Christmas 2011: The Whirlwind Tour

I’m going to attempt to get all of the Christmas season into one post!  We’ll see how it goes!

Christmas Event #1: Putting up the Tree

Every year it is a challenge to put up the tree.  The kids are SO EXCITED and they want to rush to open everything and hang everything, but I get nervous about ornaments being broken and boxes getting lost.  Alas.  Somehow we managed.

The kids did a pretty good job of spreading the ornaments around, although Thomas in particular liked to hang ornaments in tight groups, sometimes hanging them on each other rather than on the tree branches!



Every year the kids get a little taller and the ornaments make it a little further up the tree!

Reagan got to put up the star this year.

We LOVE this snowman!

Event #2 Christmas Card Pictures

I wanted to do pictures outside this year, so of course we waited until the coldest day ever to take them!  It was SO COLD that day which made it hard to get a good picture with the kids NOT looking like they were freezing, but they were real troopers and we ended up with a great picture!

We took this picture at Victor Ashe Park on a great big boulder.  Love it!

Event #3 Christmas Eve

Making cookies for Santa

The HAUL

The Batcave was a big hit!

So were the soft, cushy blankets!

Event #4 Memphis Trip

Lots of presents and lots of cousins!

Baby Graham and Kallen

Zachary playing with Baby Graham

Loving on Kinley

So much fun!  Can’t wait to see them again SOON!

Event #5 Indy Trip

We left Knoxville right after Christmas and drove to Memphis, and when we left Memphis we drove to Indianapolis (Indiana-apolis, as the kids like to call it).  So much travel made for a BUSY break from school, but it was worth it to get to see so much family!  We see them so little during the school year!

Tyler’s light sabers lit up and made for some cool pictures!

Tyler

Avery

The entire Christmas season had a few more events, but I have no pictures of them.  These give a pretty good impression of our Christmas season!

Merry Very Belated Christmas everyone!

FlufferNutters

The kids came home from school one day talking about having FlufferNutters for their snacks at SHADES (their afterschool program), so we made some at home too, and for whatever reason I took some pictures!

(Just in case you don’t know, FlufferNutters are basically peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches.  I think they are generally made with marshmallow cream, but we just used marshmallows.)

Zachary helped me make them.  It was the first time I ever let any of the kids spread their own peanut butter.  It was a little messy, but he was so proud!

And when it was all over, they all spread out in the floor and colored together!  So sweet!

Nature Nook: Garden Update

We have really enjoyed our garden this summer. The kids have loved going out with Daddy to harvest the vegetables, even if they don’t like eating any of them! Here’s a shot of our garden in its prime, before some sort of pest killed off our squash plants. Sigh.

Our plants got much bigger than we expected. The okra plants are taller than the kids! And our harvest has been bountiful indeed! I think we’ve collected our weight in cherry tomatoes! (To see our baby garden, click HERE)

But growing a garden has also been incredibly interesting! Most of you probably know that this flower turns into a squash…

…but do you know what this one turns into?

It’s an okra blossom!

Hmmm…maybe the okra growing beside the blossom sort of gives that away. Well, I found it fascinating! Isn’t it gorgeous?

And our mystery bean? Look! It actually grew a bean!

Unfortunately, I didn’t pick it at the time, and the next time I went out, I couldn’t find it because there was too much cherry tomato in the way. So it’s still a mystery. What kind of bean is that? Anyone? I’m just glad I got a picture of it! I’m amazed it grew at all!

What fun the garden has been! If you didn’t plant a garden this year, make an effort next year! It doesn’t have to be much! You’ll be amazed too!

Daddy's Little Helpers

Recently, the kids have developed an interest in watching Mom and Dad (mostly Dad!) cook! How cute are they watching Daddy make pancakes?

Zachary, Reagan, Thomas, and Jonathan