Christmas Day 2010

Santa definitely arrived in the Zyriek house...must have had 2 well-behaved little girls. The girls slept in until 7am and were anxiously waiting at the top of the stairs. Gary and I like to video and take pictures of the girls when they come down the stairs and we love to see their expressions. Anna was thrilled and was running fast to her stash. Caroline still not really grasping what happened walked slowly. It was fun to have Gary's mom here to help share in the fun. We stayed at our house for a few hours and had mom and dan come over for a while. Once we showered we headed over to Mom and Dan's house for a little more Christmas cheer. Mom and Dan always spoil the girls and they are glad to indulge. Mom prepared a nice Christmas breakfast with bacon and eggs and biscuits and fruit. It was certainly yummy. The girls loved all their gifts and even loved handing out the gifts to those that we bought for this year. Around 1pm we headed over to Dad's house to celebrate with Dad, Julie and Lizzie. James, Jennifer and Blair were all at their in-laws this year. Quiet crowd at Dad's, which is unusual but sometimes kind of nice. After a yummy late lunch we watched a little sports and then headed home to let the kids settle into things at our house and play with a few of their toys. Overall, a great day. Gary and I did not exchange gifts this year due to our trip to see Auburn play in the National Championship game. We asked for "Auburn Bucks" for our trips and everyone obliged. Gary's mom bought our tickets which was a fantastic surprise. Gary's mom bought him an autographed Bo Jackson jersey which was so much fun. We look forward to having it framed and added to the wall in our office. The elf returned to the north pole until next year....the girls were worn out by the end of the day and we were so pleased with how the day played out. Merry Christmas 2010!

santa was definitely good to our girls!!

waiting at the top of the stairs behind the baby gate!!

pure joy

anna was anxious to read her personalized letter from santa....caroline had one too but wanted to throw it away because santa told her not to cut her hair any more which upset caroline that he knew that she had done this on christmas eve.

caroline cozy in her new chair and slippers...all pink, of course

gary with his bo jackson jersey

caroline showing some of her favorite things

anna with a few of her favorite things

the girls in their monogrammed snuggies...auburn colors, of course

gammy with caroline

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was relaxed and fun for us. Gary's mom was in town and my parents were planning to attend services @ Hope with us. I was preparing the Christmas Eve dinner to eat when we arrived home from church. The girls were WILD all day and were truly excited about the surprises that would unfold overnight with a visit from Santa. The church service was very nice and it had lots of favorites. Anna enjoyed it while sitting beside her good friend Mckayla. Dinner was yummy (if I do say so myself) and we all had full bellies.

After dinner we were treated to a rendition of the Christmas Story by Gary (Joseph), Anna (Mary) and Caroline (Baby Jesus). It was so cute. They even had costumes, props and a script. They had been working on it for over a week while I had been working late. So cute and waht a treasure to see the story mean so much to the girls.

Mary really wanted to go out and see some Christmas lights. We heard about a house in Bartlett that had 7 choreographed songs and lights galore. Boy, did we find it! Cars were lined up all up and down the street. We stayed for the light/music show and were glad that we did. It was amazing. Cannot imagine how much labor went into this gift to the community! Afterwards we drove through starry nights. Mary enjoyed it and so we were glad we did that as well. Back home to make our Christmas cookies for Santa and to get ready for bed. While the girls put on their pajamas and got the cookies in the oven, Caroline decided to go in the bathroom and cut her own hair! I was thrilled to see the left side of her hair shorter by a few inches. She even looks like a mini-mullet on that side. I think she really did not think it was that big of a deal. It was not until the next day when Santa wrote in her letter that he wanted her to stop cutting her hair that she really clued in that maybe it was not a good thing. We watched part of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (not realizing it was 65 minutes long!!) and then put the kids to bed after reading Twas the Night Before Christmas.....much to be done by Santa!!

crazy girls ready for santa!!

on our way to christmas eve service @ hope

great pictures of the zyrieks ready for church

our christmas story play...LOVED it!!

caroline slaving over the cookies for santa

not cool that she cut her hair!!

The Elf on the Shelf

This concept is all the rave it seems like! Anna came home from school telling us all about what everyone's elves were doing at night and where there were then they woke up. Caroline's classroom has an elf. The girls wake up each morning and search until they can find our mishevious elf named "Elfie". He has been on the mantle, in Caroline's baby doll bed, the bathroom (having strung toilet paper all over the room!), in the cozy coupe and in the fridge. It really is cute hearing the girls discover the Elf each morning. The first day Caroline was a little scared of it. Anna said it was because Caroline said a "potty word" in front of the elf and she was afraid Elfie was going to report that to Santa. I asked what the word was and it was the oh-so horrible "butt". As long as Gary and I don't forget about Elfie it is a lot of fun!!

elfie must have been thirsty

elfie went for a drive overnight

Christmas Programs

Friday, December 17th was a SUPER busy day....the day started with Caroline's early childhood Christmas program at 9am. Before that the other room mother and I set up for the party that was to follow the program. Can you believe I am a room mother??? I am at least trying to appear somewhat organized. Caroline's program was her best performance yet...singing on every song AND doing all the motions. After her program her class had their party. They made cute door hangars, feasted on Chick-fil-a and enjoyed posing for pictures with their friends. At 10:15, we headed "up the hill" to watch Anna's class perform "The Grinch who stole Christmas" in a reader's theatre production. Each classmate had a part and read their scripts flawlessly! They have learned a lot this year. Following reader's theatre, we checked out Caroline, finished cleaning up after her party and headed back to Anna's party. Anna's class collected donations for a needy family that included a mother and her five children. The class gave up their annual gift exchange to provide Christmas for the Patterson family. The kids all wrapped their gifts during their party and signed a Bible for the family. It was very sweet and made me very proud. The party wrapped up by 11:30 and the girls were done for the holidays!! Dropped them off at mom's and while they were headed to the Pink Palace for the Enchanted Forrest and the IMAX movie, I headed back to work. LONG day but so ready for vacation!!

caroline was great in her program..this song is "Must be Santa"

getting prepared for "The Blitzen Boogie"

anna is ready for her reader's theatre presentation of "The Grinch who Stole Christmas"

Kolznak's Pack after their fabulous presentation

Anna's letter to Santa she did in Computer class...will it come true??

Alpine Village

I had heard that Trinity Baptist Church's Alpine Village was great for kids and this year I was prepared, made the online reservations and was so glad that I did. Gary and I knew nothing about the event but were glad to have a new Christmas event to enjoy. What a treasure! The kids were given bags to carry around and a "passport" around their neck that tracked the 10 "shops" they visited to enjoy crafts, sweets or even a book. We took in the puppet show complete with popcorn and lemonade and a trip to the "North Pole" to see Santa. Caroline was shocked that Santa knew her name...obviously he's been watching her we told her : ). We will definitely do this again next year and spread the word. The event takes place 6 times over the weekend and is free. The only catch is securing reservations. Lots of volunteers and lots of time to produce the event and it is a great outreach project for Trinity. Can't believe there are only 2 weeks until Christmas!!

visiting santa...caroline was not exactly sure....

loving the "snow" and even a snowball fight

my little angel

at the "gingerbread house" to make a craft

SEC Championship game

Gary and I decided if Auburn had a chance at the national championship game by winning the SEC Championship game then we would go to the game in Atlanta. We booked a very cheap flight to Atlanta and set out to find game tickets. This was as stressful as trying to anticipate how the game would play out on the field. Once I took over the helm on ebay we soon had our tickets. We stayed at my college roommate Elyse's house and enjoyed a nice weekend away. The game was awesome. Auburn scored a lot early and no nail biting was necessary this time. We entered the game #1 in the BCS and Gary was thrilled to see Auburn as #1 which he said he had never seen in person. Great seats, good times and a great game....now onto Glendale!!

gary with former auburn player ben tate...now a Houston Texan @ SEC Fan Fest

final score...56-17!! what a game!!

proud to be an auburn tiger!!

fun times presented with the trophy!!

Turkey Day in the Black Hills

The Zyrieks loaded up and headed out to Rapid City, SD for Thanksgiving with Gary's mom ("Gammy"). The girls were so excited and talked about the trip for weeks. Anna was thrilled that we had a trip to Mount Rushmore on the agenda. Caroline was just excited. Gary and I were ready for some downtime. What none of us were excited about was the 8 degree temps when we got off the plane!! The first two days were very cold with wind and below zero wind chills. It warmed up nicely by the weekend. We had a nice Thanksgiving meal with just the five of us. Gary and I headed into town to watch the Iron Bowl on Friday since Gammy does not get local channels (I even called Directv and tried to beg but still no dice!!). The girls saw "Tangled" with Mary during the Iron Bowl. Saturday was our trip to Mount Rushmore. Anna had learned about it during their postcard project in her 2nd grade class and was ready to see it in person. We had a very nice trip. Lots of good family time. Lots of naps and lots of smiles from the girls as they enjoyed Gammy. It was a great Thanksgiving weekend!!

6am is EARLY, but all are ready to go!!

caroline is ready for some snow!

a little snow was big fun for a bit for the girls

snow angels on the deck

gary and caroline on turkey day

playing around while the chefs prepare lunch
anna sharpening her dance skills with the new kinnect

gary during the first half of the iron bowl...stressful!!

the happy auburn fans AFTER the iron bowl!! war eagle!!

sweet girls ready for mount rushmore

the zyrieks at mount rushmore...showing some auburn pride

the girls became junior rangers at the end of our visit

2nd grade open house

Anna's school held their annual fall open house this week. As organized as her teacher Mrs. Kolznak is, I knew that the room would be a show for all of us to see! Anna wanted all her grandparents in town to attend. Dan and Mom came for the first half (last names A-M....we decided to split it up and give Anna time with each) and Dad and Julie attended the second half. Anna is doing wonderfully in school and had many great things to share. She is very independent and smart and loves to please her teacher! Caroline met up with her friends and hung out in the reading corner and read many books. She was quite content! Kudos to Anna and her class for showing off their talents!!

anna is thankful for many things.

spanish picture of the family...love daddy's hat and my LONG hair.

anna's favorite Bible stories

anna with papa and mimi

grampa and gramma with anna

the proud second grade parents!