Gibson Family Christmas & Fall Creek Falls

We celebrated Christmas with my mom's side of the family on the 28th.  We usually get together at Aunt Terry's house, but this year we got to host.  These cousins always have a great time together - and so do their parents!

On the 29th, we headed to Fall Creek Falls to stay in cabins on the lake and ring in the New Year!

It was below freezing most of the time we were there, so we spent the majority of our time snacking, visiting, puzzling, playing games, and visiting in front of the fire.

The boys each had a robot with hundreds of pieces to put together - so they were happily occupied for hours.

I finally ventured out for a walk across the old swinging bridge.

We also took the kids out to play on four different playgrounds over a couple of different days.

So cold!

My favorite part of those excursions were seeing all the deer.

I would be quite happy to never live north of Tennessee!

Happy 2018!

Christmas Day & Beyond

This year we had the kids wait til 7 for the Christmas morning festivities to begin. (We made the mistake of saying 5 last year, but since it was on a Sunday, it was handy to be finished up in plenty of time for church.)

Can you tell Eleonora is excited?  She danced all day long!

The boys got a HUGE Lego set from the Virginia grandparents. They loved building it together.

Eleonora got some great hand-made goodness from her Grandma.

Eleo’s haul. 

Eleonora’s new ballet costume - her old one was getting pretty grungy from being worn almost daily for a year!

Her daddy was pretty proud of this sequiny bow he picked for her. She loves it!

And as for Caleb, he is pretty excited to have a Kindle to read books on in the dark with Josiah.  He’s already read 3 books.  Josiah’s big gift was a huge Transformer, that he has played with for hours.

We never got around to a Christmas Day hike, so we went on one with my dad on the 26th. It was fun!

On the 27th, we went to hang out with the Habermas ladies for the morning to play on their new swing set. Anna Kate and Lydia had colored their noses with markers to look like Rudolph, then during naptime, Anna Kate added a little more color. Ha!

Christmas Eve

The children and I began our Christmas Eve by loading the church mailboxes with bags of Altoids. 

This is the tag we stuck on all of them. Well, the first hundred anyways. (Chris has been working on his photography skills.)

Chris started out his Christmas Eve by leading music at church. Lots of Christmas carols and one song about the loaves and the fishes to go along with the sermon. It was a good morning for singing along. 

Christmas cousins!

Caleb loves these little ladies!

After church, Caleb turned on ‘The Grinch’ for Eleonora and I caught them like this. 

So sweet!

Here are the kids all washed up and ready for visions of sugar plums. 

Then Chris and I had a great evening wrapping the last of the gifts, arranging them under the tree, and playing with a little app that lets you add Santa to your pictures!

Merry Christmas!

New ‘Fancy-Pants’

Eleonora received some new fancy-pants in the mail yesterday from her sweet aunt, so she simply had to wear them today!

See Rock City

12 Years

Happy 12 years to us!

Caleb is 8!

Our sweet Caleb turned 8 over a month ago, and I never shared pictures from our celebration!

I will interview Caleb as we go along.

I like being 8.  I like getting to do other things like stay up...no, I don't get to stay up later.  Sometimes I get to stay up and read.  I'll read any chapter book that has a good cover.  A good cover is something that isn't weird.  I've forgotten the best book I've read this year.

 The theme of my birthday party was Scorpi.  

He is my favorite Mixel because he's cute, like a tiny scorpion with 5 or 4 legs on each side.  

I have to be careful with what I say, Mom.

 At this party, I got 200 Nerf gun darts, 3 Mixels, and two Lego sets.  Or 3 Lego sets.  Two or three.  When we go back through this, I'm just going to delete, delete.

 Kindergarten has been my favorite grade so far because I never had to walk a single lap.  

I think I was the best kid in there.  I had a nice teacher.  Her name's Mrs. Ailey.

 I forgot to make a wish when I blew out these candles.  I've always forgotten.  

Or maybe I've wished for Legos.  Maybe.

 As a 1 year-old, I liked chewing on baby toys.  Now I like to play computer.  

When I was a baby, I didn't even know how to play on it.  Apostrophe T.

 You know my favorite color.  Orange, for no reason.  

Legos are my favorite toys.  Sorry, people who gave me other things, but it's true.  

Monkeys are my favorite animal.  No, not monkey, lemur.  

Lemur's a type of monkey.  It's different.  Trust me, Mom.

 I don't know my favorite t.v. show because I never get to do technology.  

There are no games that I happen to like on the computer.  

And that computer that you are typing on is slow.  

 For lunch, I would like to eat Egg-in-a-Holes.  

For breakfast - Egg-in-a-Hole.  

For supper - Egg-in-a-Hole.  

If I had to eat something else - eggs, Sunny Side Up!  

Let me think, Sweetie!

Soccer is my favorite sport.  I think I scored at least 8 goals this fall.  

I had one friend on my team - Giovanni.   

Now when I see him at school, I say, "Teeeeeam-mate!" in a creepy voice.  

It's just my life, Mom.

Reading is my favorite subject at school.  

I have 81.4 AR (Accelerated Reader) points.  I started with Magic Treehouse Books.  

I read all of the books completely in my classroom, now I go to the 3rd grade class to find books.  

That's all, Fred.

Well, I'm glad Caleb was feeling froggy for you fine folks this evening.  

Tomorrow is the last day of school before Christmas break, and you can tell!

Hope to be back writing here again soon!