1st Grade Field Trip

The first graders had a chance to take a field trip today to Dawson High School to see their production of 

A Christmas Carol.

Talk about fun times! They got to all ride on the bus together and hang out for a little down time in the midst of all of their school work.

The play was awesome. The Dawson students did a great job.

Mrs. Judge's class!

Luke, Fisher, & Noah with the main character in the play.

Luke & Fisher

I had such a great time with my boy and his friends. 

Brady's Christmas Play

Tonight was Brady's Christmas program at In His Steps Preschool. He was assigned to be a Bethlehem townsperson for the program and he did a wonderful job!

Cutest little townsperson I know :)

Quick shot with mom before he went on stage.

Lots of pictures with our little star! I am so glad he got a turn to be the center of attention- he doesn't get that very often, but he was excited that tonight was his night to shine.

Sidenote: I remember when Caleb & I were his age and were in a Christmas pageant together each year. Tonight brought back so many sweet memories from those days :)

Literacy Night at Shadycrest Elementary

Each year, Shadycrest hosts a Literacy Night around Christmas and invites all of the students, parents, & siblings. This year, the kids all wore their pajamas and got to hang out together outside of their regular school day. 

First, they had a storyteller come and tell Christmas stories.

Noah, Mrs. Judge, Luke, & Stanley

Then, they sang Christmas songs and ate cookies!

 
At the end, they had parent sessions just for parents to learn new tips on helping their kids to be better readers. All in all it was a great night.

One of my favorite parts is getting to spend time alone with just me and the big boys :)

A Visit From Jolly the Elf

Yay! Jolly is back for the Christmas season! 

We love our Jolly way better than our first elf Trudy- who the boys were deathly afraid of. Jolly is just so much more personable.

He has a tradition of bringing powdered donuts on the first day he comes, but this year he made snowmen out of the donuts :) 

The boys were super surprised Saturday morning as they were getting ready to leave for Waco to see that Jolly was back and he even brought breakfast. 

We will see what all he has in store for us!

Christmas Advent Calendar

Until this year, the boys have been a little young to understand anything like an advent calendar so we've always just used a paper chain to count down the days. I think they are finally at ages now (at least Luke & Brady are) that they can understand what's going on with our countdown. So, I made this little advent calendar with pockets to pull out a daily activity that has to do with Christmas.

Some days have a joke in them, others have a Bible verse or a way to serve someone else. So far, the boys have had a blast with it. 

 

Day Three: the boys were to write a letter to Santa- because after all, Santa really needs to get busy shopping ;)

Owen did a wonderful job on his!

Brady told Santa he wanted a new weed eater & blower.

Luke wants a green ninja from Santa this year.

So, as you can see...those are all doable!

Hometown Christmas Parade

As for me, I am all about traditions. Especially this time of year. I have so many memories of traditions my family had growing up, so I want to make sure to have those same kinds of things for my kids to remember. One of our traditions is going to the City of Pearland's Christmas Parade. The past few years, Luke has been at a Baylor game on the day of the parade and Brady was there this year- but Owen and I stayed home so we could continue our tradition. 

He had so much fun! He is the perfect age for things like this. He sat on the curb for the whole parade and watched, yelled, and clapped. What a sweetie!

Baylor vs. OSU

Baylor's last home game of the season was against OSU, so Caleb took Luke & Brady to see them finish off the season. They won!!! Go Bears!

So glad Brady is finally old enough to go to games with Daddy & Luke. See, he's already got the Sic 'Em down pat :)

What a great Father/Son day in Waco.

Christmas Card 2012

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Christmas Crafts

Mrs. Judge has a Christmas tree in her class which needed to be filled with beautiful home made ornaments. So Emily, the other room mom, and I researched some cool ornaments the kids could make to hang on their tree. 

Luke & his friend Fisher. They are cool!

Each kid made one of the three ornaments above. Luke made the reindeer. I can't wait to see the tree covered in these...so cute!

Field Trip To HEB

Last week Brady's class took a field trip to HEB. Every preschool class needs to take a field trip to the grocery store in my opinion. What an experience :)

Brady said his favorite parts were petting a lobster, eating tortillas, and playing games.

After the field trip they got to enjoy a picnic lunch at the park. What a great day!

Thanksgiving 2012

 We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! I started off the Thanksgiving festivities with the boys Thanksgiving feasts at school which are always such a delight. Things like that really warm my heart.

Since Brady is in the 4 year old class now he gets to have his feast in the fellowship hall! Everything was set up really nicely and we had great food.

Brady & Tate being crazy!

Brady's place mat :)

  Luke's feast was also great! We learned from last year that it is a good idea to bring you lunch on feast day. The cafeteria is a wonderful place to eat most of the time, but for some reason their Thanksgiving feasts are a little different... Anyway- I picked up Subway and we had turkey sandwiches as we visited with Luke's friends and their parents.

My big First Grader

It was our turn to spend Thanksgiving with the Rouse side of the family which is always so much fun. We went to Leander to Mamaw & Papaw's house along with most of the family. There were a few who weren't there, but we had a pretty big crowd as you can see. It was great to see everyone and catch up. The boys have so much fun at Mamaw & Papaw's. The wake up early and go play outside and we usually don't see them again until dark unless it's time to eat. There's plenty of room to roam.

Our Allen family picture (we were missing EE, Nonah, & Cash- Presley is on her way any day, so they didn't get to come)

 Daddy, Papi, & Uncle Saw

Our family

Me & my honey :)

Out of everything- I am most thankful for him.

Yay!!! Owen is finally big enough to enjoy the tire swing!