Cheekwood

This fall we renewed our membership to Cheekwood after letting it lapse for a year.  Brian and I took the boys there one Sunday morning in December to do their Christmas activities.

We visited the reindeer first ...

Then we went inside to do some crafts and decorate cookies ...

Brian and I got cookies too.  This is mine ...

And here is Brian's ...

Another craft ...

We went inside the mansion to view the Christmas trees.  They weren't as many this year (nor were they as impressive).  But it was still fun to see the decorations.

Before leaving we hung out by the outdoor model trains for about 30 minutes.  I think Gray could watch them all day!

Art Camp

Including the weekends, the boys have 18 1/2 days off from school for winter break.  While it's nice to get a break, it's gets long by the end of the break.  So this week I signed the boys up for art camp with Ms. Julie.  They went to her house on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings for 2 1/2 hours to paint and play.  They said they loved it and came home with some cute canvas paintings!

Predators Practice

On Monday I took the boys to a Predators practice at the Ford Ice Center.  We met up with two of Jen's kids (Evie and Reed) who were there with Jen's dad.  The place was packed but we were able to squeeze into some bleacher seats with our friends (they got there an hour early - we only got there 30 minutes early).  That meant the kids got to stand at the wall and be only inches from the players.  It was especially fun when the players smacked the glass in front of their faces with their sticks!

Gnash was there and made the rounds.  We got a great picture with him!

Gnash started a "Let's Go Predators" chant right next to us.

At the end of the practice, some of the players were doing autographs and Rylan got his rally towel signed by Juuse Saros, a backup goalie.  It was a fun experience and I'm sure we'll go to another practice again!

Christmas Carolling

One of the most special things we did this Christmas season was sing with our friends at a nursing home.  Missy organized this for us and we all hope to make this an annual tradition.

Most of the kids are still pretty young (Carter and Carson were the oldest ones there) so we only sang three simple songs - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

We waited patiently as the residents gathered in the main room.

Then we sang our songs to them a couple of times.

The parents were the louder singers at first but the kids got braver as they sang and eventually we all blended :)

The kids made a few cards each and we handed them out along with candy canes after singing.  My boys were surprisingly brave and ventured out to talk to some of the residents (just a little bit though).

Afterwards we went to a couple of the rooms and sang again to a few of the residents that didn't make it out to the main room.

Overall, it was a great experience and my boys really enjoyed it.  They said they'd like to go back sometime to play games with the residents (we are thinking of maybe going back for Valentine's Day).

We all went over to Missy's house when we were done singing to decorate Christmas cookies and play.

Such a fun afternoon and a great experience for our kiddos!

Colt Corral

On most Fridays, the boys' school has Colt Corral first thing in the morning.  All the kids go straight to the gym as they get to school and sit with their class.  It's basically an assembly when the principal makes announcements and recognizes students and then there are sometimes performances too.

At the beginning of December, I got this email from on the school counselors ...

Good afternoon!

I just wanted to let you know that Carter was one of a few students celebrated at Colt Corral this morning! Ms. Fitch wanted to recognize him for the excellent character he demonstrates. She shared that Carter always tries his best on every task that is given to him and does an exceptional job at staying focused and working hard! He also has an outstanding ability to stay attentive and to always exhibit excellent behavior!

We are very proud of the excellent example he is, and we just wanted you to know so that you could celebrate him too!

Have a great day,

Alyssa Head
School Counselor
Clovercroft Elementary

We think Carter is pretty awesome but we love when others think so too :)

Christmas Gifts

Our kiddos were spoiled rotten this year!

Granted these were gifts from Santa, us, my mom, Brian's parents, and our sisters.

After opening everything up, Rylan wanted a picture with his haul :)

Opryland

We try to get up to Opryland every year to walk around and see their Christmas decorations.  My mom flew in on Christmas Eve and since we were so close, we went up to Opryland after picking her up around 3:30 pm.

It rained the entire day on Christmas Eve so we didn't walk around to see the outdoor decorations.  Though it was warm which made the walk to the building from the parking lot at Opry Mills (which is free) much better than normal.

We walked through a little quicker than normal (we probably only stayed an hour) but the boys were  getting hungry which meant it was time to head out.  It was fun though because there were several new decorations this year and it was also the first year Gray was old enough to really enjoy it!

Smith Park Hike

We had a very warm Christmas this year - it got up to the 70s.  So while Gray took a nap and Brian worked on his car in the afternoon, my mom and I took the boys to Smith Park to hike and check on our letterboxes.

He hiked about 2 1/2 miles and were able to check on them all.

The last person to find our letterboxes didn't re-hide them well so it was a good thing we checked on them.  We've had several finds in the ones we planted last winter ...

One of the things the big boys got from Santa were Garmin Vivofit Jrs (which are activity tracker watches).  They were excited to get their step counts up and easily hit the activity goal time of one hour.  We'll see how long the excitement lasts!

Elf on the Shelf Finale

On Saturday, December 10th, Mr. Elf asked the boys to make their final lists for Santa (not that they didn't add things later!).  He circled the boys dream present (the Lego Death Star) but told them it was too expensive.

Rylan lost his second tooth at dinner on Saturday.  On Sunday we found Mr. Elf tied up in floss.  We think the tooth fairy and Mr. Elf had a run in over night.  Maybe he made her mad???

On Monday we found Mr. Elf swinging from a tire swing that he made from a Lego tire ...

Mr. Elf got a little political on Tuesday ...

On Wednesday Mr. Elf had a sledding accident.  When we found him in the morning, he was hanging upside down from his sled on that was on the railing.

When we got home later in the day, Mr. Elf was on the floor behind the Christmas tree - eeekkk!

On Thursday we found him with his leg propped up and wearing a couple of casts ...

He appears to have healed quickly and was hanging from a wreath on Friday.  He made the boys a countdown to Christmas.

On Saturday we found Mr. Elf in a container with a note telling us he wanted to go on a field trip and we were allowed to take him with us that day.  The boys were so excited to take him to their basketball games!

On Sunday Mr. Elf was playing Spot It with Mr. Wuf.  He also brought with him a new Christmas version of the game.

On Monday Mr. Elf was making a s'more ...

And on Tuesday he turned our pantry door into a penguin!

On Wednesday Mr. Elf was wearing a creeper mask and had downloaded Minecraft to our iPad.  The timing was a great because Carter had the stomach that day (he was up most of the night throwing up) and he was happy to stay home and play Minecraft all day!

On Thursday, Mr. Elf left us a note that he wanted to play hide and seek.

Mr. Elf hid REALLY WELL.  The boys could not find him.  Carter even looked in the mixer and in the cookie jar and never saw Mr. Elf.  I eventually narrowed it down for the boys and told them I saw him in the kitchen and they finally found him!

On Friday, Mr. Elf gave the boys Christmas photo props.

He also made himself some!!!

And took some pictures of himself with them ...

Saturday was our last day with Mr. Elf.  We found him that morning zip-lining into our Christmas tree!!!

We'll see you next year, Mr. Elf!!!