partying

last week, we finished up the semester with a few parties at school.  but before that happened, william had his very first concert!  he was the musical entertainment on the last day of school.  as everyone was making their way to class, he played christmas music for about 30 minutes.  he did a great job, and he loved every minute of it!

the kindergarten made gingerbread houses.  this was serious business!!

the first graders had no problem getting into the spirit.

and third grade was just eating when i made my way down there, so i only got a picture on the way home!!

christmas break is officially underway!!

it's that time of year.....

we are running full speed over here.  i'm not a huge fan of this time of year, but we are having fun despite the craziness.

wes' class visited a nursing home a week ago to sing a few songs and hand out cards, candy canes, hugs.  the residents LOVED them!

reed's class visited a tree farm.  they also made a quick stop to deliver their angel tree gifts and see santa!

the little people put on the best christmas program at our church.  i was in charge of the dancing, so i was too busy to get pics.

but this kid definitely entertained everyone.  he went back forth between being bored and being really into it!  plus, his scarf had a mind of its' own!

since we are all running full speed.....wes decided that he would run full speed.  into a tree.  face first. with his eyes closed.  i can't even pretend to understand boys.  this resulted in him getting stitches.  again.

before...

during...

after...

sour patch kids make everything better.  especially when mama lets you eat them in the bathtub!

if you'll recall, he has done this on multiple occasions.  and he has yet to win a fight with tables, mailboxes or trees!!  two years ago, it was at almost the exact same time of year.  except he took on a mailbox instead of a tree.

http://www.thehensonhouse.blogspot.com/2012/11/fa-la-la.html

i'm hoping this isn't a christmas tradition for years to come!!  fa-la-la!

my decorators

the little people took over the decking of the halls this year.  well, they took it over after we put up the first tree and realized that only half of a tree wasn't going to cut it.  after 10 years, that poor tree bit the dust, and i found us another one!!  so once the new tree found it's home and proved that he had lights that would work, the little people took over.  they loved their yearly ornament.  they all got the same one this year.....a lego santa that they had to build themselves!  

reed hung up our daily scripture verses.

wes kept his duty as the manger scene setter upper.  (he's explaining how and where the people should go.  it's a very exact science.)

and as usual, everybody is all up in mary's business wanting to see baby jesus.  

i guess that makes sense.  if you're going to go see baby jesus, you want to SEE baby jesus!

so now we are ready to celebrate!  come on, christmas!

just when i thought these days were over,

they go and prove me wrong!

thanksgiving at the beach

thanksgiving has come and gone, and before we jump headfirst into all of the christmas craziness i need to back up and give thanksgiving it's due!  before we left town for rosemary beach, we had a few parties at school.

and then we spent the week at the beach with the henson side of the family.  it was a little unusual to be playing in the sand and the waves on thanksgiving morning, but it was definitely better than somewhere cold!!!  we had a house for all 16 of us, and the heated pool was worth it's weight in gold.  they spent hours upon hours in there everyday.

and we made our way to the beach regularly!

we hired a professional to get some beach photos.  then we ran from the rain and the storm clouds to find some beach that wasn't yet wet.  i haven't seen the finished products yet, but some pics caught on the iPhone look promising!

we had to endure one rainy afternoon, but downtown rosemary wasn't a bad place to do so!  we hung out in the toy store, ate some good food, saw a great christmas show, and of course made a stop at the sugar shak!

reptile man even found a playmate that was searching for some sunshine between the clouds!

we spent thanksgiving morning at the beach.  and then made our way to seaside for lunch and playtime.

we spent lots of time walking around, biking, and i even let the master birder tell me about a few birds on the walk.  (i didn't have to touch them, and they didn't attack me so i guess that was ok.)  anna, holly, and i even found a place in alys beach that we are going to buy when we figure out how to come up with several million dollars.  these two guys weren't digging that idea....

but they did spring for dessert at le crema! i guess that's the next best thing. yum!

we had a great time, and after we catch up on our sleep we'll be ready to do the month of december!  or maybe i'll just sleep until january and skip it all together!  :)