Christmas 2011

I love Christmas time! It's my favorite! It has come and gone for 2011. As usual, I probably didn't take enough pictures. I guess it's a good thing that I have this super awesome blog to record all of my memories on to!

Friday school ended before Thanksgiving. For our Christmas and end of semester celebration, they held a cookie decorating party at the ice skating rink. The kids had a blast! Although Crystara isn't in our co-op, she is at the skating rink 24-7...so, we got to hang out with her for a little while too!



Austin, Abi, and Crystara 

Chasing the spot light

Don't be fooled by those winter clothes and ice in the pictures above, outside of the rink the days are pretty much like spring!! We took bread to our local duck park and fed the ducks. Then the kids played at the park for a little bit. One of their favorite things to do. And on days like this, I don't mind so much either!

Abi  

Austin

Because my mom is the manager of the store she walks in, getting off for the a few days around Christmas is difficult to do. Last year we had Christmas at her house, but this year we stayed home. So, we had to have Christmas early with Grammy and Papa. The kids were not upset about hat at all!! Austin received some of the kinex building toys...he was determined to finish one of them before he went to bed. In fact, his eyes were so sleepy they were bloodshot when we finally coaxed him to go to bed!!  

Austin working hard!

Austin no longer plays baseball with the Texas Terrors. They just weren't a good fit for our family, no hard feelings. But we haven't stopped playing baseball...NO WAY! Austin was invited to try out for a tournament team that just so happened to be partially coached by one of his coaches from the Vipers! YAY! His first game to play with his new team, Team Airline, was a toy drive held at Baseball USA. If you've never been to Baseball USA, you're missing out!! That place is SO cool!! After that tournament, the following weekend, Team Airline played another tournament for Toys for Tots in Pasadena. His team played all elite teams and though we lost, they held their own!

Warming up the pitching arm

 At Austin's tournament in Pasadena, Abi took her tent to help keep the wind from chilling her to the bone. This little dog wandered up and hung out with Abi all day. She was pretty bummed when it was time to leave and the puppy couldn't come with us. Ironically, the pup bears a striking resemblance to Abi's dog, Peach!

Even thought we were on break the week of Christmas, I snuck in a lesson. An unusual lesson, and that is probably how the kids let me get away with it! I taught Austin and Abi a basic sewing stitch. I cut pieces of felt for them to piece together and sew a nativity set. Surprisingly, Austin was more into it than Abi! About half way through, Abi decided it was boring and she didn't want to do it anymore. Austin-never-say-quit-Brewer HAD to finish his!!

Austin sewing his nativity scene 

Concentrate, concentrate...Abi sewing her nativity scene

Austin's finished product! He did such a good job, his stitching work is pretty good for the first time!!

PS This is another brilliant project I found on Pinterest!!!

Because I'm a lame-o, I forgot to snap ANY pictures when my cousin, Courtney, and her boyfriend, Chad came for dinner. I kick myself for missing that photo op because I very rarely get to see her!!! Well, at least I have the memory recorded here!

On Christmas Eve we helped out with one service and then attended the following one. We were super excited this year because it was rumored that Copperfield Church would have SNOW!!! Since Houston rarely gets anything close to snow, I had to see it for myself! Sure enough, there was a little snowfall in the front rows of the service! One of our Christmas traditions is to have soup for Christmas eve dinner. Weird tradition, I know...but a tasty one! This year we had Mark's sister, Elizabeth, Mark's dad and step mom, Tom and Wendy, and Wendy's son's girlfriend and son, Melissa and Jaydon over for soup and salad. It was a time of good company and sharing memories!

Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Day 2011

We went to Tom and Wendy's for Christmas dinner and gift exchange. As usual, we had lots of laughs!!!

Austin received an excavating kit. He was able to chisel his way to a whole dinosaur skeleton!! 

 It's a tradition on the Kellum side of the family (my side) to wake up as early as possible to see what Santa has brought. Even though Austin and Abi do not believe in Santa, they were up at 1:30 that morning to see what was waiting for them! Mark thought it was crazy to be up so early, but it was normal to me!

Austin and Abi snuggled up together playing on their Santa present!!

Sewing with serger

While browsing on ETSY.com, I found this boutique outfit and fell in love with the design elements of it! Although it is adorable, I can not justify paying the $95 price tag when I can make the outfit myself. Obviously, the same fabrics will not be used. I cannot wait to see the final results!!! I am nervous because I will be venturing out and using my mom's serger on this one! I have never used a serger before, but for clothing it really is the best thing to use. It's to be determined if this ruling will stick!

Also, Abi has been one sewin' mama! I have fabrics that I pre-cut for another project that she has adopted. So far, she has sewed her yellow baby a pillow and a blanket. The kid machine that we got her for Christmas is cute, but I can't wait until she graduates to the real thing!

The finished product

Christmas with the Brewers

The Brewers 2009

This Christmas season has gone by so fast. I can hardly believe that today is Christmas day 2009, and we will start a new year in 6 days! This year, among the the many gifts, the memories I have made visiting family has really been with me. Most of the time I am focused on what is coming up; on such things as what classes I am taking next semester, getting my books ordered. But this year, it's almost as Christmas time has added an extra appreciation for time spent with my mom and dad, brother and sister, and more communication with my extended family. We did stick to our traditions, the biggest being serving at church for the Christmas eve services. The services on Christmas eve are always my favorites because we get to meet so many new people!

Austin and Abi in front of the preschool Christmas tree

Austin as a shepherd and Abi as an angel in the services

Abi in her Christmas dress

Austin in his Christmas get-up

Austin and Abi, don't the clean up nice!

We took the kids to look at Christmas lights the evening before Christmas eve. They really had a fun time, but were exhausted when we got home!

Maddox, Austin and Abi dancing/ looking at lights

Abi's Christmas dress

Abi's Christmas skirt and bow for the many seasonal events!

A funny

Grammy, my mom, made a visit to Houston this past weekend. She brought a few treasures that she found at my grandmother's house, who passed away a couple of years ago. One of the items she brought was a child's size sewing machine from 20 plus years ago. Abi immediately fell in love with it!!! Between the time of waking up on Sunday morning and going to church that morning, she must have asked me 15 times if and when I was going to teach her how to sew. I warned her that the machine was so old that it may not work anymore, but her enthusiasm persisted. I told her that if the little one didn't work, that I would teach her on my machine. She said, "well, I've been watching you sew...so, I pretty much have it down." Then, we walked into the doors of the preschool church building and she announced to Miss Ann that her Grammy brought her a little sewing machine and her mommy was going to teach her to sew. Unfortunately, we attempted to use the machine when we got home, but it is just too old. So, Abi has added a kid's sewing machine to Christmas list...