It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Christmas always sneaks up on me and I'm overwhelmed by all I need to get done, but I've knocked out my shopping, mailed out my Christmas cards, watched my kids perform in church and school productions, and taken them to see Santa. So I feel like I can now relax and ease into the approaching holidays :) Otto the Elf made his appearance at the McCabin right after Thanksgiving and he's been keeping an eye on things around here!

The kids performed with their church choir and Aidan and Avery even had a duet during one of the songs! Aidan was VERY nervous about it and I wasn't sure he'd go through with it but he did and I was SO proud of both of them!

The elementary Christmas program is always a big production and this year was no exception. Both of my kids had to be lambs but Aidan had a lamb costume left over from his 1st grade pageant so Avery wore that, plus Grammy helped me with Aidan's tail and ears (thanks Grammy!).

And we of course took the kids to see Santa at Northpark Mall, a yearly tradition for us! Daddy met us there for dinner and we had planned to drive around and look at Christmas lights but the weather was yucky and the kids were tired (plus Avery had just recovered from the flu the day before) so we decided to wait until next week when school is out :)

This and That

We were so excited to go watch our friend Kaelyn in her debut performance as Belinda Cratchitt in a local production of A Christmas Carol! It was also her birthday so we brought her some flowers. She did amazing!

Basketball season has started up! We are bummed we didn't get put on a team with either of his friends from school that signed up for the same league...but our coach is the same one Aidan had in kindergarten! Avery is also doing Upward Cheer through the same league, with Cousin Sage and her friend Margot. She's had to miss two practices because of their school program and she got the flu this week. But she's still been practicing :) Looking forward to the games starting in January!

I had dinner with my cousins Meredith, Tracey, and Sara recently to celebrate Sara's 30th birthday...and Baby Gwen was there too of course!

Avery's Girl Scout troop took a field trip to a local animal shelter to drop off donations and learn how the shelter cares for animals. Avery the animal lover was in heaven!

Aidan's class took a field trip to Old City Park, a historic village in Dallas. It was cold but a really neat place!

We also dog-sat for Anna while the Dixons were at Disney World. She and Griffin get along great and had a good time playing together!

Justin Timberlake

I went with four good friends to see Justin Timberlake in concert this week! The show was incredible and well worth the money! I of course had a great time with Tracey, Susan, Jennifer, and Vanessa...and Justin, of course! I took the most incredible picture of him ever that I am so proud of :)

Pa and Gamma

On our way to New Mexico, we stopped to see Pa and Gamma! It was so fun visiting with them :)

Thanksgiving in the Mountains

This year for Thanksgiving we went to Ruidoso, New Mexico! I grew up going to Ruidoso because both set of my grandparents had houses there. Now both of my mom's sisters have houses so we stayed at Aunt Jeri and Uncle Reggie's house with Papi, Grammy, Jason, Kelly, and Bandit the Dog. And on Friday the McCaslins came up to join us! The kids LOVED playing outside in the huge backyard and seeing deer that would practically come right up to the door. They made turkey cookies with Grammy, the girls went shopping one afternoon, and Kelly took some family pictures of us in the woods! We saw Mema's old cabin, then went to Aunt Marsha's cabin one afternoon (where the kids climbed a mountain with Grammy and Kelly!) The food was delicious and we had a great time!