Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town

Santa has been coming to see the kids for years now before Christmas. He says it's to give his reindeer a warm up ride before the big night. We weren't sure that he would be able to come this year but after Trevan had a big run in with some "non-believers" at school, there was a special request put in. After all, Santa takes care of those who believe. Trevan told the big kids at school that they were all "full of it because Santa comes to his house before Christmas every year and his Mom and Dad are right there."



Payten surprised us all and went right for him as soon as she saw him in the door! She kept yelling, "Mom it's Santa! See. See. It's Santa! Look mom it's Santa!" She did not speak a word directly to him but her siblings were quick to speak up for her requesting a dolly that goes pee-pee in the potty. Mommy would rather have a Payten that goes pee-pee in the potty but to each his own right?



Haven is always willing to make a new friend and quick to ask for what she wants. This day it happened to be a dolly. Yesterday it was a Barbie with a horse. The day before that it was a Barbie jeep. The day before that...



Brayden was the ever more reserved one with the strange man but Santa finally got it out of him that he "just wanted to maybe ask for two things please. A monster truck with buttons and a D-Rex dinosaur that could guard his bed and attack on demand." Santa likes it when they are specific:~/ He was very kind and thanked him for the candy so we were pretty confident that Santa would be extra nice to Brayden Boy.






Trev was sweet and told Santa that he could just surprise him this year! I think those are Santa's favorites!



Rylan Jake was very serious when he was asking Santa for a Mario Kart game for his DS. He knew Santa could deliver!



"You're not all grown yet B and mom is holding on to every last little bit of your childhood so get on Santa's lap dang it!"






So once again Santa, thank you for making a special trip to the Drapers house. We know that it is a crazy time of year for you and your elves but it makes the kids' Christmas. So we'll send you off with hugs and kisses letting you know we love you. Til next year...

Thank You Bryan

Last Thursday was Bryan's high school Christmas concert where his accomplishments were honored by giving him a solo in the concert. It was his choir director's last concert at a school he has taught at for 20 years so they estimated that there was close to 500 people there. Bryan chose to sing "The Most Beautiful Story Ever Told" by Sally Deford. Here is what happened.




It was one of the sweetest things I'd ever seen. Bryan didn't get to see it through his teary eyes and I wish I had thought to show it, but the whole audience gave Bryan a standing ovation through some tears of their own. It was a great gift to us all to feel the spirit through Bryan's testimony and love of our Savior Jesus Christ. He has been able to go on and use it as a missionary learning experience as many of his friends and class mates have wanted to know what that was they felt as we watched and heard his song.

We're so thankful to know how infinite the gift of Christmas really is and were honored to have Bryan show it to us.

Oh Christmas tree Oh Christmas tree

So now the Christmas season is officially upon the Drapers as we finally decorated our beautiful Christmas tree given to us as a gift from some dear friends. It's the biggest one we've ever had and we think it is gorgeous. Now that the busyness of the holiday season is settling down we are starting to enjoy it a lot more. We hope you all are enjoying the spirit of Christmas as much as we are. Big Christmas love to all.

Vacation

From the twelfth to the nineteenth of December our family had a week at the condos here on the north side of the lake. We hadn't taken a vacation together since our camping trip two summers ago so it was great to get away together. There is that something about being together in a four room condo literally on top of each other and loving it. We really did have a great time. Daddy still went to work but I was a GREAT Mom and let the kids skip two days of school. We have been having freaky weather lately so suffice it to say, the first day we were there the kids swam in the heated pool but the rest of the time it was freezing. Never the less, there was a lot of put put, ping pong, arcade games (Mom still dominates at Pac man), activities set up by the resort (there was a Draper at the top of each one:>), a few movies at the theatre, several playground trips, board games and and and... just fun fun fun. We had some helpers who took over Thursday night and Spencer and I spent that night alone. Peace! Spence cooked a super tasty dinner and I spent over an hour in the huge tub... ALONE! Merry Christmas to me! So now it's back to life, kind of, since the kids are now out of school for two weeks and we are in full Christmas mode. What is normal anyway? If it's loud kids, a messy house, never ending busyness we've got it covered.

Busy Busy

So I have not blogged for like over a whole week but I truly have my reasons that are pretty sound. Last week was absolutely crazy. I had a Pretties For My Princess show, 2 Scentsy parties, Brayden's birthday, a court date for a ticket I got, it was my week to teach our preschool class, along with having to deliver the 25 tutus and 25 bows Sandra and I made for the ballet recital classes. I was kept running but am thankful it all went well. We also went to the Rangers football game Friday night with the boys where we had a great time. (We won in an exciting game and are now just one game away from the state finals. We play in Houston this weekend to see if we can clinch the spot. Go Rangers!) So I have now posted 6 blogs in the past twelve hours or so and now feel officially caught up! Now I feel like I can find the time to put up a Christmas tree and some decorations all my own! Have fun playing catch up!

Prima Ballerina

This past weekend was Haven's first ballet recital.


She had no idea what she was in for but she has never had a problem being in front of people so we knew she would do great. Dancing is one of her favorite things and it was fun to watch her.



Here she is with one of her little friends from dance class. Haven is always admiring the girls with long hair and Brooke has got gorgeous long brown hair.

And TA-DA!! I finally learned how to upload video. Yay! Here is Haven doing her thing. So so so cute. Her favorite part of the whole thing was the curtsy at the end but as you can see she obviously had a 'nose itch" and missed out on performing that part. It's O.K. though because that's the part she continues to do for us every day. Good job Gracie. We loved seeing you dance.






P.S. These are the tutus we made for one of the classes. They came out really sweet. We were thankful for the opportunity to do them and hope we get to do lots more.

Christmas Fun

Sandra's husband is a Christmas lights/blow up freak and we get to enjoy the fruits of all his labor. So instead of driving miles to get to a lights display we packed up and drove down the road to Sandra's house and had some fun. All of the kids loved the whole thing.


It was also the same night that Venus and Jupiter were lined up so my little astronomers got to enjoy that too.



When we were done we came home and camped out in front of the TV to watch "Shrek The Halls" and then everyone was off to bed. Fun times. I put the slide show in so you could enjoy the fun too.

Happy Birthday Brayden Boy

It's hard to think my baby boy is six. Does anybody else think of their youngest of a specific gender like that? I know Brayden's not the baby. Believe me. Payten let's us know daily that she is the baby. (O.K. I keep reminding her and have her repeat it to me. "I da baby") But still there is something about my baby boy that makes it different. It's just one of his things. Unlike Rylan and Trevan, Brayden knew exactly what he wanted for his birthday. He is always into mechanical things that he can mess with and occasionally take apart and his knowledge of these things is usually way over my head so we usually have no clue what he is talking about. It always sounds like some kind of futuristic intelligence office tool but once we get walking around the stores we spot it and read the box and it's word for word what Brayden has said. Darn commercials!


So Brayden was very happy to have his own night vision goggles(he wanted them before Rylan's b-day was even close), his zero gravity remote control car(it drives on the walls and ceiling) and a bionic eye. (I'm not going to take the time to explain. I'll sum up by saying that it's a souped up magnifying glass.) His gifts always keep us all entertained for a while.


So Happy Birthday Brayden. Love you baby boy.

Tea time

Another one of those moments when I think... "so cute". Yay sisters!

Heat Breaking Highs to Freakin' Freezing

So yesterday was 85 and this is what we woke up to this morning. The kids were certain they would have a late start but alas... everything on the ground was still so warm from our summer day in December that it melted as soon as it hit the ground or road. But we got to see the snow/ice on the trampoline and deck. One day of this is all I need. Not that I want it to be 85 but 29 is very cold. Especially coming in on the heels of the 85. Crazy Texas.

No Go for B

Last night was Bryan's area to state auditions and they did not go well. He says that he knew it wasn't great but he thought he did pretty good. This time it just wasn't good enough.(finished ninth and needed to be top 5). It's a tough way to finish up his singing competitions his senior year and it's made him take a quick step back to look at what's ahead. He's really really really bummed about the whole thing and having a hard time regrouping so.... happy thoughts for B. We are so very very proud of him and know that there are many many more great, amazing and exciting things in his future. We've loved walking this path with him and can't wait to see the path he forges on his own. We're watching him evolve into this incredible man and I know he'll make his path one others will want to follow. Did I mention he's really really really bummed:(

Thanks Auntie Amber

My sister Amber is one of the best people alive at always remembering special days. It never matters the size of the gift or if the card is mushy or silly... we always feel loved when there is something from Auntie Amber.
We have had a gift sitting in our laundry room for about a week which clearly read, "OPEN ON DECEMBER 1". Much to the kids disapproval we waited and yesterday we got to open it. It worked out great for me as I centered our FHE activity around it and the gift was so fun. Thanks again Amber . We love you too.

New Baby In Town

A friend of mine had her baby almost two weeks ago and we finally got to meet her Thanksgiving night. Brooke Meeden and family came to hang out with us and I have to admit that I had a hard time sharing her with everyone. Payten was the baby hog but I guess that was to be expected since she's the one who's never been around such a little one. Each of the kids enjoyed loving on Brooke. It was funny to have each of them cuddle up next to me and sweetly ask me if we could have one more (to which the reply came the same to each of them... NO). Except Trevan. He was last to hold her and when I asked him if he was going to ask me if we could have one more he gave an assured head shake no and said, "We have enough people in our family." At least one of them gets it!
Anyways, she's beautiful and we love having her here. Congratulations Meeden family. We love you.

More pics of the girls

I just can"t stop myself! I'm loving the fall/winter clothes and the whole girl thing is just so fun.... yes... still.