Yesterday was Philip's Birthday. He turned 41! I made him dinner and a cake. We had steak (fillets) topped with a cream sauce with shrimp, twice baked potatoes and sweet and sour green beans. I made a strawberry cake with cream cheese icing. It was all good and we were all stuffed. Even Eli ate almost a whole steak by himself. Eli didn't like the cake though. As you can see from one of the pictures below, he was upset because he wanted some cake but was afraid to try it. He later tried some and didn't like it. I think it was all in his head. We gave Philip some cologne, running shoes and a foot massager. He is always wanting someone to rub his feet so I thought this would be an appropriate gift. Now if we could just get the kids away from it long enough for him to enjoy it. Happy Birthday Philip!!! We hope you have many more!
Shelby's concert was good. I'm not sure how many 6th graders are in the band but it was a lot. They played 3 songs and it was all over very fast. They will have another concert at the end of the year. I'm not sure if Shelby will continue with band. I don't think it is her passion and I'm not going to push her to do it. It has been good for her, though. 
Eli's Christmas party was fun. Brice was able to go with me because he was finished with his exams. They played a few games and ate lots of food.(mostly sugar, of course) 
My brother, Stacey, came into town on Friday and boy were we excited. Eli had him all to himself on Friday night. Brice and Shelby had a party with the youth group at church. Eli and Stacey played games and we ate at my parents house. On Saturday Stacey and my parents came over and we decorated Christmas cookies. It is always fun to do this. It makes a mess but it is worth it. 
We will be going to to my parents house today for Christmas. The kids are all excited about presents. We will have to wait to open gifts until after lunch. It will be hard to keep the kids happy until then. Tonight we have our Chrismas Eve service at the church. It is always a special time.
