Best Christmas Pageant Ever

A couple of weeks ago, Caylie was in a play with our local homeschool drama group. She played the role of Mrs. Bradley, in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. There were lots of lines to memorize, and she did so well!

Unfortunately, Corey was out of town on business, but his parents, his sister and her family, my mom, and my sister were all able to come! She had her own little cheering section. :)

Here are a few pictures from the day..

Caylie (Mrs. Bradley) talking on the phone....

Mrs. Bradley reading from the Bible while teaching the kids about the meaning of the Christmas pageant...

Caylie with Nana and Mimi after the show...

There was a reception after the show with cookies and punch for the cast members and guests to enjoy.

It was a neat experience for Caylie, and she is looking forward to participating in the spring musical that the group is planning to do!

Way to go Caylie! We are so proud of you!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

The Christmas Tree Farm

Last year, we realized that our artificial tree had seen it's better days. It was falling apart, and the attached lights were no longer working.

It was HUGE, and took up a lot of storage space that we wanted to reclaim.

After we took it down, it left our living room for the last time.

We made a decision to go with a real tree this year...for the first time ever!

Today we went to a local tree farm to find and cut down our first real tree. The kids had lots of fun searching for a nice looking tree, and Christian even got on the ground to cut it down!

The tree farm was a neat place. It had a play area for the little guys...

and free hot chocolate and hay rides for everyone to enjoy.

Here is a cute picture of Carson that Caylie took during the hay ride.

When we got home, Carson was so tired that he fell asleep in Caylie's arms.

Doesn't she look cute in her mask? :)

It has been a fun day, and we are going to put the tree up tonight.

More to come!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

What's Been Going On Around Here

Caylie asked me the other day to just be straight with her.

"Mom, just tell me, are you ever going to blog again?"

I assured her that I would.

But here's the thing...

With 3 or 4 months of homeschooling under our belts now, I can say that we are really enjoying it! I love it so much, and have frequently said that I wish we had started earlier! I am so happy that we made the decision to give homeschooling a try, but I've just not quite found the balance between getting all of my responsibilities taken care of, and still having time to do things like...blogging!

It's getting easier as I get the hang of things. I tweak things that need tweaking, and find ways for things to run more smoothly. Hopefully I will find more and more moments to sit down and blog. I really DO want to have a place where our family memories are recorded, and since I have decided to let blogging replace scrapbooking, I DO need to make it a priority...at least more so than I have been! :)

So here's the latest...

Corey has been out of town this week at broker classes, and so I have had my hands pretty full trying to juggle all that goes on around here. Corey is great to help me with shuttling kids around when he is able to, and without him here, I have been in and out of the house a LOT...which makes it even more challenging to get everything done!

Caylie has been preparing for a play with our local homeschool drama group. She is playing the role of Mrs. Bradley in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". The performance will be on Saurday morning, so this last week or so has been pretty focused on getting everything for the play taken care of. All of the actors are responsible for getting their own clothing together for the show, so that was on our "to do" list, and I am on the committee that organizes food and decorations for the reception, and that has needed some of my attention as well. Today she has dress rehearsal all afternoon. I am really looking forward to the play, and will try to post some pictures soon!

Christian recently started his basketball season with the homeschool team here. He has made new friends, and is enjoying it. He's been having some problems with his heel though. Whenever he plays basketball, he says his heel hurts, but then the pain goes away after some rest. We have an appointment this afternoon for him to get it checked out with an orthopedic doctor. Hopefully, whatever is causing the pain, can be quickly treated, so that he can play basketball without having pain!

Yesterday, Christian and Carson both had appointments for check-ups. The doctor said that both boys were just fine. Christian did have to get 2 immunizations, but he didn't mind too much. Carson, we were told, is in the 92% in both height and weight! We were kind of surprised to hear that. Caylie and Christian were always high on the charts as well, but we had always thought of Carson as smaller than they were at that age. Caylie is 5'7 now, and Christian is VERY close behind.

Well, that's the scoop on what is going on at our house!

Hopefully, I will check back in soon!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Homeschool Volleyball Nationals!

We recently returned from the National Homeschool Volleyball Tournament in Omaha, Nebraska. It was so much fun!

Two of Caylie's friends team mates were traveling with our family, and when we stopped in Kansas City to spend the night, they did their own little photo session in their pajamas! They did silly hair and make up, and had so much fun.

Cute girly stuff!

Our first stop after we arrived in Omaha was Spaghetti Works downtown. We met up with the rest of our group for a big lunch together. The food and the company were both great!

Here is a picture of the girls outside, before we went into the restaurant.

And inside, a few of the girls hanging out together...Caylie played around with this one and made it black and white.

Caylie had a great group of girls on her team. Here they are getting started at the tournament...

Let's play some volleyball!

Corey's parents met us in Omaha for the tournament. They watched and cheered Caylie's team on for some of the matches, and helped us out by babysitting Carson for other matches! We really appreciated that, because it is hard to pay close attention to a game while also entertaining a fidgety 3 year old! :)

Here is a picture of Caylie and Nana before one of the matches.

Nana took the good action shots of Caylie for me to put on the blog. My little camera is way to slow to get any action shots!

At night, the girls would have dinner in the hotel, and then visit in the lobby. Here they are hanging out in front of the nice fireplace. Sorry you can't see the fire!

One morning, Nana and Papaw were hanging out with Carson and Christian (while we were at games), and Nana had a little photo session with the boys. She got some good pictures!

I can't believe how big Christian is getting! He has grown up so much in the last year.

And my other sweet guy...little Carson!

There is a huge sporting goods store in Omaha, called Scheels. There is even a Ferris Wheel in the middle of the store! Everyone rode it, but I can't find the memory card that contains those pictures! Aargh!

Caylie had been needing new volleyball shoes, so while we were at Scheels, we let her pick out a new pair.

Here she is posing with Nana as she picks out her new shoes.

Here is the group shot of Caylie's team that was taken at Nationals.

The competition was really tough, and the girls were a little disappointed with their postion at the end of the tournament, but mostly, everyone was sad that the season was over. The girls had a little party after the last game for the seniors on the team, and as the coach went around and complimented each girl on what they had contributed to the team, there were even a few teary eyes.

We all hated to see it end.

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Carson's Quote Of The Day

Today, as we drove past a cow pasture, Carson asked, "Mom, do cows have middle names?" :)

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Hannah's Hope 5K

This morning, Caylie ran in the first annual Hannah's Hope 5K in Bentonville. It was a children's cancer benefit, and it was a great race!

The weather was perfect for a 5K...nice and mild, and the location was beautiful! We were thrilled to find a playground located right beside the running path, so Carson was a happy camper while we waited for Caylie!

Caylie's goal was to beat her previous time of 29:45, and beat it...she did! She finshed in 27:27!

Below is the video that I took of her crossing the finish line!



The happy runner!

Caylie was thrilled to win a ribbon for placing 1st in her age division! Here she is receiving her award...


I think that Carson was kind of jealous...Caylie was nice enough to let him wear it for a little while!

Our little running girl...

Some of the participants in the race posed for a group picture after the awards had been given.

We really enjoyed our morning, and are looking forward to having a fun day. We'll do some shopping, then have lunch together, do some Razorback tailgating, and then Carson and I will come back to the hotel room while Corey, Christian and Caylie go watch the Hogs beat Georgia (hopefully)!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Labor Day at Lake DeGray

For Labor Day this year, we decided to spend the day on DeGray Lake with Corey's parents. We do not own a boat, but we love to rent one a time or two each year, and head out to enjoy the water!

Here, Caylie and Carson are relaxing on the tube.

Corey's mom took this picture of our family swimming in the lake.

The water was absolutely perfect!

Corey's dad, Papaw, is never one to miss out on the fun, so here he is diving off of the top of the party barge! He would dive under, and stay under as long as he could...scaring us all to death...just for fun! Corey and Christian aren't the first in the family to love pulling pranks!

Caylie jumping off of the top of the party barge...

Christian showing off his dive...

Carson jumped off the the barge for the first time. He only jumped from the ground floor, not the top, but he loved it! He did it over, and over, and over again!

Here is Nana relaxing in the sun.

Christian loves knee boarding!

Showing off with only one hand! :)

Caylie knee boarding...she enjoyed the tube more, but did get up on the knee board a couple of times.

Christian loves to have someone throw a ball for him to catch as he jumps off of the top of the boat. He's pretty good at it!

My two guys, enjoying the good life! :)

Christian and Carson tubing together!

It was such a fun day out on the water! We just love hanging out on the lake!

Writing the Waves,
Christi