Playing Catch Up: Christmas Dinner, Field Trip, 10K PR and a Fun Weekend

I don't feel like I've blogged in forever! Life has been busy, but it's been fun!

Last Thursday, we had a ladies Christmas dinner at our church. It's always a good time with shopping, dinner and a great speaker. This year didn't disappoint.

I have to brag on my husband for a minute. The last few weeks have been incredibly busy and I didn't have a ton of time to get everything ready for dinner. While I was at choir Wednesday night, he ironed my tablecloth and then he and the boys met me after church to help unload everything and get the table set up. Kaden even pulled all the napkins through the napkin ring holders all by himself!





Friday was a fun day! We were doing a video shoot for work which tied up much of my day, but I also got to go on a field trip with Kaden to see Skippyjon Jones. I have to admit, Skippyjon is not my favorite character. I don't know if it's the fact I can't do a really good Spanish accent when I read the book, or if it's all the "-ito's" or if it's just the whole cat whole thinks he's a dog thing, but I just don't really like Skippyjon Jones. We had a great time on the field trip though and I had a blast with Kaden and his friends. He and I even got to go backstage after the show to meet Skippyjon and the cast!

Friday night was low key. We've been pretty busy lately and I really enjoyed just being at home and cooking dinner. We hung out and played all night and the boys painted some things. K.C. painted a train he got for his birthday and Kaden painted us some pictures. They love to paint!

I had my final race in a string of races Saturday morning. I ran a 10K in a Turkey Run. It was great and I PR'd. Full recap coming soon!


After the race, we went home and hung out for a while and then dropped the boys off at Kevin's parents for a few hours so we could do some Christmas shopping (and we did great!). I told Kevin I'd like to have everything done by December if we can. I really want to be able to enjoy the holidays without having to worry about buying gifts every spare minute. I do like the hustle and bustle of last minute shopping for things like stocking stuffers, but I want to be done with major shopping soon.

I had practice for our Christmas program at church Saturday afternoon. I am so enjoying singing in the choir again. It's really the biggest blessing to me!

After practice, I rode out to visit my grandparents at the retirement community where they're staying while my granddad has rehab. It was great to see them, but also difficult. It's tough to see someone you're so close to in pain. Three weeks ago, he was driving around and doing whatever, but due to a fall, he's in excruciating pain and unable to do most things for himself. Thankfully, some people from the church where I grew up stopped in to see him while I was there which made it a little easier.

Kevin's best friend came over to watch some football Saturday night. We ate dinner and the boys had a blast playing with him. They love it when Uncle Barb comes over. While the guys watched some games, the boys and I read some of their Magic Treehouse book. They love to read and I adore sitting down reading with them.

We taught Sunday school yesterday. We have a really large group of kids which can be hectic, but they were awesome yesterday. After our lesson, we had them color a Thankful Tree and filled each leaf with something they're thankful for. It was cute to hear their answers, and I laughed as almost everyone included "candy" as something they're thankful for.

We went to lunch with Kevin's parents after church and then went to buy our items for Operation Christmas Child. The boys had fun picking out things to fill their boxes.


We spent most of yesterday afternoon outside. Our neighbors have kids around the boys ages and they love to play. We took a momentary "time out" to get frozen yogurt, too. I like it as much as the kids!

Last night, we had an ingathering service for our church's Operation Christmas Child boxes. Our choir sang a beautiful song with one of the children's choirs, too. There was also a pie social after the service which was delicious. My mom and my sister came to the service and stopped by our house after it for grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.

I'm looking forward to a great week!

When do you start Christmas shopping? What's on your list?

Have you started The Magic Treehouse series with your kids?

What's your favorite kind of pie?