The last couple of weeks in Review!

So, how could I sum up the last two weeks in the shortest blog ever?

CRAZY!!

But the shortest blog ever would be unlike me so why break with traditions?!

So, Thanksgiving week was fun and busy!  Wednesday I went over and had pie night with my SILs.  We made all the yummy treats for Thanksgiving and talked the night away.  I sure love them!!  Thursday, Ryan headed out of town to spend some time with his brother and cousins.  The kids and I went over to Jamie's house for Thanksgiving.  Many of you may not know that Thanksgiving is one of my least  favorite holidays.  I have always had a "selective pallet" and 20 extra relatives trying to force me to eat something I found gross always made the meal a nightmare.  They sure love us over at Mark & Jamie's because, in addition to all the usual trimmings, there was PEPPERONI PIZZA!!  I have to say it was one of the best Thanksgivings ever!  Sunday, I attempted 4 kids and church, all by myself and was highly successful.  Granted, I got no fliers for upcoming events or signups passed around but no one died and no one screamed or ran around during meetings.  I survived!!  Monday of this last week I headed out early and dropped off multiple nativities and two pictures of Christ for the Annual Community Christmas Celebration.  Our local congregations (Raleigh, Knightdale, Wake Forest, Zebulon, etc.) put on an annual Nativity celebration.  It's three days of live music from local schools, choirs, etc., a live nativity outside, a room fully dedicated pictures of the life of Christ, and hundreds and hundreds of nativities from all over the world.  It is so amazing!!  - My sister is in town with her beautiful family so we  got to spend some  time together working on some fun family projects this week.  We scanned hundreds of photos.  We found some really fun ones along the way!   (That's me in the red, Tammy in the wagon, and Jymn driving!...Summer 1982)

The girls also got into the baby powder while I was in the other room! 

Wednesday was Dade and Ryan's birthdays!!  Can you believe that Dade is 13!!  I have a teenager!  I am so old.  And he's taller than me!!

Anyway, I spent the day making my chocolate  nativity for the Creche.  Dade had a service project that night at the food bank so we didn't get to celebrate his birthday until late in the evening.  It was fun anyway!  Friday began our crazy weekend.  I dropped the kids off at my mom's right after picking  Corben up at  school.  I then headed over for a night of picture taking at the Nativity.  They had a children's room where kids could play with nativities and dress up as Mary & Joseph.  I was the designated picture taker for the evening (sorry if I haven't emailed you your pic yet, my computer is having troubles uploading...grumble, grumble.).  Dade was in the live nativity all night.  He was a shepherd twice and an angel once.  The rest of the night he hung out eating sugar cookies and drinking hot cocoa.  Must be nice!  Saturday morning was our congregation's Christmas Breakfast.  Due to the fact I was quite involved with the Nativity for the last several weeks, my activities committee so graciously took over getting the activity together and it turned out AMAZING!!  Thank you, guys, so much!  My amazing mom also came and watched the girls for me so we wouldn't be chasing them the whole time.  We had a great turnout and everyone got plenty of muffins, pancakes, and sausage.  We then wrapped items to go to the local Salvation Army and packed them into Christmas Stockings.  Everyone also created Christmas cards to give to the families who come there this Season.  It was so wonderful.  When I got home from the activity I sat for a moment and realized I had nothing that HAD to get done!  WOW, what a feeling!  Didn't last long.  We headed back out the door a bit later to go to RJ's 2nd birthday party at Chuckie Cheese's.  The kids had a great time.  We went straight from there BACK to the Nativity to pick up all my items.  Luckily, this year, the chocolate made it all the way through without a single nibble!  Sunday, some of the kids woke up with coughs so I sent Dade on to church with another family.  It was nice to finally get a day of rest!!