Month 'O (mostly) Fun!

I feel like we have been going nonstop since we got home from Tennessee. I LOVE the theme parks in December and we have been visiting as often as we can. There have been lots of Friday nights at Sea World and lots of random Disney days. We've only made it to Universal once, but hopefully we'll get back there again before the end of the year. 

Our last day before our passes get blocked out at Disney was Friday. Thomas and I took the day off from work and went to Epcot. I like listening to the various world storytellers speak about holiday traditions in their countries. We heard Father Christmas in England, Pere Noelle in France, a Hannukah singer, the Daruma Storyteller in Japan, and we caught two different sets with the Voices of Liberty. It was super fun. We also rode Guardians, which was kind of a mess. When we got to Epcot, it said it was a 45-minute wait. 75 minutes later, we were right at the merge point when ride operations suspended. I complained (nicely) to guest services and got a fast pass to return. So, we did.

We went to the high school's last Prism concert. Jack's band performed and the show was amazing as always. There is literally no down-time, they just move around the theater from act-to-act. Our whole family loved it.

Jack got his wisdom teeth out on Monday, the 15th. He was funny coming out of anesthesia, all he wanted to do was talk. I kept telling him to keep the gauze in and not talk and then he would tell me okay, then ask when he could talk; twenty seconds later he'd try and talk and the cycle repeated. His recovery is going well, although he is still a bit swollen. 

Speaking of Jack, he's heard from 3 Florida colleges--UCF, FSU and USF. UF will release results in late January. He never ended up applying to any out-of-state schools. He is hoping to get into FSU's honor college, but won't know until February if he made it. We are really proud of him regardless!

Today (the 20th), I took Anna, Kara and Luke to Marta's to build their traditional gingerbread manger scenes. Marta makes amazing gingerbread! She had lots of treats prepared for them to use and they had a great time making the manger. I joined them for a bit and then went and had lunch with my sister, which was really nice. Then, I went back to Marta's; Elizabeth was there and we played a really fun game (Exploding Pigeons) and chatted more. We hadn't seen them in a while and it was good to catch-up.

I'm not sure who's manger this, but it is a fun tradition the kids have with Marta.

Hmm, guess I didn't have as much to say as I thought. I had lunch one Monday with my friend Sunshine (we try and meet on the first Monday of the month). We had a work Christmas party, I got mad when I didn't win the party games (it was a three-way tie and they drew names to pick the winner--it wasn't me).  I visited with my dad. Luke had his first piano recital, but it was during the school day and parents weren't invited. We will be able to attend the end of the year recital. 

It has been a fun, busy month so far. Still more to come, of course.  A few more photos from the theme parks to conclude:

One of our Friday nights at SeaWorld. I think we've gone 3 or 4 times. All of the kids have gone at one point or another, although I don't think we've had a night with everyone together.

Hollywood Studios. Kara was here too, just not in the picture. We got rained out and missed the lights on the Tower of Terror.

So, we went back another night. This time only Anna joined.

This was an unusual occurrence--only Jack wanted to go to Magic Kingdom. I think we left too early for Anna and Luke and Kara was working.