Maddox drew her family this week.  My favorite part is that the fourth face from the left is Ryan - the little line down is his goatee.  

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The girls have finally begun to really play together....I have prayed for this moment since we brought Maddox home.  It is so fun to hear them pretend!  

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MK is officially half-way through her Kindergarten year of school.  She absolutely LOVES every minute of school and her teacher is the best!  Many have asked if we plan to homeschool MK.  The answer is yes.  The boys both went to Kindergarten at our local school and had fabulous experiences so we decided long ago that we would do the same for MK.  It has been a perfect fit for her.  We also went into homeschooling the boys by telling them that we would continue to homeschool as long as it worked for all involved.....and that will be our approach with MK.  

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The boys are enjoying some downtime over the holidays.....with no IEW to contend with and no co-op every week, their school days have been a bit shorter and they have been able to just enjoy being boys.  

Christmas Ballet

Pre-Ballet stretching....she makes it look soooo easy!

 I love this face....part of it says she is excited, while part of it says she is a bit embarrassed.

 Her mannerisms are so delicate and all girl....

 and though MK is on the other side of this photo, I had to take the shot - even dancers join in a mid-show huddle every now and then;)

 Prima ballerinas....

 and our sweet girl, who at the age of almost 3, insisted she wanted to take dance lessons....  

So glad we listened to her request!

Christmas Ballet

What a delight it is to watch Maddox enjoying her moment on the dance floor!  

 Adorned with reindeer antlers and a special tutu, Maddox was feeling the music.....

 and enjoying the attention:)

 Of course, she has her own moves at times with a little backstep here and an unexpected twirl there....

 and we just giggle knowing she has her own little zest in life

 Her sweet little class....

Merry Christmas, ballet style!

Ryan and I began the weekend with a night out and a little Christmas gift exchange.....only the gifts were gag gifts that the boys immediately took a liking to.  

 And then it was time for family.  My grandmother, aka my Nannie, is 92 years old.  All five of her children gathered together on Sunday to celebrate the season with their mother.  

 She is a beautiful lady, one that took such time with me when I was growing up.  It wasn't the gifts she gave, it was the time she spent reading to me - my dad often reminds me of her when he reads; it was the meals she cooked - forget the meals, the biscuits rocked and still do!; the advice she has given me over the years, the notes she still writes....

 On Monday, Pryce finished up his art project - a canvas of Bethlehem.  It could not be more perfect!

 With a rainy night about us, Monday proved to be our gingerbread house evening.....the boys worked together - my little engineers pondering their decor.  

 While the boys had a plan, the girls did too.....

 CANDY!  Their plan was to see just how much candy they could get on their one little house.....no rhyme or reason, just slap it on the house and move on.....

 I cherish these times when all four are happily at work together, laughing, sharing and creating memories....

 On Tuesday we had some of the boys' friends over for an afternoon of basketball, albeit one hand basketball for C, and decorating cookies.....the boys were very mindful of their decor, each taking their icing and placing it precisely how they wished it to be, each taking their candies and creating an edible masterpiece.....

 Meanwhile, our little angel was hard at work too:)  Please note her left hand....almost looks like she is wearing a white glove.  Nope.  All ICING.  

 The end result....and please understand, I was in the same room, busy at work myself, and yet she quietly created her own masterpiece on our kitchen table.  

Her handprints are done so well, don't you think?  Very defined.  This little one never ceases to amaze me.  She is full of spice and love and sweetness and I just relish in the fact that I get to be her mother!

Painting pottery is a fav of MK's.  She adores this task.  We were thrilled to spend an afternoon surrounded by friends celebrating adoption and raising funds needed to bring home little Chloe from China!

While MK and I were away, the boys were at play.  Unfortunately, their day came to a halt after one play - I have gotten the play-by-play and it pretty much goes like this:  the ball went one way, he went this way and C went down with his feet flying high behind his head.....in other words, it wasn't pretty.  And the result?  A very bruised growth plate????  Honestly, I am not even sure that I clearly understand what his diagnosis was but they casted him for three weeks in a nice Clemson orange cast.  He was all smiles and soaking up the attention until reality hit and he realized school still had to be done:/

MK is officially a Daisy.  

She earned her first Daisy badge and petal on Monday.  

I was thrilled that I still remembered my own Girl Scout promise and could help her learn hers.  Some things you just never forget!

And our little guy Matthew.....he has been up to quite a lot of playful antics.  TeePeeing the tree was just one dose of his "fun."  This week he was found swimming in our Barbie pool with some friends, bungee jumping, drinking syrup (one of the four main food groups!)....the children are all so excited to find out what he will do next!

MK to Ryan: "Daddy, all of my veggie pockets are full in my stomach.  Can I have some chocolate?"

Our week began with the decorating of the trees....

 from our youngest....

 to our oldest....they each have their own flare.  With eight hands doing the work, I am thinking this was our fastest decorating yet!

 Matthew the Elf made his much anticipated debut on December 1.  When this little guy appeared several years ago, he simply hid in a different spot each night.  Fast forward several years and now Mr. Matthew is up to quite a lot of antics.  MK was a bit stressed out when Matthew took down all of our stockings and put hers on Santa's head....and then one night he used silly string to decorate our rocking bear....he found the girls bookshelf and took each book off in order to make himself a cozy bed....he was up drinking Elf Juice aka green milk and eating candy one morning.....one just never knows what Matthew is going to do next!

 On the eve of December 5 each year, we set our shoes out to see what St. Nicklaus will fill them with - it is a German tradition and one that our children quickly decided they liked!  

 And Big C....Thursday evening he had his first Christmas semi-formal dance.  He is participating in a group called Social, Inc. where he is learning all kinds of dances - note that his parents each were born with two left feet so it is important that he learn how to dance from an instructor as his parents will not be good at teaching him in this area:)

 Social was not something C was totally onboard with in the beginning.  However, it has grown on him and he is thoroughly enjoying his time spent on the floor with his friends, new and old.  His partner's twin sister is the partner of a good friend from C's school days.  The four of them have had a terrific time together!  

 Annual Christmas cookie decorating with our adoption friends....the littles all decided playing was more fun at first, so in came the big boys to make their creations.

 While P actually ate his cookies, there were some that had more fun decorating and creating thus leaving the eating part out:)

 Eventually the word spread throughout our home and the littles decided they must decorate a cookie too!

 A sprinkle here....

 and some candy there....

 and a sneaky one too!  Little Miss Pearl's mom took her eyes off of her for one millisecond and she came back to a plate full of cookies and one little girl eating her heart out!

 These girls had such fun together playing and decorating!  So thankful for each of them!  

 And these brothers are quite the crew as well....there was football and more football and food and more football!

 Post decorating, it was off to C's basketball game.  Sadly, their team is not thriving this year and he is most upset over this.  

 Despite their losing streak, C is on the court each week practicing his heart out and striving to do his best.  We are hoping for a win soon!

 And when our week was said and done, our little one found her way back to the tree.  From the looks of things, one might think she was simply adding on an ornament that had fallen off of the tree.  However, she is simply trying to hang a rubber band that was once in her hair on the tree!  Never a dull moment!