December 16, 2017

(click here for today's pictures)

• We probably could have slept all morning long but one basketball player was ready to get to her game. After Campbell laid in our bed for a bit, I soon tried to round up the troops. Everyone put on their pre-approved clothes and were soon downstairs eating their breakfasts. The clothes were pre-approved because this was Santa visit day.
• While the kids were getting ready this morning, I was losing my mind. Keaton had lost 2 pairs of leggings, 1 Christmas dress, Campbell's was missing a black undershirt and Whitman had lost a milk cup. I looked and looked for those things until I had about 3 minutes to get myself ready to leave the house.
• Campbell's game went really well. Their little team can't seem to score for some reason, but they did better this week than last week. Campbell scored 4 points and even though she isn't a big scorer, she is great at guarding. 
• After the game, we loaded up with Grannymom and headed to see Santa at the Clinton Library. It was pretty crowded in the parking lot so we were worried that we might just be there a long time. Thankfully, most everyone was just in the parking lot. We made it all the way right up to Santa before Robby made it back to us from parking the car.
• The kids all saw Santa. We thought it was very funny that Santa didn't ask Anderson or Campbell what they wanted for Christmas. We told them that Santa must have known that they had December birthdays and didn't need anything. Also, Santa didn't let all of the Dennie kids sit on his knee! Some had to stand.
• We finally made it home, after dropping Grannymom off, picking up some lunch at Taco Bell, picking up the other half of lunch at Subway and then returning to Taco Bell to pick up what they didn't give us. After lunch, the first thing that happened in this house was everyone straightened their clothes drawers. I helped the girls and we did find everything that we were missing except for one pair of leggings. 
• The kids wrapped a few things this afternoon and we all did a few chores. The afternoon flew by because we were soon in the car headed back to a basketball game. The boys team did great today. They were playing a much shorter team. Anderson scored 8 or 10 points and Graham scored 4. This was their first times to score. (Maybe because it was their first times to get the ball!) They had a blast and finished telling us all about their scores, assists and lots of other numbers.
• From there, the boys headed off with Jason to watch the Star Wars movie. We had early convinced them that Jason had bought them tickets to the move Star (kiddie nativity cartoon). We had told them that Jason heard them say that they wanted to go to Star and must not have heard the Wars part. You should have seen their faces fall in disbelief. It was just great. They were happy to get to the real Star Wars movie and pleased that they had a laps full of popcorn and coke in the cup holders.
• I ran to Michaels after the game and then met Robby and the others at Kroger after they ran to the library. Then Keaton and I went to Lowes to pick up a gift for Whitman. Once at home, Robby and I made a treat for tonight and I even wrapped some more presents. 
• Around 6:30, the Wilson's arrived and we then picked up the boys after their movie. It was Christmas light night and our first stop was Sherwood Forest. It was probably a mistake to go there because we waited at least an hour and 45 minutes in the car to get to the lights. After Anderson had so much drink at the movies, he could wait no longer. When Anderson finally said something, we were in an area that he could sneak off to the woods. So Robby told him "go in the woods." 
• Anderson climbed out of the car, walked a few steps and then walked back to the car. By this time, we were all dying in the car. Anderson said, "I want to but I don't want to." Finally, he took off towards to the woods. Everyone thought this was hysterical...everyone but Whitman. Maybe it was because Robby was slowly inching up in the traffic or maybe because he had just heard his Daddy tell his brother to "go in the woods," but Whitman just screamed, "Anderson! Come back!" over and over again. The harder we laughed, the more upset Whitman became. When Anderson hustled back to the car, relief flooded over Whitman's face. 
• The lights were neat but by the time we finished the drive, everyone had to potty. We stopped at McDonalds for the restroom and for a snack. From there it was just a few minutes until we made it to the "blow up house" in North Little Rock. We walked around the yard and as the kids marveled at the decorations, we pondered what the neighbors must think of it all.
• It was nearly 10:30 when we made it home tonight. We had lots of fun tonight looking at the lights, eating lots of sweets and laughing hard. The kids headed right to bed when we came in and Robby and I hurried to finish our computering so we could climb into bed and listen to the rain.