Christmas So Far

We've been quite the busy bunch around here this Christmas season. But that's a good thing...right? Here's a little run down of what we've been up to.

1. Partying Big Brothers/Big Sisters style

I went to the annual BBBS Christmas party at Willow Oak Baptist Church with Quinn and my own "Little Sister" Nicole. Although these days she's not so little...she's 16! I've known her since she was 7, so its hard to see her as such a beautiful young woman. We always joked she would one day be taller than me, and it looks like that day has come.

Willow Oak always does a great job with the party, lots of activities, food, and fun for everyone! As you can see, Quinn got to sit in a racecar, which just made his well, year!

2. We saw Santa

And this is the only picture I could get. He vehemently refused to go up and actually see Santa. Well, he did go up, but only when I was holding him and all he did was take the candy cane Santa was offering and then get down and run back to his stroller. At the BBBS party, they had Santa come in on a motorcycle and it was really loud, so that might be the trigger. Although he has made some progress since then.

3. We partied again...Brandon Christian Academy style

Quinn's class had their Happy Birthday Jesus party on the 15th and I went to help out. His teachers are both great and I couldn't be happier with his school and what he is learning/doing in class. It is great to see him interacting with the other kids and his teachers.
4. We had fun with old friends

My good friend from high school, Sarah Varness Schwab, and her family were here from Illinois/Ohio because her parents are both retiring at the end of the school year, so to celebrate they came to do Disney. Her dad was my middle school choir teacher, so I can officially check off "Be somewhat of a tour guide for a former teacher" off my life's to-do list.

We went to Downtown Disney and it was totally packed. Craziness. But we had fun walking around, seeing the sights, doing the Disney. The picture below shows just how much fun it is to get 4 boys to all look at a camera. We can at least give a pass to Elijah, he's only 3.5 months (her other two are Jonah, 6, and Micah, 3).
5. We give back.

I made the decision at Quinn's first Christmas that every year I would buy a toy that was age appropriate for him and we would donate it, with the idea that Quinn would get the notion that there are boys his age who don't get Christmas presents. This year I bought a Lightning McQueen car, and well, I don't know if he gets that giving is better than receiving. Yes the picture says otherwise, but when it came to the actual giving, he wasn't too happy. Hopefully next year he'll understand a little more, and even be able to pick out the toy himself.

6. Well, this isn't anything special, but I made the mistake of putting his new Pluto at the top of the stocking and he could see it and this picture tells the rest of the story.

7. We made out annual trek to Christmas Lane

Ok, its only maybe 10 minutes away. Christmas Lane is a fun little place in Dover that has some fun decorations, a train, snacks, cool stuff like that. We go every year, take a family picture by the tree, let Quinn ride the train, and have a regular jolly good time.
I have this same picture of Quinn from last year and the year prior. Had to do it again.
Pretty good family picture taken by random teenage girls.

To be continued...