Opryland

We've been going to Opryland on Christmas Eve for the last few years to see the lights and decorations.  It is less crowded on Christmas Eve and with the outlet mall closing at 6pm that evening, traffic is not bad at all (during the weeks leading up to Christmas, it takes us up to an hour just to get off the interstate and parked).  Here are a few pictures from our walk around the hotel ...

The indoor fountains and show they did were new this year!

Worn Out

We are ready to get back into our routine!  Only one more day of Christmas break!  We have skipped too many naps and this happened a couple of weeks ago.  Both of these guys are asleep (and it was 5pm).

Staycation

We were hoping to take a trip after Christmas but Brian has been unable to get away from work.  So we've had a bit of a staycation and have been trying out some new things locally.

On Thursday we went to Mill Creek Brewery in Nolensville for trivia night.  We stopped at Outlanders and picked up chicken tenders on the way (the food truck inside the brewery is closed for the holidays).

The beer was good but we didn't know it was going to be so cold inside (it is really cold right now here like most of the country).  We should have brought jackets and hats!  But we managed and enjoyed the evening. We did okay at trivia (we hung around the middle of the pack) and the boys helped by running the answers in.

On Saturday we went to the Franklin Theatre to see the movie Coco.  The Franklin Theatre is a historical theater on Main Street that just reopened in the last several years.  They do all sorts of performances there, including showing movies.  Coco was really good and it was fun seeing it in a new venue.

Sun Bowl

Our boys (including Gray) have turned into huge NCSU fans over the last few months.  If you ask Carter or Rylan what they'd like for a gift, they'll say anything NC State.  That's pretty much all Carter got from us for his birthday last month.  Gray knows how to do some of the NC State cheers even.

We had fun watching NC State beat Arizona State in the Sun Bowl this afternoon.  Go Pack!!!

Elf on the Shelf Sunday

Saturday, December 16th - Mr. Elf made himself an igloo.  I think the polar bear trapped him in there!

Sunday, December 17th - Mr. Elf found the clubhouse he built last year but jazzed it up this year with some sequin ribbon!

Monday, December 18th - Mr. Elf put himself in a snowglobe!  Oh no!

Tuesday, December 19th - Mr. Elf decorated our pantry door.  He does this most years.  This year he made a yeti!

Wednesday, December 20th - Mr. Elf found some leftover candy from Carter's birthday party and brought along some of his own Christmas candy for the boys!

Thursday, December 21st - Carter had brought home a fortune teller (or cootie catcher) from school on Wednesday.  Mr. Elf made some of his own to share with us!

One was a Santa ....

And one was an elf ...

Friday, December 22nd - We had origami paper out on Thursday and were making a few things.  Mr. Elf must have been intrigued because he made the boys a dragon, swan, and frog.

Saturday, December 23rd - Mr. Elf left the boys some Christmas Hot Wheels!

He also built a snowman out of some of their Hot Wheels (we have hundreds).

Sunday, December 24th - Mr. Elf got out some of our finger puppets and left the boys some new ones from the Rudolph movie.

Christmas Traditions

Some of our Christmas traditions ...

Making Christmas sugar cookies:

Singing Christmas carols at an assisted living facility with friends:

Making Christmas ornaments for our kid tree in the bonus room:

Ollie

The boys officially have a cousin!  Actually, they'd had him now for exactly one-month!  My sister had Ollie on November 17th and I got to meet him the next day.  We had planned a trip up to DC for part of the boys' Thanksgiving break and it worked out perfectly!

Happy one-month "birthday" Ollie!

Elf on the Shelf Friday

This week's elf antics ...

Saturday, December 9th - Mr. Elf brought the boys Despicable Me 3 (which they hadn't seen before).  His minion friends that we keep in the playroom joined him.

Sunday, December 10th - We found Mr. Elf in the fridge.  He'd added faces to our eggs!

Monday, December 11th - The boys were playing with finger traps on Sunday and Mr. Elf must have wanted to try one out and got stuck!

Tuesday, December 12th - Mr. Elf brought some friends from the North Pole.  These guys dance when put in the sun.  They did a great job of annoying Brian when he was working!

Wednesday, December 13th - The boys get obsessed with perler beads around Christmas.  Carter has made enough ornaments to fill the tree in his room.  Mr. Elf brought the boys some new pattern boards.

Thursday, December 14th - Mr. Elf made himself a game to play.  It's been a fun game for the boys the last few days as well.  There have been plastic golf balls flying everywhere!

Friday, December 15th - Mr. Elf left the boys some calmer games to play :)