CCS Christmas

Joe and I, for some unknown reason, were asked to head up the "activities" at the Circle City Sound Christmas party this year....well, if I don't say so myself, it was great!

We did Minute to Win It with all the trusting and kind men of Joe's barbershop chorus and without them really realizing what they got themselves into, they competed and played along!

There was also the "Not so Newlywed" Game as well, the our co-coordinators led too.

And of course, there were great quartets who performed and the who chorus sang too!

Good times, Good times....


Best part was that a bunch of quartets and the chorus sang too!

Merry Christmas CCS!

Ohio Visit

The weekend before Christmas we drove to OH to see both sides of my family and even a few Schmidts too!
It was a whirlwind of a weekend - leaving Friday night, arriving 6 hours later, just in time for dinner at Aunt Cat's house - it was great to see all my cousins and all their children...

Then, the rest of the weekend was spent with family and friends visiting us at Gram's house and then we finished our trip on Sunday with a morning with the Williams crew, the a few more minute's drive north to Uncle Bob's house.  We are thankful we were able to pack in to so much in such little time.

Here's photos of "Chistmas morning" at Gram Young's house -

Joe, Megan, Joey, Morgan, Jameson and Baby Jackson!

Oaks Christmas Party

Joey's First Grade class had a party on their last day of school before Christmas Break.  The 2 other parent reps and I took the party to another level by providing supplies to create Gingerbread Houses for each of the 48 kids in all 3 of the first grade classes.

I made the crazy decision to make homemade Gingerbread House icing (it's cheaper that way AND it's like glue!)  I looked on Pinterest.com to find a recipe with egg whites, powdered sugar and cream of tartar...then I put a few cups worth of icing into 48 bags....uggg.

BUT - it was a huge success and SUPER FUN that day!  Worth every minute of time - thank goodness for a Kitchen Aid mixer - the icing  took 16 lbs of powdered sugar and 3 dozen eggs!!!

The day of the party, we celebrated together all afternoon.  The kids made gingerbread houses, they were read the story The Tale of the Three Trees, they had delicious "snacks" which was more like a feast! and they gave Mrs. Kilmer their gifts. 

I got a photo of almost every child in the class with their masterpieces, as well as some other photos of the morning...

Thank goodness for ALL the volunteers that day!

Jameson was my helper making the icing the night before

Mrs. Kilmer opening her presents from the class

Merry Christmas Oaks Academy!

Oaks Christmas Concert

Joey had a beautiful performance with the Oaks Academy Christmas Concert this year.
It was at Shortridge HS Auditorium - a space big enough to house all the proud parents, siblings and grandparents of all Pre-K through 5th graders.

It was an amazing show...although Joe and I only got to see the part when Joey sang...then we had to each take one of the littles out because it was just too much for them to sit through. :)
*Note to self:  Get a sitter next year!  :)