End of the Year 2023

 

Medieval Times and Giving Machine

For Travis' birthday, he requested Medieval Times, but because of football, choir, and wrestling, the soonest we were able to have him go was December. He invited a couple of friends, Aaron Dahl and Caden Zeltner, to go with him and Jonah and Dad got to go along too. They had a blast and would love to go again.  Medieval Times is always a lot of fun.

We also participated in the Giving Machine since they finally brought one to North Texas close enough to us.  It was in McKinney.  Our family signed up to sing at it.  We did not get any pictures of us performing.  But then we were able to go over and select items to give.  We really enjoyed that.

 

Christmas Day 2023

We had a later morning than in the past, given that our kids are getting older and want to sleep in. Plus, Corey closed on Christmas Eve (since it was a Sunday and he opted to work the night so he could go to church).  We did the usual things...lining up, opening stockings, opening gifts, eating breakfast.  The kids did their homemade gift exchange.  

Jonah drew a picture for Nathan that was awesome and Nathan (with Corey's help) made homemade light sabers for Jonah. Annmarie made Eliza a new bag for her violin music out of some Harry Potter fabric that has been in the fabric drawers for several years.  Travis (with Uncle Aaron's help) made country mix CD's for Annmarie.  Eliza made Travis some business cards for his baking business.

We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to hang out and ride bikes and enjoy the nice weather.  We got to go on motorcycle rides with Grandpa.  Jonah lost his drone in the wind.  Later that evening, we finally had a chance to do our chicken nuggets and applesauce.

 

Christmas Eve

We had Paige and the kids over for Christmas Eve. We ate dinner and had a little talent show. Corey had to work, so he wasn't there. Austin was though, which was a first time in a long time that he was home on Christmas. Jonah in the picture is showing off a shirt a boy, Maxxton Carr, who was on his gymnastics team last year, gifted him.  It is signed by Brody Malone, an Olympic gymnast.  Westley sent us a picture of him and his companion having the chicken nuggets and applesauce King tradition.  

In the talent show, we had Brock and Nathan read us books, Autumn showed off a piece of artwork, Eliza and I played the violin and cello and the piano and cello.  Annmarie sang but I did not get a picture of it.  Lacey also sang.  Travis baked cookies.  Then the little kids put on the nativity with Travis and Eliza helping to guide them through it.  It was a nice evening.

 

Family Christmas Party Game and White Elephant

Jonah organized the game. We divided into groups and were each given a Christmas item that the group had to build with Legos. Kind of like charades but Lego-building instead. We were given 45 minutes and built what we could in that time. It was a success and everyone seemed to have fun. We ended with the White Elephant gift exchange. It was a great morning with the Fowles family.

 

First Annual Fowles Christmas Brunch

I decided to borrow a page from the book of the Smith family and hold a Christmas party. We decided to do a brunch. Everyone brought something to contribute, from fruit to juice to breakfast casserole. We had a game to play and we also did a white elephant gift exchange.

 

Wrestling Season

Wrestling Season is underway for Travis. He's been wrestling jv but is being bumped up to varsity. He's been doing pretty well this season and winning most of his matches.