December in Pictures

December has been a full and exciting month!  I started this month with big plans to do something to celebrate Advent every day, but that just didn't happen.  I'm not upset about it though.  We did some fun things and some really cool service projects!  I think next year I'll let each of the kids tell me something fun they would really like to do and one thing they would like to do to help someone else.  It will be more meaningful to them if they choose it.  Coleman has already told me he wants to be a gift wrapper again for the Christmas party our church has for needy families in our area.  That made me so happy!  I pray that we can keep the joy of helping and serving all year long!  Here are some pictures from this month.

On December 8th, a hot and muggy day, we went to a tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree.  There was a hill covered with hay that the kids enjoyed sliding down, and a hayride out to the trees.

The next day, December 9th, a church close to our house had "Walk Through Bethlehem."  There were all kinds of shops from Bible times set up where the kids could do crafts like make perfume and mosaic tiles.  There were several animals to pet, but the kids really loved this camel.  Allie kept talking about how it pooped!

On December 10th, Allie and I had a play date with Candice and Judson.  We ended up at Chick-Fil-A, although this was Plan D!  Our original plan was the zoo, but it was freezing that day!  So we headed out to the museum, but it was closed!  We traveled through an interesting part of town to go to an indoor play area, only to find that it was way crowded.  So Chick-Fil-A ended up being the best option, and it was lots of fun!  With the kids confined in a small play area, Candice and I got to chat a lot!  One day I'll get a picture of the two of us!

On 12-12-12 I figured I should get a picture to commemorate the date!  Coleman was a little distraught that this was the last date like this in our lifetimes.

On December 12th, we took some Christmas treats to the fire station and the firemen let the kids sit in the truck!

 

December 15th we visited a nursing home with some friends.  The kids passed out cookies and cards, and we brought a few small gifts for residents who might not have family.

On December 16th, our college and career class from church had a Christmas party and did an ugly sweater contest.  Brian was thrilled with the t-shirt I bought for him!  Ha!

One day we went to the dollar store to get some wrapping paper and Spence and Allie wanted to pick out gifts for each other.  I love this picture because you can see Spence holding his two dollars putting lots of though into what he chooses for his sister!

December 18th was not only Brian's birthday, but Allie's first Christmas program!  It was so exciting to see her up on stage putting on a show.

Allie's class with their jingle bells

Allie and her best friend

 

Looking like an angel!

Posing with Nana

I think the boys liked watching Allie perform

So proud of her!

 Several evenings I looked for a chance to take a Christmas pajama picture, but I kept running into issues.  One night it was too late, another someone had an attitude.  Finally I found a good night, but then Allie started crying and being a real toot.  Somehow we managed to get her downstairs, and ended up getting the best picture!  I just love this one!  I think it will take the place of my Santa picture that we didn't do this year.

December 19th, Brian and I had our 14th anniversary.  Wow!  We'll go out to celebrate while the grandparents are here since that was a Wednesday and we didn't get to do anything together.  There was lots of fun going on that day though with our 2nd annual neighbors cookie baking party!  We ended up filling and passing out about 14 boxes of Christmas cookies.  It's such a fun way to say "Merry Christmas" to neighbors you know and meet new neighbors!  I think we'll keep this tradition going!

December 21st was class parties at the boys' school.  I helped out in Spence's class and went and said hi to Coleman and his class.  The boys are blessed with a great school and wonderful teachers, but boy are they excited about being on break until JANUARY 8TH!!!

Merry Christmas Eve to your family!  We're gonna have some fun today with Grandma and Grandpa!

Not Just Another Thursday

Ever have one of those days that packs a week's worth of activities?  Yesterday was that day for us!  It started with a field trip, where I chased 3 Kindergarten boys around the zoo.  Which was fun, but definitely exhausting!  I got back home in time to go pick up Allie from school.  Then once we got the boys it was off to gymnastics.  Coleman usually brings his homework and gets this done while Spence and Allie are in their classes, but he forgot his back pack at home.  After gymnastics, we grabbed dinner at Chick-fil-A, then headed out to our city's Christmas tree lighting event where we met Brian.  The tree lighting was one of those things I figured we should do at least once, so now it's done and I can cross it off my list! I hate to sound like a scrooge, but large crowds just aren't my thing.  There was a church choir that sang some real Christmas songs (meaning they were actually about Jesus) but other than that it was mostly about Santa.  And my kids really aren't that into Santa.  When we got home around 8:30, Coleman had to start his homework.  What a long day, but I'm so blessed that I can do all these things with my kids! 

I played zookeeper to these 3 cuties!

They were in charge of the map

Spence's class

At the tree lighting - This is the closest we'll get to a snowman!

We called this a polar bear, but looking at him now I'm thinking he's just a giant white teddy bear

The 40 foot Christmas tree

Snow Globes

We've been having fun this month!  Yesterday I went and got donuts for breakfast and the kids took some to their teachers.  Then today we made snow globes!  They turned out pretty cute, but just in case you have any plans for making these, I found that glitter worked much better than fake snow.  Much better.  I ended up dumping out the fake snow in all the globes except the Hello Kitty one.  And you can see it floating at the top above sweet little Kitty's head.  Also, it was really hard to seal the jars so they wouldn't leak. I ended up hot gluing around the lid.  A neighbor came home from school with us, so we sent the Nativity globe home with him.  

All our supplies:  jars, Christmas ornaments (glued with epoxy to the lids), distilled water, glycerin, glitter, and fake snow (that didn't work!)

Spence's Robot snow globe and Allie's Hello Kitty snow globe

Nativity and Angel snow globes

This is the one we gave to our neighbors

This was a fun project, but there wasn't much for the kids to do, and I'm paranoid that I'll be sweeping up glass very soon!

Tomorrow night we are planning on going to our city's Christmas tree lighting.  Saturday we'll go cut down our own tree, and Sunday we're going to a Walk in Bethlehem at a nearby church.  Exciting activities!

Christmas Door

Well this is a little embarrassing, but we did not do our Day 2 Advent activity.  The boys left to go camping yesterday and then got back after lunch today.  Then we had the college and career class from church over tonight.  It was a busy day!  I'm not going to stress over this.  I want these activities to be ones that help us keep our focus on Jesus and have a fun Christmas season!  Maybe some days we won't have a chance to do an activity and other days we can do two!  I know none of you are upset, I'm just saying this for my own benefit!

Since I don't have an Advent picture to share, let me show you my front door!  I have always wanted to decorate the front door, so this year I finally did it.  It's pretty simple, but I like how it turned out.  I might have to get a few more poinsettias thought.  Those look a little small!

Day 1

I know Advent officially begins tomorrow, but we started our activities around here today. 

The kids with the Advent calendar

We started with a new Christmas book today.  I chose The King's Christmas List because it tells the story of a little girl going to a birthday party for the King (Jesus) and she wants to take a gift, but on the way she meets several people who are in need and she ends up giving away everything she has with her.  When she gets to the party and meets Jesus she realizes that by helping others she did give a gift to Jesus.  That is my prayer for our family this Christmas:  that everything we do would be a gift to Jesus!

A new Christmas book

Countdown to Christmas

For the last few years I've gotten the kids Advent calendars with a piece of chocolate for each day.  That was fun, but then last year I started seeing other people's Advent activities and how they put the emphasis on doing things for others.  So this year I put together a list of activities to do every day in December leading up to Christmas.  Some of them are fun, family activities, and others are ones where the kids get to serve or help others.  I am so excited about this!  I really want our kids to have fun with the giving part of Christmas!  I'm praying this will be a fun, humbling experience for all of us.  Below is our Advent activities list (in no particular order), most of which were taken from other blogs and friends.  And don't worry, there will be a piece of chocolate each day for the kids also!

1. Watch a Christmas movie
2. Get a new Christmas book
3. Buy our favorite nonperishable foods and donate to food pantry
4. Make Christmas favors for Allie's class
5. Mail our Christmas cards
6. Go to our city's Christmas tree lighting - hand out a McDonald's gift card to someone there
7. Bring hot cocoa to a Salvation Army bell ringer
8. Friends' Christmas party - take them a new Christmas book
9. Pick out our Christmas tree
10. Bake and deliver cookies for neighbors
11. Draw or color Christmas pictures for Daddy's office
12. Get a pretzel at the mall, then tape quarters to the ride machines
13. Look at Christmas lights
14. Get donuts for breakfast - take some to the boys' teachers
15. Make pine cone bird feeders
16. Visit a nursing home and take cards and treats
17. Take presents to Sunday School teachers
18. Give a treat to our mailman
19. Take baked goods to our firestation
20. Drive through Chick-Fil-A and pay for the person behind us
21. Make snow globes - give one to a neighbor
22. Decorate a gingerbread house (actually, I bought a train)
23. Deliver presents to our Giving Tree family (through our radio station)
24. Give treats to our garbage collectors

Brian came up with the idea to hang it from the kitchen curtains.  Perfect!

Activities are listed on the back of the stockings

Here are a few other decorations around the house:

I couldn't have found a cuter stocking hanger!

Simple Gift

Last year we had some guests over for Thanksgiving and they brought me a hostess gift.  I'd read about those in magazines, but never had I gotten one or thought of giving one!  It was kind of neat!  So this year when we were invited to Thanksgiving dinner with some family we don't see too often, I decided to bring a hostess gift.  And now that there's Pinterest, I don't even have to come up with anything on my own!  I decided to do something Christmas-y since Christmas decorations will be going up the day after Thanksgiving.  I found a free printable and printed it out on a textured cardstock paper.  I found the perfect frame at Home Goods, so the whole project cost less than $10!

I love how this turned out!  If you'd like the printable or another cute Christmas print, go here!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thank You Veterans!

Thank you to all our veterans!  And especially to our favorite veteran...

We love you Grandpa!  We're so thankful for your service and your life devoted to Christ.  What a role model for your children and grandchildren.  I'm so glad God made us family!

Leaves, Shoes, and a Form

What random thoughts are flying through my head today!  First off, let me tell you that I might have set a new record.  Only 5 days after Daylight Savings began I have officially gotten all the clocks in the house changed!  How awesome!  Until I forget that I changed them and keep subtracting an hour from the time.

A few days ago we were outside playing and I noticed there were quite a few leaves in the yard.  Enough for a pile to jump in?  We tried!  I figured it was a pretty sad leaf pile, and my suspicions were confirmed when Brian came home and laughed at it!  I'm sure it's no Montana leaf pile, but you work with what you got!  Spence and Allie didn't know any better and thought it was the most awesome leaf pile ever!  They would run and jump, then push all the leaves back into the pile and go again.

Our super cool Mom raked up this rockin' pile of leaves!

 And this picture is for you, Rita and Gale.  Thank you so much for the birthday money!  These are my new sneakers!

And finally, just something I thought was somewhat odd, but was glad to do.  When Coleman started Kindergarten, birthday treats were banned.  I was a little sad because, well, that's what you do when it's your child's birthday.  You make cupcakes or cookies and send them school to share with the classmates.  But apparently childhood obesity ( which is nothing to laugh at) caused school officials to create strict nutritional guidelines that did not include birthday treats.  After getting over it, my lazy self said, "Yes!  I don't have to make cupcakes for 20 kids!"  This year, about a month before Spence's birthday, the school sent home a letter that stated store bought birthday treats would be allowed as long as you filled out a form.  I was expecting one or two lines then a signature required.  But take a look at the form!

I had to laugh, and share it.  Oh well, at least they're concerned with our children's health?  And I totally get not allowing homemade goodies.  You just never know.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  And for my loved ones in Montana, throw a snowball for us!

Happy Birthday Spence!

Today my sweet Spence turns 6 years old!

November 7, 2006 - Welcome sweet baby!

1 year old

2 years old - Pretty sure he'd gotten the nick-name Messy Marvin by this time!

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

November 7, 2012 - Look who's six!

Excited about his birthday presents

We love you so much Spence!  Happy birthday!