Cookie Exchange (and Elf Fun!)

The ladies in our neighborhood decided to have a cookie exchange and white elephant party! It was so much fun, and the cookies were delicious (not to brag, but my cookie bars won Best All-Around Cookie!).

After the party a few of us decided to get our Elves on the Shelf together for a little party, so we could take pictures that would show up in our mailbox the next day to surprise our kids! We may not have included all of these pictures (shhhh!) but the kids got out of seeing their elves watching Elf with their friends!

Speaking of Elf on the Shelf, here's some of what Otto has been up to!

More Brownie Adventures

Our Brownie troop had a busy day on Saturday! We started bright and early with the Sachse Christmas Parade, where our girls got to ride on a trailer and sing Christmas songs. It was cold but I think they were having too much fun to notice!

I was in charge of four girls after the parade, and once the parade was done I realized my car was a mile away, at the start point! Luckily we hitched a not-so-legal ride in the back of the Dixons' suburban to my car. At home the girls warmed up by the fire, then we went to Raising Cane's for lunch on our way to our next adventure!

Then we went to CASA, Court-Appointed Special Advocates, for our Christmas service project. CASA serves the needs of foster children in Collin County. The girls had all given money with which we bought toys from their wish list so we brought them, sorted several other toys in their huge toy room, and wrote thank-you notes to other toy donors. It was a great project and I'm so proud of our Brownies and their huge hearts!

It's Showtime!

Avery and I joined our neighbors Cailyn and Seanna at a local presentation of The Nutcracker! Turns out two of the dancers go to GCA and I know their mom, so we got some fun photo opps afterwards! The show was great and the two leads (Clara and the Nutcracker Prince) actually had their music go out by accident, but they kept dancing for at least a full minute in complete silence. It was very impressive!

The GCA Elementary Program was this week and it was a lot of fun. Tracey and Kaelyn came to watch not only our kids that were in the chorus, but our friend Audrie who had the role of Mary!

Aidan and the 5th grade band had their first performance, with the high school band and choirs. They sounded...like a 5th grade band ;) Aidan has been doing percussion and did a great job as a little drummer boy!

Basketball Season

Aidan has started his SIXTH season of basketball! This is his second season at PSA, and he's on a team with his same coach from last year. Our neighbor Jackson from across the street is on the team too, so that's been fun! Go Rim Rockers!!!

And, Avery is playing! This is her first time doing basketball so we thought Upward would be a good non-competitive place to start :) Sage is on her team which will be fun. Go Eagles!

Friends, Family, & Thanksgiving

We went to the last Baylor home game and I had a blast hanging out with my friends Leslie (for the second weekend in a row!) and Jen! Baylor has take a nosedive this season so the game wasn't "fun" but hanging out with my hilarious friends was :)

The last day before Thanksgiving break, I had lunch with these two turkeys at school:

We had two "Friendsgivings" with Daniel's work friends and my mom friends!

We had pre-Thanksgiving Tex-Mex with all the McCaslins, then Thanksgiving at home with just the four of us (then decorated for Christmas!), then post-Thanksgiving with the Stewards!

Happy belated 5th birthday and 3rd anniversary to Griffin!