Christmas Day!

When we tucked the girls into bed on Christmas Eve we asked if they could wait until 6:30 or 7:00 am to wake up and come downstairs. Caroline does not have a clock in her room (Santa brought her one!) but Anna does. They know not to come downstairs without us but Anna is so tall she can look over the balcony and see the gifts from Santa. I set my alarm (what? who does this on Christmas Day??) so that I could shower. With Christmas falling on a Sunday we were planning to attend church at 11am and I knew we had several stops in our day so wanted to be showered when the girls go up. No sooner did I get up and go in the bathroom to shower at 6am did I hear Gary say....forget the shower, the girls are up!! We could not deny them their excitement. They were ready. Caroline was not as cheerful as Anna. First of all she said her stomach hurt and secondly she said Anna told her what her big gift was. Oh well. So much for the surprise. At least our picture below keeps it real with Caroline's facial expression!!

The girls were excited and sorted through their things. They got a nice letter from Santa compliementing them on the things they were doing well and encouraging them in areas that they need a little encouragement. We know our kids are not perfect. We like to have them enjoy Christmas. We have heard about people leaving lumps of coal or having Santa not come at all, but that is not my style. A little encouragement goes a long way! As an example, last year Santa encouraged Caroline not to cut her hair anymore (she cut a huge chunk out on Christmas Eve!!) and she was scared to death about him knowing this and has stayed clear of the scissors!!!

Caroline got the bike she wanted from Santa and Anna got a Kindle e-reader. She was very excited about it and of course wanted to load the Amazon gift card she got in her stocking on the Kindle so she could read some books. Love it!! :)  They had a great morning. By 7:30 or so they had been through Santa's stash and were opening gifts from us and Gary's mom. We all got dressed and headed over to my mom's house around 8:45. There we enjoyed a great home cooked breakfast and opened more gifts. The girls were still going strong. We headed to church for the 11am service which was very nice. Acoustic music, sermon about Joseph and following God's path and nice fellowship. 

Headed back to Mom's after church to play with their gifts and to help mom clean up. She keeps the cleanest house I have ever seen. While our home looked like a tornado until a few days after Christmas when Gary's mom arrived, Mom's was instantly back to its clean state.  We enjoyed the afternoon and dinner at Dad's house. Lots of cousins to play with and exchange gifts. We were lazy and watched the kids play. Exhausted by early evening we headed home.

Long day. Lots of family. Kids had a blast. Caroline did remember a few things she asked for that she did not get and wondered why during her bedtime routine. Lesson taught about being thankful and not greedy. Does not work too well on my 5 year old.

Merry Christmas 2011!

caroline not as peppy as her big sister waiting to come downstairs

love the facial expressions!!

ready to ride the new bike

war eagle!!

shout out for mommy's work

caroline with papa

american girl hair salon with ALL the dolls!!

Santa left a lot of loot!

sitting on her new snow saucer...ready for a snow day!

Christmas Eve

Looking back on the holidays I realize I took very few pictures....but at least we had a great time and have great memories!!

Christmas Eve was a nice day with lots of family time. The Zyrieks slept in and enjoyed some time at home that morning. We had Mom and Dan over for a late lunch. Gary and I prepared a nice lunch that was very good. The girls enjoyed some time with my parents and then we went to Hope for the 3:00 pm Christmas Eve service. Of course this was supposed to be one of the smallest services during the 6 services offered between Friday and Saturday nights, but ended up being the largest with close to 5,000 in attendance!! Caroline was old enough to join the service this year and did a great job. She said afterwards that her favorite part was the singing with the candles at the end and that she liked our "class".  Anna and Caroline both enjoyed singing the carols and being part of such a nice service.

After church we went over to Dad's house and helped get dinner ready there while they were attending their Christmas Eve service at Emmanuel Methodist. When they all got home we had a nice pork tenderloin dinner. This year we had Jennifer and Matt with their 3 kids, Blair & Kim and their 2 kids and Lizzie all in town and at the table. We were also joined by Aunt Kathleen, Uncle Blair and our cousin Chip. Nice crowd indeed. Jennifer and I had worked on getting the tables all arranged and set the day before which helped lower the stress levels of trying to seat 17 or 18 people including many kids. The kids loved playing with their cousins and about 8:00 we went home to get ready for Santa.

The girls wrote notes to Santa and to Elfley, our Elf and left milk, cookies and cheerios for the Elf. They put out the reindeer food and Gary read us Twas the Night Before Christmas. We read the Christmas story from Luke 2 and then tucked them into bed. Surprisingly, they went to sleep pretty quickly. Gary and I watched Christmas Vacation to ensure they went to sleep and then we were off to bed ourselves waiting for Santa to come. Hope we have been good enough!! : )

after church and ready for dinner!

reindeer food!

a note to clarify that the cheerios were for the elf

gary getting ready to read the Christmas story

all cozy in our pajamas

2 excited girls!!

Friday field trip

Gary had the girls today and of course had to find something to trump the fun they had with the grandparents this week. I was working a short day but they wanted to do something fun. He took them to their usual breakfast date spot, Brother Juniper's by the U of M. They love the yummy food there and get their tummies full. Then, they ventured to Graceland for a mansion tour. I thought it was totally hilarious that they went there. They know who Elvis is, of course because we live in Memphis and see his image and hear his name all the time, but they really had no idea what Elvis was all about. Gary and the girls took the simple mansion tour that uses headphones to guide you through the home. They really enjoyed it and were telling me all about their favorite things. Such a fun idea. When they get a little older, we will have to take them back to see the plane, the cars and the other things they have to do at Graceland. Luckily Caroline was free. It is not a cheap date, for sure!!

Afterwards they went to the Nike clearance store that is near Graceland. Not the best part of town but I had remembered someone telling me it was near there. Not so fun. It is a clearance store and not an outlet store so not a good selection nor it is organized well. The kids were running all their energy out while in the store which thwarted any purchases by Gary.

I was off work shortly after lunch and we officially began our Christmas holidays!

Grandparent camps!

So thankful for having grandparents in town. They are so helpful and the kids love spending time with all of them. The kids were out of school on the 16th of December for the holiday break. Neither Gary nor I had a lot of vacation days available so we thought the kids would enjoy spending a few days with the grandparents. The girls spent Monday and Tuesday with Dad, Julie and Aunt Lizzie and Wednesday and Thursday with Mom and Dan. They had so much fun watching movies, going to to the Enchanted Forrest, making cookies, making crafts, going to the Children's Museum and the IMAX.  Gary and I even got a free night on Monday and Wednesday. We took in a movie on Monday seeing Sherlock Holmes and had a great dinner on Wednesday and picked up some last minute gifts. Of course, no pictures, but did want to mention the fun times the girls had this week!

Only a few days left until Christmas and the girls are getting so excited!!

Ballet hiatus

Anna decided late this fall that she wanted to take off the spring semester from ballet. She has been at Ballet Memphis since she was 3 years old. She does well when she puts forth a good effort and she definitely has the long and lean body for ballet. We have really loved Anna having Rachel Shumake, one of the professional dancers as her Saturday teacher this fall. Anna has had to take 2x a week this fall as she started Ballet 3. I think that has not made for a happy ballet dancer in Anna and the fact that she enjoys sports and the games are usually on Saturdays means she wanted to focus on other things for the spring. We have always asked the girls to choose their activities and not to do too many things. Too much on the kids and too much on the parents and the checkbook!! But, the rule in our house is once you start something, you have to finish it. She finished the fall semester which is separate from the spring semester, so she did complete the task! I am proud of Anna for the progress she has made and for honestly choosing how she wants to spend her time. I was sad telling Rachel we were taking the spring off and she was so great about it. She personally took a year off to do gymnastics at around Anna's age and realized she really missed ballet. It was her calling in life as she is so talented. Caroline will continue with her class and we'll see what the future holds!

Anna with Rachel after last class in December

Toy Drive

Having fun at the holidays with the family doing fun things is awesome. Then, when I am at work, I just have to look across the street to the hospital and know that those families are trying to be as normal as possible during the holidays. ALSAC had a toy drive and over a week had hoped to collect 600 toys. The kids shopped for the St. Jude kids and really enjoyed picking things out they would like. ALSAC collected over 3,000 toys!!! This will be awesome for the kids that have to stay in town over the holidays to have a few extra toys to play with and to stock up our toy room that is so easily depleted when we have a surge of new patients and people staying at the Target or Grizzlies house. So fun to participate in adding to the joy of the sick kids!

sorting the toys in the board room

cannot believe how much was collected in just our building!!

the board room was FULL!!

Snowy Nights

The Botanic Gardens started a holiday themed event in My Big Backyard last year with Snowy Nights. We took the girls on Saturday night to see what it was all about. We definitely were glad that we bundled up because most, if not all, of the event is outside. The girls enjoyed it a lot, especially making s'mores by the firepits and the snow area. For only $5, this event had great stuff to do including crafts, s'mores, fun in the snow and enjoying the big Light Bright. We were pretty cold, but enjoyed adding this event to our calendar. Not hectic and lots of smiles!

my three snowmen!

gary burned a hole in his gloves getting too close to the heat lamps while the girls were playing in the snow!

the girls in the "snow globe"

enjoying a swing together

s'mores were yummy!!

glow in the dark hula hoops were a hit

more snow to enjoy on the way out

caroline making a snowflake craft

Alpine Village

This was our second year to attend the Alpine Village at Trinity Baptist. Such a fun holiday treat as the church turns into an old fashioned village where the kids can visit shops and make toys, cards, candles, and other fun crafts, even selecting a book. There is a live nativity, a puppet show and of course a trip to the North Pole to see Santa Claus.  We invited the Campbells along and they seemed to have a great time as well. The girls and boys left with lots of treats in their bags and a great time enjoying the activities, music, and even some snow!

The kids waiting to enter the main area decked out with their "tickets" around their neck and their bags to be filled.

Caroline with one of the wise men.

Waiting in line to see Santa

Hate the fake beard, but the girls loved it!

pretty trees on the way out

one last photo op!

Basketball debut

Anna had her basketball debut on Saturday playing Grace Evan. Anna's team is from Harding and is a 3rd/4th grade team. Perrin Rowsey is their coach and has been practicing hard with the girls for their first game. Most of the girls had not played before so we had low expectations. Anna started and was full of butterflies at the tip off. They quickly learned their way around the court and got on the board first. We have learned that this might not be a high scoring league as the score was 4-2 at halftime!! Nearing the end of the second half, with the score 6-6, Anna drove down the court and threw up a shot at the goal. It circled the rim and landed in the net and ended up being the game winning basket taking the score to 8-6! She was so excited. We were all excited. Just could not believe it actually went in. She definitely had her confidence boost for the day. She's excited about the season, even if next week is not as fun or exciting. Great team of girls that worked well together and great coaches! Looking forward to a fun season.

last minute pep talk from the coach

so excited to win the game and score the winning goal!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We are in town this year for Thanksgiving, which is a change from the past two years we have traveled to South Dakota to see Gary's mom. The temperatures were a little warmer in Memphis, at least until Sunday, but still very enjoyable.

My brother James, his wife Lydia and their boys, Blake and Drew (Anna and Caroline's same age partner-in-crime cousins) arrived on Wednesday afternoon. The girls could not wait. They instantly were having a great time playing and of course being as loud as possible.

Thursday was great with two wonderful meals at Mom's for lunch and Dad's for an early dinner. All the kids plus James and Lydia spent the night at Dad's. Bonus for Gary and me!! That just meant that both of us could go Black Friday shopping. Gary has never been before and honestly, I don't think he will go again. Mom and I landed at Target in Cordova at 11:45 for the midnight opening. After a long wait to get in the door, we managed to get all but one thing we went there for. Poor Gary was 0 for 3. Gary and I slept in on Friday and then met the kids at the park to enjoy the beautiful and unseasonably warm temps.

Friday night James, Lydia, Gary and I enjoyed a meal at Flight, in downtown Memphis. It was very, very good. I left with a full tummy and thoroughly enjoyed the time together. We so rarely get to do that with them since they live in Dallas. Before dinner we walked over to the Peabody which was all decorated for Christmas and enjoyed some time in the lobby before our reservation for dinner. The kids all spent the night with Mimi and Papa that night after going to see the Muppet Movie, which they loved.

Saturday was pretty calm...Iron Bowl, which Auburn played as expected (Oh, what a difference a year and a Heisman trophy winning QB will do for you!) and Baylor vs. Texas Tech which was great. We enjoyed yummy chili that Gary made for dinner at our house and the kids played their hearts out. They were sad to say goodbye to their cousins that night as they would be heading out on Sunday morning as we headed to church.

Great weekend. We are thinking of going to Dallas for MLK weekend. James will be installed as a deacon and we need to see their new (or not so new!!) house. We have so much to be thankful for in our family and very much felt the blessings this weekend. Glad we were home with so much family.

right before our big lunch!

james and lydia

caroline and her antics

the kids made up a play for thanksgiving...blake and anna read the script while drew and caroline did the motions

blake and drew

the older kids are swinging

astronomy lesson from grampa...they saw jupiter and neptune!

what are they plotting??

at the peabody before our fun dinner at flight

silly sisters....love caroline's label on her shirt...she gets one everytime she goes to my dad's house!!

Jr. K. Feast

Caroline's class enjoyed their feast on the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. They feasted on yummy treats from Chick-fil-a plus lots of other good food brought by the parents. Gary and I were both able to join her for lunch and enjoyed their cute costumes and conversation. They were all ready for the long weekend ahead with friends and family!

love the hat and the necklace!

cute caroline (with a chicken nugget in her mouth!)

alec sneaked in the picture with evelyn, ava and caroline