Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours...

( Appreciate this photo, as Charlie is scared to death of Shae, and the cats were mad about these bows - this dumb photo took FOREVER to take!)

Heartbroken

As we unpacked to decorate for Christmas this year, i was heartbroken to find two of my favorite decorations smashed. I am so so sad. We have had these nearly our whole marriage.

You will be missed Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

A.R. Star!

A.R. stands for Accelerated Reader - a program at the elementary schools where a kid has to read a book and take a test on comprehension - kids earn points for each test passed. Typically, teachers require that each student earn a minimum number of points each 6 weeks (like 5 or 10). Each grade announces a winner for the most points earned - it's sort of a big deal!

To be honest, while most kids work very hard to be an "A.R. Star", Tim thinks this is dumb. Most of the books he reads are higher level and not on the A.R. list, so he never earns more than about ten points PER YEAR!!

Well, this past 6 wks, he decided to read the Harry Potter series - which is on the list!

As a result of reading all six books, He won the A.R. Award!!

As you can see above, he didn't even realize they called his name! Usually at this point in the Academic Pep Rally, he isn't paying attention (remember, A.R. is DUMB!)

I love his face here! - he was so confused about his win! He was asking, "Are you sure I am the winner?"

As part of his reward he got to participate in the wrap a 'teacher/elf' contest along with the other A.R. winners.

He was still pretty confused here - later I asked him why he seemed so weird and he confessed that he thought another kid had earned more points and he was feeling guilty for taking the spotlight! Oh, my sweet boy!

I think he ended up with over 170 points!! He may just win the over all award at the end of the year! Great job Tim!

Playoffs!!

Last season, Tim's team didn't make it this far - but this season, they have come together to be a FANTASTIC team! This was the final game - for all of the marbles!

Before the game - hanging out in the stands.

Zak, J.R., Phillip,Hasheem and Tim

Tim in action - 5 boys after that ball - that is TEN legs poised to kick Tim at any moment!

He is a brave kid!

They ended up the second place team - I don't think any of them were too upset - I think they were all pretty excited to have made it so far! Way to go Drifters!!

PAINT!

This year we used girl named Stormi Butler for our Big Shots ads.

One of her ideas was to do a paint shoot. She had Maggie jump in with her to make the ads more fun! Here are a few of the shots from that crazy day!

The first few splatters thrown - that paint was COLD!!

I think Stormi was saying, "Oh Maggie, You are going to be SO sorry for that!"

It took some serious scrubbing to get the girls clean, and I think there will be paint splattered on the Butlers fence for years to come - but it was worth it! I love how some of these photos turned out - Good idea, Stormi! And Thanks to her mom for providing the clothes, backdrop and paints! You can see more of these shots on the Big Shots Photography Facebook page!

My favorite day of the year!

I LOVE FORNEY HOMETOWN CHRISTMAS!!

I love the cheesy little parade, I love the booths of vendors selling their wares, I love the free hot cocoa, I love the Christmas choirs - everything about this day is terrific and gets me in the Spirit of the Holiday!

Above, Maggie and Haley wait for the Parade to begin

Below, Tim and Jeremy were so embarrassed to have this photo taken! Nobody wanted to be associated with the wiener!

The boy scouts had a marshmallow gun booth, so the boys insisted on stopping there to make a gun! Guess how many marshmallows were all over my backyard by the end of the afternoon!

Tims GF, Michaela performed in the holiday choir!

********

Later that evening, I took Maggie and Haley to see their friend Becci perform in the Nutcracker. None of us had ever been to an actual Ballet before. We enjoyed it, but those male dancers really need to rethink their costumes - yuck!

Rebecca!

Cousin Rebecca came into town for her high school's football playoff game, which was held at our stadium! So naturally, we went to watch her perform in the halftime show - She was GREAT!!