Nate Meets Santa for the First Time

So I don't know if it makes me a bad parent or a smart one, but I have never been able to bring myself to take my son to the mall to sit on Santa's knee. First of all, the lines are ridiculously long. Second, the picture they take usually doesn't turn out all that good. Finally, they charge an insane amount of money for the picture. I did however attempt to take Nate this year to the mall because I thought he would finally be old enough to not cry or get too scared and I could actually get a decent picture. When we got to the mall the line to see Santa was so long that we would have had to wait over 2 hours for a 30 second visit. I nixed the idea really quick and Nate didn't seem to mind. A couple of days later, Allan decided to have Santa visit his work. He made a phone call the the North Pole and Santa was happy to make a visit. He sent out a flyer so that the kids of the community could come to the office, have some breakfast, and get their picture taken with Santa. It just so happens that I got to keep Nate an extra day from his Christmas break with his Dad. So Nate got to have a visit with Santa and got his first official Santa picture. He was a little shy at first, but finally warmed up enough to tell Santa what he really wanted for Christmas, a "Rocket Fishing Rod". Nate has been asking for one for at least 6 months now and I sure hope that Santa pulls through. ;) The best part was that I was the one taking all the pictures of the kids, so I was able to take as many pictures of Nate and Santa as I wanted to make sure I got the perfect one!

A Proud Sister Moment

On December 16th my brother Ryan and his business partner Mark hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of their new tint and sign business. The business has been open a few months already and he felt it was time to join the area chamber of commerce. It is so neat to see how my once annoying little brother has now grown up to be a responsible man and father. Meeting the Mayor of Watauga.
Receiving their "first dollar"

The cutting ceremony. (It was really cold that day.)

This ceremony took place on the heels of an exciting week for All Signs and Tint. They had just finished working on tinting a house in Keller that was built for a family by the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" crew. Ryan, Mark, and team generously donated many hours tinting around 49 windows. The day after the reveal, Ryan got to return to the home to meet the family and it was there that he offered them a free tint on one of their vehicles. And once again, another proud moment happened this past Friday when one of my students brought me "The Keller Citizen" (a local Keller paper). An article in the paper featured the "Makeover" and Ryan was quoted in the article explaining how the tint on the home will benefit the family. I could not be more proud of him and wish him all the blessings on this new adventure of his.

The Girls Make a Visit

A couple of weeks ago my 3 beautiful nieces paid me a visit to my classroom. I had told Hannah on the phone that my Christmas tree at school needed some help with decorations so they came to school to make some. Nate ended up in my room as well due to "not feeling well" and all three worked hard to decorate my tree. Makayla was an angel as usual and loved exploring around the room.

The Stocking's Were Hung by the Chimney with Care...

With my ever busy schedule it has been tough to keep up with the posting a bit. I am now currently on Christmas break and I am going to get everyone caught up by posting a handful of blogs and pictures. We did finally finish the tree after a few days of starting on it. I used to put a big bow on top of the tree, but this year I decided I wanted a real tree topper. I searched for a few days and then Nathan finally found one that he liked. I would have preferred one that actually lit up, but Nate was insistent that he had found the perfect one. I aim to please and after putting the star on top of the tree, I would have to agree with Nate. It was the perfect star.

Nate putting on the finishing touches.
My handsome little guy posing for mommy.

We needed a little help from Allan to get the star where it belongs.

The finished product!

Merry Christmas!!

It Starts...

So here the Christmas season is upon us and amongst all the hustle and bustle we have attempted to decorate the tree. Here are some pics of the beginning stages. I don't have any pictures of the completed project yet because, well, its not done yet. Tis the season..

Allan was not impressed that I took his picture!

It's up and ready for decorating!

Let there be light...

My silly Nate had to put on the tree skirt and stockings.

He said he wanted to look like Santa Claus.

The "so far" finished product, plus Nate has put up some of his decorations.