym

Once a week, McKenzie gets to go to gym class - she loves it! And she's pretty good. She's four months younger than the next youngest in the class, but because of her "skill level," they let her enroll. Check out these moves!

Class picture (minus a few classmates):

Today was her last day of the season, hence the medal ceremony. Boy, was she proud!

Deck the Halls

The Christmas spirit hit hard this year! The nativities are out, the tree is up, the lights are bright, the parties are on and the car dial is permanently tuned to the all-Christmas station. And, best of all, the kids are all smiles all the time! Well, most of the time:)

I started collecting nativity scenes a few years ago and they are my favorite and first thing to set up each season. I think McKenzie's caught the bug too: a couple of days ago she went around collecting all the baby Jesus' and sat on the sofa with her treasures. She and Justin both like to rearrange the scenes so that all the characters are in a complete circle around baby Jesus. I guess that's really how it would have been/should be.
The trees took a few days. One day just to get them out, set them up and string the 1000+ lights. Another day to focus on other decorations. And yet another day to hang the ornaments. But it was worth it! I love having the Christmas tree up! Our "dining" room is void of any furniture so it's the perfect landing for the family tree - I walk through there at least a dozen times a day. We've also decided that this is the year to start a new family tradition: sleeping by the tree on Christmas eve. I don't know about the kids, but I can't wait!

Justin and McKenzie got to decorate the "train tree" in the living room all by themselves. It has since accumulated candy canes and school-made decorations. This was our tree for the first 10 years of our marriage but, with kids, we decided we could show a little more Christmas cheer and bought the bigger tree a couple of years ago at the after-Christmas sales. I'm glad we didn't just get rid of this one.
A few other decorations . . .

The kids have gotten creative with their homemade snowflakes and trees . . .Now, we're planning teacher's gifts and goodie plates. Last year we made homemade cranberry sauce for all our local friends. This year I think we're going for a more traditional goodie plate: pumpkin bars, peanut butter bars, dee dee bars, fudge, pecan tarts, peanut butter crunchies, carmel corn and gingerbread cookies. Don't you love this time of the year?!

House update

Justin's Room

Master Bedroom

Upstairs

Gatlinburg

Last weekend we took off to the Smokey Mountains for a little R&R. It's only about a 3 1/2 hour drive and the kids did wonderful! They fell asleep after the first hour and by the time we hit the base of the mountain they woke up to this pack(?) of deer. From that point on they were totally engrossed with the landscape -- snow, icicles, tunnels.

We stayed in Gatlinburg, but spent some time shopping in Pigeon Forge. We also took these cute pix of the kids.

We spent most of one day in the indoor water park and most of the next on the playground.

On the way home we took a short "hike." The kids were having fun until McKenzie took a spill in the mud. It wasn't that bad, except maybe from her point of view. "Is that poop?" she asked looking at her hand. I felt bad but had to keep from laughing as we trudged back to the car to clean her up. Alex and Justin pressed forward for a few more photo ops.

Near the base of the mountain we saw a herd of wild turkeys (but they were too fast to get a picture) and, again, a family of deer. Aren't they beautiful? Ah, nature . . .

A tribute

Before we light him up . . .

This is what we made at Justin's school for their Thanksgiving activity. His name is Jack the Turkey and he has become a member of the family.