Christmas at the Pethtel House

The Pethtel Christmas tree and stockings. I think it looks pretty with the blue and silver paper.

Addie giving Doug one of his Christmas treat. She loves this dog. Daddy doesn't. LOL!

Addie and Daddy opening presents together.

The super cool race car Uncle Butch sent.

Addison got her first set of legos. She was so happy. It has a pony in it!

Opening the fire station set. He had no idea he was getting this one, so he was quite happy.

Almost all of his lego stash that day. Santa shopped early in order to get most of these. He's such a thrifty shopper.

Xavier opening his stocking. He had more lego surprises inside.

Addison opening her stocking. She got a music box that plays the Itsy Bitsy Spider, one of her favorite songs.

Addison having a tea party with her new bear and new recycled plastic tea set.

Xavier and his cargo plane. He wanted this so bad for Christmas. He put it together the very next day.

Addie getting excited to be at the steakhouse. She loves going there.

The Pethtel family at Christmas dinner.

Addie trying to eat with chopsticks.

Trying to eat with chopsticks.

Trying to catch a rice ball. He almost had it on the first try.

The fire to start the show. It scares Addison everytime. I wish you could see her face when they do this. It's priceless.

The volcano! This is Xavier's favorite thing that they do during the dinner.

We had a nice small Christmas this year. I always shop early and was all done with the shopping by December 1st. We decided to go lite this year and just focus on the kids. Xavier got lots of legos and Addison got a few things. It's hard shopping for a second child when they love all the toys the older one has. I am sure next year she will start to have some interests of her own. So, she got about 5 presents and it was just the right amount for her.
Since we were unable to go visit anywhere, or have family come to us, we headed to the Japanese Steakhouse for dinner. My mom and Alexis joined us and we had a great time. It was also great to not have to clean a whole kitchen after cooking all day. We had tons of leftovers as well. Who knows maybe we have set a new family tradition. LOL!
I have posted some pictures of Christmas morning and dinner at the steakhouse.

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December Fun and Year in Review!

Things have been pretty busy around the Pethtel household this month. There have been many activities each evening, leaving us all a little tired and stressed. This past week we did get some much needed rest and family time.
Xavier and I are both out of school for 2 weeks. I have to be back on January 4 for a teacher workday and Xavier officially starts on the 5th.

One of my parents gave me tickets to the GA Aquarium for Christmas. It was awesome because we could take the whole family, even Alexis! We had a great time and then finished the day with dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse.
The next day saw me and the kids plus Grandma heading to Lawrenceville, GA (an hour drive one way) in order to go to the Lego store. It's a long story as to why, but the traffic was a nightmare and it took us 2hrs to get there due to a horrific accident closing down the highway. Luckily it is a big mall with lots to do and look at. We wasted 2 hours there and then headed back home.
(I have posted pictures of that day as well as ones from the aquarium)

This month Xavier has accomplished a great deal of things. He is a member of his school's honor society. Each teacher in kindergarten gets to nominate 2 students each month for outstanding work and behavior. Xavier has been nominated every month since school began and is now a member of their honor society. John and I are very proud of him. Of course, he doesn't think much about it and was like "oh that's cool."
He has also completed his first book for Awana SPARKS. It took him 4 months. There is a review offered and extra credit before moving on to the 2nd book. He of course wants to do this so he can have all the patches on his vest. Who am I to argue with what motivates him to learn God's word. His teacher says he will be done in no time and they will get him started on his second book before the end of the school year. I think he has an overachiever spirit like me inside him.

Addison and I started attending a music class on Monday nights. It is for children aged birth to 4yrs. Our particular class has children from 10 months to 2 yrs old. Addison is having the best time and so am I. We go to the 4:30p.m. class which is wonderful since I have to work during the day. We get to play with instruments, scarves, and run around doing different movements. It has been a real blessing to do this with her.
She continues to take a toddler gymnastics class at my school on Friday afternoons. Her teacher, Ms. Katie says she has made a lot of progress and will even attempt most of the activities now. (Addie takes awhile to warm up to new situations and people)
She also attends a story hour at the Marietta City Library on Wednesdays with Grandma and cousin Lexie. At church she has her very own Sabbath school class with Ms. Debbie and loves it. She made a baby Jesus a few weeks ago and carries it around church in his manager, very proudly.

John continues to work at Sears and the church. It is nice that we get to see more of him since he went back to sales. We have even started having a regular date night every Tuesday . If he gets Wednesdays off, we even get to attend bible study together at The Journey, our other church family.

As for me I continue to work at CBMS. It has been a difficult year and the school has made a great deal of changes. My classroom flooded back in September and when we get back to school, I will be getting the flooding problem addressed and some new flooring and carpeting as well. I think that will give the classroom a little extra boost. As far as next year goes, I really don't know if I will be teaching or not. We are concerned that there may not be a position for me in the Fall and have begun to look at our options if that where to be the case.

Sunny South Florida

We just got back last night from a fabulous mini-vacation to the Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach area of Florida. Our church association meetings were being held in Boca Raton this year, so we decided to head down a little early and see some sights and enjoy some company. God blessed us with cheap airline tickets and the hospitality of MaryJane and Myron McPherson. They were the best hosts and really made us feel right at home. Xavier and Addison were both sad to leave. They loved MaryJane and Myron a lot and had a great time playing and hanging out with them. We were not able to do all the things we had wished to do, so we will have to plan another trip down that way. Maybe April???? Who knows.

While there we visited the Lion Park Safari. You drive your car through the park where the animals walk all around you. It was really cool. Some ostriches came very close to the car. They even had a baby rhino. It was so cool to see. Xavier said it was a like a zoo, so he is counting it as one and now that makes 12 for him and 8 for Addison. On Friday the whole family got to take an airboat ride on the Everglades. That was super cool. We saw lots of alligators and one got pretty close to the boat. Afterwards they have a show where they wrestle alligators. Addison thought it was great and kept trying to climb into the pen with the gator and the guys. What can I say she is fearless.

On Sabbath I helped MaryJane with the children. We had a great turn out of 15-18 kids. It was great to see MaryJane work. She is so passionate and engaging with the children. We had a field trip planned for Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, but we got there late and they had already closed. They did allow us to walk around a little bit before they locked the gates. We have added it to the list of things to do the next time we come down.