Adventures in Wellonsland: Christmas Frenzy

We hit the ground running in December. A mere 10 hours after we arrived home from our Thanksgiving trip to Virginia we hit the storage unit to pull out the Christmas stuff and bought a tree! Buying Christmas trees in South Florida is something everyone should have to do at least once in their lives. Maybe we have led a spoiled life growing up in the Southeast, but finding an appropriately sized tree should not be like winning the lottery. Several tree lots have the trees bundled up so you really don't know what you're going to get until you get home...but most lots were COMPLETELY sold out except the Charlie Brown trees.
The kids love helping us get the Christmas stuff out, mainly so they can try on the Santa suit (again). Seems like I have several of these shots of Ben throughout the years. That crazy kid.

I should have kept my mouth shut a few months ago about how Lilly was the only one who had gotten Student of the Month for her class. Not only was I wrong, Ben got it last year in February (which he not so nicely pointed out to me - Gosh Mom, I can't believe you forgot that). Lucy also did her part and won her award last month...yeah Lucy!

The big big event school wise this month is FIELD DAY! I know, Field day in December, What?! Crazy, but there is NO WAY they could pull this off in the spring. TOO HOT. It was 80 for First Grade field's day, and RAINY. Not a good combination. Some of Ben's classmates fell in the mud before the competition even began. UGH. There were relays and dashes but the most anticipated event BY FAR was Tug of War. These kids were so pumped! Poor Ben, he got drafted by another class when they were a man down so he did a few more tugs than others.

Ben's class WON!! He was super excited!!

Lucy's Field day was the next day. Her class gave it their all too...

While cone jumping is not a sanctioned Field Day event, she did excel at it

They were in the top 3 until the Tug of War (which is weighted so if the class does well, they get more points) and it was there they dropped down to 4th place. Oh well Lucy, not to worry! You had an outstanding effort and your ribbon is still pretty cool!
Lilly's class was the very next day! Her teacher has been teaching at this school for quite awhile and has NEVER WON. Just a little bit of pressure kids. The teacher joked that someone in her class always wins the AR (accelerated reader) trophy at the end of the year so she has the brains not the brawn. Someone needed to tell the kids that, because after it was all said and done - they came in FIRST! Great job you guys!

Since we were in a sports mood, we decided to take in one last game at Sunlife Stadium and root for the Dolphins over the Ravens. It was working out for us until halftime. Then slowly the Ravens pulled away. Oh well. We had an awesome time!

Hold on to your hats, not quite done with sports just yet. Ben finished up his inaugural flag football season with 3 wins (we won't tell you how many losses, this is a sore spot with the head coach - JIM). They are a young team and played very well together, and Daddy and Ben had a blast hanging out together every week.

Lilly's team won their league game after falling to the same opponent twice in the last two seasons. It was nice to get that monkey off our backs! Lucy's team also won in the consolation game, but we were unable to stay for the last quarter so I have no picture of her holding a trophy. Don't feel sad for her. We left so we could go to a Marine Christmas party at Dave and Busters! She more then made up for the guilt trip she handed us with all those ridiculous INANE prizes at Dave and Busters. I abhor that place and if we never darken the doors again it would be fine with me.

After spending a few painful hours at Dave & Busters and instead of going home like any sane family would do after being on the go since 8:30 that morning, we went to a bar (nowhere near our house) in Coral Gables to watch the Army/Navy game. Ok, so just to recap, in ONE day we went from the playing fields to a game room to a bar to watch the Army/Navy game. Basically we traversed both Broward and Dade counties. Navy rewarded us by beating the pants off Army, but I think they were going to do that anyway.

It is Christmas time so that means a PJ party with a special visitor! Pembroke Pines has an awesome tradition where the local Fire Department will come by at your appointed day and time slot (kind of like the cable man) for Santa on the Big Rig! The kids just thought they were having s'mores in their PJ's. Little did they know what was coming!

Mom's need a little Santa Love too!

I am running out of time!! So much to do and ZERO time to do it!! I realized that I needed to have some pictures with the kids and the tree to make gift tags for the chex mix that Jim makes every year (he calls it nuts and bolts). I made the children wear some Christmas shirts and start smiling!

This one has potential

This one got my vote

Bingo!

Oscar says "Whatev"

Last year the girls were NOT asked to perform in their piano recital - which trust me, was a good thing. However, they have made great strides! I am happy to report they did a wonderful job and hopefully have been inspired by some of the older students to stick with it. If not piano, at least some type of musical instrument.

Right after their recital, we packed up the car and headed south. SOUTH, what could be more south than us - KEY WEST! I haven't been to Key West since the Christmas of 1980 when my parents loaded my sister and I into the back of the Oldsmobile Cutlass with the Oh-so-chic 8 track stereo and dragging a Casper Skiff behind us. Can you say the ultimate FFFT (forced family fun trip)? Even with those thoughts in my mind I decided that as long as we had ANY music other than Dion Warwick's Friends, Willie Nelson's Stardust Memories or Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will the Circle be Unbroken we would be fine. How right I was! Jim had planned for some pretty cool experiences I must say. Good Job Daddy!

He got us some sweet accommodations right beside the Southern Most Point beacon and we were able to bike all over the island. First up was a ride on a Trolley decked out in Christmas lights to tour the best Christmas Light Displays on the island. Complete with Carols and 3D snowflake glasses.

Girls found a Spongeman while Ben butchered the Carols

He also set us up on a deep sea fishing charter. This one I was worried about. The back up plan was to hit a reef and do some bottom fishing.

After about 2 hours of cruising around trolling with more than a few "I'm bored" and even more "I'm seasick" comments we headed toward a reef and things started to pick up considerably.

We knew we were in trouble when we met our mate

By the end of the trip, we had been able to get everyone hooked up with some fish and there were smiles all around. The Captain of the boat noticed Jim and Ben's NC T-shirts and come to find out - He is from Morehead City (20 minutes down the road from my home town Swansboro)! Small world.

Guess what is for dinner!

One thing I really wanted to do was see the Hemingway ~~Cats~~ House. I remember that being one of the highlights of my earlier trip and it did NOT disappoint. Of course I didn't get to tour the house quite like I wanted to, but did get plenty of face time with the 6-toed cats.

We also squeezed in a couple of FANTASTIC dinning experiences. Well Jim and I enjoyed them, the kids - well how excited can you get over chicken fingers? Grow up already - there is a WHOLE world of DELICIOUS FOOD out there!! sigh. One of the crazy things about Key West is that there are chickens and roosters EVERYWHERE. They completely just cruise the streets/restaurants/yards/bars etc... Which is pretty cool until about 3:00am when the roosters out crow each other. Then it is pretty uncool.

We also hit this cool place on the way out of town!

So we arrived back just in time for Christmas Eve Eve. Which my sister and I have been saying FOREVER and it drives my husband up a wall. Well I have heard him use the expression several times now so - I WIN I WIN!!! Yeah me.

We somehow made it to the Christmas Eve Service recommended for families and it was interesting to say the least. Pretty typical for this Church come to think of it, but hey, it counts!

I just scrolled back up to the top and (sigh) I am tired just thinking about all the stuff we did in a short 31 days! Maybe our New Years Resolution should be to STOP E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G!
Of course Christmas morning it was CRAZY in the house! The kids were busy busy sorting and piling and sneaking peeks at gifts. When Jim was growing up, they had a tradition of taking turns opening presents. He has attempted to impress this upon our children, and while on paper it is really good, in practice - not so much! I would just as soon open my gifts after all the craziness is over and then I can enjoy it. The way it operates now, there is no savoring of gifts like this awesome one!

Oh well, maybe next year!!

Our new Wellons family tradition is to spend Christmas with the Monclovas!! We have done it 3 years running! So after all the hoopla, we were able to clean up the place and enjoy the many, many MANY gifts and all sit down to a meal and some Christmas cheer (OK, a lot of cheer - don't judge).

A few days later Lilly and Ben had Dentist appointments to lessen the number of teeth by a few. Ben had 2 wiggly front teeth and INSISTED that we leave them until Christmas Eve because he wanted the Tooth Fairy to come on the same night as Santa, as if there weren't enough going on that night! Who am I to pass up an opportunity to pull a tooth! So I obliged him. However I was only able to get one, grrrr. I persuaded the Dentist to "check" to see how wiggly the remaining one was and to remove it "by accident". Ben didn't even blink!

Lilly, on the other hand had 2 teeth that needed to come out in order to keep her teeth nice and straight. Lucky for her, they too were pretty wiggly and the impatient permanent teeth had already started to make an appearance. Originally she went in to just have two pulled but she agreed to have the other two pulled too! What a trooper!! Might have had something to do with the promise of frozen yogurt, but I can't swear to that.

We are gearing up for yet ANOTHER move this summer. I have tried to deny it but now that it is less than 6 months away, I really need to embrace it. One way the Marine Corps is helping me prepare for this next move and the job that is making us move to the other side of the country is by taking my husband away from us for almost 4 months prior to said move. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Instead of being bitter about it (but I am) I am trying to make sure the kids don't suffer by missing out on activities that Jim is supposed to participate in. So that is why we find ourselves about 30 minutes north on a Sunday afternoon at a Cub Scout Cutting Party at a co-worker of Jim's, sawing and sanding tiny blocks of wood into cars (not my idea of a party by the way). Yes, it is Pinewood Derby time! Mind you the actual event isn't until the first week in February, but Jim will be gone the 2 weeks before that so we have to strike while the iron is hot. To add to the pain, the girls are doing a Powder Puff Derby in April. Powder Puff to me is football, but in Girl Scout speak it is a car. So while we are cutting for one we may as well cut for three.

Of course we did not finish the job. Hopefully we will be invited back to complete the deal...

Jim's sister's inlaws are from Del Ray Beach and she and her family were visiting so we made the 1.5 hour drive over to spend the afternoon with them on New Years Eve Eve (see! it IS a thing). While there we went to the beach and got a private backstage tour of the Sandoway House Nature Center! It was pretty cool!

Lastly it is New Year's Eve!!!! We headed on over to an adjacent neighborhood for an impromptu party filled with kids running with sparklers, fireworks and of course the count down to 2015!