North Way Oakland Family Christmas Party 2011

Today was the North Way Oakland Family Christmas Party. Yesterday before Tavin's turnaround I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to go. I love this event. The whole sanctuary is just packed with families, fun activities, Christmas lights and yummy food. Such a great atmosphere of fellowship and fun for the kids and the parents. I was so excited that Tavin had a great night's sleep last night and we could go as one big happy family today.

When we arrived the boys jumped right into coloring before the "show" began.A friend offered to take our picture since she saw me trying to get one of the boys. The picture didn't exactly turn out great of the boys, but Doug and I are smiling!The music started shortly thereafter. The volunteers, interns and staff are so enthusiastic and just make the music, hand motions and theme contagious. I'm so thankful for these people that are so passionate about our kids.Kyndal got a hilarious action shot of Koen and Doug playing air guitar. Oh, boys!More fun music from the Kidz team...They announced the virtue of the month, Generosity, during the program today. During one part of the skit when one of the people were talking about how he wanted everything for himself Koen leaned over to me and said, "Mommy, he's really greedy." He was getting it! It's so fun to see him growing up and starting to grasp these things.Had to include a picture of the elf. So thankful Doug didn't have to dress up as anything embarrassing this year. Actually because we have more staff at Oakland this year, Doug actually had no responsibilities for this event this year and we got to attend simply as a family in the community. So great. Thanks, team!!Koen was transfixed during a clip of Linus reciting Luke 2 from "Charlie Brown's Christmas".Tavin was a little pouty this morning. He wanted to be with me every second and he was asking to go home in his car seat (he has made up a word for it and points at his back end when he says it, that's how you know what he's talking about). He kept saying, "bye, bye." I guess he'll appreciate it all more next year.He did love the Frosty Toss. That kept him busy for quite some time.They had an area where they took family pictures and then printed out a copy. Doug made us dress up in hats and the boys held candy canes. Not my favorite pic of us, but Tavin's face is priceless. Look at Koen's weird forced smile!Great job to everyone involved in making this party a success. We really enjoyed our morning with the community and celebrating Christmas with our boys. Thanks for serving us!