Upward, Go Team!

This year both girls are involved in UPWARD cheerleading and Noah is playing basketball. UPWARD is a church sponsored sports league and although between their practice schedule and their games our week is chaotic, we are loving every minute of watching them cheer/play!

Noah is the smallest on his team of first and second graders and he is one amazing point guard, averaging about 12 points a game, a chip off the old block I say:)

The girls are super excited about cheering with Calla leading her squad in pep and intensity (but then I am a bit bias).

Bella has learned so much in cheerleading and it seems that the chants have really helped her remember short sentences, so for me this year is educational as well as fun for her.

Bella also gets to cheer with her friend Caroline. They look so darn cute together.

Our cheering section!

Christmas Eve through Christmas Adam

In our family we have a little joke that the day before a holiday is Eve and the day after is Adam. So in the spirit of being a late blogger, this is our Christmas holiday update.

On Christmas Eve, we started the day with some fun community service, then headed to church for candlelight service at 4pm. Yes I said 4pm, which may sound a touch early to some but to those of you with small children that fall asleep on the way home from church, you might understand:) The 4:00 service was fantastic, as always, and the kids loved singing, worshipping and of course the candles! Once we made it back home, we ate cookies and drank cocoa and read the Christmas story out of Luke followed by "T'was the Night Before Christmas". Finally the children were all nestled in their beds and we were able to get to work, er sleep!

Someone is ready for morning!

Christmas morning dawned beautiful and cold. After a yummy breakfast and countless presents we tidied up to host our family for Christmas dinner.

Before mass chaos.

Nehemiah showing off the wrapping paper he ripped all by himself.Ahh, the bikes! They were hiding in a different room, but easily found thanks to the note Santa left:) Dinner and presents with the family. Fortunately, Jeff had the week after Christmas off, so Christmas Adam was spent enjoying the most surprising gift of all...snow! The kids both big and small loved playing in the fluffy white snow, making snowmen, snow angels and a serious snowball fight. After a walk through the snow-covered woods, we came back to the house to enjoy hot cocoa and a hearty lunch. Jeff got up super early to get a shot of the front yard before anyone could step foot in the perfect snow. Our happy snowman.YUM!!!The best part, warming up with cocoa and extra marshmallows. In true Davis family tradition, late Sunday night I got the stomach flu, then Noah, then Jeff and finally Micah. So the rest of our Christmas break was spent disinfecting, washing clothes and sheets and making chicken soup...a lot. I hope this is one tradition that does not continue.

When Daddy was feeling better, he broke out his new guitar.

Christmas Randomness

The month of December is always such a whirlwind for our family and this year was no different! We packed a few months worth of activities into one and that left little time for extra stuff, like blogging...and laundry but that is a different matter. The laundry is now caught up so I guess it is time to focus on all of the other things that got overlooked.

Calla and Noah being goofy before Noah's Christmas Concert at school. Calla's 3rd Annual Christmas Party with all of our lovely neighbor girls.Yes, he really is that much trouble:)Aunt Wendy and Uncle Jason came down on December 18th to celebrate Christmas a week early. Of course, we didn't hear any complaints from the kids! After opening presents and eating a huge Christmas breakfast, we got to work on our Gingerbread village. While the idea of each kid getting their own gingerbread house was appealing at the beginning of the season, I can say from experience, way more mess than just the one big house we did last year!Calla and Bella hosted a Christmas Tea on Sunday the 19th for all of their friends from church. It was a toss up whether they enjoyed the tea party or dressing up more. Elizabeth and Carolina Caroline Olivia ClaireSophie and Darcy Then Monday we headed to Gingerbread Village at the Ballantyne Resort, before going to watch my parents sing in their Christmas Concert.Lastly, on Tuesday we drove over to the Biltmore to see it all decked out for Christmas. The estate was lovely and lunch was even better. Before going into the house, we all ate lunch on the property at the Deerpark Restaurant. Amazing food and amazing service all served in an amazing atmosphere. A quick picture! On the way to the main house we passed, what else, a horse-drawn carriage. Only at the Biltmore. Ahh, I think we are finally ready for Christmas!

That post will be coming soon, I promise!