The Singing Christmas Tree

Family and long time friends will probably recognize the name "Singing Christmas Tree"! It is a Christmas tradition at my childhood church, Southcliff Baptist! My mom sang in the tree for several years!

I have been waiting for Jonathan to reach a good age to take him and I felt this year was right! It happened to be the 25th Anniversary! Which is so crazy because that is when we started attending the church! I was so glad that we went. I hope we will go every year now!

This is a picture I stole from someones Facebook Page. It shows the tree close up! The choir squeezes in each row!
While there are many shows, I think 4-5, we went to the Sunday 11 am show!

When the boys and I walked in, I saw that the choir room door was open and lots of people were coming in and out, so I decided to sneak in to see if I could say "Hi" to some old friends! The boys quickly made themselves at home, while I hugged lots of familiar faces! See me?

One face I was looking for, one of mom's dearest friends, Susan Pearson! I loved seeing her, it had been too long!!!
Another beautiful face I got to see was Kim Freeman!!! I was so pleasantly surprised to see her! I know both Kim and Susan are readers of my little blog here - It was so great to see you both! Love you!

The Tree from our seats!

We decided, kind of last minute, to let Ben stay with us! He did great! He sat in my lap for 90% of the time and jammed out to the music! I knew he would love it! Michael took him out to the lobby about 10 minutes before it was over when he got a little restless, so not so bad!

Jonathan LOVED it! He was bright eyed the whole time! He loved the music and the whole experience! I love watching things through his eyes!
You can kind of see Waylen's profile here!

The church had a kids activity area setup for afterward. Ben and a nice lady playing toss with an ornament ball! :)



Michael, with our boys. And the beautiful brown-eyed girl looking at me is one of Amy's nieces Kendal, next to her another niece Addison.



A view of the table with all the kids coloring! Will at the end and Scarlet next to Amy!

"CHEESE"

We all had such a great time and can't wait until next year!!!

Happy Birthday Michael!

This past week was Michael's Birthday! Last Saturday I asked Pat to take care of the kids and I took Michael to a gun range! He has been increasingly interested in guns over the past couple of years. I bought him a gun safe a couple of Christmas' ago. He has purchased a couple of guns since, but hasn't had the chance to go shot them!

I have never, at least in my adult life, shot a gun! I wasn't very interested to begin with, but then I decided, that just for the sake of self defense, I would like to shoot a gun, just so I am not completely intimidated! Well, I liked it, I liked it a lot! I can't wait until we get to go again! Michael had a great time too! It was a great date night! We had good Mexican food afterward! Perfection!

The Birthday boy and me at the range!

Shooting his new Glock 9mm.

Now my turn with the Glock! I was very scared of this gun to begin with but I think I shot the best with this one!

I didn't know much about guns before this day, but I did know about Shot Guns. So I rented one! We got "Buck Shot" bullets. It was amazing. It was my favorite of all the guns. After we were done I realized I didn't get a picture of me with the first gun I have ever shot! So we asked the guy if I could hold it for a quick pic!

We blew the center of the bulls eye out with the shot gun!

Dork! I took a picture of myself while Michael was reloading! Michael bought us both our own eye and ear protection. But I was still getting over an eye infection so I had to wear my glasses!

Michael shooting his rifle!

Only some of the shells that fell on the floor around us from our session!

On Michael's actual Birthday we had a little "party" with the 4 of us! Dinner, Cake, Presents, Music, Dancing, Video Games...you know, the usual! :)

 

Jonathan and Ben helping Michael open his gifts! I think that was a new work shirt!

Ben is showing me the wrapping paper he ripped off! Such a helper!

Wow! It's another shirt! :)

Jonathan insisted that I make Michael a cake, even though Michael didn't want one (he isn't much of a sweet eater). I had the ingredients to make this, so I decided to give it a shot! It is Pumpkin Angle Food Cake! I saw it on Pinterest and it is only 4 or 5 ingredients! It was yummy!
http://bestrecipesite.net/pumpkin-angel-food-cake/

Ben really liked...the whip cream! :)

Me too!

One of my good friends, Kathryn has decided that Ben's nickname is "Me too!" It is such a fitting nickname for him. You can watch him and he is watching everyone else, and he wants to do exactly what you are doing! Kathryn's daughter Avery is Jonathan's age. They go to school and church together and we have many play dates and Ben is always the tag along! He hold his own pretty well, as he believes he too is a 4.5 year old!

As we were visiting with Santa I noticed Jonathan's hair was in need of a hair cut. I pulled out my life line, aka, my iPhone, and saw that in fact it had been 4 weeks since his last hair cut. (I keep all of those things in my phone's calendar! I would be lost without it!) So I called and booked an appointment for Jonathan the very next day for after school!

I did not book an appointment for Ben. He had just had his first hair cut 4 weeks ago and it didn't really need it again so quickly. On the other hand, Jonathan's hair is just so thick and a little bit curly, that it needs to be trimmed every 4 weeks. I have a bit of a reputation with my friends, that I am a little crazy about getting Jonathan's hair cut, but I don't care! :)
We went to Jonathan's hair appointment as usual, I had Ben in his stroller positioned so the brothers can see each other. But then, Ben started pointing at the chair and saying, "Pea?" Pea means, Please. He was asking to get his hair cut too. Thankfully, Alicia our hair dresser loves these boys and was happy to oblige Mr. Little "Me Too"! When Jonathan's hair cut was done, Ben hopped up in the chair and Alicia took a little off the top and around his ears. It made little "Me Too" sooooo happy!
Lesson learned, I will have to book hair cut appointments for BOTH boys going forward!
 

Cheese!! So happy with their new sharp hair cuts!

Posing. Handsome Fellas!

A visit with Santa!

As we were leaving the Hurst Tree Lighting on Tuesday evening, Jonathan was more than a little bit disappointed that we didn't wait in the mile long line to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus. The only way we could him to leave without too much of a scene, was that I promised him we would go visit Santa very soon.

When I woke up the next day, I decided that it was as good of a day as any! It was Wednesday, so both boys went to school. When I went to pick them upI brought their nice clothes and we changed before going to NorthEast Mall! The boys were excited, but probably not as excited as me when I saw that there was NO line. Not a soul! Much nicer than the night before!

Jonathan enjoyed seeing him, and I guess the only way I describe it, I think he was a little start struck. He kept asking me if he was the REAL Santa, since I told him that all the Santa's he sees are just Santa's helpers and the real Santa is very busy in the North Pole.

Ben was great with the whole thing. He could take it or leave it, but was mostly just a good sport. Ben looks to Jonathan to see how to act or react to things and thankfully, Jonathan is a great example (most of the time)!!

It was a fun afternoon at the mall. After we were done with Santa we window shopped and then shared a cookie in the Food Court! Can't go wrong with any of those things!

The first 3 photos are by the "professional":

I picked this for our Christmas card!

I imagine Ben is saying something like, "This is JJ!"

The rest of the pictures I took!

J is telling Santa what he wants. Which is a horse trailer. (It's attached to the back of a toy F150 and you can put like 10 horses in the back, he saw it in a toy magazine and has been obsessed ever since!)

Now it looks like Ben is telling him what he wants...not sure what that is!

Then Ben decided he liked the way Santa's vest felt! He kept running his fingers on it!

More chatting!

"Cheese!!" - J looks upset here, but he wasn't! Santa looks bored, but he wasn't! :)

Just a precious smile!

Hurst Tree Lighting

The day after Simple Elegance was the Hurst Tree Lighting! It was the 2nd Annual, and we went to the 1st Annual, so I really didn't want to miss it, even though we were all a bit tired! Last year it was SUPER cold and this year it was like in the 60's! So it was much more enjoyable!
We had a blast! So glad we went! Saw lots of neighbors and church friends! We went to the petting zoo, Jonathan rode a pony, we pet Reindeer, we saw fireworks, we saw Santa and Mrs. Claus...and so much more! It was FUN! Looking forward to repeating this new tradition!

Jonathan's pony ride! He loved it!



J and B feeding a goat. I love how Ben crouches down! Jonathan is showing Ben how to feed him!

Crouching.

More Crouching. I just can't get enough!

J petting a Bunny!

Ben trying to feed the Sheep 2 small pieces of straw!

J and B with another goat! I just love this photo!

J with Donner and Blizten!

The tree, before it was lit up! And look about the middle of the photo, Santa and Mrs. Claus!

Fireworks!

Cookie Decorating!

I forgot to get a lit tree photo, so this was as we are driving off. You can kind of see it! :) The building is the new Hurst Convention Center. It is really nice!

Simple Elegance 2012

The past couple of weeks have been BUSY, but fun! Lots of cool things going and fun pictures to share!
The day after we lit the advent candle at church, was the annual Simple Elegance event at church! I co-hosted a table last year, http://dreamerthinkerplayer.blogspot.com/2012/01/simple-elegance.html, with my friend Lisa. And this year I co-hosted once again, but this time with my friend Liz! We had lots of fun planning over the past couple of months! Liz is almost "professional" crafter status! She has her own blog about the Pin's she does off Pinterest. It is an awesome site, I'll give you the link below!
Anyway, Liz and I decided on a "red and white" theme. The original idea evolved over the time that we worked on it, but the end results, in our humble opinions, were pretty good!!!
What is Simple Elegance? The event is for women only. You buy a $10 ticket and that money goes to Women's Missions. The Women of the church volunteer to come up and decorate these tables for an evening of desserts, that they also provide. It is all in good fun, and a tad bit of stress! I love going because it inspires me! There are so many different takes on Christmas decorations!



Me and Liz in front of our table!

Liz and her mom, Linda!

Linda let us borrow her "Depression Glass" set as our *pop* of green! It was such an awesome addition! Thanks Linda!!

The white limbs are from our tree in the back yard. A large branch had fallen, so I broke it apart and spray painted it white! I thought it had turned out pretty good!

Liz hand-sewed the red beads onto the napkins! She also made the Snowmen from scratch! They are clay that she fired in her oven and then painted them! I'm telling you, she is a professional crafter!

The view from my seat!

After they turn the lights down - our candle light view! We had tons and tons of candles, fake and real! We were the most lit up table there!

Behind the scenes! Kathryn, Lisa and Liz (and me) all having a good time before the real event starts! (Kathryn and Lisa co-hosted a table next to ours!)

Kathryn getting her Banana Pudding ready! So cute! They are in mason jars with little shortbread cookies and fresh slices of banana!

Another one of Liz and me before the doors open!

Our table after the lights turned down! From the top left, Linda, Judy (Mandy's mil), Mandy (my new neighbor!), Heather, Amanda, Sarah (my good friend and "date" for the evening), Me and Liz.

My cupcakes. Look familiar? Yes, they are very similar to what I made the year prior, but hey, if it ain't broken? This year I made Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream cheese Frosting!  

These were Liz's YUMMY desserts!
The top cookies are Cherry Shortbread cookies: http://lizspinspiration.blogspot.com/2012/12/pin-163.html
The bottom is White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge: http://lizspinspiration.blogspot.com/2012/12/pin-164.html

Liz and Lisa

I am on the stage, about to get the group photo. The tall tree, western table is Lisa and Kathryn's! Ours is to the right!

Closer look at Lisa and Kathryn's table. It is amazing with details!

Cowboy boots under the little table!

I love her plates and the western shirts over the chairs! They thought of everything!



Looking out on the room!

Love this table! I want the table cloth and glasses!!

Love the Breast Cancer theme!

I really liked this table. So simple, but so neat!

Another simple, but beautiful table!

Funky, but I love!

This was one of my favorites! I love the plates! I looked it up on Ebay and the set goes for like $500!! The lady said she has had them ever since her 8th birthday, which was 50 years ago! Very cool, another reason why I love doing this, you meet neat people and hear cool stories!

This was a science themed table! Very unique!



My boys would have gone crazy for this! They always attack the life size M&M in the store! :)
 

The entertainment for the eveing was a group of ladies called, "Harp Esscence". They were amazing! They played for almost an hour and it was like nothing I had heard. They played electric harps! They actually let us go up on stage and play them afterward, and of course I DID! It was awesome! I might have a new hobby!