Christmas County Spelling Bee

On Sunday, the children performed their Christmas Musical "The Christmas County Spelling Bee". It was a precious play where the children had to spell the different names for Jesus as part of a Spelling Bee. The contestants were competing to see who would win and get to be in the county nativity scene. Micah played the part of Ferris Whyler the nerdy, brainiac and Savanna was Mrs. Foster the pronouncer who gave the kids their words to spell.

Micah had a mild panic attack right before the play started because he was afraid everyone would think that he really was a nerd and that he really dressed that way. We tried to reassure him that, of course, no one thought he was a nerd. My mom was finally able to calm his fears with a wonderful pep talk about how people only win academy awards when they play a part that is SO vastly different than who they really are. He finally calmed down and did a great job but I think he may be a little disappointed when he realizes you can't actually get nominated for an academy for your performance in a church play.




Kailyn and Kamiya ready for the show!



Some of our wonderful, dedicated directors...



Jessica, Kitty, and Angela.

Morgan was Beatrice "Bee" Beasley

Jackson and Chase

Chase was hilarious with his part. He was asked to spell Yahweh. The pronouncer defined the word and explained that long ago in Hebrew worship this title was considered so holy that they wouldn't even speak it. Chase then said "If they weren't even allowed to say it, are you sure I should be spelling it?"

Micah spelling "EVERLASTING FATHER"
Kenzie was one of the cheerleaders that cheered the contestants on and Elizabeth was the Spelling Bee Commentator

Savanna, the Pronouncer, and Zoe, the Judge of the Bee.

Here's the gang chillin out and getting a little snack between dress rehearsal and the BiG performance.

We had to have a moment to get all our sillies and wiggles out!

No good children's musical would be complete without a few distractions like the inevitable potty break right in the middle of the show or the infamous nose-picker. Not only did these kiddos have to contend with these distractions, but someone in the audience actually fainted during the play. He is fine now, but it was pretty scary and definitely distracting for the kids. They were real troopers and nobody missed a beat! I don't think adults would have done so well!

The Spelling Bee came down to two contestants... Micah and Madeline.

For the tie breaker they had to secretly write the word "Emmanuel" on a piece of paper. Whoever spelled it correctly would be the winner.

Since there are two correct ways to spell the word, they were both declared WINNERS and chosen to be the Mary and Joseph for the county nativity.

While Brian took the stage and explained the plan of salvation, the children went backstage for a costume change and reappeared a few minutes later in their nativity costumes ready to sing a few more songs.

Spencer and Jackson were eyeing this microphone in front of them and even made an attempt at an impromptu solo. It was just so dog gone tempting!

Way to go kids! You did an awesome job sharing the gospel in a fun and VERY entertaining way!

Christmas Parade

The ballpark in our community hosts an annual Christmas Parade as a way to raise money for families in need during this time of year. Everyone in the parade is supposed to bring a new toy or non-perishable food item to donate. Our church's float in the Christmas parade had a "Happy Birthday Baby Jesus" theme.

I am so thankful for my faithful friends like Melanie and Linda who were willing to help blow up over 100 balloons for our float. Thankfully, we did have an air compressor.


I love the 6 ft tall inflatable birthday cake we found from Oriental Trading.

We had music blaring from the kids Christmas Musical that they sang along with throughout the parade route.

Here are some of my crazy - uh, I mean, BRAVE friends that were willing to ride along on the float with the forty kids and youth!
I used this group of sweet little girls to keep me warm during the parade. I kept offering for them to sit on my lap ~ my motives were mostly selfish because they were like my very own heated blankets!

Micah had a fist full of lollipops ready to throw before we even got rolling.
Brian sampled the treats!

Savanna and Kayleigh snuggled up trying to stay warm in the FREEZING cold. We live in Florida for a reason ~ we do not like weather THIS cold! Brrrr!!!

Don't you love their Happy Birthday Baby Jesus hats?

Amy found a couple of "heated blankets" for herself!

Check out the Christmas Elvis.

CRACK ME UP!

Many of our church kids were also invited to ride on other floats for the school, scouts, or ball park. There were even a few on horseback.

I had to grab a pic of some of my favorite kiddos from Cub Scout pack 430.
I love the way they saluted me when I took the picture.

Charity and Melissa ready to roll on the ball park float.

I love this group of softball girls!

While we were actually riding along in the parade, I whipped out my camera just in time to catch this guy on the side of the road. How smart is he to think about catching all the candy and goodies with his umbrella!?! Brilliant!!!

We had a great time at the parade, but we live in a small town so this was definitely a small scale, country parade. But at the end of the parade, Micah cracked me up when he turned to me and said "This parade was PERFECTION!" I think he thought he was in the Macy's day parade!

Life through the eyes of a child!

The parade route ended at the ballpark with a bake sale, BBQ plate sale, and a visit from SANTA! What a WONDERFUL way to raise money for those in need while celebrating the birth of Christ with our community.

Humble Pie

As Brian likes to say.... "God has to keep us humble somehow!"

We were so excited for the Florida/Alabama game and we all got decked out in our Florida gear anticipating a WONDERFUL WIN. This very proud and confident pic of Micah was taken right before kick off ~ the pride and enthusiasm began to dissipate at the game "ROLLED " on!


Brian smiled for the picture, but that was one of the few times he smiled during the game.

The best of all came Sunday morning. Every Sunday Brian keeps a mug ~ a FLORIDA mug ~ of water by the pulpit in case he needs it. Last year, after the SEC championship, he very dramatically acted like he was coughing and needed a swallow of water as a guise to VERY SLOWLY take a sip from the infamous Gators mug.

This year Angela, the sweet friend who graciously fills his mug with water every Sunday ~ who is also a HUGE Alabama fan, replaced his mug with one of her own Alabama ones. Brian was a great sport, but when we got home Micah said "Daddy, don't forget to wash your hands." I thought, "since when do the KIDS tell US to wash up for lunch?" Brian saw the confused expression on my face and explained that Micah told him after church that he couldn't believe that he held THAT cup! And Brian had assured him that he would wash his hands.

Funny boys!



This is Savanna's favorite way to enjoy a good football game.
Micah even brought his favorite buddy "Chomp" down from his room to watch the game. When he was 2 and got this gator from Build a Bear, it went EVERYWHERE with him. It remained his sidekick for several years, but now that my baby is growing up {sniff, sniff} Chomp rarely leaves Micah's bed.

We still love our GATORS!

Conspiracy Theory

This was the first year that Savanna ventured out with me on Black Friday to be my shopping buddy. I was so excited that she is finally old enough to appreciate the fun and adventure of this day ( Brian has never appreciated this day and very much appreciates that I no longer invite him to join me!)

We had so much fun and truly shopped til we dropped for 11 hours! At the end of the afternoon, my mom and Micah met up with us for some MILD shopping. She was still suppossed to be taking it easy. She actually ASKED the NURSE if she could go shopping ~ the nurse's response was sarcastic to say the least! Anyway, they met us at Target where Mom found a little treat for each of the kids. (Keep in mind these treats came just moments before we began an hour and a half car ride.) I accused Mom of sabotage or some sort of twisted revenge because she got Micah a VERY complicated transformer that he simply could not transform and Savanna her VERY FIRST Potholder Looming Set. REALLY? Maybe Mom was still a little loopy from the Twilight meds they gave her ~ maybe it wasn't really a conspiracy.

maybe.

Although the first 10 minutes of the trip I cringed, just waiting for the tears and wailing to begin, I am very proud to announce that remarkably we made it home safe and sound with very little drama.

I was able to reason with Micah and explain that ~ "Yes, I could help him transform his car into a robot, but that might cause us to get in a wreck."

Shockingly, he chose to WAIT TIL WE GOT HOME!

Hallelujah and Praise the Lord!

Savanna got a little frustrated at first and let out a few sighs of disappointment when those crazy rubber bands starting popping off the loom and flying across the car, but she stuck with it, kept her cool, and completed not one, but TWO of the most beautiful pot holders I have ever seen.

(not that I'm biased or anything)

I think these looming kits are some sort of "right of passage" for every 10 year old girl out there. Can I get a shout out from all of those of you who remember trying to make one of those blasted potholders? I think the year I was 10 I gave every female member in our entire family a carefully woven potholder made of those little nylon rubberbands. It is definitely a labor of love. If you have never had the "joy" of making one, and you recieve one as a gift, PLEASE act appreciative! You have NO IDEA how much time and patience is involved in the project!

It is definitely a mark of spiritual maturity if you can make it to the end of the project while still keeping your testimony in tact!

I am thankful for the little signs along the way that my babies are growing and maturing.

Any step in the right direction is a step in the right direction!

Leaves

Savanna and Tyson enjoying a beautiful fall day in Dede's backyard while Daddy raked leaves for the kids to play in.

There is something so nostalgic about playing in the leaves.

This has become a bit of a tradition that we always look forward to each and every fall.


Tyson's first romp in the leaves!


The big kids were given strict instructions to be gentle with the leaf throwing while the baby was in the middle, but...

once he lost interest, all bets were off!!!

Love that twinkle in Micah's eye when he's thinking about doing something mischevious. He looks just like his Daddy!

The biggest kid of all didn't want to miss out on the fun!

I just love watching these guys playing together!