Party Squared

Jason and I had two Christmas parties to go to this weekend.  They both were work related, so we got to see some of the same people at both.

And of course, there were lots of yummy food and drinks.

 

Granny Sherry took the kids to her house for both nights, so we kinda didn't know what to do with ourselves all day Saturday.

 

Here we are Friday

 

 

Here we are Saturday

Christmas Concert

JR's middle school choir was invited to perform at the high school's Christmas concert.

JR's choir sang The Japanese Snow Song  (I'm not sure if that's the real title or not, but that's what he calls it) and Jingle Bell Rock.

 

 

They sounded great, and I continue to be impressed with their singing, and his choir teacher.

 

 

JR's fan club included parents and grandparents:

 

 

 

 

But his brothers were more interested in fanning out over our next door neighbor, Mary.

 

 

And one of her brothers that's in high school (who wasn't singing, just there to watch his sister)....because, of course, he's the coolest person to walk the earth.

 

 

He's The Coolest

So Jason wins at getting to do the coolest thing ever.

(Yes, even cooler than front row at Britney Spears.)

 

Jason flew to NYC the Sunday after Thanksgiving to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange Monday afternoon.

 

Well, he didn't actually ring it...but he stood there and clapped, and he got to be on TV!

 

I watched him live on CNBC (admittedly my first time ever watching CNBC).

 

Here's the link to the video of him at the closing bell http://livestream.com/NYSE/archrock.

 

And here are some pictures of the day.

Unfortunately his only celebrity sighting from the NYSE was Bob Saget.

 (I would literally be more excited to see any cast member from Full House than Bob Saget.) 

 

 But he did score a pretty A-list sighing when he saw Anne Hathaway walking down the street.

He's Here!

Kyle has been telling me for over a week that he "can't wait until December 1st".  When I asked why he was so excited he told me "because Sam the Elf comes!!!!"

 

(He's come a long way from wrestling him "because he was looking at me.")

 

 

A couple of kids' elves have been around a few weeks now. (Bless their mothers' hearts.)

Kyle and Reed decided those kids' elves must be bad and getting in Santa's way...so he sent them early.

 

 

There's also been a lot of talk in the 2nd grade that Santa and the elves aren't real.

 

 

JR has been super helpful in that department.  He's reminded Kyle and Reed over and over that if you don't believe in Santa "you get underwear for Christmas".

 

  He also quotes the Elf movie line to them..."That's... That's ridiculous. I mean, parents couldn't do that all in one night. What about Santa's cookies? I suppose parents eat them too?"

 

 

Then JR tells them, "Plus, Mommy is entirely too busy to be moving an elf around!"

Kyle even chimed in, "Yeah, and she's too short to put him in lots of the places he hides."

 

 

Much to their excitement, Sam was here when they got home from school. 

Do you see him? Right by Santa's foot (in a non high place).

 

Obviously They're Related

 

I didn't even realize they both had their tongues hanging out until I looked at the picture.

 

They can't help it. 

They inherited from me...and I got it from my dad.

No Turkey

We had a very nice turkey-less Thanksgiving at Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw's.

 (We decided we'd rather have a ham than a turkey...and Reed requested pimento and cheese sandwiches.)

 

JR's plate with no color to his food choices.

 

 

Plates with some color.

 

JR and Reed went hunting four times, but never saw any hogs

 

 

Kyle climbed all the trees he could.

 

 

 

And Paw-Paw took them to get breakfast tacos, but they all ordered breakfast sandwiches instead.

 

Thanks

We are thankful for so many things this Thanksgiving.

 

Kyle brought this placemat home from school, and though he sadly inherited the "can hardly spell his name" genes from Jason and me, it's really nice. 

 

He spelled "God" right, Then it says "Friends" - Caden and Jake and then "Family".

The next row is "Mittens" (that's Paw-Paw's cat), "Food" and then his teacher "Miss Coan".

 

By the way, did you notice that not one person has a strand of hair?

 

Reed didn't bring home a placemat, but he did bring home this from his teacher.

 

And I know what she wrote sounds cliché, but it's not, this is exactly how I would describe him too!

If you can't see it it says "you are always so sweet and such a hard worker".

 

 

And though 6th graders don't bring home thankful projects, I am super thankful that JR is on the broadcast team and enjoying middle school. 

Everywhere we go somebody is hollering out "Hi JR!" and that's more than I could even ask for!