Toby Mac and Hershey...

Last Saturday Jason and I surprised Sarah with an early Christmas present, a trip to Hershey, PA to go to a Toby Mac Hits Deep Tour Concert with our friends the Moorman's. Our friends Gary and Aura and Jason and I have been keeping this a secret since early September, so it was wonderful to be able to finally tell our kids about the trip. Aura and I had the excitement of taking the older kids while Gary and Jason stayed home with the little boys.

SURPRISE!!

Merry Christmas Luke, Sarah and Emma

Toby Mac is one of our favorite artists. He is a Christian hip-hop/rapper. Along with himself he had 6 other artist on tour with him - Manidsa, Jamie Grace, Britt Nicole, Brandon Heath, Chris August and Group 1 Crew. We are already Mandisa and Jamie Grace fans and became fans of the other artists who played with them.

Sunday afternoon we headed to Hershey continuing to keep a surprise that we had gotten tickets to the VIP Pre-show. The concert didn't start till 7, so the kids couldn't figure out why we had to be there at 4:30 to wait in line. They were surprised and excited when we were ushered in with free CDs and front row seats along with 80 other people to hear a couple of pre-concert songs from Toby Mac, Jamie Grace and Chris August, as well as a time of question and answer.

After the pre-show and before the concert my girlfriend found out about a meet and greet with Toby Mac, very cool. We got in line with about 50 other people and got our picture taken with him and autographs. This was an added bonus to the night for the kids.

While waiting in line to meet Toby, Johnny and Stacy Stone were in front of us. They are local Christian radio station hosts and are a favorite of my girlfriend Aura's. She cracks me up.

Meeting Toby Mac in person, a huge Christmas present for our girl Sarah.

The concert was amazing! All the artists came out and sang 2-3 songs and spoke for 5 minutes. After an intermission Toby Mac came out and sang for about an hour.

Jamie Grace

Group 1 Crew - This sister and brother duo got some amazing big hair

Chris August

Britt Nicole - love her dress

Mandisa - Top of the morning to ya 'Disa

Brandon Heath

After the concert some of the artists were in the concourse signing autographs. We got to meet 4 out of the 6.

Jamie Grace, she is only 21. Sarah is a big fan. What a privilege to meet her in person.

Britt Nicole

My girl with Chris August and Mr. Talkbox

Brandon Heath

We had such a great time together. Lots of laughs and fun stories between us. A wonderful Christmas memory to share with our kids.

Cool kids!

Cool Moms! We got hip-hop, although I don't think are kids thought so when taking this picture.

By the time we left the concert, had a late night snack and settled in our rooms we went to bed at 1 a.m. and had a great nights sleep. I loved sleep in till 9:00 a.m., a rare thing for me.

We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and decided to spend our last few hours at Chocolate World. What kid doesn't love to hear the words "Chocolate World".

We took the tour to see how Hershey makes their delicious chocolate.

The kids got to go and make their very own chocolate bars, which took about 30 minutes.

We enjoyed some hot chocolate while we waited for them.

Sarah's chocolate bar filled with pretzels, white chocolate and milk chocolate. She even got to create her own wrapper.

Chocolate World was fun for all of us. It may have been a rainy day outside, but our sugar levels were HIGH.

Christmas comes early...

Christmas came a little early this year again with PaPa & MeMe flying in from Florida for a couple of days. They arrived on Friday afternoon (November 30th) and we celebrated Christmas with them on Saturday morning.

They brought Sarah and Brayden "Melting Snowman". You put this snowman together from a little kit and...

it magically melts to a puddle of so-called snow an hour later. Lots of fun to watch it slowly "melt" away.

Sarah is the first to start our Advent calendar this year.

MeMe opens her gift first, a Pampered Chef BBQ Roasting Pan. I know it looks like a piece of paper, but it is being shipped directly to her. Luggage doesn't always accommodate roasting pans.

PaPa gets a stylus pen for his new iPad.

A Spiderman backpack perfect for school.

An electronic fish, exactly what he wanted. Yes, you heard me an "electronic" fish. Just add water and your electronic fish swims around, a shark in Brayden's case. Ahhh, we don't have to worry about flushing this gift down the toilet. Only need to change the batteries.

PaPa was a huge hit in Sarah's book this year. He picked out this hand knit hat for her. It was her favorite gift! Her other gifts were "peace sign" earbuds, a Delia's gift card and nail art.

Lego CREATIONARY!!!! He has been asking for this game for a while. At breakfast he told MeMe he knew she got him this gift. I have no idea how he knew, but he was pumped.

Jason got an iTunes gift card and money for golf. I got gift cards to Gap, Francesca's, Amazon and a Lands End tote for my car.

They also got us a fun gift on how to make balloon animals. Sarah made this dog. For those of you interested she is now available for birthday parties. They also attempted to make a mouse and a dinosaur.

Brayden checking out his shark tank all set up in his room. It even has a light that changes color.

Sarah and MeMe making the traditional "Chocolate Covered Cherry" cookies. A favorite in our house.

Sarah hard at work covering the cherries with chocolate.

Cheese! Sarah taking pics with my new camera.

Brayden requested that we all play a game of Creationary that night. It is actually a lot of fun. We were on teams of two. PaPa and MeMe are working on what was supposed to be a bird. As the teams are building you have to guess what they are trying to make.

Daddy and Brayden looking at what they have to try and make.

An "Ice Cream" truck. Good job!

Me and my partner had to make a "Monster Truck". Can you guess who my partner is?

Sunday we had church in the morning and the kids musical in the evening. It felt a little strange this year for Sarah not to be a part of the musical, which is only for Kindergarten through Fifth grade. Brayden sang in the Preschool Sing and will be a part of the musical next year.

All the characters - Angels, Animals, Shepherds and Mary and Joseph. Brayden and his cousin Sammy are Shepherds in green shirts.

 Discussing something. Maybe, "What key does "Away In the Manger" start in?"

On Monday, Dad, Mom and myself went to Christmas Tree Shops and Ikea while the kids were at school. In the afternoon they took the kids to see "Rise of the Guardians" and dinner. Jason and I went to see "Skyfall" and out to dinner just the two of us.

On Tuesday and Wendesday they went to go see my grandmother near Boston and Thursday morning they left early in the morning. The time flew by very quickly. We enjoyed what time we had with them.

Thanksgiving Party

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We filled ourselves to the brim with turkey and stuffing, thanks to my mother-in-law.

This past week I have been fast and furious decorating, cleaning, food shopping, purchasing gifts as my parents arrived Friday afternoon to celebrate Christmas with us a little early this weekend. It has become somewhat a Christmas tradition for us. More on that in days to come.

I wanted to make sure to post Brayden's Thanksgiving party at school. Jason and I were able to go and be a part of it. The kids sang several songs for us, prayed, showed off their "Purple" room, and enjoyed snacks together.

This is Brayden's favorite friend in his class "Jayden".

Brayden made his hat, necklace and cornucopia.

Brayden is thankful for Legos, Cat in the Hat, Disney World, the ocean, his cousin Sammy and Spiderman.