christmas and basketball

that was what our week felt like.
Christmas tradition. then basketball practice. then Christmas tradition. then basketball game.
with a few chores and homework mixed in ;-)

the last few years we have done "acts of kindness" every day in the month of December. it helps us remember that other people besides OURSELVES do exist. with my kids getting older, we are letting them be involved and even take over parts of our traditions. example: the  girls hung the garland on the stairs. 100%. it was amazing.

over the weekend, I asked bailey and Rebekah to make a list of things we could do for our acts of kindness. so they did. on 5 sticky notes (not how I would have done it, but...)

then I asked Joshua and Bailey to figure out the calendar. I reminded them to cross-reference it with our family calendar to make sure the act of kindness was POSSIBLE on that day. they did a good job!

pokemon card trading.

I LOVE my house at Christmastime

how did we EVER "do" Christmas before Amazon?!?

bailey was invited to go ice skating with some friends on Friday night. cute, cute girls!! I adore every single one of them. AND their moms! how awesome is that!?

we had 6 basketball games on Saturday. it was fun. and I decided I need a seat cushion. those bleachers (or floor! depending on the gym we were in) are HARD on my body!! :-)

sawyer played his 1st (and 2nd) basketball games of his life and LOVED every single second.

it was fun cheering them on!! {Rebekah got a concussion in her game on Friday night. :-( so she slept a LOT this weekend...she's hoping she can practice/play this week...but we'll see...}

ended the weekend doing our advent reading by the fire in the driveway with hot chocolate in our hands. it felt like a movie. or dream. it was awesome. and I think we were all as ready as we could possibly be for a week ahead.