Abigail turns 9!

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This post should probably begin with some inspiring reflections back to 9 years ago today when Miss Carolyn Abigail Kirkwood entered our lives. It was an ice storm in Oklahoma on the day she was born. My independent child decided to have her own birth date, rather than be induced the following day and share my birthday. With baby blue eyes and fair complexion, she looks very much like her namesake, Jon's mom. Jon's mom also played sports all thru high school and had a passion for signing, two things Abigail enjoys! One of the most memorable events of the day included Jon bringing Frankie, Caleb & Abigail into my hospital room for the first time and Caleb saying, 'Mommy, we found baby Abigail, can we keep her?'

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As for this birthday, we shared her breakfast of choice, sausage and homemade biscuits in bed as she opened her gifts. She loves to cook and wanted her own kitchen items. Following church services we celebrated a nice birthday lunch with Uncle David.

Christmas Morning

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I'm sure everyone who visits this blog wants to see photos of my little cherubs opening gifts! :) Ok, I'm sure your darlings were just as lovely on Christmas morning, but it would seem remiss not to include a few of those photos! Santa brought toys, books, videos and games for young and old. No coal or socks and underwear in any gift boxes! Thus a lovely Christmas was had by all!

A White Christmas

This part of Texas doesn't offer a white Christmas very often, but this year it was a beautiful snowy holiday. Snow began to fall Christmas eve and Christmas morning was lovely. The kids played in the snow before opening gifts. You know they don't see snow often when they would prefer to play in the snow rather than open gifts!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

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And now another edition of our
'Night Before a Kirkwood Christmas’


'Twas the night before Christmas and all thru the house.
After tamales and hot sauce with water our mouths we did dowse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.
Abigail was ready for bed with a braid in her hair.

Too excited to wait for the coming day,
‘Open just one gift, oh Dad please,’ they tried to sway!

With a twinkle in Momma’s eyes, Dad knew what to do,
‘An educational gift to open for you, and you and you!’

Undetered by the less than ‘fun’ gifts,
‘Oh thank you,’ ‘I love it,’ they all said in shifts!

Soon the snow began to fall and Mimi snuggled up in her shawls,
Uncle David can’t sleep in, he will be making the sausage balls!

At six a.m., down the stairs they came,
Hoping for Harry Potter books, videos and a DS game!

Gifts abound, Santa does not disappoint,
Even the cheese sauce never hit a boiling point!

Christmas dinner was yummy, even though the ham wasn’t pre-cooked,
A fact I would have known, if only I’d looked!

Another Christmas complete, better gifts than we deserve,
I’ll host again next year, as soon as I gain my nerve!

Thousand of Pieces of Fun!

Following our homeschool Christmas party, our family exchanged gifts with the Gungans. There gift to Jon & I was a 1,000 piece baseball puzzle. The kids really enjoy the big puzzles. They usually complete the puzzle by themselves with a little help from Jon.

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Tonight I teased them there was no spot for our Christmas eve meal with the puzzle in the middle. They worked diligently, with help from Mimi, and completed the masterpiece. At bedtime they boxed it up and we will take it to Granny. She loves puzzles and we have a great exchange program with her collection!

Chess-tival!

We have been looking forward to today for several weeks, our Chesstival! We didn't really do a chess tournament, but with 6 chess boards set up the kids took turns for 2 hours playing against each other. With a few snacks added and a little holiday music it was a fun afternoon. Fun to watch these kids play gingerly with the younger ones! Very good sports!

Christmas Lights

Christmas should be filled with lights and sparkles and cheer. As a family we have always enjoyed looking at Christmas light. Jon has never enjoyed putting up lights, so when Frankie was about 6 years old, he told her that there was a rule that families with six years olds did not have to put up lights. But everyone else was to put up lights for 6 year old girls to enjoy. He continued this game with her every year, advancing the age to coincide with Frankie's age. This game would later be passed on to Caleb and Abigail. Of course they know that is not the truth, but that is the excuse we use to go look at everyone else's Christmas lights! This year we made it a mission to count how many different types of inflatables we could find. I thinks we saw something like 57 different varieties!

Christmas Goodie Bag

Our congregation includes approximately 47 elderly family units. We took some time today to let them know how much we appreciate them. In assembly line fashion we prepared goodie bags. They brimmed with homemade breads, cookies & candies along with applesauce, granola bars and many other goodies. We split up the bags and personally delivered them. It was very rewarding to see what joy this brought to peoples faces!

Service Night

Tonight was also our Service Night. As a congregation we collected 180+ winter coats to be donated to the Dallas Life Rescue Mission. Members also delivered gift basket to families new to the Plano area that have visited our congregation. Car packages were prepared for military serving our country. Cards were made for shut ins and missionaries. Members also went caroling to a local assisted living facility as well as caroling to individual shut-ins of the congregation.

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The girls and I participated in the caroling, mainly because Abigail's first name is actually Carolyn and she found humor in Carolyn Caroling! All three kids donated coats. Caleb helped crochet mats for the homeless out of plastic bags. We also donated jelly to be delivered to Boles Children's Home.

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Following the service projects the congregation had a wonderful devotional, then a yummy chili super! Santa made a visit too! The two older kiddos willingly posed for photos to the delight of Abigail! Caleb told Santa he wanted the movie G-Force; Abigail requested an acoustic guitar, and Frankie requested a game for her DS.

Make that Two Teeth

Tonight Abigail wiggled loose the tooth next to the one she lost only days ago. It seems the adult tooth that is erupting is needing more space than one baby tooth will provide. When she looses the same two teeth on the other side of her mouth she will be ready for braces! Neither Jon nor I ever wore braces but all three of the kids have wore, are currently wearing or will wear braces.

National Bible Bowl Practice

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We are about two months into National Bible Bowl preparations! We are finishing up this week reading the last chapters of II Samuel. Today in practice we began preparing for the test with games. I created a Dynamic Duos game to match up who is related whom. Also I made a Order in the Court game that has a series of 5 cards that they must put in the order the events occurred in II Samuel. I am so proud of these kids! It is tough work and I am so proud of these kids they work so hard and have such amazing spirits!

Visit to see the Big Guy in Red

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Our visits to Santa have long since past those days of diaper clad toddlers bawling because some strange man in a red velour jumpsuit was holding them and honestly who wouldn't be a little creeped out by that?

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Visiting the big guy in red is something they continue to participate in to placate me. I love the sense of excitement and wonder that surrounds the idea of a magical person who brings great gifts as a thank you for those who have exhibited good behavior.

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The Santa at the Galleria encouraged the kids to tug on his beard, again kind of creepy, and asked what they desired to receive in a week. Abigail asked for Harry Potter books, Caleb asked for Harry Potter movies, and Sissy asked for a Harry Potter DS game. 'Santa' smiled and with a wink said he would have several surprises for them. My dutiful children then smiled for their photo, said thank you and left with their candy canes! Mom was blissfully happy!

Skating Around the Christmas Tree

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Our adventures took us to the country’s tallest indoor Christmas tree at the Galleria Dallas. The 95’ tall tree is in the middle of the ice skating rink. Our homeschool group schedules a Christmas skate each year, but this was our first year to attend.

My ‘no fear’ child was the first on the ice and never held on to the bars, even though she had never been skating. My ‘must have order’ child, skated around and around in the same pattern for two hours. And finally my ‘gentle spirit’ went slow and cautious, helping every child that fell and encouraging everyone. Jon skated with the children, while I took lots of pictures and enjoyed my Peppermint Mocha.

The beautiful tree with 440,000 led lights stretching up through the four stories of the mall under the domed skylight is truly an impressive sight. We will be back next year.