A Date With Alyssa

Alyssa, the goddess of fun and entertainment, gave us a ring tonight and asked it she could take our kids to the movies. What do you think we said?! COME ON!!

Alyssa is one of our families best friends! Not only is she one of our most trusted baby sitters, she used to be one of the members of our youth group when Tisha and I were the youth leaders at Trinity, and over the years has grown to be one of Tisha's most personal friends!

Once Alyssa showed up in her Mom's SUV, we loaded the kids car seats up and off they went!! The movie they went to see was Alvin and The Chipmunks. The kids had a blast!! Alyssa said that Aidan nearly laughed his head off!!!

Tisha and I went over to Hunan K for some Chinese Food and we talked about her upcoming appointment as the Grand Pubah of the WIC. We then came home and played around on the internet with wikis of all things! We've obviously been parents for too long!!!

One of the funniest things of the night! Tisha had a talk with the kids before they left. She told them that if they had to go to the bathroom, they had better do it before they went to the theater. Aidan apparently took this to heart, because the first thing he said as he flew in the door when they got back was, "I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!" Then all we heard was the bathroom door slam and him doing his business! Talk about obeying his mother!

In the future, we'll write a post about one of the adventures Alyssa had while baby sitting our kids!

Link's First Adventure!!!

The Warriors

Josh and Brianna, two of our neighbors, are spending the night tonight! Their stay started out with a BANG (pun intended), when Josh and Ian combined their inventory of Nerf Guns and staged a valiant battle!!! Well... actually it was boys against girls, but that's fun too! :)

The rest of the night promises to be fun as well!! Josh brought The Santa Clause 3 with him, and Tisha just finished making cookies!

Over the next few days, we'll share some pictures of Tyler O'Donnell's Birthday Party and a few short videos Ian has been working on with his new digital camera! Stay tuned!!!

Aidan's Best Christmas Reaction!

There were other fun clips of both Ian and Mia, but that was on Christmas morning and it was dark; so the video quality was poor. Anyway, you'll all enjoy this!

Heeee's Baaacckkk!!!!!!

Courtland!!!!!!

A Great Lord's Day

Today was a wonderful day!!!!

Our Sunday School Class ate breakfast together and had a fellowship time to celebrate Christmas. Todd Pearson and his family were back for a visit from North Carolina, so we had the chance to see their newest addition. And Pastor Ray had a great message for us this morning from Isaiah 9.

After church, the O'Donnell Clan met up with the West's and we all went to visit Tisha's Aunt Lola. She is 98 years old!! She's pretty sick, but you've never met a woman with a better attitude, or more vim and vigger, than she!!!! There was a large group over a Darren's house to usher in what MAY be Lola's last Christmas on this side of eternity! She enjoyed the children, and Mickey sang her solo for her from this years cantata at Roebuck.

We finished off the night over at Roebuck for their annual cantata. The Roebuck Choir did a terrific job, and Mickey sang a beautiful solo. Without a doubt though, Ray Bobo's narration added a great punch to the performance! I could tell that he worked many an hour on it to get it just right!!! He was soooo much fun to listen to and watch! I've never seen anyone get "into" things like he does! It's all or nothing for him!!! We also got to visit with Eric and Brandy Lindsey and finally had the chance to buy a couple of their CD's. We listened to their newest one on the way home, it was great!!!

Today was the real start of Christmas for me! It's been a little hard to get into the spirit of Christmas this year, but after today, I'm rearing to go!!!!

PS - I "DID" have a video of Mickey singing her solo, but like a dummy, I accidentally uploaded it to my Jim Sharp blog and then lost it when I tried to transfer it. By that time I had already deleted it off my camcorder. Yet another lesson learned!! Don't delete things until you're sure you're done with them!!!!!! Sorry everyone!!!!! Of course Mickey is breathing a sigh of relief right now! ;)

A Quick Test

Just trying out a video! I finally got my camcorder to import to my laptop, but I still can't get Movie Maker to recognize the avi files.

The Ginger Bread House

Last night the kids spent the night with Grandma Mickey and Grandpa Eddie. Tisha bought a Ginger Bread House Kit for the kids to build and decorate while over there. They did a great job!!

After they were done, Ian and Grandma Mickey decided to work a little picture magic! The result is the picture with this post! I thought it was great!!

This will most likely be our last post until after Christmas! So Merry Christmas to all of you from the O'Donnell Clan!!!!

Getting Close to Christmas!

We always know that Christmas is upon us when Tisha breaks out all the ingredients to make her famous cream cheese pound cakes! This tradition started a few years ago when we wanted to give a gift to all my coworkers at Wolff. It has since become something they all look forward to! In fact, I start getting the question, "Tisha IS going to make us pound cakes again this year, isn't she?" What can I say, SHE'S GREAT!!!

Last night we all watched the Christmas Story movie; one of our annual events. Tonight we watch the Grinch!

As for the latest Aidan costume, how do you like this one? The boy has quite the imagination! Of course his brother had a hand in this one as well!

The Boys Crash Together

Last night, the boys and I crashed downstairs. Every once and a while we do this for some together time. It was fun!!!

I took the couch though! I am getting old after all!

Aidan the Padawan

Once again, Aidan has come up with yet another outfit! Here he is a young padawan learner. I'm sure we have much to look forward to as he continues his studies to become a Jedi Knight!

A Return to Bethlehem

Sunday night we all went over to Bethel United Methodist for their 10th Anniversary living Christmas Story A Return to Bethlehem. It's a drive-through, outdoor program consisting of Biblical scenes leading up to the birth of Christ. It follows Mary and Joseph as they journey to Bethlehem ending with the birth of Jesus in a stable.

It was spectacular! Click here to view some past photos.

Down With Chris Day!!!!

I decided to make this past Saturday DOWN WITH CHRIS DAY!!

Why you might ask? He's such a wonderful fellow!! OK! OK!!!! You're right, but here's my beef!

While eating at Thai Taste Saturday Night, our waitress asked Aidan, "Why are you eating so well tonight? Do you want to grow up big and strong like your dad?"

And Aidan's responce...

"NO! Like my Uncle Chris!"

THAT'S IT! I'M STARTING TO WORK OUT!!!!!!!
:)

Eon Kid

Aidan has donned yet another suite (he has many)!! Today he was Eon Kid, a cartoon character named Marty he and Ian watch on Saturday mornings! Click here to get a gist of the show!

Note his "Fist of Eon" on his right hand! Pretty cool!

If you like this outfit, wait 'till you see the Juggling Clown and his Luchador costume (in honor of Nacho Libre)!

PS - I found out while writing this that the voice of the Eon Kid is done by an actor named Aidan Drummond. Aidan will be sooooo excited!!!!

FORT OF FRIGHT!!

The kids made a fort at Grandma Mickey and Grandpa Eddie's house today, when suddenly...

GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS

We had the best time the other night decorating for Christmas! I put the lights on the tree, MY FAVORITE JOB!! (sarcasm alert!!!) The kids hung the ornaments!

Up and down they went, literally jumping over each other to make sure they each got their fair share of ornaments to hang! At least there weren't any brawls this year!! :)

The final ornament to go on the tree was the ornament Tisha and I bought on our honeymoon. We always hang it together!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

PS - Want to see another cool ornament? Click here!!

Mia's Number One Comment Today!

We took the kids to Haywood Mall tonight to visit with Santa. They had a blast! Aidan, the ever inquisitive one, pelted our friendly neighborhood Santa with question after question! Everything from how do you make yourself small enough to fit down the chimney, to how big is your sleigh? The jolly old elf took it all in stride, in fact, he even called Aidan back as he was walking away just to make sure all his questions were answered!

So you may be wondering, why is this post titled Mia's Number One Comment if we went to see Santa? Well that's because of the conversation the kids were having on the way to the mall. It is our plan to go on a family vacation to Disney some time in 2008. This has, of course, been a hot topic around the O'Donnell household, and this evenings ride was no different. Ian and Mia got to talking about visiting Mickey Mouse and Ian reminded her of her reaction the last time she was in the great mouse's presence. In perfect Mia style, she FREAKED OUT! She started making her case as to why she reacted this way and said, "But Ian! He's a GIANT MOUSE!" So Ian fired back with, "But even Aidan wasn't afraid of Mickey Mouse, and he was only one!" Mia's response:

"Listen! I tend to be afraid of things that are really big that are supposed to be small!"

What can I say? Classic Mia!!!

Picture complements of Flickr

Last Weeks Youth Musical

Last week marked our 2007 Youth Christmas Musical at Trinity! The kids did GREAT this year!!! The funny thing is, if you had seen the practice on Friday night, you REALLY would have been surprised at their performance Sunday! This, without a doubt, was one of their best!

The story was centered around a classroom of children trying to help a newspaper reporter, Jane Blond, understand the Christmas Story. Each song was carefully crafted to teach the truth of the Gospel that help Ms. Blond get the "facts", as she requested.

At one point in the story, the youngest members of our youth choir donned period outfits and formed a small nativity scene. It was one of the sweetest things I've seen in years! Aidan was Joseph, Katelynn Hall was Mary and Sally Edwards was one of the Angels.

Both Tisha and Miss Karine were very proud of the kids! We all were!!!!

Musgrove Mill

Tonight our family took a trip to Musgrove Mill just outside Clinton, SC. This beautiful Historic Site’s peaceful setting stands in sharp contrast to the bloody struggle waged there on Aug. 19, 1780. This evening, the staff dressed in period clothes and treated a group of us to a Walking Candle Light Tour of the grounds.

With a cup of piping hot coffee in hand, and some hot chocolate for the kids, we hit the trail with our trusty guide. As he took us down the VERY DARK path, he stopped in numerous places and told us where the Musgrove's house had been and their mill. He also showed us the spot where the Battle of Musgrove Mill was rumored to take place.



Our biggest treat was getting to see our friend Savannah Langley play the role of Mary Musgrove and tell us the history of what happened at the Musgrove home from her perspective. She did a wonderful job!!!!!

This was Musgrove Mill's first Candle Light Tour and we would say it was a great success! We look forward to next year and the reenactment of the battle that was one of the early turning points in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution!