Julia's class party

Matt, Audrey, and I joined Julia's class for their Christmas Party this afternoon. I brought a drink, cookies, and a piece of candy for Audrey to eat, but Mrs. Mosley had extra class goodies to share. Both girls loved all the sugar! Matt and I loved getting to spend some time with Julia at school.

Worst Mom Award

I might qualify for worst mom of the year for this one. Julia's been practicing the last few months for a Christmas musical at church. The program was Sunday and... here's the bad mom part... I didn't even remember to bring a camera. Fortunately, a friend of hers has a dad that is a photographer AND that friend was standing next to Julia in the program, so #1 bad mom wound up with pictures!

After the program, Julia looked up at me and said, "Why didn't you video me?" Oh, the guilt!

Elfie's mischief

Our Elf on the Shelf has been up to a lot this week. He's gotten extra comfortable in our home and has begun acting out! He's gotten into Mama's makeup and written the girls a note on their mirror using lipstick. They were insistent that Santa know that Elfie had been bad. After school, Audrey decided that she needed to clean up Elfie's mess.

Another night, Elfie decided to get into the pantry. He had a snack and then went ahead and prepped the girls' school snack too. Mama wasn't too thrilled that the prepped snack was so unhealthy. The girls, however, approved wholeheartedly.

We're heading to see Santa tomorrow (Saturday) night. The girls have already had Elfie pass on our request for a special visit from Santa and his reindeer next Friday night. Yes, Santa's visiting us 8 days before Christmas since we'll be in TN on the 25th. We would have had Santa visit closer to Christmas, say the 23rd, but in order to actually see my brother (ahem), we've got to get on up there.

Blessings 321-330

* 2 computers in the house so both girls can play online games at the same time

* Audrey making literary references. She insists she's a "hungry caterpillar" and needs snack after snack after snack...

* Extra time in the carline to spend making pom poms! I had 14 to do and they each took about 30 minutes.

* The excitement building for our first cheerleading practice tomorrow. Julia's cheerleading for Upward Basketball and I'm head coaching her squad. Saying I have no cheerleading experience is an understatement, but I'm definitely getting into the girly spirit of it!

* Our fabulous Christmas tree! (Can you believe Matt was the one who started pulling the tree and decorations out Thanksgiving morning? I didn't even ask (tell) him too! I was planning on doing it Friday instead. The girls had a lot of fun looking at the ornaments and decorating the tree. Thank goodness we had these little people to help us out by crawling under the tree.

* The fun of having our visitor from up north joining us again - Elfie!

* Cute Christmas dresses to wear

* A clean house thanks to our hosting life group this week.

* The cuteness of Audrey's snores.

* Homemade Christmas cookies

Blessing 311-320

311. A family birthday celebration for dear Matthew.

312. New black boots that arrived in the mail last week and that make me feel extra stylish and confident (no easy feat! ;) pun not intended! Thanks Mom)

313. Laughs from Julia repeatedly saying that a kid in her class was "extended" (suspended)

314. Julia's excitement from getting to ride on the school bus for the first time. The Kindergarteners walked over to a garden near the school today but a bus drove them back b/c it started raining. She probably traveled 1/4 mile in the bus, but she was thrilled and kept telling us that she didn't have to have a seatbelt!

315. Audrey posing for a cute picture with me! She doesn't always like to pose.

316. Matt getting to stay for the Feast after Audrey's program. We thought he'd be joining Julia for a special Thanksgiving meal at school, but I messed up the date for that. There wasn't a conflict after all.

317. Audrey singing and participating in her program today. After a meltdown at VBS Family Night this summer and a dress flapping/no singing Graduation program this Spring, I didn't quite know what to expect from her.

318. Audrey really enjoying her friends from Preschool. Tommy is in this picture with her.

319. Julia's willingness to share a couple of hats she made this week.

320. 5 days of rest. We won't be seeing extended family at Thanksgiving this year :( but we will enjoy our Bowman family foursome time!

Thanksgiving Video!

The girls enjoy pulling a chair into the living room to stand on and look at themselves while they perform in front of a mirror we have on the wall. Julia's been practicing her children's choir musical this way, and Thursday, I found Audrey practicing songs for her Preschool Thanksgiving program. Here's one:

Translation:
Jesus is God's Son. He can do anything.
That is why I worship Him. That's why I sing.
I'm praisin', I'm thankin' God for His Son, Jesus.
I'm praisin', I'm thankin' God for His Son, Jesus.

Blessing #301 - A fun time of dressup for Halloween. We had Dr. Julia and Snow White Audrey at our house. Too bad I didn’t take any pictures…

Blessing #302 - Fun times creating Tom the Turkeys. Tom Turkey is trying to keep hidden so he won’t be eaten at Thanksgiving. Julia’s Tom has been disguised as a flower and Audrey’s as a rainbow.


Blessing #303 - The surprise of finding peelie coupons on our favorite muffin mix while the mix was BOGO. All 4 of us love Krusteaz Cinnamon Crumb Cake. Since it was a great price I bought 16 (maybe 18?) boxes. We enjoyed the first one this morning for breakfast.

Blessing #304 - A box of goodies in the mail from Mammy: new clothes, new jackets, and lightup boots!

Blessing #305 - Mrs. Mosley - Julia’s teacher. Julia’s learning a lot in Kindergarten, but she also really enjoys it. My overprotective self loves to see her beaming smile at the end of the day and hear her ramblings about all that happened. I must credit Julia’s teacher for a great experience.

Blessing #306 - well behaved kids… at least when they’re at school

Blessing #307 - Sweet little Audrey. I told the girls to hug and say goodnight last night. They hugged, kissed, and Julia said “Good night, sis.” Audrey responded with “Goodnight, sis and best friend.” Melted my heart…

Blessing # 308- the cuteness of wild and crazy hair. The girls have taken to sleeping in rollers the last few nights. Here's Audrey posing with her wild hair and her disguised turkeys.


Blessing #309 - The excitement this week signing Julia up to cheerlead. We 3 girls have had fun practicing motions for this oh so girlie adventure. Julia’s games will be Saturdays from January 14th- March 3rd.

Blessing #310 - free cheerleading outfit.

My coworker passed this orange and blue outfit down from her girls. Matt tried to teach Julia the “Gator chomp” using pom-poms, but everytime I tried to take a picture he tossed them away. This outfit is just for play. It isn’t the one she will wear for her games. Santa’s decided that Audrey will have cheerleading attire under the tree that she can wear to the games too!