december daily 4

December Daily 4

Today was about getting a lot of things accomplished on that to do list!  

We had no obligations this morning so Ellie and I did a huge, quick errand run that involved going to 6 different stores and 4 drive through stops...all in less than 3 hours while Evan was at morning kindergarten {because I do not take that boy shopping if I can help it all...he's the worst!}.  It feels good to get all that accomplished! 

 I love my superstar shopper who rarely complains and doesn't whine about getting something all the time!

Then after school we watched one of our Christmas movies, Jack Frost, that I just picked up from the library.  You have to love free library movies!  While the movie was on Evan also wrangled me into playing Pugopoly again...this boy wants to play it all the time!

We finished the day with our activity, which was making a snowman hand print family.  It turned out pretty cute.  I think you can guess which one Evan's is...the one who never wants to go with the norm...{his "family" was just him & Bella}.

Then they wanted to paint more scraps of wood...

And we can't forget Santa Elfy today.

december daily 3

December Daily 3

Today we fit a lot in between school, homework, my babysitting, chores, and doing church night at home.

Elfy returned with a note that said Santa had received our letters :).  Yeah!

We opened up our daily Christmas book fist thing this morning, but we wait to read it until dinner time because things are TOO crazy in the mornings trying to get out the door.

Then before dinner Ellie helped me mix up our recipe for our cinnamon dough ornaments.

We did our Jesus activity and talked about how Jesus is our brother.  They were supposed to draw Jesus in our family, but the boys decided it was better to draw God in our family.  I love how in Avery's picture God is wearing a shirt that says "I Love God" :).

Next, it was time to roll and cut out our ornaments.  The kids thought it was crazy that we put glue in the recipe!

They are still baking in the oven so we shall see how they turn out, but my house smells wonderful!

We finally got this year's ornaments hung on the tree...I almost forgot about them!  Don't you love their pjs Elfy brought them??

december daily 2

December Daily 2

I feel like December is already going by in a whirlwind...please slooooow down!

Elfy returned this morning with forms to fill out for Santa...he filled one out for himself too!

Today was another busy one...drop off boys at school, a super quick trip to Target, a MOPS steering meeting with some lovely ladies, a fun playdate with some friends of Evan's after half day kindergarten, a trip then to Walmart to pick up our Christmas cards, then time to pick up Avery from school...

and then after all that we managed to fit in some fun too this evening...

First, off some Pugopoly {you know the Pug version of Monopoly that Evan just got from G&G for his birthday and both boys have LOVED playing it}.  I really didn't feel like I had time to sit down and play this after school with my boys because I had a to-do list a mile long...but I am glad I took a time out to spend with these guys...even if the game only lasted 20 minutes before they were done :).

Then it was dinner time.  That pile of books right there is an accumulation of Christmas books opened that day (& yesterday because we never got to it), our Laura Ingalls Wilder book we have been reading aloud, two boys who go to the school library for checkout on the same day, and homework...we work on it all right after dinner is finished.

We also did our Jesus-centered Advent activity from MOPS.  Today we talked about how Jesus is our cornerstone building block and without him our whole tower will fall down...we built our tower with our block nativity we actually made from MOPS a few years ago.

We wrapped up the night with our letters to Santa!

Here's what each of them asked for.  I loved this form because it also had them write down what good things they have done.

december daily 1 & Evan's birthday

December Daily 1

Here we go on our 25 days of Christmas!

On the first day of December...
we start off with a bang because today is Evan's birthday!  
This sweet, 
crazy, 
question-asking, 
pug-loving,
number-counting, 
more question-asking,
snuggly,
pj-wearing,
even more question-asking,
middle child of ours turned SIX years old today!

He is getting to be such a big boy!

What kind of birthday party would this boy want, you ask?
Well a dog birthday, of course!
He really only wanted dogs invited to his birthday party...crazy boy!
So that's what we had while we were at G&G's house over Thanksgiving...a dog birthday party.

Here's some pictures from his party...

A "pugamonga" cake.

Pinata time.

Evan also made a cake for the doggies!

{The perfect shirt for our pug lover!}

Then fast forward back to today...

Our Santa Elfy returns!!  He brought a note and some gifts for the kiddos...three pjs with his face on them ;).  The kiddos were very excited to have him back!

We got our final, real Christmas tree up and decorated today!  The decorating is finally all complete around here!

 Then more celebrating with this boy!

Aunt Tamarin came over for a little play time.

Happy Birthday buddy!

let's regroup here

Ugh....I'm really not trying to let this blog die.  Just life getting in the way.  I am going to try to resurrect this blog for the Christmas season because I really love this time of year and I really do love looking back at this blog at memories from the past.  And my poor mom & Ryan...who are not Facebookers and are probably my only two readers :)...haven't seen any pictures for awhile!

So where did we leave off...

It was the middle of October when I last posted and we had just had a terrific "fall break" with pumpkin patches galore.  We were also hoping for a Royal's victory in the World Series...that didn't happen, but we love the passion and dedication of our hometown team...and they are winners in our book!

Halloween happened with a Rapunzel, Toothless dragon, & GI Joe Ninja!

We spent more time doing all the fall favorite...bonfire with s'mores!

We voted.

Ryan & I actually had a date night :).

Pretty much the month of November lots, and lots of messes happened with these two...

We had a Thanksgiving lunch with Avery!

And a little creativity thrown in!

Alrighty...we are all caught up...let's get the holiday season started!

I love doing lots of stuff with my kiddos during this season, and some may think I'm crazy for doing so much....but let me tell you my secret....plan & organize it all in November and you can sit back and enjoy the month of December!  Trust me it works!  Some may think I have decorated too early, when I put Christmas stuff up on November 15, but now it's done and one less thing I have to stress over...especially since we will be out of town over Thanksgiving break.

So here is everything I have ready to go so we can jump right in when we return from Thanksgiving...

We are decorated...done.

The one last decoration...our REAL Christmas tree, we don't have yet, but the spot is cleared out and the ornaments are ready in that container to go up as soon as we get it.

Then I focus on the several Advent activities we have going on in December.  The first one is easy because we created this wreath one at MOPS.  This one includes 25 days of activities centered around the true meaning of Christmas.  Done.

Our more than 25 Christmas books (that we already own) are wrapped and ready to open as we count down each day.  Done.

Our other Advent countdown chain is hung with activities listed for everyday labeled on it.  {Yes it's hanging from a picture in my kitchen...classy I know ;)}.  This area of my kitchen also houses our calendar that has already been switched over to December and our Christmas books.  All in one location makes life easier!  Done.

Making the activities to go with this chain is one of the more time consuming activities because you have to think carefully about your schedule and when you need to do what beforehand.  However, once it's created it is so easy to do one activity everyday.  Honestly, if I didn't write the things down where the kids would read it then they probably wouldn't get done because I would just push them off to the next day.

If you want to see what we are doing...any by all means steal as much as you want...here is my calendar.

Yes, we do have an Elf on the Shelf...and we do love to do crazy stuff with him around here, but you have to plan that ahead of time or it will be midnight and you are frantically searching for something to do with that stinker.  Also, set a daily alarm to go off to remind you to move him...trust me, it's a must!

Here's my calendar for that too!

Even all my cookie decorating supplies are out and ready to go :).  Done.

Now we can sit back and enjoy this season. 

See you in a few days!