Christmas Eve

We headed to the country for Christmas Eve. This year we celebrated in the Gathering Place. It had been a cold and rainy day, but they tried to the Gathering Place warm with Daddy's new heater. We began at 3:00 this year and the children said their parts. Well, actually Micah was the ONLY one to say a part this year, and Hannah read the Christmas story. 
Micah brought home a Christmas card that he made at school with a poem called "Lamb of God" we decided that it would be perfect. He had it down and memorized it in 3 days. Not bad if you ask me. Even Patton memorized half of it. 

As soon as the parts we finished the children began to pass out gifts. Ethan was SO excited about the marshmallow gun Micah got him.

Patton LOVED his tractor! He didn't put it down all night!

He even guarded the door with it.

Micah was so excited to see Paige and ended up sitting with her and all of her family. 
He even gave her a free cookie coupon from Zaxby's that he was supposed to give to a friend :)

Paw-Paw seemed to be in good spirits and was happy. 

Cookie Time

 For Christmas we made cookies for the the firemen and police men. Micah got all decked out in his chef attire. I let him go through all of our 110 cookie cutter to decide which ones to use. He chose, not one Christmas themed cutter...

Look at those sweet hands decorating the cookies.

Our first stop was our local fire station. Only one fireman was there (just like last year) and his wife and baby were visiting him. Micah was proud and happy to give him a plate of cookies, but really hoped that he'd share with the other men when they returned. 

Here is a comparison picture. Last year (with a self given haircut) and this year. Micah man sure is growing up. Man, I love those sweet cheeks!

As soon as we finished at the fire station we headed to the police station, only to find ourselves locked out. Micah was bummed. We saw a police man clocking people on the side of the road. We offered to stop and give him the cookies, Micah said "No. He'll probably eat them all in his car." He was All about everyone sharing those cookies he worked so hard on. We tried another precinct only to find no one there either..... It was getting to be supper time by now, so we headed to one of our favorite Mexican places. Micah asked if he could give the cookies to the workers there and I said, "Sure, why not?" Stacy thought that was so strange, but we did it anyway. It made their night. You could tell that they were excited. 
We've had the little waitress girl that we had that night on several occasions. She likes Patton. She has a a niece Patton's age, who talks very little. We do not have this problem here. Around here it seems like a battle between Micah and Patton on who talks more. She is just always impressed on his talking. That night she asked him how he was doing and he just said "Uh huh." I said "Patton, answer her, she  asked how you were." To which he replied, "So Sweet." LOL He is a sweet sweet baby boy!

Past 2 weeks

Our last 2 weeks have been SO busy. From finishing presents for Micah's favorite teachers at school (I think there were 12) to working on our advent calendar, to cooking, cleaning, and partying.... This is the first time I feel like I've sat in weeks.
Although I'd love to say that we've been able to keep up with our advent calendar every day, we haven't. We've done everything but sometimes that means doing 3-4 things a day! Here's Micah's sweet note to the mail lady. She, in return sent him a thank you card. It made his day!

As far as Micah's favorite teachers go we had 4 in specials, 3 administrators, reading teacher, teacher, para-pro, librarian, and SRO. I probably forgot someone, but I tried my best to make most gifts. I didn't take pictures of everything, his teacher and para-pro's glass blocks turned out really nice, but I don't have pics of those. I ended up with so many things, that we began last week, Micah would take 2 a day :) I made the music teacher a tumbler with his name and music notes. He loved it and told me that it was the Best gift he'd ever gotten from a student! WOW! The PE para who we LOVE kissed me on the cheek.... we gave her a tumbler and a picture frame with a pic of her and Micah in it. She loved it too! I sure to LOVE to give! That's my love language for sure!

I wanted to do something sweet for Amber for Christmas and although it didn't turn out half as cute as I hoped.... I gave it anyway. Thank goodness for the photo book that was a hit!

Patton and I were invited to a Christmas party hosted by Kary a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time. Here is a sweet picture of Kary reading to (most) of the kids.

We had Santa pictures taken, and as always, I LOVED the way they turned out!

Because Nut and Jerms are out of the country for Christmas, we celebrated early. We had our first celebration on Sunday. Laura had a craft table set up for the kids! It was a great idea.... the only problem was the hot glue gun was not low temp, and some of the Rosbury children didn't know that and burned themselves :(

Even Riley made an appearance at the party!!

This is the best pic I got of the fam!

Micah got an Erector set and of course, woke up bright and early to begin putting it together.

Patton LOVED his gift too! He plays with it ALL of the time and only puts it down when he's sleeping.

Apparently my theme this year was reindeer. I kept finding really cute reindeer things that I wanted to make. I made reindeer noses, reindeer doughnuts, and reindeer bags. I sent them to Micah's party, they were a hit.

I went back and forth on whether or not to take Patton to the party, but I did..... and he made himself at home ;)

 

There was a ton of junk and a handful of parents. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Ms. Greene?!

Micah was SO excited to get a candy gram! His friend and neighbor Abigail sent him one. So sweet!

As soon as the party was over, I checked my sweet boy out. I knew that it was going to be the last beautiful warm day for a while. Since he would live outside I knew that he wouldn't be sad if I let him spend ALL afternoon outside. He had a great time and was even happier when his friends came to join him.

I'm still not sure how this LONG break from school will go, but Micah woke up in a really good mood and had a great day on Thursday. Both boys LOVED their new slippers!

 

These are a few of my favorite things

A while ago I saw something on Pinterest that I LOVED. It was called a Favorite Things party. I have Never hosted any events at my house for anyone other than family, children, and a couple of couples at a time, so for me to decide to invite more than 10 people into my house at once was very BIG! Our house just isn't the best for entertaining. Due to medical issues, death of relatives, beaver dams, church events, and photo shoots, not everyone who I was brave enough to invite could come, but we had a BLAST! I will for sure do this again next year. The party was actually a game. You were supposed to bring your favorite thing (5 of the same item under $6) When you arrived you put 5 slips with your name on them into the bag. Then everyone drew 5 names. As long as you didn't have your own name, or anyone else twice, we were ready to play. 

Each person took turns giving their gift to the chosen names. Everyone then opened the presents at the same time. SOCKS! How fun!

Here's Aiden checking out her new book.

And Mama was excited to Finally get something!

FUN Chevron bags!!

And my guests with their favorite thing gifts!

 I am so thankful for good family and friends!

Noah is TWO!

Patton's BFF Noah turned 2 last week. The party was on Saturday. The weather was perfect. We even got to have a moonwalk, in December! Noah LOVES Mickey Mouse and so of course his party was a Mickey Mouse party. Everything was Perfect. Sarah's MIL even MADE seat covers for the party. I Love her inlaws!!

The party was full of friends. We all had a great time visiting and letting the kids play hard!