Reid and Stefani Adopt

We're off to Panama City Beach!  Car is packed with a couple of presents, a smoker for the Christmas turkey, and a Christmas tree.  It is a bit crowded in here. We went to a state park beach. Isaac and his cousin David were inseperable. Esther enjoying the pontoon boat ride out of Shell Island. Dad lets Esther drive for a moment. Christmas day.  All the grandkids try on Grandma Archibald's pajama pants. They tended to be a little big. The kids loved them anyway. We had to wait until 5 days after Christmas to open the rest of the presents that we couldn't fit in the car.  Kids were ecstatic this morning opening them!  Christmas day 2.0. Esther opening a present from Isaac.  It was a little plush cat.  She LOVED it!  Thanks, Big brother Isaac!

I went to eat lunch with Esther on her birthday at school, and I brought her a surprise--Chick-fil-a lunch!  I thought she would be sooo excited!  But then she saw I also brought her beloved "soft bear," and she was so excited to have him at school lunch with her she forgot to be excited about having Chick-fil-a for lunch.  She just got done telling me last night that soft bear was her most favorite toy.  I think he's been lost and found about a dozen times now--and sometimes he's been lost for over a month at a time.  There must be something magical about the way she feels about that bear that keeps bringing him home to her. We also went to Frozen 2 in the theaters for Esther's birthday.  It came out just 4 days before her birthday.  Then we came home to open presents and eat her fabulous cake.  She loved it all, even though she got sick that night and had to stay home from church the next day.  Poor girl! This picture was taken ou...

It's hard to resist posting when the kids are all dressed up.  They look the part, now just to get them to act the part...

Our church congregation always has a little Christmas party.  It's not a very big event, but it usually includes the kids putting together a nativity and singing a song.   This year, Isaac was a shepherd and Esther was an angel.  Isaac grabbed his own shepherd costume, which included a belt and a wet towel from my bathroom.  Can you tell that Mom had to be to the church early and left the costumes up to Dad?   Esther grabbed her Elsa costume to be an angel.  She complained about the costume being too itchy, and was appropriately grumpy for every picture thereafter.  It was still worth seeing.