'Twas the Weekend before Christmas

This past weekend was a whirlwind but such sweet memories were made I am so thankful for it! Austin was fortunate to take off an entire week leading up to Christmas. I love that he's able to do that! So Friday I posted about our Christmas party rounds that day. Once we left Colby's school we came home for some down time. It was really nice to have everyone home and be able to catch up on some much needed rest. 
Friday night we had the kids Christmas party at church. We had all signed up to go. I was assigned the preschool. I was so thankful for Austin helping me as well. We ended up with 10 preschoolers. It was honestly the perfect number. The year before we had 20+ and it was crazy! 10 was manageable and we had 4 helpers. We got there early to get set up and allow our kids to eat since they don't eat pizza. From 6-6:30 the kids arrived and were served pizza in a classroom. It was just a time of visiting and getting to know the kids. We ofcourse knew most of them! Lindsay loved having her friends Ebbie, Mia, and Genevieve there. After they ate we went into Clubhouse. It was a neat time of storytelling and singing. They had an interactive nativity which was also neat. After clubhouse at 7 we went back to our room for crafts. We let them color a nativity color sheet while we set up the stuff for the edible Christmas trees. Once we got to that activity it kept the kids busy for quite some time! They ate and ate and ate! I thought we were going to run out of time for games. We were able to play a couple though. It was a fun night and just enough time. All the kids were picked up promptly by 8 so we were able to get out and get our kiddos home and into bed after a long day! 
Saturday we had our annual Family Breakfast. We couldn't sleep in but that was ok. It was a beautiful day for it! We met my family at Parrot Pete's per tradition. It was fun visiting and just hanging out! The kids are getting easier and easier at these type events! I love that they now like sitting by other members of the family! We took our time and visited a lot even after we ate. Afterwards we did a family SAM's trip to shop for our adopted family. We then came home to spend the rest of the day in and relaxing. It was a great feeling to not have to run off anywhere that night! 
Sunday was a busy day. We had to be at church at 8:15 b/c Colby had rehearsal for the little play he was in. I love church during hte Christmas season though. Having Colby perform in church the last 2 years has brought back so many memories to me as a child. I was always involved in little productions and loved every minute of it. I had to teach 1st service so I wasn't able to see them during that time. Luckily I had been to all the rehearsals though. It was crazy too 1st service. We had 12 kids...ofcourse the Sunday before Christmas we have a lot more kids! They were wound up too! We finally got out and were able to meet up with our adopted family. It was a crazy morning I felt so stretched. Finally we got to go in church with Lindsay and watch the first part of the service. The kids were so cute and did so well! After church we went to eat at Olive Branch. I just love eating out this time of year. I don't know something about it...just makes it more fun! We had a low key afternoon which was very nice. Another day of staying in and relaxing!