The Trolingers' Christmas

After we had finished up at the Drexler house, we headed down to celebrate Christmas at the Trolingers. Thankfully our parents only live about 30min from each other, so we were able to make the drive a quick one. We were the first ones there, followed closely by Pete's sister Jill and her husband and 2 boys, who drove down from Chicago that afternoon. Then Pete's brother Andy and his wife and little girl came over. It was the first time we had seen Andy since he got back from Iraq at the beginning of the month, so it was really good to see him and his family back together again. :-) Pete's Uncle Scott stopped by as well as his Uncle Tom, so we started opening presents. It was hard holding the kids back while we were waiting for everyone to arrive. Keeping kids from opening a present is nearly impossible, but they managed to make it - just barely!! I do believe Livie ripped a corner off one of her packages and Noah was threatened more than once to "Put the present down!". ;-) Madie tried to get Ty and Olivia to meditate with her to pass the time, but they couldn't "clear their minds" from present opening, so that plan failed.



Allyssa and Auntie Jill were hanging out while the rest of us were filing into the living room.

Nana helped little Ally open up a couple of her presents while her mommy Francy looked on. This was the first year Ally was really able to understand what presents were all about. She was only a couple months old at Christmas last year.

Uncle Andy and Aunt Francy spoiled our kids rotten and got them each a couple things despite not having drawn their names for the exchange. My kids weren't complaining though. ;-) They got Livie a froggy blanket and pillow and a little stuffed dinosaur.

Allyssa drew Madie's name and got her a big High School Musical set of school supplies. She LOVED it!!!!!

When Nana asked Noah what he wanted her to make him for Christmas, he thought about it and said, "I want a black blanket". Well, Nana gave him his black blanket and boy was he excited!! She even had her friend Belinda use her fancy sewing machine to embroider his name on it. So, not only did he get to have his favorite color black, he got to have his second favorite color yellow too!!! He's slept with it every night since. :-)

I was in charge of watching the gift opening, because I had to make mental notes of who got who what, so when thank you card time rolled around, I would have some idea of what to have them write! So, I watched as Pete helped the kids open their stuff.

This is Allyssa enjoying Christmas with her daddy Andy. :-) She missed him a lot while he was away.

Ty got a GameBoy for Christmas, just like his brother Trevor has at home, so they sat contently by their daddy Adam and played while the rest of us finished opening our presents. :-)

After all that was said and done, we had a delicious meal of ham and potatoes. YUM! I never get to eat ham, because Pete doesn't like it, so I was very excited! It was a busy, exciting day for the kids and by the time dinner was finished, they were getting pretty crabby. But, we weren't done yet! Andy's a Christmas baby, so we celebrated his birthday with an ice cream cake after dinner was over. I think the kids eat ate a small piece before we made them head up to bed. It was a jam-packed, fun day and they got spoiled rotten by not only us, but their entire extended family. And, we still had Livie's birthday to come......

The Drexlers' Christmas

Christmas morning was a bright and early one. Honestly, the kids DID sleep in a bit. I had told them not to get up before 6am. And, I told them to come wake me up first, so I could make sure they followed that rule. I was sleeping with Olivia, while Pete slept in the other room with Madie and Noah. Madie and Noah came in and woke me up and told me it was Christmas and I told them to go in the bathroom and tell me what time it was. They came running back and said, "The big hand is by the 7 and the little hand in between the 6 and 7". Ahh, 6:35. They gave me an extra 3o min. :-) So, I told them they could wake up Olivia, who despite the noise they were making was still sleeping beside me. They started saying, "Livie! Wake up! It's Christmas!!!" and shaking her. I told them to be gentle and not scare her to death. Poor thing! Not even on christmas could I be woken up like that! So, they tried to gentley wake her up. She wasn't too keen on getting up that early, but once it sunk it that she got presents, she was up and ready to go. I told them to wake up Nana and Papa next, since I knew it would take a while for them to get around. So, they ran down to their room and announced it was Christmas. Then they ran back and said, "Who can we wake up now?". I told them to go wake daddy, so off they went to wake up Pete. Then I told them we could go downstairs and see what Santa brought. This is the part that Emily referred to as "the stampede". She and Jeff were asleep in the basement until the stampede of 3 little children bounding down the stairs woke them up. :-) They were looking at all the presents to see which ones were theirs. They looked to see what was in their stocking and if Santa had eaten his donuts. About 5 till 7, I let them go down to the basement and wake up Em and Jeff (who, as I said above, were apparently already awake). I didn't realize they were already awake and suddenly I hear Madie and Noah shouting at the top of their lungs "WAKE UP! WAKE UP!!!!!". Oh my gosh! I ran to the door and said in my very loud whisper, "Get up here!". I started to yell at them for carrying on like that, but they said Aunt Em was already awake and had told them to jump on Uncle Jeff and wake him up. hahahaha So, I laughed and let them get back to the present hunting. :-) Once everyone got down by the tree, we started opening the gifts. We all got really great stuff. The kids were so excited and loved everything they got. Dad and Mom, Em and Jeff, and Pete and I all got lots of stuff too, so we let the kids open a few, then we adults would go around and open things. Even Hobbies and Wrigley got something. :-)

Pete tried to make things more festive by giving Hobbies a bow. He just turned 17 this month, so a bow isn't something that really excites the old man anymore. Though, he did perk up when he got a bag of chews later that morning. :-)

Here Wrigley is opening her present from her mom and dad.

This is after Christmas was done. The sun was out. And, they were playing with their presents. Livie's holding her new mini-doll from American Girl. It's Nellie, but she calls it "Baby Daisy", since she looks like her big Am. Girl doll Daisy, who is beside her sporting her new snowsuit. :-)

This is Madie playing with her new Am. Girl horse with her doll Emily on top sporting her new cowgirl outfit. :-)

And, this is Noah trying out his new metal detector. He went all over the house looking for metal to detect. It kept him busy for a long time. :-)

Wrigley got tuckered out and fell fast asleep on Em after the presents were opened and the kids were playing quietly. Such a cutie!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a busy day. It was my brillant (note the sarcasm) idea to have a turkey dinner. Mom was sick on Thanksgiving, so they didn't get a chance to have the turkey and all the fixings and Em worked that day as well, so turkey was not something that they got to enjoy that day. So, I thought, "Heck, I'll do it! Should be fun!". Dad got a turkey as a gift from a couple in the church. It was ginormous! Over 20 lbs! I'm made many a turkey dinner, but none quite that big. But, I'm hot stuff, so I thought I'd do a great job with it. Yeah, well, apparently I'm NOT hot stuff, because after 6+ hours in the oven and the rest of the food sitting on the table waiting for the illustrious popper to pop, I was still without a cooked turkey. Doh! I was sitting on the floor begging the popper to pop. I offered it a grander turkey to pop on next time. Didn't pop. I offered it cash. A home on the Caribbean. Nothing. Finally I realized it wasn't popping because it's a spiteful, angry popper. I had heard tails of the elusive "angry popper", but thought it was just an urban legand. I can tell you it is not! It's rare to come across them, but we did and it nearly did it's job of driving me insane and burning my turkey! We took the turkey out anyway, had dad carve it up, and ate our dinner. Honestly, nothing really ended up being cold. We had wrapped it up in foil, so it kept the heat pretty well and despite the interference from the uncooperative popper, we had a good meal. But, I do think I was humbled a bit in the process. Think I'll stick with 10 lb turkeys in the future. Or, at least ones without a popper.

After dinner, we let the kids each open one present. As a kid, we were always allowed to pick one present to open on Christmas Eve night. We always had a candlelight christmas eve service at the church, then we'd head back home and pick out our present and wait for what seemed like a 100 years for dad to get finished saying his goodbyes, so he would get to come home and let us open them. We have the same type of tradition now with our kids. Except instead of letting them pick just any present, I buy a specific present for that night. I always buy them a book. That way they can read it before bed. Madie got a paper doll book, Noah a cool I-Spy kind of book, and Livie a dinosaur book. We didn't end up going to the christmas eve service and I'm really disappointed that I decided not to go. I was just too tired after the turkey fiasco to go, so we had the kids open before papa went to the church (since he goes over really early) and then let them play, before taking them up to bed and reading a few christmas books to them. It was a fun night.

Here Noah and Pete are looking to see where Santa is on Norad. I think it's hilarious that you can track Santa's progress all around the world now. We've done it the past 2 yrs and it's so fun to see where he heads next. He made it to IN around midnight that night. :-)

Here are the kids getting ready to open their presents. They each went in order and were so excited to see what they got.

Livie and Madie played with her paper dolls until bedtime. Noah sat with Pete and played with his book. It came with 3 different magnifying glasses to use to find the objects they had listed. It's a really cool book!!

And, one more exciting thing happened that day. Probably the MOST exciting thing actually. Pete's old college buddy/roommate Ted and his wife Suzy welcomed a set of quads into the world!! It's been a long journey for all of them, but they have been rewarded with 2 healthy little girls and 2 healthy little boys. We were so excited to check out their blog that night and see that they had been born. Such a blessings to their whole family, I'm sure. Congrats Ted and Suzy and your 4 new little additions!! I can't think of a better Christmas present. :-)

Wrigley

I've mentioned Wrigley before. She's my sister and her husband's new dog. They got her a week before Thanksgiving from a shelter in the area. She's a funny dog. You'll see her tongue is hanging out of her mouth. That's how it always is. Apparently the vet thinks she was abused as a puppy and that's why her tongue has nerve damage and does that. I think it's the cutest thing ever! Now, the first night we got there, Wrigley jumped on Pete's lap and sat there for almost an hour. That might not seem like anything worthy of blogging about, but my dear, sweet husband is NOT a dog lover. It could stem from the fact that he was tormented by a dog he had as a little kid who used to run around him, wrapping his chain around his legs, and tripping him up. Maybe it's because in Hobbes' younger days, he used to try and bite him. But, the final nail in the canine coffin probably had to do with the fact that our former neighbor had 4 dogs that they never tied up and would let come and pee and poop in our yard on a regular basis and generally drive us crazy. Taking all this into consideration, Wrigley obviously felt none of this hostility or annoyance and plopped right up on his lap and loved on him and tried to single-handedly bring Pete over to the dog-lovers side of the force. Granted, at first, Pete thought she was the devil and tried to repel her by making a sign of the crucifix.



After seeing that she wasn't part vampire, he pretended to shoot her. But, using a finger as a gun doesn't really do the job. Even though it looks like he succeeded, since she was laying there like a dead cow.

Finally after just a short amount of time, she won him over and he petted her and bonded. I believe I even detected a faint look of disappointment when she finally got off his lap. Well, maybe not, but there was some love there, I just know it!

So, Wrigley, I say THANK YOU for doing your best to make my husband like dogs again. To warm up his small grinchy heart, so that one day WAY in the future, I may be able to adopt a dog of my own. And, maybe I'll even look for one with a gimpy tongue in your honor. Oh, and I totally forgive you now for peeing on my leg. I know it was only done out of love. :-)

We're Back!!

We got back this afternoon after spending 10 days in IN for the Christmas holiday. As always we had lots of fun seeing everyone. We spent the first 4 days in Goshen with my family, then went down to Warsaw on Christmas afternoon and stayed there until the 29th and then headed up for another 3 days to spend with my family again. My aunt and uncle from Haiti are on furlough and came to stay, so we stuck around so we could see them a bit. We had planned to stay another day, but we were all tired and ready to be home again. Plus, we had left our cat for all that time and were a bit worried about coming home and either finding the house covered in poop or finding that she choked on a toy and met her early demise. Both of which, thankfully, did not happen. Nothing like coming home from a vacation and finding a dead, rotting, poop-covered

corpse on your floor. Eeek! She did well though. :-) Yeah, our vertical blinds are fairly destroyed now from bite marks, but again, much better than the other scenerio. I spent a good 2 hours unpacking and finding places for all the loot we came home with. I finally got tired and started just shoving some of their gifts under the tree to work on tomorrow. I put Livie's doll crib together, did some toy rearranging, and threw the laundry in the laundry room to get done tomorrow. I have lots of pictures to show, so I'm going to try and go through them and blog about part of it today and part of it tomorrow. If you're reading this, you'll probably have read through our trip backwards, since I'm going to post in order of what we did. But, hopefully you'll be able to follow along. :-) Oh, and for anyone interested, Madie has NOT lost her tooth. I should have taken into consideration that it took her a year to get her first tooth when she was a baby, so there's a pretty good chance that tooth will be sticking around a lot longer than we thought.

Christmas Service

Today was the special Christmas service at church. We had a combined service, where both services meet at 10am instead of having the 9am traditional and the 11:15am contemporary. So, we decided to have Sunday School at 9am instead. Now, when we planned this, we didn't expect it to be -3 with a wind chill of -29. THAT'S always fun to wake up to! If we didn't HAVE to be there, I'm sure this would've been a day to stay home. It's so cold and so icey and awful. But, the kids were in the children's bell choir for the first time and I had to lead SS, so we bundled up and headed out the door. Noah wanted to wear his tux today. I figured we might as well get a couple uses out of their wedding outfits, so I told him that was fine and had the girls wear their dresses as well. Just replaced their brown bows with candy cane ribbon instead. :-)

I was really surprised to find that we had a good group of kids today. I thought maybe we'd have 10 or so, but we ended up with over 15. I think our high is usually around 20-25, so it fun to have that many kids come despite the weather. One of the things they have been doing for the past 3 weeks of Dec is bringing in food and treats to send to Iraq for one of the soldiers we've been praying for. They all made cards to send too and I decided to take a picture of them today in their christmas finest and send that along with their packages. I'm mailing it tomorrow and even though it probably won't get there until after the new year, I'm sure he'll appreciate it so much. I know he's enjoyed what they've sent in the past as well.

Noah and Madie did a terrific job on their bells today! They concentrated hard and followed along well with the music. They each waved a few times, just to make sure we were watching. And, they were so proud of themselves when they were done. Oh, and aren't they the cutest thing?!

It was worth the effort to get out in the cold and nastiness, that's for sure. :-) Now, we're headed off to IN for the Christmas break. We were going to leave on Tues or Wed, but the weather is going to suck, so we decided to head out early and hopefully miss that coming snow and ice. I'll try and get on Em's computer and do a little updating, but if I can't and can't get on a computer until we get back, I hope you all have a fantastic christmas and safe travels. And, we'll let you know all about our trip when we get back. :-)

Tooth Countdown '08

Tonight there was a very exciting development with our Madie Moo. She has her very first loose tooth!!!!! We were beginning to wonder if she would EVER lose a tooth. She's in 2nd grade and everyone in her grade has lost not one, but several teeth by now. Even some of the preschoolers and kindergarteners in her Sunday School class have lost teeth. So, when we were sitting at dinner tonight, she started freaking out and said "I have a loose tooth!". She actually wasn't happy at all about this. I think it surprised her and she got fairly upset. But, after we all reacted with excitement and told her not to be scared, she was a lot better and excited herself. I even told her I'd do a blog countdown to keep everyone up to date on her tooth due date. I've started a "Madie's Tooth" poll on the right there. She wanted to see when everyone thought she'd actually lose it. She's hoping to lose it on Christmas Eve, because then both Santa AND the tooth fairy will show up and she's hoping Santa will leave her an extra present as a congratulations. ;-) We're leaving sometime next week to spend like 9 days in IN for Christmas. We're hoping to leave on Tues, but they're calling for snow/sleet/ice again (blah!!), so I'm not sure when we'll be heading out, but I will try and use Em's laptop or Pete's parents' computer to keep you in the know on whether she loses it before we come back. It's our very first loose tooth in the Trolinger family and we're all so excited for her! Wonder what the going rate for lost teeth is now? I think I got 50c as a kid. Guess we'll find out soon enough!

Fifteen Years Together :-)

1993...
15 years later....

Today is the 15th anniversary of our very first date. :-) The picture at the top is actually not of our first date. We didn't have any pictures taken that day. But, it's close. It was taken a couple months later at our Valentine's Day date. We looked pretty much the same. Our first date was a pretty exciting day for me. Let me give you a history of what led up to it. I started working at McDonalds shortly after I started my freshman year at college. My roommate Tracey had already started working there and told me I should too. Since I needed the cash, I applied and got hired. Now, she told me that there were 3 really cute guys that worked there. I was quite excited to meet them! The first one was Jon. He ended up becoming a best friend of mine and Tracey's boyfriend. The second guy I can't remember, but the third guy was Pete. I didn't get to meet him for a little while, because he was in FL for some religious retreat thing. But, I remember distinctly the day he got back and arrived at McDs. Woo-Hoo is all I can say! He was tan and tall and had this light denim shirt on and a white shell necklace. I pulled Tracey aside and said, "Um, wow!". He was soooo cute!!! We didn't work together much those first couple weeks, so I really didn't get to meet him and talk to him until we went to a party at Jon's house in late November. I was one of the first ones there, since I went with Tracey (and, like I said, Jon was her boyfriend). Pete showed up next with his friend Aaron and we started talking and teasing each other. It was fun! We sat and chatted all night until he left. I was QUITE disappointed when he left, but I didn't know what was to come! The next couple weeks when we worked together, we'd talk and laugh and have fun. Well, it was the week before Grace let out for christmas break and we were talking in the McDs parking lot and he asked me if I wanted to go out with him. I didn't just say "yeah". I said, "Heck yeah!". :-) I rushed home and woke up my roommate and told her that PETE ASKED ME OUT!!! I was over the moon! Now, I had to work that Friday and had to open on Sat morning. Grace closed it's campus on Fri afternoon, so since Tracey had to work on Sat too, we rented a hotel room and stayed there. After my shift on Friday, I drove to the hotel and got cleaned up and Pete met me there. A little different meeting your date for the first time at a hotel, but that's what we did. We went to Pizza Hut and I talked non-stop, while he just sat and smiled. Not much has changed since then honestly. I still non-stop and he still sits and smiles. :-) We joked about how we didn't know each other's last names yet. Who knew I'd be carrying that name myself one day? So, after we were done, he took me back to the hotel, shook my hand, and said goodnight. To be honest, I was disappointed I didn't get a goodnight kiss, but that came on the 2nd date. ;-) hehe He called me the next day and we went out that next Tues and the rest is history! Within a couple months I had fallen head over heels for him and just thanked God every day for letting me have such an awesome boyfriend. Today, he's still super cute and wonderful and I continue thanking God for him - only this time I thank Him for my awesome husband instead.

Tonight we went to Pizza Hut to celebrate our 15th anniversary. We tried getting a babysitter, but she had swim practice tonight, so if the weather holds out, she'll watch the kids on Fri night, so we can go out - just the two of us. :-) It was fun taking the kids and talking about how much had changed in those 15 yrs. It's much louder than it was that first time. Three noisy kids will do that. Plus, it was kids' night there, so the place was packed with families. Oh, and Santa was there! They loved that.

Madie took our picture outside of Pizza Hut, so we can at least have a snapshot of our 15th yr anniversary date, since we didn't get a shot of our first one. For the 5 1/2 yrs we dated, we always tried to get to Pizza Hut on our anniversary. Once we were married though, we kind of forgot. But, since this was a special marker, we had to celebrate. Pete even bought me roses. See? I told you he was awesome! Honey, I loved you then and I love you now. Happy Anniversary. Oh, and by the way, notice how he's ducking down to get in the picture. I stood on a stool for the shot at the top. :-)

Christmas Music Program

Today was the annual Christmas Music Program at Marseilles Elementary. This is Noah's first year being a part of it. He's gone with us every year that Madie's been in it, but he was excited that he was going to be standing up there performing as well. Most of the kids usually dress up and look really cute that day. Noah wanted to wear his tux from Em's wedding, but I told him he could wear it to church on Sunday for the Bell Choir instead. I thought a tux was a BIT much for today. :-) I bought Madie a new skirt, so she was happy to wear that. :-) Here they are before they left for school.



I had to volunteer at the school at noon, so Pete came home from work to watch Livie, then brought her over when it was time for the concert. Since I got there early, I got to save some pretty good seats for us. As you can see, Livie played on her Leapster the entire time. She looked up long enough to wave to Noah and Madie and comment on the drums that were played, but other than that, she was glued to the Leapster.

I made her stop playing for one more second while Pete took our picture too. :-)

This is Noah waiting for all the other classes to come in. He was on the top row, so I'm hoping that means he's one of the taller ones. The boys and girls were separated, because they sang "Must Be Santa" and the boys echo the girls.

Here's Madie by her friend Andrea. They were in K and 1st grade together. She's a shortie, so she was in the first row. Sometimes it's fun to be short!

Noah's singing his song there. It was hard to get a good picture of him singing, because there were so many moms with their cameras out in front of me that I practically had to sit in the middle of the gym to get a shot! I'm sure all the moms behind me are now blogging about how annoying I was sitting in the middle of the gym!!

During the Kindergarteners song of "Must Be Santa", Santa actually made an appearance. All the kids were clapping and excited, but still continued with their song. They did a fabulous job!! It's was the cutest thing ever!

The theme of this year's concert was "Songs from Around the World". Madie's class sang "O Tannebaum, O, Tannebaum" and the Chipmunks song "Christmas, Christmas". She did a great job too. She's so in her element when she's performing. She loves it and it's so fun to watch her glow when she does. Because I was a ways away from this shot, all the kids look possessed! It's a little frightening! It's like Children of the Corn or something.

Since Pete left work to come, he had to head back early, so he left when the concert was finished. Livie and I had to wait for all the classes to go back to their rooms before we could leave. When we did, we stopped at Noah and Madie's classroom and picked them up, then headed back from where we came to get to the van. The parking at the school sucks majorly, so Pete had to park on the street like a block or so away. It's been snowing most of the day and so that made for an interesting walk to the van. It was a little slippery, but the kids loved every minute of it. I decided to take their picture on the way to the van. They're calling for up to 5" tonight, so should be a good snowfall this time. :-)

Now, for my rant ..... I love going to my kids' christmas programs. I do. They do a fantastic job and look so cute doing it, but I'm so upset that no one is ever allowed to sing CHRISTIAN Christmas songs anymore. They always have to get in the Kwanzaa songs, but never a "Joy to the World" or "Silent Night" to be found. It makes me sad. Those are christmas songs that we grew up singing and are beautiful and perfect for the holiday season. But, 3 people get offended and those songs are now officially off-limits. So, we sat through the Hannukah songs and the Kwanzaa songs and smiled, because the kids did a great job on them. But, under that smile, I just shook my head and thought I will never be able to see my kids sing a song about Jesus unless it's at home or at church. The whole reason to celebrate Christmas is the birth of Christ and that is quickly being erased from our culture. I remember when we could still pray in school. Still sing those songs. And, honestly, it wasn't that long ago. Fifteen years. Twenty years. So much has changed. I'm just thankful that we have the ability to teach our kids about the REAL reason we celebrate. Teach them the beautiful christmas songs that honor that moment. And, remind them that we can enjoy Santa and the presents and all that goes along with that, but underneath it all, know that the most important thing about this season is that God fullfilled His promise and sent His Son to earth that Christmas night so long ago.

From the Drexlers..

Every year, on both sides of the family, we draw names and buy presents for those people. It helps us not get overwhelmed buying presents for our growing families. Last year the kids started joining in by drawing names for their cousins. Since our family is the same size as Micah's family, it works out pretty evenly. Well, Saturday we SENT their presents to them and RECEIVED our present from them. :-) Kinda fun! We let the kids open their present that evening. Pete opened his as well, since Cara had his name.



I told Pete to smile big while I took his picture and this is the look he gave me. He's a dork!!




He got a bag to hold the Wii, which is perfect!! Thanks Cara! We take the Wii everywhere we go and have to take it all in an extra suitcase. This is like a messanger bag, which is nice and compact and will fit everything, so we don't have to worry about that stupid suitcase anymore. Pete tried it out that night and loaded up the remotes and wheels and everything worked perfectly. He can't wait to use it when we go back to IN for Christmas. :-)

Then the kids opened theirs. Caleb, Isaiah, and Mason gave them a big joint present. It was a Diego Wii game. The kids were, to put it mildly, excited! Thanks boys!!

I tried it out first to see if I could figure out how it worked, so I could tell the kids. But, it was so self-explanitory, that I handed it over to Madie and told her to follow what they said and she took off from there. She played for a good hour before she won the level and passed it off to Noah.

Noah was nervous, saying it looked hard, but he caught out in like 2 seconds and played until bedtime. They've had fun with it all weekend. So, for the past 2 weekends, they've been lucky in getting something new and special to play with. First the Sabic gifts from Santa and then the gifts from the Drexlers. Spoiled rotten, aren't they? ;-)

Bell Choir Practice

For the past couple of years, the kids in our church have been given the opportunity to be part of the bell choir for our Christmas program. We've never done it before - either because they were too young or because we were out of town during the practices. This the first year that Madie and Noah have been able to participate. It's been so fun for them! They're doing Silent Night and Joy to the World. They were a little worried at first about trying it, because they tried doing the bells on the Wii with Wii Music and it was hard for them, but I promised it was going to be a lot easier than that. They've been doing a really terrific job. I've been standing behind them and touching their shoulder when it was their turn to ding their bell and they kept saying, "Mommy! Stop it. I know what I'm doing!". So, I backed up and let them just play. There are 9-10 kids there, so it's one of the biggest groups we've had. Noah's already told me he wants to wear the tux he wore in Em's wedding for his big debut. So, it'll be fun seeing them all dressed up next Sunday, chiming away at their bells. Here are pictures from their practice today. :-)