We had another wonderful Christmas this year- although I was worried that we wouldn't because of sickness. Olivia started running a fever on the last day of school before Christmas break. We visited the doctor's office where she tested positive for strep. We started on antibiotics, but after six long days with little improvement, we decided that this needed to be looked at again. We ended up with a five hour trip to the emergency room where a chest x-ray showed that Olivia had pnemonia. She got a shot in the tail and a prescription for a stronger antibiotic. Fortunately, she was well enough to attend the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church.
After the church service we headed to my parents' house for our annual Christmas Eve dinner. Nick and Cassie had just brought James home from the hospital, so obviously they couldn't make it home for Christmas. We did Facetime them and we all oohed and aahed over that precious little baby. Everyone received so many nice gifts, but the gift of the night was Mama's new cell phone. This is really a gift for us all- her old one is a total piece of junk. Hopefully now we will be able to get a hold of her.
Around 2 a.m. Santa paid a visit to our home, and around 2:30 Brian and I were woken up by our children telling us that Santa had come. The kids were told to go back to bed for a little bit and that after a rest they could get up and play with their toys. At 3:30 they were up again, and Brian had to go order them back to bed for a second time. This time they actually went back to sleep and ended up sleeping until almost 11:00.
The kids received so many nice things. After opening all of our gifts, we made our way to Granny Buie's house for a delicious Christmas lunch. We were all exhausted by the end of the day. We had such a blessed Christmas with our family this year.
The kids participated in rec basketball again this year. This was their second season participating in basketball, and they both had a lot of fun. Olivia moved up to the 9-10 year old division, so the referees were a lot stricter on making sure the players followed all of the rules. Olivia gave it her all whenever she got into the game, and she improved as the season went on. We were happy that she was placed on the same team as Ava, so we were able to cheer for both girls at the same time.
This year, the kids' elementary school started a robotics team for kids in grades three and up, which Olivia joined. Olivia absolutely loved participating on this team and looked forward to her weekly practice. During the first several meetings, the team worked on learning about robots, STEM, and the correct terminology that would be used to assemble the robots. After a month or so of this, the students began working in small groups to assemble the robots. Once the robots were assembled, the team met to practice the skills that would be needed for competition. The sponsors had hoped to host an elementary competition, but there are no other elementary robotics teams in our area, so it was a no-go. Instead, they decided to end the year by having a skills competition with all of the members of the team competing against each other. The kids took turns driving the robot through an obstacle course. They received points for completing each obstacle. Olivia did well on her run (below). She did hit one cone, but had a clean run other than that. She and another kid ended up tied for first, and they had to defer to time to see who completed the course the fastest. Wouldn't you know they had the exact same time. So, they had to run the course a second time. Olivia's had a perfect second run, and she ended up in first place. She is really looking forward to participating in this activity again next year.
We have been talking about redecorating Olivia's room for over a year now. She wanted to switch from a "princess" room to a "Paris" room. The three-day Martin Luther King weekend day seemed like a great time to go ahead and complete our project. We spent our time repainting (a slightly darker shade of pink), rearranging furniture, and hanging new decorations. Olivia is very pleased with the finished product, and now Owen is putting in to have his room redecorated. 
After the church service we headed to my parents' house for our annual Christmas Eve dinner. Nick and Cassie had just brought James home from the hospital, so obviously they couldn't make it home for Christmas. We did Facetime them and we all oohed and aahed over that precious little baby. Everyone received so many nice gifts, but the gift of the night was Mama's new cell phone. This is really a gift for us all- her old one is a total piece of junk. Hopefully now we will be able to get a hold of her.
Around 2 a.m. Santa paid a visit to our home, and around 2:30 Brian and I were woken up by our children telling us that Santa had come. The kids were told to go back to bed for a little bit and that after a rest they could get up and play with their toys. At 3:30 they were up again, and Brian had to go order them back to bed for a second time. This time they actually went back to sleep and ended up sleeping until almost 11:00.
The kids received so many nice things. After opening all of our gifts, we made our way to Granny Buie's house for a delicious Christmas lunch. We were all exhausted by the end of the day. We had such a blessed Christmas with our family this year. 
