Two parties, awards, and carolers. PHEW!

It's been a BUSY day! It started out this morning that Riley had his Christmas Party at school. They handed out their presents for their friends, got presents from the teachers (The Little Snowflake book), and even had presents for the mom's and dad's (Hot Cocoa and Candy Cane card and a cute jar of hugs and kisses with Riley's picture on it). Then, they sang a song and when they finished IN COMES SANTA! The kids were very surprised. Santa read the kids a story, then handed out more presents (a coloring book and candy canes!) After that, they went to the library for snacks. It was really nice and Riley didn't want to go home. I guess he really likes school. Riley with his hat on for singing:
Riley and Santa....this is the FIRST time that he's actually not been scared of Santa!

Then, Riley and I came home and cooked and baked our little hearts out. We made 10#'s of mashed potatoes, stuffed a batch of mushrooms, made peanut butter torte, & strawberry rhubarb pie.

By then Rugby had come home so we left for JOY Club parents and awards night. Riley was the star of his class....he earned the most JOY bucks for memorizing verses, wearing his vest and bringing his bible. Rugby did awesome, too. He also finished one book and moved to the next. YAY BOYS!

After that, we rushed home to clean up the HUGE disaster area I was calling my kitchen and get ready to PARTY! Five of Tim's friends from Stout came for dinner. When they got here I was just finishing the dishes. I baked up the mushrooms while the grill was warming, rubbed some seasoning on the steaks (actually country beef ribs), and sauteed some mushrooms and onions, and nuked some corn. It was great! Then we had the yummy desserts. After dinner, we were sitting around chatting and Kyle from church pops his head in the door and tells us he needs the key to church (again...he's been over several times to get the key before youth group.) Then he says "Just kidding" and in comes Cole and Kayleen and they were CAROLING! So we invited the whole bunch in. I think there were about 13 kids and 3 adults caroling in my living room. I don't think they were expecting such an audience! It was really cool, though. Here's some of them: After the carolers left, Rugby and Riley had to serenade us with carols, too. Here's Riley singing the same song he sang at school:


And Rugby singing Rudolph:


Well, that's about it. I think this will be my last post before Christmas. Enjoy your holiday, whatever that might be. See you Wednesday or Thursday after we get back!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!