A Christmas to "Shout" About!

As I mentioned here, we celebrated Christmas with our Shout church family last Sunday.

When the "family" was a bit smaller (circa 2006-2008), we were able to purchase presents for all the kids, but as we quickly multiplied (hey, doesn't the bible say go forth and be fruitful and multiply? :-)), we quickly realized that our bank accounts were not multiplying at the same rate as our offspring.

So, last year we decided to do the Secret Santa name exchange with the kids, and it worked well so we did a repeat.

The kids had a great time at our party, and with two kids' bedrooms, a playroom, and toys in our house ranging from age 1-10, we pretty much had every kid entertained (and sequestered upstairs- holla!).

We enjoyed a great lunch of baked spaghetti, salad, garlic cheese bread from Great Harvest (yum), and an Oreo cream cheese dessert (double yum!).

Truly a fabulous time of fellowship and fun with our church family.






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It's a Carolina Christmas!

This is most definitely not the first time we have discussed my Carolina Girls. They are also mentioned here and here and probably a dozen more places on this blog, but you get the idea.

This year, we had a genius plan. A rented clubhouse + all the kids together for some of the time + babysitters for the evening + a catered dinner + fabulous presents + a hilarious new game = One of the greatest nights ever!

At, surprisingly, a very affordable price.

We started the day with lunch at an apartment complex clubhouse. We were able to rent the Clubhouse for $50 for the day. Perfect and no one had to stress about cleaning/decorating their house. We are in Pinterest-avoidance mode.

The kids were able to run around freely, play with each other, eat a picnic lunch on a tablecloth, and even do crafts!



The Nativity Gingerbread Houses by Aunt Loryn were a hit with everyone!







We had an electronic Secret Santa name generator email us names in November, and that afternoon, we had the kids do a gift exchange.


We broke up the kids' party around nap time (they pretty much let US know when they were done with the party). We cleaned up lunch and snacks and all headed home for quick rests and to drop the kids off at their various babysitters.

Then, Chad and I picked up our Italian take-out, and we all met up again for a very yummy dinner of baked ziti, chicken parm, salad, and bread (that no one had cook- holla!).

We also did a gift exchange at our adult party. Each girl purchases 5 gifts- the same 5 gifts- but something(s) (valued around $5) that they consider their "favorite thing(s)" for the year (a la Oprah). The guys do the same thing in their group. Then we take turns "presenting" and all get to go home with fabulous gifts! It's super fun!

And of course we took our requisite girl pic.
And attempted a group picture.

I swear taking one of the 9 kids was easier.

We ended the night playing "Cards Against Humanity." It's very similar to Apples to Apples.

But more PG13/R rated.

My question for these cards: "Years down the road when currency is no longer the same, how will people pay for goods and services?"

My two favorite answers (and pretty much the only two cards suitable to post on this blog):

I'm already in post-party withdrawal. I need to see these people again soon but 6 families' schedules are hard to organize.

We are already planning a summer time "group birthday party" for all the kids. :-)

November....'Cause it happened.

I just didn't seem to blog about it.

So, for the purposes of acknowledging the month that seemed to fly by without a second thought, here are a few pictures of what we did.

We made homemade muffins from scratch.
And ate them in jammies on the counter.
'Cause we could.


We enjoyed a few fall days....in between crazy heat and then crazy wind and chill.

Brooklyn attended her first honor roll assembly. A/B Honor Roll (not bad for a week gone for strep throat and a week gone for Disney World).

I babysat this cutie for a few hours while her parents bought her a house. Yay!!

And just enjoyed having flashbacks of when my princess was the same age. :-)

We saw our God-daughter kick butt in the Wizard of Oz.


Jake had a Thanksgiving party at school....


I escaped for a Girls Night...

We had some KJ afterschool business meetings with the heirs to the company. :-)


My husband got the beginnings of his first tattoo.

A bad ass tattoo.

We stopped by my niece's house for a few hours on Thanksgiving just to say hello.

And take a pic or two.


And we had some great family pictures taken on the coldest, windiest day of the month.

Whew!! I don't know about ya'll but I'm glad I got that month blogged.

Now, on to December!

Warning: Cuteness Cousin Overload

We had some great family time last weekend visiting Claire and also celebrating my in-law's 40th wedding anniversary.

Here are some pictures of my three favorite cuties...




















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