Elf Jr.

 C was in his very first musical this weekend. Elf Jr. (Thus the theme of gingerbread.) They had a performance on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and it was very exciting. 

As theatre majors, we really encouraged him to audition for an actual role even though he just wanted to be in the chorus. 

But we know our guy and how great at projecting and memorization he is. So we helped him practice a song for the auditions and he got the role of Charlie the Elf. (The elf supervisor who Buddy talks to about only making 85 Etch-A-Sketches.) 

Other than not cheating downstage enough, the kid hit it out of the park. 

There were 48 kids in the cast, 14 of them were kids from our school/parish. (There were also 14 kids who had never been on stage before, C included.) C has a lot of quirks that make life more difficult for him. He really struggles socially and finds making conversation difficult with people he isn't very comfortable with. Because of this I think he really shocked people who knew him with how well he did. So so many people came up to us to sing his praises. 

We are so happy he had this opportunity to be in a show. It was SO good for him to have his own thing. And we are very proud of him too! 

Gingerbread 2021

 This weekend was among many things: Gingerbread Weekend. 

The kids did their houses during the afternoon. They both worked very hard and did great jobs!! 

Then after they went to bed, Husband and I got to work. This year our theme was Elf. 

There's the Buddy front, the candy cane forest side, a sea of swirly twirly gumdrops, the Empire State Building Snow Globe back and Mr. Narwhal. Plus the roof features the elf 4 main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup. 

We are very happy with how it turned out again this year. We had an actual plan going into the evening which was new, but good. Also a few new supplies, also good! 

Things to remember next year: we need to buy a tub for all the sprinkles and candy. The new gel food coloring I got was good! We need a dedicated day, there's no such thing as "squeezing it in." Also, if the kitchen is too cold, the cement won't set. Just turn the heater on! 

This was our tenth house! 

If you're going in order, of course* it starts in the bottom right hand corner and goes bottom line, right to left, top line left to right and then left to right in the middle. 

*The order makes no sense. And likely doesn't really matter to anyone. 

We are so thankful to have had another successful gingerbread year. This is a fun tradition for us and I am so hopeful my kids will love it forever, even when they're grumpy teens. (I mean... it's candy.) 

The Holiday Season

 So Thanksgiving was good. Uneventful. We watched the parade.

We had out traditional monkey bread. And we have finally cracked the code to making sure it's perfect. (Turning our oven temp down a bit.) 

C takes the parade very seriously. Thanksgiving is his favorite and he was over the moon. There was a section that was seriously all of his favorite things: Grogu, Peanuts, Astronaut Snoopy, More Star Wars, McDonald's, Lego and Disney Cruise Line. He literally jumped for joy for ten minutes. 

Friday we decorated. I honestly kept things super minimal this year. The Nativity. The Advent Wreath. Our Tree. My Nativity Garland. I am really feeling minimal Christmas. I don't know why exactly, it's not a Scroogey kind of thing, I just feel like the Christmas clutter will be too much for me this year. 

Saturday we went to the Festival of Trees. Which was fun enough. 

Here is C and the tree the school decorated. C is pointing to his ornament. 

Here is the up close ornament. And per the bookmark ornament, this was his favorite "room" decoration at the festival. 

It's kind of crazy! Calvin and Hobbes has been sneaking up everywhere lately. Even Fr.'s homily yesterday! 

Then later on Saturday night we went to the opening night of the light show we like to go to. It was perfect!! We had a great spot and it wasn't busy. 

And we enjoyed it!! Hopefully, you had an enjoyable holiday weekend and your Monday is off to a great start! 

Fun This Weekend

 Oh my gosh. We had just a great low-key weekend and I enjoyed it so much! 

We raked all the leaves. Well, okay. We didn't. The kids and Husband did. 

Then we had M's soccer game. She did better this week, so there's only improvement which is great! 

Later we went to see Disney on Ice. 

We weren't actually planning to go. But the kids came home on Friday to tell us all about who from their classes were going to Disney on Ice. And it really has been our tradition kick off to the holidays kind of thing. Plus... let's be real, Husband and I like it too! 

There's apparently no proof weeks old M went in 2014. (She did though.) And no pictures of the ice in 2015. 2017 we did individual pictures for some reason. (Kids not cooperating is the story in my head but who knows?) We also for reasons unknown took 2018 off. And then last year of course because nothing happened last year. 

But, like the cool kids say: How it started, How it's going. Love getting any piece of Disney I can. Though we are thinking it's time for our next trip to enter the actual planning stage. 

I hope you had a nice weekend and your Monday is off to a good start!  

Thursday

Thank you for your prayers for Hannah. Her surgery was a success and there is hope that she will not need any more heart surgeries in her lifetime. She still has the road of recovery in front of her but she's doing well. 

In other news... November is FLYING by. I mean, I knew going from M's birthday weekend in Chicago, to Halloween, to Jamaica was going to feel like a lot. And it did. But, I was unprepared for how fast the month would go. 

I am deeply glad that kids Christmas shopping was completed in September so I am not at all stressed about that. Still have some grown ups to figure out but nevertheless... that's a relief. 

The kids built this tower. Photo credit: M. They were very proud of it. 

C got this shirt. It's more and more difficult to find Walrus shirts for big guys that he still appreciates. But it's that last little piece of his little self I am clinging too. 

Indoor soccer is going okay. She got a couple good kicks in anyhow. The other teams are intense. And their parents are SUPER sports parents-like. Obviously, we are a little more go with the flow, and you can see that M is much smaller than her opponents. 

That's what we've been up to! 

Prayer Request

 Hello and Happy Wednesday!! 

My sweet Goddaughter Hannah's open heart surgery is today, right now. If you see this, would you please say a prayer for her, a successful surgery and her loving family. 

Here she is as a little Unicorn for Halloween. 

Thank you for your prayers!!

Jamaica Mon

 So, November came sneaking in quickly. We had school conferences for the kids. (No issues.) And then last week on Wednesday Husband and I left the kids at home with my parents and we jet set off. 

Many hours later we touched down in Jamaica and the fun part of the trip actually started. Jamaica doesn't hide its beauty, it's evident from the moment you leave the airport. 

We woke up to this most beautiful and perfect view daily. It all looks like a fake Zoom background. 

We enjoyed spending time at the beach and drinking fruity drinks. 

We went on a Catamaran outing and went snorkeling. 

We took lots of pictures that look like this. We got so lucky with our room: it had a gorgeous view, and was centrally located! 

We drank more fruity drinks. Wouldn't you know that we got dressed up for dinner every single night but all my favorite pictures are when we were in our super casual garb? 

We also sat by the pool plenty and drank fruity drinks. And when we got hot, we got in the pool. I successfully did not get sunburnt which was my only goal for the trip. I am very pale and it doesn't take much. Lots of sunscreen, shade, floppy hats, and coverups! 

It rained two afternoons. But it didn't matter, since one day I took a nap and read a book. The second day we had spa appointments anyhow. 

We ate Jamaican Jerk chicken too of course. 

And we had a really nice time connecting and relaxing together. 

Then we traveled back to home and reality. Which had many levels of stories, inconveniences, and minor miracles for sure. 

This was the huge neverending customs line in Dallas that took 45 minutes while we were running late for our connecting flight. (First flight was delayed.) Taking this picture went something like this: 

Husband: "This is a terrible picture."

Me: "This is a terrible experience." 

But we DID make it home and have gotten resettled back to reality. And we are so very very thankful for the time we spent together in the beautiful country of Jamaica. (Which we would 100% recommend!) 

So that's what we've been up to!