Pre Christmas Activities.

Courtney asked if John and I could take Soliana from Thursday till Saturday so she could be at Preschool for our Friday service.

After thinking about it for half a second, of course, I said, "YES."

Courtney brought her to school on Thursday as usual.

We had a fun day.  She got to stay all day and have lunch with me.

 We practiced for our program that day, too.

I had a full house of Preschoolers, but the day went very well.

That night, we just stayed in and watched TV.  John is working overtime, so he came home just in time to say good night to Soli.

On Friday, Mallory gave her a ride to school.

We had a full house again.

Our service was at 9:00, it went very well.

The so called party after the service was unorganized chaos, but the kids enjoyed it.

Soli, my mom, and I enjoyed Culver's for lunch and then some shopping.

When John got home, no overtime that day, we did our grocery shopping.

Soli enjoyed a ride on the elephant in Walmart, her favorite part of a trip to Walmart.

We, then, had dinner at "On the Rock."  I needed a few beers while Soli enjoyed a kiddie cocktail and we all had pizza.

It was a good night.

We came home, watched a movie and went to bed.

On Saturday we left to go up and get Tizita and bring her home with us.

Since they are leaving on Sunday for Christmas in Iowa, I wanted to spend time with them.

We made gingerbread houses and sugar cookies when we got back to Watertown.

After our creating, we watched Annie.

My girls loved Annie when they were growing up.  We went to see it live at least four times and we watched the movie countless times.  I loved seeing it again with Tiz and Soli.

We never got to bed until 11:00.

Morning came quickly and we had to be ready for our second Christmas service.

It did not go as well as it did on Friday, but it went and people loved it.

I just had more criers and that is always stressful.

Soli did a great job.

The best part is when the kids belt out, "Go Tell it on The Mountain."  It is so heartwarming to see their joy in sharing the story of the birth our Savior.

Right after the service, Courtney, Paul, Tiz and Soli left for Christmas in Iowa.  I have mixed feelings for many reasons, but I am looking forward to Christmas Eve with Alissa, Nathan, and Kev's family.

Courtney and crew will be back on Christmas Day to join in the rest of the festivities.

Christmas is already perfect with or without the whole family, right? 

Merry Christmas to all of you who still read this blog.

May your Christmas be blessed with joy, happiness, and family.

From our family to yours:

Tizita's Christmas service and early birthday celebration

On Friday, I woke up, not feeling up to par.

There has been so much stomach flu going around school and I had to really talk myself out of getting sick that morning, but I pressed on.

We had practice after chapel and the rest of the morning moved on.  I was so thankful to only have half a day on Fridays.

I got home and decided to rally.

Mom and I baked three batches of cookies.

I was definitely feeling better.

On Saturday, Mallory came over to open her birthday gifts.  Hard to believe that my sweet little niece is already 22 years old.  She loved our gifts to her and that made me happy.

After she left, mom and I baked some more cookies.

I wrapped presents that night in the basement while enjoying a fire and watching some Christmas movies.

Sunday John and I went to Tizita's Christmas service.

It was wonderful as all children's Christmas services always are.

This is Tizita's friend and classmate, Micah, also adopted from Ethiopa.

Trinity is such a small school, but there are three children adopted from Ethiopia, two from Haiti, and two from Russia.  Maybe there are more, but those are the only ones I know of.

After church we headed over to the Golden Corral, Tizita's choice for her birthday dinner.

I had never been to a Golden Corral before.  Wow, I think they had every food known to man on their buffet and the chocolate fountain which Tizita had raved about was not a disappointment.

We all enjoyed our meals.

After lunch John, Tizita, and I headed up to Toys R Us so that Tiz could pick out her birthday gifts.

She really wanted something "electric", but her mom and dad have said no to tablets, i pods, etc.

She did find a really cute little remote control puppy that she fell in love with, a spirograph which her mom fell in love with, and some other craft items.

She was very happy with her purchases even if they weren't "electrics."

We took her home and had some cake together.

Her birthday is actually on Dec. 19.

She will wear this shirt that I bought for her so everyone will know that she is eight!

It was another great weekend.

Build a Bear Surprise

It all started when one of my little Preschoolers brought her" build a bear," Clarice (Rudolph's girlfriend) wearing a tutu to show and tell last week.

The cuteness was too much and I got the idea that on Sunday we should surprise Tiz and Soli with a trip to Build a Bear so they could make either a Rudolph or Clarice to help them remember the Rudolph musical we had would see on Saturday.  (See previous post)

John agreed so we took them up to Appleton.  Neither of them knew where we were going.  Even when we got to the mall, they could not figure it out.

Well, we got to Build a Bear and they were both so excited, so was I, because I was about to help them make one of those cute reindeer, or was I?

Neither girl had any interest in a reindeer.

Soli chose a Hello Kitty that she named Sally.

Tizita chose a multi colored bear that she named Cupcake, but meant to name Rainbow.

No amount of fast talking could make either of them change their minds.

I almost wanted to make a reindeer myself, but I am not sure John would have allowed that.  Not that he tells me what I can do, but the bill for their two animals and clothes was already eating into his hard earned overitme!

Anyway, they chose the kitty and the bear and we were building.

Notice the little girl in the background who had chosen a Clarice reindeer and will probably put a tutu on her.

Time to put the stuffing into the kitty and the bear.

 The two above photos have to do with some heart business.
They had to rub the heart, jump with it, turn around with it, and put it on their foreheads.
I cannot remember the purpose of all this, but it seemed very important.

 Making the birth certificates.

 Fluffing and brushing, another very important part of the process.

More important computer business

 All ready, after purchasing all the clothes, shoes, and other accessories needed for a kitty and a bear.

 Such a big box for such a little lady.

 Tiz and Rainbow or Cupcake.

Soli and Sally.

After our fun time at Build a bear we returned to Oshkosh, met Courtney and Paul at Red Robin and enjoyed an early dinner before heading home to rest up for our next adventure.

This was Soli's first trip to Build a Bear and Tiz's fifth.

Someone ought to make clothes for Build a Bears, they could make a small fortune.

Live Nativity, Rudolph, and Lights

It is Sunday evening and I am tired.

It has been a fun filled weekend that started on Friday night and did not end until a few hours ago.

I had planned so long for this special weekend for with the girls and while I did enjoy each and every event, it still went way too fast.

I know that Soli and Tiz have a head and heart full of happy memories from the weekend and that is what counts.

We started Friday night with a visit to the Live Nativity.

The weather was so nice and we enjoyed the outdoor show.

After the presentation, we enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate along with crafts and games.

 Tiz learned to play dreidel and she enjoyed the game very much.

There were live animals that the girls could pet.

After the Nativity, we had dinner at El Mariachi's.

Then the girls helped me decorate our tree.

It was fun for me because they enjoyed listening to my stories about all the ornaments.  My girls had tired of listening to those stories a long, long time ago.  It was nice to have a captive audience once again.

 Santa paid us a visit sometime during the night to admire our tree, eat our goodies, and fill our stockings.

 On Saturday, we went to a production of Rudolph the Musical at the Todd Wehr theater.

It was such a great show.

The girls loved it.

 After the play, we had dinner at Culver's and then headed to the great light show at Country Springs.

We have taken the girls every for years and we all love it.
The best part is that the girls can sit on John's lap and steer the car through the light show.
They love that part.

After driving through the lights we get to enjoy hot chocolate and cookies while watching trains.

Such memories.

On Sunday, we took the girls on a surprise outing which I will write about later this week.

I am having lots of trouble with getting the photos to go where I need them to go, so in frustration I am ending this post.

It was a wonderful weekend even if my blog is not cooperating at this time.

Stay tuned for more...