Behold the Lamb of God

 This December has been a time of really wonderful Christmas music. It doesn't always happen that way, but this year it has been amazing! I started off by singing Handel's Messiah with the Huntsville Community Chorus on November 30th. It was my first time to perform that work even though I've known it my whole life!

Our church had a caroling night on December 9th, and that was loads of fun! I was in an 11 person "Gospel" choir for part of it, and we had a great time! We sang sweet sacred songs as well as some really fun Christmas ones! Here is the link if you want to listen! The whole thing is long, but my favorite songs we did are the first (actual song) and last. Fa La Lodge

And last, but the opposite of least was Behold the Lamb! If you didn't know, I completely love this musical journey through the Old Testament leading up to the birth of Jesus. The last two years our church has hosted them as one of the stops on their annual Christmas tour, but we didn't this year. So a group of us made the trek up to Nashville to see them. It was so fun to "road trip" with some fun friends that we don't normally get to spend extended time with. And Behold the Lamb was even better in Nashville. I loved pretty much every moment of the trip including getting to hear Sally Lloyd-Jones at the beginning of the show!

Outside the historic Ryman Auditorium

The last song (Steven Curtis Chapman and his family sat four rows in front of us)!

Funnies

Thomas: What's a filet?
Kim: It's a piece of fish.
Thomas: Oh, so if you split it it's a half-a-lay? 

Mae: Mom, I showed Mrs. Jenna our Christmas card. She knowed which one was Daddy. Isn't that silly?

Thomas (as I picked him up from school): Mom, Caleb kicked me in the place it's not appropriate to say.

Thomas was riding to the hunting club with PaPa and they were listening to the radio about coaches being fired.
Thomas: PaPa, do they really set them on fire? 

Mae has been singing The First Noel a lot around our house! The other day I said, "Mae, who is the King of Israel?"
Mae: Born?

The other day was Parent Day in Mae's ballet class. The teachers gave each girl a tutu and they performed a dance for us. It was beyond adorable. Even though my ballerina was less than interested as the dance went on. Here is the link if you want to watch the video. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmhXRTfLhOE

Christmas Program

Earlier this month it was time for the annual Friendly Beasts Christmas Program at Mae's preschool. Thomas did it, this is Mae's second year to do it.

 This year was Mae's hear to be a donkey.

 Whose hands are those? Oh, mine. Did I mention I'm teaching music at Mae's school two days a week?

 PaPa and MiMi came!

 Brax was out of town, but here I am with my donkey.

Thomas's Best Buddies, all supporting their siblings. Thomas, Hayes, James Hale and Lake

On of my best friends, Leah is the other music teacher.

Jesse Tree

A few months ago I read this post of this family doing a Jesse Tree. (This mom is AWESOME, and I feel like their family always does such neat things.) A Jesse Tree is a tree that you put on an ormanent for each day during Advent that correlates with people in the line of Jesus. Hence, Jesse. I loved the idea immediately because I absolutely love the story of redemption and rescue that is the Old Testament. It goes with my love of THIS and THIS.

I thought, "I'll make those ornaments!" And then I thought, "I barely have time to unload the dishwasher. There's no way!" So, as usual, Etsy came through for me! I asked Brax for these for my birthday and they're so pretty (ours are red)!

Since I first heard about it I've been seeing stuff about it everywhere! We have loved putting the ornaments on the tree!! We haven't made it every day, but we're catching up as we go. We're using another Children's Bible that we have to read most of the stories and Thomas is even reading a bunch of them to us. Melt.My.Heart.

Mae's Birthday Celebration

 

On Sunday afternoon we celebrated Mae's birthday with PaPa, MiMi and Aunt Katey. The table was decked out with pink balloons and a Strawberry Cake! Mae had so much fun getting to celebrate again and open more presents!

 Thomas and Mae finished up the afternoon helping MiMi put some decorations on her tree.

The Iron Bowl

For those of you that don't know, we have a huge in-state College Football rivalry! And every year, Alabama and Auburn meet in the Iron Bowl. This year, Brax and I got to go with PaPa and MiMi and it was really fun! We got there in time to visit the Paul "Bear" Bryant Museum, which I hadn't ever been to before. The weather was extremely crisp, which is what I love about football season. Alabama won 49-0, which never hurts.

 We ran into our good friend George. He just happened to be sitting in our section.

Thanksmas

The Cottage

 

We went to my parents' mountain cottage for the afternoon on Wednesday. Thomas and Mae had fun with their new bow and arrows, Brax helped with some projects and then we cut down a tiny tree for our Thanksmas celebration. Plus Thomas got to push down some trees in the woods, which he loves doing when he's with Pops.

 Thomas got to cut down the tree and the Mae got to help Gram decorate it when we got it back to their house.

Project: Playset

For Christmas Grandpa Richard and LuLu found a playset at a thriftstore for the Joaquin and Mateo. It was a crazy amazing deal and they delivered it to their backyard. There's nothing Brax like more than using his tools, so he, Grandpa Richard and Carlos put it together on Tuesday afternoon. Sally and I hung around for a little while acting like we might help, and then just went to watch the kids.

Manicure

Mae got her first manicure while we were in Fayetteville. The Paul Mitchell School was having a deal, that if you brought in 5 canned goods you got a free manicure. We Addington/Watkins/Acosta girls are all about a good deal/helping people/manicures. So, we all went. Mom missed the picture, but she was there too. And Lauren, the Paul Mitchell Honor Student there on the left is from a family the we all grew up with. I've known her since before she was born. It was fun to get to see her doing her job!

 Mae was a little nervous, but did great. She and I sat right next to each other. She picked NEON pink. No surprise there.

3rd Annual Addington Holiday Bowling Extravaganza

 

Sue Addington's wish every year is that everyone in the family go bowling together. This is our third year to do it, and it's a super fun time of hanging out. Thankfully for me, she doesn't care if you actually bowl, so I (who inherited Tom Addington's athletic genes and can not bowl 100) just chat with everyone. Mae, Joaquin and Teo only made it through one game before Sally and I took them back to the house, but I hear Joel and Carlos won all the games.

Mae's 4

Time flies! Baby Girl is four years old. The crazy thing is, she doesn't seem like a baby at all. She definitely seems like a little girl. She loves all things girly. ALL: pink, princesses, dolls, pink, fingernail polish, make up, pink, purple, pink. She also loves all things domestic. Cooking, cleaning, vacuuming, ect. She also loves animals. She's the one that plays with Duke more and has a stuffed animal kitty and puppy that she dresses up and talks to. She still has VERY strong opinions about what she wears. She loves any kind of craft.

She is dramatic, hilarious, and still pretty shy around people she doesn't know. I've said since she was a baby that she's going to be that girl you know that's really quiet, but once you get to know her she's the funniest girl you know. That is actually becoming more and more evident. She's an encourager. She loves to tell you that something is wonderful or that she "adores" something. She loves to give hugs and kisses.

We got to celebrate her birthday in Arkansas which was super fun! We celebrated with brunch and presents with the whole family. She walked around all day saying, "I'm four-years-old." Gram made a heart shaped cake with pink sprinkles and pink candles.

Gordon Lagerson Addington 8/30/26 - 11/9/12

Approximately three hours after Mae's party ended I got on an airplane for MN to celebrate the life of my Grandpa Gordy. He passed away on the day before Mae's party, and so I was able to be in the Twin Cities for the family celebration and visitation. It was a really sweet time of remembering and I was glad that I was able to go! I have a HUGE family, so in addition to fun memories, it was great to see cousins/aunts/uncles I hadn't seen in years.

In the few months leading up to his death (he had dementia and his body just started shutting down) this song's lyrics really really made me think of him and Heaven everytime I heard it.

Caliban's Dream

Oh
And the rain? tossed about us;
In the garden of the world
But a flame arrives to guide us;
Past the gold between the anvils of the stars

Watch you over all the children in the rain;
And the streets where I remember
Where the fire lights
Are candle souls again;

Affirming flame,
Hear me call;
Through the darkness,
Hear it call to us all

And stir again;
This beating heart
Comes again

Oh
And the drive out all our fears
And the joy drive out our pain
And the nations come to greet us
Waving open arms like waves of golden corn

Ever hear us,
Oh, the spirit of the world
May your light be ever near us
Always lead us from the dark
Though we may fall

We will fly
And with love
Ever call

Candyland Party

For Mae's 4-year birthday we went with a Candyland theme. Mae loves the board game Candyland and I thought it sounded really really really easy. We rented the indoor playground at a nearby church and literally just had candy and cupcakes. The girls had fun playing and it was super easy cleanup.

Beach Weekend

Our school system did away with Fall Break this year, but we decided to take one anyway. We headed with PaPa, MiMi and Aunt Katey to Fort Morgan, on the Alabama Gulf Coast. It was absolutely beautiful and cemented in our mind just how much our kids LOVE the beach! They loved the waves and the sand just as much, or more than last time. But this time there was the added bonus of three of their favorite people! We played on the beach and in the water, fished, hit up the 41st Annual Gulf Shores Shrimp Festvial to try a Cajun Pistol, crab hunted during the day and at night, and all watched the Bama game on our computers since the cable service was so terrible! Oh, and got sand everywhere!!! We made sweet family memories!