Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve at MawMaw Wilma and PawPaw Sherman's house.

I'm posting all three of these just because they always so funny and terrible.

 A box of bath toys from Adelyn.

 A Frozen nightgown from Aunt Connie.

 The Complete History of Nascar updated in 2011 for Ben.  He was THRILLED with this gift and would have just sat and looked at it all night.  Annie had drawn his name.  She did a great job picking out a gift for Ben.

 Looking at the Nascar book with MawMaw.

 Aubrey and Olivia LOVE sparklers.

 Ella Kate loves Zac.

The Days Before Christmas

Mr. Marvin Cockerham passed away the Friday before Christmas.  I wanted to attend his funeral on Sunday afternoon so we headed home a day earlier than I had originally planned.  Ben, Mollie, and Annie stayed with Cara and Tom while I went to the funeral.  After the funeral, we watched Aubrey in their church Christmas program.  

 Aubrey is the angel in the middle of the top row looking to the side.

 A quick pic with PawPaw before Annie realized what was happening.

 Annie hardly let me out of her reach the entire time we were visiting.  However, she liked Will and didn't mind him picking her up and carrying her around.

We had planned to visit Santa the week before Christmas but since John had to go to Huntsville and then I had to go to Mr. Marvin's funeral, Mama and I ended up taking Ben, Mollie, and Annie to see Santa at the Alexandria Mall on Monday.  Annie was surprisingly calm with Santa.  I expected to get a screaming Annie and Santa picture.

Ben and Mollie both had letters to give to Santa.  Ben wrote his several days before we went to see Santa and had put it in my bag.  Mollie had Ben write her letter in the car on the way to Alexandria as she became very worried that she was going to forget to tell Santa some very important details about the doll she wanted.  Here's what Mollie had Ben write:  A pink ballerina doll with brown hair and a light face.  Ben had four things on his list -- a Nascar history book, a camera, Planes Fire and Rescue movie, and a specific Matchbox car.

Santa kept the letters to give to his elves (pronounced elvis by Mollie).  They had debated in the car whether Santa read the letters or the elves (elvis).  Now we know.

Hunting Camp

The week before Christmas John had to make an unplanned trip to Huntsville, AL.  The center manager there died after a long battle with cancer.  We met John at the hunting camp Friday night. John always brings Ben and Mollie a small gift when he's been out of town.  Ben usually gets a Matchbox car.  Mollie's gift varies.

 This time it was pink lip gloss.

 Ben and Mollie decorated a small Christmas tree for MV and Janey since they were spending Christmas at the camp.

Mollie and Annie's first tea party with a playset Mollie got from Mrs. Judy for Christmas.  Annie thought she was so big.

Ballet

On Monday parents were invited to Mollie's ballet class.  They demonstrated some of the things they have learned and performed two special Christmas routines they had been working on for the past few weeks.  Mollie was very excited that her daddy came and watched her.  Ben promised that he would watch her dance rather than drawing or playing on the Kindle.  He was a very good big brother and kept his promise.  In the pictures below, Mollie is wearing a long-sleeved black leotard and has her hair in a bun.

Christmas Fun

We've had lots of fun during the month of December that I haven't posted about.  I decided that I needed to clean off my camera and catch up the blog before the major Christmas celebrations begin next week.

 Ben took this picture of our mantel after he put up our wooden nativity scene made by John's great uncle Harold Press.

One day they built forts over their beds and slept in them for several days until they fell down.  Mollie has been sharing Ben's room for the past month or so after Annie discovered Mollie in the room with her at bedtime.  It became very difficult to get Annie to go to sleep.  Mollie loves having someone to talk to at night and is going to be very sad when she has to move back to her room.

 The kids and I went with several families from church to "Lewis Lights."  A local family, the Lewises, create a HUGE light display in their yard that you can walk through.

 MawMaw Wilma mailed Mollie a Frozen cape.  She's wearing it with her Cinderella dress.

 Ben didn't want to throw away his pumpkin (Mollie and Annie's were rotten but Ben's wasn't) when we removed the fall decorations so we added a Santa hat and left him by the front door.

 Mollie found a book at the library about making homemade Christmas ornaments.  They each chose an ornament that they wanted to make.  These are Santa coming down the chimney made out of felt covered matchboxes.  This was Ben's choice.

 Ben and Mollie made chocolate covered pretzels for their teachers.  I melted the chocolate and then got out of their way.  They did a great job.  They pretended they were rescuing drowning pretzels.

 Eating the chocolate off the fork once they were finished.

 The completed pretzels drying.  We put them in small Christmas goody bags and gave them to their Sunday School teachers, soccer coach, ballet teacher, etc.

 Ben played his last soccer game of the season.  They played great and won the game.  Ben scored a goal.  It's been a lot harder to score this season.  His team went up to a older age group and they've played harder teams.
 

 Getting a soccer trophy from Coach Lee.

 Mollie drew a picture of Snow Girl.

 Wrapping our Angel Tree presents.

 John worked hard on lights on the little house.

 Ben and Mollie helped me wrap gifts.  Mollie is wrapping a gift for Olivia.

 Ben wrapped his present for Aubrey without any help from me.

 Mollie chose to make these coffee filter angels.

Ben built this bowl castle.  He wrote on the sign:  "Ben's casil.  Bilding helper Mollie."

Last night I found Ben and Mollie asleep with about twenty stuffed animals all on the toddler-sized air mattress.  They slept that way all night.