Christmas Cookies

It's raining and messy out today, so the boys and I stayed indoors and made Christmas cookies.

Let me rephrase. Keagan rolled the dough and made a mess with the flour, 

I painstakingly decorated each of them, and before Wes came home, Evan had them eaten. 

Some traditions never change. 

Hooray for Vacation

The tree is trimmed, the porch is decorated, and the presents are all wrapped and under the tree. 

Today we officially started Christmas vacation. I couldn't be more ready. I avoided the lice outbreak on the third grade wing, I survived cold season, and I didn't contract pink eye. Life is about small victories when you are a teacher. I celebrated the start of vacation (and my health) with a Sonic slush.

Our week of rest and relaxation began with a school basketball game. Evan got a double double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and the team proved that they can, in fact, win a game.

When Evan stepped out of the house this week with his basketball warm up gear, my heart skipped a beat. For a second, I thought I must be seeing into the future because there's no way my Evan can be that old, that big, that mature looking. Then I realized it is true. Time is slipping away and faster than I ever thought possible.

Jolly Old St. Nicholas, Lean Your Ear This Way

This happened tonight and it didn't cost us a thing! I guess Evan was just filled with Christmas joy and decided to humor us all with a picture on Santa's lap.

At the office Christmas party, Evan even got to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. Santa then told him to make his list of wishes short; 162 pounds can get heavy!

Keagan got a turn, too, but he refused to sit on Santa's lap. He told Santa he wanted an AirSoft gun, and Santa told him to be careful because he got shot in the eye once while playing with a gun. Keagan was mesmerized with the story and ended up having a full conversation with him about guns. 

Budding Artist

Last spring my school had a team building activity where each teacher painted signs to hang outside the classrooms. Mine turned out real bad. So bad that a co-worker asked me which eight year old painted mine for me. I laughed it off, but that sign has been hidden in my classroom closet ever since.

I thought for sure I would return home from tonight's girls' night painting party with art work that would be stored under the bed. I even told my friends I would be the only person to fail a paint by numbers class. So I couldn't believe my eyes when it turned out to be something I could actually display on the wall for others to see. 

 

Neither could my boys. Wes wanted to know if I did it on my own, Keagan wanted to know if I bought it, and Evan shook his head in amazement. I can't blame them; I was just as surprised.

I'm so good that I've decided to paint one for each season.

Evangelism with a Twist

Tonight Evan told me a locker room story. Here's his version of the events, which I'm sure sits somewhere between the truth and pure exaggeration and probably closer to the exaggeration side of the spectrum.

Evan says a fellow basketball player uses offensive language all of the time, even in front of his mother. The first time he said it at practice within earshot of Evan, he said, "Dude, you can't use the Lord's name in vain." The following day he used the same words, and Evan said, "Dude, don't say things like that." A few days later, the same guy uses the same words, and Evan says, "Hey, I told you not to use those words." Then last week the boys were wrapping up practice, and the guy says something again. Evan punches him in the face and he knocks his head into the lockers. The kid turns to Evan and says, "Dude, what was that for?" and Evan replies, "I've told you to stop talking like that."

Don't think for a second that the irony of this was lost on me. Evan and I had a conversation about hitting others for words and the likelihood that this is not Christ-like behavior, and Evan said, "Well, I got his attention and the bad language stopped. I would say it was pretty effective." Hummm. I had no words.

St. Nikolaus Day

Thankfully I have a friend currently stationed in Germany that posted on Facebook that she had put the boots by the door in hopes that St. Nikolaus would arrive. Thankfully, they are eight hours ahead of us, and that left me some time to run to the store and get the supplies for this year's boots. Otherwise, St. Nikolaus would have been delayed a day or two or may have even forgotten.

True to form he left his American friends a boot stuffed with non-traditional items. This year it was Nike socks and Nike shirts. I'll be honest. I was sick of washing the red/white basketball socks that match the team uniforms every night.



Within minutes, though, this is what I found in the living room. The boys are currently suffering a sugar hangover.



Thanksgiving

If this is any indication of a wonderful Thanksgiving, then ours was great. Within twenty minutes of eating his dinner and two pieces of pie, I found Evan like this.

This year we were blessed to have family travel to our house. Wes pulled duty on Thanksgiving day so that his guys could enjoy the day with their own families. Thankfully the phone did not ring and Wes was able to enjoy the day with us as well.

Today we said our good-byes to the extended family.

We had a wonderful traditional meal of fried turkey and all of the sides, the kids made turkey cookies, and we watched the Cowboys lose. We took the loss all in stride, though, with the consumption of a lot of alcohol. Well, everyone but Evan. Unfortunately, he couldn't bury his sorrows with any beer.

A Cowboy win or loss is really insignificant. Our family has so much more in which to be thankful.