Zoo Lights-- December 23, 2012

 Mrs. Santa Claus, Britti, Ellie-Kate, Elena, Chelsea, and Emmy

 Chelsea and Elena

 Elena and Brittany

 Emmy

 Brittany

 Emmy, Chelsea, and Elena

 Ellie-Kate

 Emmy, Brittany, Ellie-Kate, Elena, and Chelsea

 Elena, Chelsea, Emmy, Ellie-Kate, and Britti

 Christie, Roger, and Ellie-Kate

 Emmy

December 23, 2012: Zoo Lights at the Columbus Zoo

After church, we drove up to Polaris in Columbus and visited Santa for one last time. Ellie-Kate asked for Lightning McQueen and Sheriff, and Emmy reminded Santa about her camcorder request. Elena went with us, which delighted both Chelsea AND Ellie-Kate!

 After Polaris, we drove over to the zoo for Zoo Lights. Although chilly, we had a very fun time with seeing the animals and the lights. We had heard about this event for the past few years but never made time to go. We're definitely glad that we went this year!

Emmy's birthday party-- December 22, 2012

 Emmy had her 12th birthday party at Rollerbowl bowling alley on December 22, 2012. She had a great time with her friends. We had cosmic lanes, and the kids got to enjoy pizza and cake during the festivities. After the big party, Emmy and her friends Emma, Gabby, Patricia, Delaney, and Sophie had a sleepover. It was so nice to see Emmy smile and be so happy. The past few months have been so stressful with school and sports so it was wonderful for Emmy to relax and enjoy time with her friends without that anxiety!

 Elena and Ellie-Kate

 Emmy, Emma, and Patricia

 Emmy, Serena, Emma, Patricia, and Kali

 Brittany and Ellie-Kate

 Gabby, Mackenzie, Emma, and Emmy

 Gabby, Emma, and Emmy

 Delaney, Mackenzie, Serena, Sierra, Jacqueline, Emma, Emmy, Patricia, Kali, Robert, Drew, and Gabby

 Delaney, Gabby, Patricia, Robert, Drew, Mackenzie, Emmy, Kali, Emma, Jacqueline, Sierra, Sophie, Serena,

 Chelsea, Brittany, Ellie-Kate, and Elena

 Emma and Emmy

Delaney, Emmy, and Gabby

December 21, 2012

Emmy, Patricia, Kali, Teagan, and Elizabeth== December 21, 2012

Well, the world didn't end on December 21, and Emmy's Girl Scout troop was very happy for the extra time to celebrate Christmas. They did their annual gift wrapping contest and gift exchange and then created a Christmas concert in our playroom, in addition to other adventures downstairs. We also chatted about our upcoming Silver Award project-- developing a library for area preschoolers.

December 20, 2012

Emmy's basketball team was actually ahead for part of the game at home against Vinton County! Unfortunately, the Vikings pulled away in the fourth quarter. It's just going to be a long season...

Emmy's 12th birthday-- December 19, 2012

 We went to Bob Evans for supper and then went home to open presents. Emmy really liked her middle school letter jacket and tickets for the upcoming Globetrotter's game. She was bummed about having to go to school on her birthday, but we had a fun evening :)

December 18, 2012

 Ellie-Kate's preschool class caroled at the Lindley Inn, an assisted living facility in Athens. She did a great job of singing the songs and not cracking up too much at her friend, Jack, who was quite the little entertainer during the performance. The residents were very amused by Jack, but, well, let's just say that his mom and Miss Tammy were less than thrilled with his behavior.

Later that day, we drove to Jackson for Emmy's basketball game. Emmy did a great job as point guard, but the girls still lost. The seventh grade team only has six players so the team is just exhausted by the end of every game. We ate at Jackson Ponderosa after the game so that treat was much fun and yummy!

After we got home, we called Grandma P. because December 18 is Wade's birthday. Understandably, she was very sad at this first birthday without him here...