When Claudia was in Kindergarten, we started the tradition of surprising our teacher's with a party on their birthdays. Some have been easy to pull off and some have proven quite difficult. We celebrated Cooper's teacher, Mrs. Nolan, on her birthday and we really got her. You can tell from her face below how shocked she was when she came in. It is so much fun to do this for our teachers. I love it because it is unexpected and a great way to illustrate our appreciation for how they nurture and care for our babies everyday.
Cooper was excited for her to open his gift. He had picked it out on his own and he knew she would love it.
The 2nd weekend in December, Chad and I ran away for a night alone. We do this only one time per year and we always have so much fun. We left on Friday evening and headed for Birmingham. We shopped until very late and then spent the night at our favorite, The Wynfrey. The kids spent the night with PawPaw and Nana. They kept them busy but had so much fun. We picked them up Saturday night on our way home. It was such a blessing to spend that time with Chad and make that investment in our marriage. Love having our babies with us but also love having him all to myself once in a while.
I took a few pictures one Sunday before church.
My Claudia looks so grown up in this picture. She recently had her hair cut and it is beautiful. So proud God blesses me with this sweet girl.
This little monkey has quite a hold on my heart as well...
After the photo shoot, we began our Sunday worship at Community Life watching the precious Lily Kate be dedicated to the Lord. This precious family means more to us than they will ever know. We love and adore all four of them so much!
My sweet sister had a birthday on Dec. 13th...Happy Birthday to Connie!
On Dec. 17th, my Daddy turned 70 years old. I want to make sure I write a post about our celebration later but I wanted to include a few pictures. Connie cooked up a plan and we got busy planning a huge surprise party for our Daddy. He was totally surprised and so touched that over 100 people came to celebrate his life. Two Daddy's girls were happy to celebrate a 70th birthday...
The Kingdom Kids put on a great Christmas musical. I was so proud of Claudia and Cooper. All of the kids did wonderfully singing praises to our Lord.
Our sweet Logan...
Our baby girl sang her first solo in the musical. She sang a portion of Away in a Manger. It was beautiful and she nailed it! We were so proud of her for being so brave.
We had a surprise visit from Santa after the musical.
Finally, the last two days of school! We have gotten out on a Friday the last 16 years I have been teaching but this year we got out on a Tuesday. Those two days were HARD for the students and the teachers. We did have lots of Christmas parties and other activities to keep us busy. I was blessed to get to attend both Claudia and Cooper's parties. All I could think at Claudia's party was how this is her last party at KES and I won't get to go to anymore school parties. Just made me sad. The kids had all brought a small gift and filled each others stockings. Claudia gave lip gloss to the girls and a football table game for the boys. This is her stocking waiting to be opened.
My Claudia LOVES Mrs. Head. She was the perfect teacher for Claudia and I am so thankful God orchestrated her placement into this class. We are so thankful for her guidance in Claudia's life.
Claudia went to throw something away and spotted Santa in the hallway! He visited all of the rooms that day.
The sweetest friends...
Trey always loves to be in my pictures.
Very seriously studying every single item in her stocking...
My sweet sweet baby girl...how I have loved sharing all of her school events with her at KES and oh how I will miss her being so close to me everyday.
Next was Cooper's very first Christmas party at KES. Mrs. Nolan had the lights out b/c they were watching the old classic Rudolph as they ate so my pics are not that great. Cooper was very excited for his mommy to come to his room. They didn't open their presents during the party. They saved them for Tuesday so they'd have something fun to do on the last day.
Leah sits at Cooper's table and they are big buddies.
Finally, the LAST day...
We had a sing-a-long in the gym. We did them in two sets. Grades K/1 and 2/3 came together. Cooper was very excited.
This is Kentrez. Cooper and K have been friends from day one. This was K very last day at KES and Cooper was sad to lose his friend.
Hand motions to Rudolph...
The K group singing along...
Third graders take over the gym in style...
The BFF's brought their friends, Santa's elves...
This was the most precious sight to sit behind. Claudia and Rachel dressed alike except for opposite color bows on opposite sides of their heads. They rocked back and forth singing so sweetly. I teared up watching my sweet girl with her innocent care-free heart sing all of the songs that are so much fun at Christmas.
On Wednesday, Chad was off and we went to get the van serviced. We have a BIG surprise coming up for these babies and it requires up-to-date service checks for our vehicle. We went to the movies and saw "Chipwrecked" which was great. On the way out, they wanted to see Santa and I was happy to oblige. Cooper told him he wanted an Auburn helmet and other football stuff. Claudia told him she wanted an American Girl doll.
We had lots of fun with our babies on Wednesday. We got home late but the entire day was spending time together which is our favorite thing to do. We were getting very excited for Christmas!
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