The James Five

Girls night used to mean a TOTALLY different thing for me….now it’s my girls having friends over to watch movies. It sure was fun to have school friends over during winter break!

Abby with her friends Ava, Isabelle, and Reagan.  Cute kindergarteners!

Kate with Lily, Sydney, and Savannah. Fun loving 3rd graders.

Movie time!

We burn the tree every year.  Usually, it goes up so fast we hardly have time to take pictures.  This tree, however, burned a long time! We even had to relight it midway through.

What a fun time with cousins in Joplin this year.  I’ll tell those of you who aren’t Jameses who everybody is:

L to R: Gavin holding Camden, Alex, Rowin, Abby, Emma, Kate holding Shay.  Except mine, all of them are Charlie (John’s brother) and Trella’s grandkids! Gavin, Rowin, and Camden are Chris’ boys and Emma and Shay are Shane and Erin’s.  Cuteness overload there.

And here’s what it looks like when 8 kids are opening presents. Blurry! :)

After we got home from my parents’ house on Christmas Eve, we set out cookies for Santa, read Twas the Night Before Christmas, and went to bed early.  I actually didn’t take many pictures on purpose this year….I wanted to just participate instead of being behind the camera.  I’m glad I did, because even though we don’t have a bunch of pics, I have the memories.

Putting out milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

Sugar Cookie making day.

Making the dough.

Rolling out the cookies with the next doors. Abby’s face kind of describes how I felt making cookies with 6 kids (the boys aren’t in the picture)…

We had to make a few batches this year, but look how cute they are!

I’m not the homeroom mom for any class this year (for the first time ever) and I’ll tell you, it was nice!  I just went to all 3 parties and enjoyed watching the kids have a great time.

Alex’s was first in the Yellow Room at preschool.  Look at these cute reindeer cookies (that I didn’t have to make).

Here are Alex and some of his friends helping their teacher, Mrs. Shipley, open her gifts.

Next, it was on to Abby’s kindergarten party.  It was also pajama day in her class, so they had an extra fun day.  She was so excited to show me her self portrait in her journal. It’s pretty good, huh?

And my girl won musical chairs.  Yes, we let Bryant share the glory and declared it a tie because he’s so cute, but we all know who won. :)

Last was Kate’s party.  It’s weird how 3rd graders are more into sitting around and talking.  They did a craft, had snacks, and talked.  Very calm.

Here are Kate and her friend, Stella.

Don’t let the smiles fool you.  After a long day of school Christmas parties and mountains of sugar, each of the kids broke down at some point during our outing to see the lights on the Fayetteville square.  We had to go immediately home to bed at 6:00. It was ugly. But there were moments of fun.  We do always love seeing the lights on the square; they are beautiful.

Here’s Abby.  Kate and Alex were both off crying.

Alex and Abby.

Abby wouldn’t be part of the family picture and Alex was mad.  Good times.

Abby is really into funny faces for the camera.  This one is just weird.

I know my kids will one day say to each other, “hey, remember that year when the tree fell over?”   I certainly won’t be forgetting the freshly decorated Christmas tree crashing to the floor at 2am.  The worst part was the special ornaments we’ve collected over the years that shattered.  Thankfully none of the kids’ ornaments were damaged, so that’s the silver lining, I suppose. Even my very favorite star topper broke. Sadness.

I didn’t get a picture until I had cleaned most of it up…it was 2am after all.

We’ve recovered with the help of Larry the Elf.  He brought the kids some new ornaments.  Here’s the tree this year. I’m on the hunt for a new star…

Here are some of my favorite ornaments.

The handprint Christmas tree Alex made in preschool last year.

Felt stocking circa 1975.

A new Disney ornament Larry brought to replace a special one we got at Disney World that broke.

The construction paper garland Kate made when she was 3.

And Abby’s broken gingerbread house.  I think we’ll keep this one to remind us of the year when the tree fell.

The annual James Family Christmas in Benton was Saturday.  Every year the crowd grows in stature and in numbers…the kids are now big teenagers and the babies are kids.  There are additional exchange students, new fiancees, and extended family.  It’s a CROWD! Good times.

Getting measured on Papaw Wayne’s pantry door.

Alex got to play with a toy gun.  Highlight of his life so far.

I never said the Jameses were a normal bunch.  Here are Cousin Pat, John, and the kids making “volcanos” out of Diet Coke, vinegar, and baking soda.   Nothing says Christmas like homemade bombs..

After we visited with the Jameses, we headed to Little Rock for dinner (Zaza) and cupcakes (my fave cupcake place) before going to the State Capital to see the lights.

Inside the Capital.

Every year we go to Breakfast with Santa at the Blessings. The breakfast is always wonderful, but the kids don’t particularly care for the Santa part.  Kate will talk to him, Abby will look at him, and Alex won’t even go near him.  I will never force them to sit on Santa’s lap, so we just leave it where it is.

The professional pics are coming soon, but here’s what I got of the girls with the old guy.

Alex opening his present from Santa.  He was happy that he didn’t have to look at him to get the present.

Abby with the middle next door. They are laughing at how they decorated themselves.

Abby and Kate doing crafts with the oldest next door.

The 3 amigos playing with their new toys. Alex, Ethan M., and the youngest next door.