December 1, 2017

(click here for today's pictures)

• It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around here. This first day of December was a no school day because we had other things planned. Most of the kids were awake this morning, and despite planning on making muffins this morning for breakfast, we still didn't get around to it.
• We left around 8:30 and after driving to the wrong address, we finally found the place in Benton that we were going to. Each time you buy a meal at Taco's for Life, they donate a meal to someone in need. Today was one of their meal packing days.
• We put on our hairnets and waited for everything to start. We were the only non school group there this morning. There was probably 150-200 kiddos there. We watched a short video about what they do and then one about how to pack the food. Afterwards, it was time to start packing.
• We found our station (mad dash to an empty station) and got to work. The kids were great and worked hard the entire time. The boys enjoyed packing the boxes full of already made bags of the rice mixture. Keaton worked with me sealing the bags mostly. Reagan and Campbell spent a lot of time scooping the food. However, everyone was able to rotate to all of the jobs and they all had a chance to hold the bags in the funnel and measure each bag. The bag sealer had to be over 18 so that was my job the entire time.
• When the 2 hours was over, my back was a bit sore and I was tired. I think I am getting old! I was disappointed that we couldn't buy a bag of the rice mixture. I wanted to cook it up and serve it to my kiddos for a week-that would make them very grateful for what we eat around here.
• From there, we headed to Nonna's house to pick up Whitman. He was living it up at her house and was still in his pajamas. Nonna had even offered for him to go to the store and look at toys but he declined. We all ate lunch there and the kids had a minute to play.
• Then we headed home. Robby was working hard on getting his office in order which lead to cleaning an attic, which was on my list. While we worked, I had the kids do a few chore before they could play.
• Campbell, Keaton, Reagan, Whitman and I worked on our brownie gingerbread men for tonight. We also made cheese dip which I messed up. I told Campbell exactly how much spice to put in the dip but unfortunately, I was not half-ing the recipe and might have even been doubling it. 
• I did have a bit of time to recover from our hard work this morning (i.e. nap!) but then I did get to work on pulling out school for Keaton. I pull out her school work and Campbell's school work for a month at a time. It is a chore to do each time even though I am becoming more efficient since this is my 5th time to do kindergarten.
• At 6, it was time to leave to head to the McGuires. It was our annual Thursday Night Crew Christmas party. We have been having these parties for decades now (truly, it has been over 20 years of Thursday Night Christmas parties.)
• There was quite a spread of food tonight and we went to town. Of course, there was the obligatory Christmas pictures before we could eat. We ate and ate. The kids all happily played and then watched a Christmas movie upstairs while the grownups talked. It was a pretty perfect Christmas party.
• We brought Camryn home since she has to be at church early in the morning with Anderson and Reagan. Campbell has to be at basketball minutes after we drop those 3 off so it will be a very early morning for us. Someone please give us a wake up call in the morning!