Erika's Girls

As you may know, we love children around here, especially Erika! Lauren is just as cute as she can be and Erika loves her. I think Lauren likes her too!
We had Norah over one day and she was so funny. She hopped up in one of ours beds with her blanket and started to snore. We got the biggest kick out of that!

Homegroup Christmas Party!

We had our homegroup Christmas party last week at the Black's house. They excel in servicing and love to show hospitality. Anyhow, when everyone arrived, we gave them an assignment by giving each group a $5.00 bill to spend at the mall. The object was to spend $5.00 and not anymore and to get the best deal! After that, we ate yummy food, did a white elephant gift exchange and spent some time reflecting on some evidences of God's grace in each person. We always enjoy that part the most! We missed Caleb this year as he was working in North Carolina!

HG Kids Christmas Party

A couples weeks ago we had a homegroup kids Christmas party. We all met at Walk Through Bethlehem in Longwood where we toured the town of Bethlehem. This is something that Tim and I have done since Erika was 3 years old. We can now recite everything! Then we went back to our house where we had the garage set up for 17 children (including teens) for a pizza party, crafts, and decorating cookies. We decided awhile back that the teens would help Tim and I so that the parents could spend some time in the house eating and in fellowship without their kiddos. I didn't get any picture of the kids in the garage! It was a lot of fun to do and hope the parents enjoyed their time!

Home Decorations

This year, I got a real tree to put in the family room! Tim and I have been married 21 years and never had a real tree. I've been so excited about it! I also have my fake tree in the living room but oh, how I love the real tree that the kids decorated with all their handmade ornaments! Also, every year, I try to add to my Christmas in the City collection. However, instead of adding to it, I had to subtract a little. Yes, I broke a small figurine of a police officer and two kids! Well, maybe next year I will add to my collection!

Kid's Christmas Production

Metro did a kids Christmas production for children Kindergarten through 5th grade this year. Stephanie J did a wonderful job heading this up! Josh sang in the choir and got to be Joseph. He was very excited and took his part very seriously. He couldn't stop talking about it!

Take Your Time Checking Out!

I've always tried really hard to look at the cash register when checking out of a store. There have been so many times items ring up incorrect. Now that I've been doing the grocery game for several months, I'm even more interested to see if items are ringing up correct. Today, I went to CVS to get a few things and sure enough something did not ring up the sale price.

I can't imagine how many times people just walk out of the store unaware that they just overspent because the price didn't ring up correctly. I know I've done it plenty of times only to get home and a few days later to notice the mistake. Then, I have to make a special trip back to the store.

Standing in front of the cash register monitoring every items being scanned can at times be challenging especially when you have kids in the cart, a cell phone going off, and an impatient customer behind you. However, the benefit in the long run is worth the extra effort.

So, if you can avoid bringing the kids, not answering your cell phone, and smiling at the customer behind you, I say take your time checking out! It will save you money!

Thankgiving with Family