Finger Painting Fun

I feel like I have not been a very good mother lately.  I have had the TV on WAY to much.  I decided to do my best to change that so I broke out the finger paints.  AJ was a little hesitant at first, but then really got into it!  It was fun to see how proud he was of his paintings!  We hung one up in his room and one up in Mommy and Daddy's room.

AJ AKA Captain Underpants

This is as close as we have been able to get AJ interested in potty training!  He found some new underwear that he had got for Christmas and decided he needed to wear them...after all they had CARS characters on them!

Christmas Eve Dinner & Christmas Breakfast

I am still trying to figure out what exactly we will be doing as our Christmas Eve tradition at our home.  We do a service project all morning and early afternoon, but when we finish that I have kind of been in a quandary of what to do.  This year I put a lamb roast in the crock pot, researched how to make English mint sauce (for those of you who may not know...English mint sauce is NOT English mint jelly.) and made potatoes how Dad Gibson likes them, added some Rhodes rolls and peas along with a gravy made from the meat marinade and that is what he had for dinner.  Kurt and Dad Gibson were in Heaven!  Dad Gibson was especially pleased, which made me happy.  So this may be our new Christmas Eve meal...a new tradition has begun!

I am also trying to figure out a Christmas morning treat...last year I tried a breakfast casserole, but I was not impressed.  This year I made Cinnamon Roll Bread with whipped cinnamon butter.  It was pretty darn tasty!  We'll see if it is a keeper when next year comes around!

Christmas Stockings!

A dear friend of mine, Pam gave my Mom hats that her Aunt had knitted to give to all of her grandkids.  When I saw the hats I immediately thought of Christmas stockings.  Growing up we all had our own hand knitted Christmas Stockings.  I LOVED them!  They had our names on them and were white, green and red.  I have wanted some for my own family, but the only place I have seen some kind of like the ones from my childhood were on Etsy and they were VERY Expensive!  I asked Pam if she thought her Aunt Emma could knit our family some Christmas stockings, she said she was sure she could.  Pam said it turned out to be a great project for her Aunt.  She enjoyed making them for us.  Well, Pam brought the finished product over today.  They look WONDERFUL!!!! I am SOOOOO excited to have stockings for my kids.  Now Santa will have a place to put an orange for Christmas morning!

Neighbor Gifts

Last year when we first moved in to our subdivision I was excited to live in a place where I thought we would pass out little neighbor gifts, but instead we were given an invitation to an adult only party to donate money for a needy family; in the invite it said that this is the new tradition for our subdivision in lieu of neighborhood gifts. It was all fine and dandy, but I kinda missed the little gifts. This year I asked about the get-together and was told it would be just before Christmas. Well, it turns out the ball was kind of dropped and everyone decided to do little gifts. Great! But I was not prepared! So I spent the last few days trying to put something together. I ended up making a little plate of cookies with some candies and giving a roll of Bounty paper towels with this saying... This season may the "absorbing" spirit of Christ "blot" out your problems, "soak up" your sorrows, and "wipe" away your difficulties and may the new year bring you "bounteous" blessings all the year through! I told John I thought I could almost get away with just giving out the paper towels. He adamantly disagreed and told me I shouldn't offend anyone with just paper towels they may think I think they need to clean their house. I laughed and laughed! When I read him the little note on the paper towels his comment was, I sure hope they read the note. I then explained my favorite neighbor gift so far was a roll of toilet with a paper with a cute poem. He smiled and still thought I needed to make sure and give the plate of cookies.

AHHHH!

When Griffin gets excited or wants your attention he will let out a short squeal. It is adorable! It's fun to see him get excited and want to share his enthusiasm for life! May we all find a way to let out a little enthusiasm for life!

NCAA National Track & Cross Country Coach's Hall of Fame

Dad was inducted to the NCAA National Track & Cross Country Coach's Hall of Fame. The induction was held in San Antonio, Texas. That is the first time I had ever been outside an airport in Texas, it was a lot greener than I expected it to be. We stayed in a really nice hotel, it was a JW Marriott Resort. Morgan, Elynn's daughter referred to it as the castle. Kurt and I flew in with Mom and Dad and then met up with everyone else. We went down to the River Walk, drove around San Antonio, played outside in the swimming pool and went down the water slides (Yes, it was December 16th!) and we saw the Alamo. It isn't as big as I thought it would be... and it's in the MIDDLE of town. I pictured it out in the middle of nowhere, like in the movie Davy Crockett. Nope it was right smack in the middle of town on Crockett avenue. I also had fun spending time with my siblings.

The evening was delightful. We saw the Pentathlon World Record Holder, Ashton Eaton, and the first female in NCAA history to capture national titles in the 100m and 400m hurdles in the same championship, Queen Harrison, win the Bowerman Award (track & field's equivalent of the Heisman). We were entertained by John Anderson, ESPN and Wipe Out host, who was the Master of Ceremonies. But the highlight was seeing Dad being inducted. He gave a GREAT entertaining speech. He began his speech by paying tribute to Mom. After acknowledging the significant role she played in all of his accomplishments he said, "When I got married I was determined that I would be the captain of my ship. And I am. Little did I know that I married an admiral." The next day as were were walking through the airport a coach said, "Hi Coach! and his wife said, "Hi Admiral!" Dad BEAMED!
(Pictures to come)