Employee of the Year

 

Today, Jake was awarded Lean Champion of the 4th Quarter 2024 AND Lean Champion of the Year 2024. We are so proud of him! Jake's job has changed tremendously since he started in June of 2015. He continues to adapt, learn, grow, and honestly, he is killing his current role at My Employees.

C H R I S T M A S 2024

I don't have photos of first-thing Christmas morning. Jake secretly set up his phone to video our time together, reading the story of Jesus's birth and then opening our gifts. It will be a sweet memory in future years. 

Christmas brunch: cinnamon rolls, sausage links, scrambled eggs, pineapple & mango.

We have been living at the skate park. In fact, as I am typing this on 12/28, just this week we have hit Ogden skate park 4 times, Surf City skate park once and the plan is to visit Carolina Beach skate park tomorrow. The kids got Jake his own skateboard for Christmas so we hit the Ogden Skate Park mid-morning on Christmas day. Benny used his Christmas money and purchased a new skateboard at 17th street surf shop.

Christmas dinner (really a late lunch): glazed spiral ham, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, roasted sweet potato, roasted brussel sprouts and zweibach, a Flaming family tradition

We have been enjoying our time together, playing a lot of games and watching Christmas movies.

Enchanted Airlie

Last night, we went to experience Enchanted Airlie. It was our advent activity. We did this years ago when the kids were very small, and probably with a double stroller. It was a beautiful night, not too cold and the lights were great.

The Airlie Oak was absolutely beautiful.

Enjoying the *fake* snow

Basketball

 

Lily & Ella are both playing basketball again this year. And this year I am assisting the head coach. We are having fun! They have both transitioned to post players, which makes my heart happy. The team is very young so it is a great year for growth. Very proud of them for working hard every game. 

ILM Kitchen: "finished"

Remember back in August when we demoed our kitchen? I posted progress along the way: HERE & HERE & HERE. We have had a working and almost finished kitchen for months but there have been a few tedious tasks left on the punch list: shelving, kitchen toe kicks and then repaint the dining room. Well, it is done....ish...still some minor cutting in of green dining room paint. Oh, and a plate rack above the microwave.

Here it is and we are so pleased with the result. In fact, last night we had 30+ people here for our community group Christmas Party. It was so nice to be able to move around in the kitchen and converse.

Absolutely LOVE this patterned tile.

Dining Room Paint Color: Celery Seed by Magnolia

Serenity Mae, N I N E

 

Happy 9th Birthday, W R E N

Birthday breakfast: cinnamon rolls

When the kids were little, we started opening presents in the morning so they could play with their gifts all day. Well, we can't break the tradition now. So it's early breakfast & gifts before school.

Basketball game and then birthday dinner at Islands.

Another way we celebrated Wren was a trip to the salon on Saturday morning, December 7. This was her very first time having her hair braided at a salon. We told her about this a month ago so she could pick what hairstyle she would like - cornrows. She did great and she absolutely loves the final product.

Merry Christmas from The Flaming's

 

Merry Christmas from The Flaming's