Who's got a beard that's long and white

Santa's got a beard that's long and white! And the boys got to see him and tell him all about their Christmas wish list last weekend. In years past, Santa hasn't had a problem with our two young lads sitting atop his knee while discussing the whole Christmas season. This year, however, the boys have gotten too big to both sit on his lap so Santa asked them to sit on the bench next to him. Ugh, who said they could grow up?! Reed was a little perturbed they none of the other kids in line brought their elves and I think he was a little embarrassed.  As we quickly approached the front of the line, his whinings weren't so audible and he was focused on the big man in red. 

After the Santa visit, we went downtown Woodstock for their annual Xmas parade. It did not disappoint!  Not many pictures were taken but the boys ends up with 2 more big bags of candy..,great. Just what the need, huh?

Elfin madness

Wha have the new and old elves been up to lately? Loads of mischief, that's what! The boys wake up every morning excited to see what new and crazy adventures the elves got in to the night before. 

Playing monopoly...

Trying to decorate our little tree in the entry way...

Ziplning through the kitchen...

Playing hide and seek...

Drawing minions on our bananas...

And eating dog treats?!?  Apparently they've been rummaging the house for cookies and came upon Polly's stash. Haha, I hope they learned their lesson!

December born

Happy bday to two of the greatest men in our lives!  Grandy turned 50 something plus a few on December 7th and Ryan turned 15 on the 8th. We love you both so very much and hope you had the happiest of all birthdays yet!!

Shenanigans

What will they do next? Day 1 they arrived and brought new friends.  Day 2 they brought the boys new indoor shoes for their upcoming season. Day 3 they had a nerf gun fight in the kitchen. Thankfully, the boys know that they must clean up any and all messes they elves make. We'll see what the rest of the month brings!

And then they helped me sweep the tennis courts this afternoon. (And I didn't even ask them to!)

The Boys are Back in Town

Boys, girls, elves, arctic snow creatures, what have you. Santa's helpers have come back for the month of December to make sure the boys are behaving and to let Santa know if he needs to stop at the McLure Mans on Christmas. The regular crew came like we expected: BellyButton Boogers, Gurshall, and Arctic Twinkle made their appearance. But, with them they brought 3, yes, 3 new friends. Introducing...Penguin Pickle Pants, Monkey Jones, and Reggie. I'll let you figure out who is whom. The boys were so excited and have divided the 6 elves between them so they each 'have' 3. They did it without argument so I didn't stop them. Let's see what kind of mischief they get in to this month!

In order of appearance...

Poppa...I mean, Scrooge!!

Sean and Lindara have a unique way of giving out Xmas gifts. They are most always in the form of an 'experience' and this year did not disappoint. They took us to The Alliance Theater downtown to see the play 'A Christmas Carol' and it was fantastic! Although it was a little on the longer side of any movie or play my boys have seen, they really tried to hang in there. 'Tried' was the operative word here. Nolan fell asleep about 10 minutes before the play ended and fell into such a deep sleep, almost nothing woke him up! Lindara was sticking her fingers into his ears, I reached into his mouth to take out his gum, and then the rest of my family laid wine glasses on him so he looked like a little drunk! How rude! Oh wait, that was me. Haha! Well, it made for a good picture and story and Nolan thought it was really funny when he woke up. Good sport, old chap!

Halloran's-giving

With Sean and his crew on the road for thanksgiving day, we Halloran's of the north metro Atlanta had our feast of feasts on the Sunday prior. 'Twas nothing shy of a giant spectacle for all to don fat pants and rest after such a hardy filling. Happy Turkey day from ours to yours!

A weekend for giving

When I told the boys we would be volunteering for the weekend at a food bank, they were all none the pleased but oblidged me anyhow. CRN (children's restoration network) is a non-profit that helps get food to shelters and orphanages all over the metro-Atlanta area. They rely considerably on donations, food drives, and even schools that have contests for classes that bring in the most canned goods.  It's been in production for 23 years and gets bigger every day. 

On Saturday, Nana met us for breakfast and then we headed over to the old Roswell Mall where CRN rented some space to stage their food bank. We unloaded giant boxes with the donations in them, sorted them into their respective piles, and then were given shopping lists for what each individual charity needed. These were basically items for a complete thanksgiving dinner for however many people and kids were in that particular group. The boys were amazed at how much food was being doled out and asked which bag we got to take home. Oye...

Then, Sunday the charities came to pick up their goods and all 3 boys had fun packing everything up and helping to load up the cars. I didn't get a picture but it was incredible to see how much food was packed into those cars! They also had a little fun with the hand trucks. 

And then they deserved a little fun in the cold playing putt putt after all of their hard work! Nolan got 2 holes-in-one so the lady at the counter gave him a golf ball as a prize. Winner, winner!

Reading Machine

A few months ago, Nolan's teacher challenged her class to a reading project. If, individually, each kid got to a 5 point AR level, she would host a pizza party for them. I'm not sure Nolan understood her during the process of the challenge so he didn't put forth much effort. He didn't make the required points so he didn't get to join the pizza party. He. Was. Devastated. 

This go round, she upped the challenge points to 10 and they have until December 18th to reach said points. As of right now, Nolan has 18+ points, reads a book a day, and this is how I found him Wednesday morning at 6am...20 minutes before I normally wake them up. 

Soccer-giving

Sadly, the fall soccer season has come to an end and the boys will miss their 3 practices a week...until February 15th, that is. They ended the season with more heartbreaking losses than triumphant wins, but like I have said before, we have some of the best losers on the planet!

The team we are a part of makes me smile when I think of them and happy to call them our 'soccer family.' We were asked at the last minute to bring non-perishable items to our End of Season feast and we loaded up a table to donate to MUST Ministries. 

Each family chipped in and made a special thanksgiving dish and we all shared the giant meal in the Y mess hall. The kids had fun running around (NOT playing soccer) but just being silly and doing what kids do. I haven't seen the majority of these kids outside of their normal Striker uniforms, so it was good to see them as the little people they are. We're looking forward to the spring season but in the interim...there's always indoor!

Bid soccer adieu for 2015

This weekend was the last outdoor soccer weekend of 2015. The boys had a tournament at Badger Creek Park (thankfully it was in Woodstock!) and they played their little hearts out! Unfortunately, winning was not in the cards for the silver Selacao team this weekend. They played some really tough teams but held their heads high and were really just happy to be out on the soccer fields all weekend. Nolan scored the only goal in the first game on a penalty shot and he scored the lone goal in the second game and coach made him captain in the first game. Reed played like a crazy man and had some amazing passes, and even got knocked down so hard his skully went flying off his head! He got right back up and, grabbed his garb and kept on playing, hat in hand. I'm pretty sure they were overall mostly excited that they talked daddie into buying them a couple of jerseys. Schmoozers.