Partying and Singing (or not)

As you know little miss had a birthday over the weekend. She was suppose to have a friend spend Friday night but said friend got sick and was unable to come. So we had pizza for dinner, watched a movie of Jillian's choosing, and made a gingerbread house.

On Saturday, the crew arrived. She invited several friends over and they came early and stayed for several hours. I realized this is my idea of the perfect party. She got to spend several hours hanging out with her friends but I didn't have to entertain them overnight or feed them several meals.

She is very into Doctor Who right now, so her cake won't make sense to many of you - it didn't to me, either.  I do know that the blue police box is referred to as a tardis.  It is apparently a big deal in the show.

She has been asking for a leather jacket for a while. Back in September during our girls' weekend in Branson, I found a cute blue one. Luckily she really likes it - since I bought it several months back in Branson.

Some PDA from the adults.

Jillian and Joel are both 12 - for this moment. They get to share a number from December until March when he will once again pull ahead of her.

Saturday night we ate at Olive Garden and got stuffed. We came home and called the 12-year-old birthday a success.

On Sunday we had our Christmas program at church. It started with the preschoolers singing, then the children, and then the adults.  Look carefully at this picture of Harrison. It was his last cooperative moment of the night. Once he took the stage, he barely sang, refused to do any of the hand motions, turned his back to the audience, and hid behind other children. I was mortified. Mom says he was the one kid everyone will remember. I told her that usually those kids are funny. This was not funny; it was awful. I had one church member say she didn't know what she enjoyed most - watching him or watching my face.  Happy, I was not.

The children's program was Jillian's last one as she will be in the youth next year. I didn't really think about this until about halfway through and I was completely out of sorts after her brother's shenanigans or I probably would have cried. She played Mary. She sang (about as enthusiastically as you might imagine if you know my daughter), had some speaking parts, and then got to come down and stand front and center at one point. The picture is not great, but I do have evidence of her participation.

So far this week, we are enjoying some laziness. We have about 3 days before the whirlwind of Christmas hits. It is nice to get caught up on some sleep, rest, house work, and snuggle time.  And some yard work, too, since it feels like spring outside. What the heck?! I don't love cold weather but it is not suppose to be 70 degrees at Christmas.  Unless you live somewhere other than here. Maybe that is what I will do - pretend like I live in some exotic place where this temperature would be normal. That sounds fun!