Medieval Times

Instead of gifts for Christmas this year, we decided to start doing fun family experiences with the Brashears given to each other.  This year we picked Medieval Times for an awesome night of fun.  We had fantastic seats on the front row in the center.  Ryland, Reed, and Benton loved cheering for black and white knight.  It was awesome seeing them get into it!

Emory cheered on our knight, and he stopped to throw her a beautiful carnation.  This made Ridley extremely jealous, and she started pouting.

The knight came back around two more times and did not throw Ridley a flower, so she was upset.  The knight then presented a ribbon to one lucky lady in the crowd, and he selected Ridley.  By this point, she was so pissed.  She wouldn't slide the ribbon off the joust stick.  I slid it off, and she traded it for Emory's carnation.  Hahaha!  Girls! 

We had a wonderful night, and we all agree this was better than purchasing gifts for one another's children.  What will we do next year?

Christmas Fun Continues

We are enjoying our family time together and playing with every new toy.  Today, we are making homemade cotton candy.  It was pretty interesting to learn how cotton candy is made and watch the hard candy turn into thin strings.  It was very easy to find a few cute taste testers.

The bickering brothers discovered a new "punishment" today.  Hug it out timeout!  Ha!

Ridley wore herself out playing with all her new dolls.  Tonight she chose to sleep with Elena.  Such a sweet cuddler.

Merry Christmas

The kids woke up excited to check out their new stuff.  They were so happy to see new toys and clothes.  Ridley's favorite item was her doll house.  Ryland's favorite item was his new bike, and Reed's favorite item was the foosball table.  

We were lazy all day and just played around the house.  We had birthday cake and sang happy birthday to Jesus, since He is the reason for the season.

Christmas Eve

We enjoyed an amazing Christmas Eve service at White's Chapel.  The message of joy, love, and peace spoke to our hearts, and the children really liked the parachute candy and the snow machines at the end of service.

Before we could go to bed, we sprinkled the reindeer food across the front yard.  Hopefully they like glitter and oatmeal.  

Santa knew just what to bring the kiddos.  Bikes, dollhouse, foosball table, Shopkins, and lots of Under Armour!

Hot Chocolate

Tom is full of fun this year.  Today he brought delicious Starbucks Hot Chocolate and lots of mini marshmallows.

Christmas Parties

We packed in the fun this morning with two Christmas parties at Old Union.  Both boys had a blast playing with their classmates and showing off.  Now we are ready to spend the next two weeks relaxing!

Emojis

Tom brought some emoji ornaments for the kids, and they had a ball with them.  They talked about which one belongs to each of them and who was the poop head.  That Tom is a silly dude.

CHCS Christmas Party

Ridley had a sweet little Christmas breakfast party with her friends at school.  She is getting so big, and I enjoy seeing her personality come out.  She is a stinker!

Christmas Magic

There are not enough hours and days to complete all the fun and festive details I want to finish.  I am having such a wonderful and joyful Christmas season.  Making magic!

Christmas Tree

Our Christmas tree is up and decorated.  The kiddos had fun helping with the ornaments and reminiscing with each ornament.  This is such a special time for our family, and our house if full of joy.

Inflatables

Everyone knows that I am not a fan of inflatables.  I guess our elf, Tom, missed the memo, because he brought three inflatables back from the North Pole.  What was he thinking?  That crazy elf!

Mantel Decorating

I am having so much fun decorating this year.  I added some red glitter stars to our usual mantel decorations, and it looks so festive. Christmastime is here!

Tom is here!

Our elf is back and not a minute too late.  Tom made his appearance today with Christmas pjs and yummy sugar cookies.  Can't wait to see how excited the kids are!

Christmas Festival

Another awesome Christmas festival at WCUMC.  We had so much fun, and we didn't have a chance to take pictures until we were leaving.  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful church.

Chi Omega Market Shopping

When you go shopping with the girls, and you need a bigger vehicle to get you all home.  It was a tighter ride on the return, because we found so much good stuff at the Chi Omega market.  So excited to go home and decorate for Christmas!

Christmas Day

Our three littles were up bright and early ready to explore the goodies that Santa dropped off.  The boys didn't make it past the entry way most of the day, because there was just way too much fun packed under the tree.

Ridley loved her new Elsa dress and wanted it on right away.  She added a little flair with her pajama under clothes.  "Let It Go"

Princess Elsa enjoyed playing with her new Beanie Boos and fairy suitcase. 

After several hours of playing with all the toys Santa left, the boys opened their suitcases to find - WADERS!  They were thrilled!  They put them on immediately and tested them in the pool. They stayed warm and dry, so the boys are ready to try them at the hunting camp.

We also celebrated Jesus' birthday with a cake and the happy birthday song.

Gingerbread House

We used our building skills this evening on a gingerbread house.  We skipped the directions and tore into the candy and icing.  We quickly learned that it was a bit more difficult than we thought.  We had to regroup and find some patience, so the "glue" icing could set.  We all had fun and can't wait to dig in.

Christmas Cards

Love, love, love our Christmas cards.  I am so pleased at how well they came out.  What's even better? I have them early, and there is no stress with a photography delay.  I think this is the first year there hasn't been some sort of issue.

Tom

Our dear elf, Tom, came to visit, and he brought all kinds of fun goodies.  John Chris and I were thrilled to see him, in hopes of his presence relieving some brotherly stress.  The children couldn't wait to dig into the gingerbread house, candy, and new underpants.  Tom also brought a great book.  The Christmas Story illustrated with Legos, and it was perfect for the boys.

Mustaches are silly

More Christmas traditions.  Tonight we enjoyed the holiday crackers with a twist. They each had a stick on mustache with a personality name.  Everyone played along, even Ridley.