Champions Family Retreat

In November we went on a Family Retreat with our church family, Champions Church of Christ. It was sooooo fun!! We stayed in clean dorm-like facilities, we didn't have to cook our meals, and there were lots of fun amenities. Playgrounds, archery, canoing, and...a zip line!!! I'm not sure who was more scared of the zip line, Jack or Bryan!! Probably Bryan. Jack turned around the first time and climbed down, but then changed his mind and went with me later (it was a double line)--and did great! He even turned himself upside down at the end. Callie had fun with her friends, LOVED the zip line and just enjoyed being outside. Macie played hard, napped little, and just turned her personality on. She and Davis Selby are cute together, and she is great friends with little Shannon Harris, who is in her Sunday School classes and MDO class. She and our preacher, Larry Keele, had a "war" of college hand signs--he is a UT fan...It was a fun weekend, and we are blessed to be a part of this church family. And no, grandparents, Jack didn't actually ride that motorcycle, just sat on it for a while!

Church Family Retreat

In November, we went on a family retreat to Huntsville with our Champions church family. It was so fun! The camp had a cool zip line, a lake with canoes, archery, playgrounds, nice dorm-type rooms and a nice cafeteria, where we didn't have to cook! The weather was perfect, not too hot or cold. We were a little concerned about doing something like this with Macie--she is not the easiest kid for sleeping somewhere new, staying close to us in potentially dangerous situations, etc...but she did fine! The kids had so much fun with all their friends, including Macie and her special friends Shannon Harris and Davis Selby. The zip line was AWESOME!! Jack was one of the first ones up to go, and he got scared and came back down the steps, but, after seeing other kids have a blast, he decided to try again and went with Mommy. I actually think Bryan was the most nervous of all! We are so blessed to be a part of this church family, and love getting to know everyone better, and watch our kids make such great friends.

Stone Soup

Callie and Jack both have "Stone Soup" Day at school right before the Thanksgiving Break. If you don't know it, Stone Soup is an old fable about a traveling man who teaches a town to share what they have to make something good for everyone--soup. In the classes, each kid brings an ingredient for the soup, and it cooks in crockpots for the morning, then we all partake for lunch! It is actually a contest between the classes, with judges who pick the tastiest one. Callie's class won this year!

Thanksgiving Chapel

The Kindergarten classes were in charge of chapel the week before Thanksgiving. They sang some cute songs, talked a bit about what Thanksgiving means to them and just looked so cute! Jack did a great job. He really likes his teacher, Mrs. Pett. Each child said what they were "thankful for", and Jack said "my Mommy"! Yea!

Birthday at School

Since Jack's birthday falls during Thanksgiving week when he is out of school, he asked me to have a little celebration for him during lunch the week before they got out for the Holiday. Jack is very much into Legos right now, so for his school celebration I ordered a cookie cake with that theme. Funny little story that teachers and Moms will relate to; I asked them to only put a small amount of blue icing in the middle of the cookie cake, since blue reaks havoc on clothes, stains teeth/skin, etc...I guess the girl who took my order didn't understand, because there was blue icing ALL OVER that cake! Oh, well. Hopefully I won't have any mad parents calling me!

Macie's Thanksgiving Program--That She Did Not Participate In!

Macie had her little Thanksgiving program today, and Grammy came to watch. She and I got a great seat, right on the front row, ready to watch our little cutie. She came in with her class, all dressed for Thanksgiving, complete with Indian feather headband. She sang the first song or so, just perfectly, then she saw us...and it was over. She refused to stand with her class, refused to stand, just buried her face in my lap. Which really is odd, since she is usually such a little performer! So, lesson learned--don't sit square in the front in plain view, and don't let her see me!