Mid December mayhem

We had a friends cookie party on the 9th. Pete was off at basketball tryouts, and Kendal chose homework over others, so just Alice and I went. She had a blast with her buddies and eating all of the treats. Unfortunately, she ended up with a stomach bug just over a day later. I had to keep her home from school on Casey's birthday. I spent my odd day at home organizing Christmas while Alice slept the morning away. 

I was able to bake Casey surprise cupcakes that Kendal and Pete delivered to Casey at school the morning of his birthday. Poor Casey has had mostly early morning practices this last month. It's a pain, but he puts up with it and it means he's home in the afternoons (that aren't game days). Casey had a very easy going evening on his birthday. Pete was at tryouts, Alice not feeling great, and Kendal off playing the piano for a church party so Casey went and got us takeout that we enjoyed together since going out wasn't an option that night. We all ate cake later with the kids to celebrate him though. We love him so very much and he definitely is the favorite around here with our kids! 

                                        

Alice got to go to her Activity Day's Christmas party on the 12th. They exchanged special gifts they made one another, played games, and then went caroling to people in our ward. Alice has missed her activities the previous month due to her basketball practice schedule, so she was thrilled to make it to this one. 

Pete put himself out there and tried out again this year for basketball. He didn't make the team, but the Coach likes him and asked him to be a manager for the team. Pete happily said yes because Austin is on the team and he can still go and help / pal around. Pete will be a good help to the team and I hope it's a good experience for him. Pete got to hang out with friends for a holiday movie night on the 12th. 

Alice had her tournament on the morning of the 13th. Her team was down a couple of players, and one left part way through the game so while they held their own for quite a bit of the game, they couldn't keep it up and didn't get to continue past round one. 

Kendal spent that morning helping with the Santa breakfast that BPA put on. She was the "elf" that helped with the line of kids wanting to meet the Santa that was there. Alice chose not to go because she didn't want to talk to Santa (She chose that two other times as well.)  

The afternoon of the 13th we went out to Raft River for the rest of the weekend to spend time with family. We missed out on the Web party, but had a blast with all of the cousins for the rest of the weekend. It was a crowded and noisy house but the kids had a wonderful time together!! Saturday the adults went out to eat in Burley while all 19 grandkids had part of the  evening to themselves at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We crammed in the house for the night filling every nook and cranny we could. Sunday we added a lot of kids to the primary and YW/YM. After church we got in a few family pictures for Cheryl's wall and then ate and had our Christmas party / present exchange. The kids did t-shirts this year and there was so many fun ones! It's always a great time with the Darrington clan and we wish we could see more of Cody, Mia, and their kids, but we'll take what we can get. 

 

between all of the holiday / season hustle and bustle I managed to get a night out for book club. We bedazzled books and chatted the evening away. 

 Kendal had her winter piano recital on the 18th. She's been working so hard on her piece and played it beautifully that night. She's had piano seminar this past semester and has really burst into playing more and more songs by sight and enjoying tinkering around on the piano more. I love that she has this amazing talent and know it's a blessing in her life (it for sure is a blessing to our family / home)!

We had dress up week the last week before break. I was lame and didn't get pictures. Alice had an elf day, a reindeer day we all had an ugly sweater day, and PJ days as well. School is absolute chaos before the holiday break but we made it through. Kendal had a couple of finals to grumble about and Pete had a couple of tests as well since their semester ends the week we get back from Christmas break. 

Casey's had a lot of games the last few weeks with his team. I was able to abandon the kids one night and go and watch his team play. He's got a rough group this year as well as being low in numbers so they haven't won a game so far, but he's proud of the work their putting in and continues to raise them up and Coach them to the best of his abilities! 

The 21st was the Christmas program. Kendal was chorister for the day and lead six songs. She said her arms were sore after a few songs, but she's learning and doing really well in her calling. We were also blessed to go and be apart of Kendal's patriarchal blessing that afternoon. I had tears streaming down my face from the blessing listening to the promises and blessings for Kendal's life was so special and moments like that make me realize how close I am to this young lady growing up and taking on the world in a couple of years.

Thanksgiving into December

 We had the week off of school for Thanksgiving break. Casey had practice for a few days.On Monday we put up the tree, put up our new tree downstairs, and put up lights on the tree out front of the house. Tuesday we got our early Christmas present of a new Washer and Dryer! (We'd "fixed" our dryer twice without much success and our washer wouldn't work on most of the modes it was put on so it was long overdue.) 

(The second the Santa hat came out of the Holiday box, it's been almost a constant on Alice's head this last month. ; ) 

Thanksgiving morning we went out to Rupert so Kendal and Pete could run the Turkey Trot with Vanessa and their kids. It was a nice sunny morning which made for a decent run for the kids. Afterwards we drove the "back roads route" to Raft River. Along the way we stopped and did a bunch of Geocache sites! We had a wonderful afternoon at Kenny and Cheryl's. We ate a great dinner, and played games together the rest of the day. We stayed overnight and came home the next day getting in a bit of Black Friday Shopping. 

Dec. 1st we had our annual Christmas PJ night. I love that we do this at the beginning of the month so the kids can enjoy them all month long! 

I got a new toy at work that re-bonds books back together. I've been geeking out about this machine and am so happy to have it in the library to help mend books better and quicker than ever! 

 

I had a staff party on the 5th with the middle school staff. Casey was stuck at games that night and couldn't come. It was food, an ornament exchange, and a lot of funny stories from people. We're lucky to work where we do and with the people we do. 

Alice had a basketball game on the 6th. Her team pulled out a win despite their main scorer having a broken arm! Alice played great and has been really getting the hang of defense / the game towards the end of her season. 

We ran into the Spear family at the Turkey Trot and scheduled a dinner and game night for the seventh. It was great catching up with each other and letting our kids get reacquainted. We had a fun night of games as well!