December 2016

 Happy New Year!  :)  We had a wonderful December and so enjoyed the Christmas season, extra time with family, days off of school and work together... it was a great month.

Eli is still going strong with the karate program at his school.  This December he tested for his orange belt.

And he got it!  :)  We are super proud of him.  The karate program is fantastic, but it's a lot of work- an elective period during school, a day after school, all the physical work of it, and lots of Bible worksheets and memorization.  We are really proud of Eli for sticking with it.  His goal is to be a black belt in a few years!

Eli went indoor paintball-ing with a group of friends.  They loved it!

File under:  crazy projects done by Eli, Timothy, and Charlie.  This one is a "dog print memory," complete with all three dogs' foot prints in concrete.  :)

Eli and Timothy have been doing a LOT of this- swinging together on what they call the "tire swing," and laughing their heads off.  I love listening to them.

On Christmas Eve we went out to dinner and to a candlelight service at Christ Church in Plano (LOVE that service!!), and then we came home, put Eli to bed, and set out our presents.  This is one of my favorite scenes of the whole year- the night before Christmas.

Coming out to see on Christmas morning!  

Eli's favorite present by far was the baby turtle we bought him (that he has been begging for for months).  He named him Elliot, and he's been a very attentive turtle owner so far!  Right now Elliot is pretty tiny, but he'll grow to about softball-sized.

More present-opening...  this one was tickets for a tour of the Cowboys' stadium.  He is very excited!  :)

He got a box of t-shirts with his favorite football players' names/numbers on them.  Football is ALL he talks about lately! 

Diving into the stockings...  our favorite part.  (We took a break to eat cinnamon rolls for breakfast!)

Christmas 2016- success!

After our own little family morning with presents and breakfast, we went to church and then back to my parents' house for Christmas with the whole family.  It was so special to be all together, to share gifts and a great meal.  

My mom gave Eli this ninja costume for Christmas.  :)

The guys played a lot of soccer and football during the Christmas break.

Love this picture.

The five grandkids.  :)  Heather and Jonathan have two sweet foster kids now, too, but I'm not allowed to post pictures of them.

After Christmas the three of us went to a Sidekicks indoor soccer game, which we love doing every year.  

Hank got a new bed for Christmas, which he destroyed 5 days later by dragging it through the doggie door and SHREDDING IT TO PIECES on the back porch.  :)

New Year's Eve!  We celebrated with a fire outside and food and games with the family.

This is how Hank celebrates New Year's:  hiding in the back of Eric's closet, TERRIFIED of the fireworks outside!  :)  

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  I love the clean slate of a new year and look forward to all that 2017 has in store.  Much love!