Advent activities, days 4-6

December 4 - Sunday evening the plan was for us to make Christmas cookies. I pulled out the Christmas cookie cutters and was following a recipe from a Funfetti Christmas cake box, because they had a recipe to make cookies from the cake mix. Well, the dough wasn't really the cookie cutter type. It just wouldn't cooperate. But I went ahead and rolled the boys out a chunk of dough and they were able to press their cutters into it and see the shapes. The shapes just wouldn't transfer to the cookie sheet without falling apart. So we ended up having some cookie cutter fun, but only round cookies.
December 5 - The next morning, we learned all about the star that led the wise men to baby Jesus. A friend told me about this idea last year and it was so much fun for the boys this year. I placed 1 star inside the advent calendar. Then I hid 10 other stars around the living room. The boys had to find all 10 stars and they did a great job. It was sort of like an Easter egg hunt.
Some of the hiding spots:
And TA DA! All 10 stars. Then we read this new book.
And talked at length about the special star that shone so bright over Bethlehem.


December 6 - Tonight we took the boys to the dollar spot at Target to pick out a gift for one another. The suspense of what Pax has picked for Holden is literally killing Holden. I'm hoping that by tomorrow morning he has forgotten about it. He got a little frustrated at one point and asked in exasperation "What did he get me?!?" We laughed at him and told him that he would just have to wait . . . for what is probably going to feel like an eternity. This is the part that I want to be a lesson in giving, not GETTING. But right now Holden looks at the dollar spot toys and just thinks of himself. But he is 3. So I'll give him a break. :)


More activities coming soon . . .

Advent activities, days 1-3

We have begun our fun Advent activities. The boys love taking turns opening the doors each morning and pulling out a piece of paper. Then I get to read to them what our extra bit of fun will be for the day. Last year Holden had this all to himself. Pax participated some, but since he was only 1, it was mainly for Holden. I love that this year they are both involved and they are able to enjoy the fun together. December 1 - They each opened a present. I just wrapped up their Christmas jammies. I've said it before, but Holden loves clothes. And Pax might just be catching that fever. So some kids might have been disappointed to see jammies in the box. But not my boys. And once they realized they were MATCHING jammies . . . well that was even more fantastic.This is the best picture I could get of them in their jammies. Pax isn't the most cooperative. He likes to ham it up for the camera, but won't sit still in doing so. So he's normally just a blur. :)

December 2 - This day was all about candy canes. I read the boys this book that I found here.
It was the perfect book. As I read the story, they colored a red and white candy cane. And then they got to enjoy a little miniature one. Pax ended up throwing his away because he's just not that into sweets and sugar. And Holden ended up whining for more and more all day long! He is quite the opposite.
Decebmer 3 - This evening we braved the rain and did a little shopping. It's something our church is involved in, to gather some necessities and wants for others. And based on my boys ages (2 and 3), we were to choose gifts for adults. From the list, we decided on some kitchen gadgets. I did let the boys make the choices. And I know they don't really understand this part very well yet. I just hope that giving is something they continue to see and one day have a heart for. Hopefully these little gifts can be a blessing to someone's kitchen.And the Jesse tree is going well . . .
I'm not even moving the ornaments when the boys put them all in the same area. :) I've cut out the images we need as the ornaments this year. But I have 1 year to search for the real deal and that's my plan. Next year I should have real ornaments and not paper images. I've only found 3 so far, which means I have something like 22 more to go. I'm not exactly sure how easy it will be to find a (cheap!) camel ornament (among other crazy ones I'm looking for), but I'll try . . . and then improvise if necessary.

The halls have been decked!

Last night was a fun one! It was the night where we decorate the Christmas tree as a family. Even pre-kids, Jeremy humored me each and every year, by allowing me make a big deal of it. It's a tradition from my own family that I'm carrying on. (And so are my sisters.) Jeremy has always participated 100%, which I appreciate. Yesterday, I spent some time during the boys naps decorating the mantel and putting up the other Christmas decorations around the house. So after our fun dinner (we eat differently on decorating-the-tree-night), all we had left to do was unwrap and hang the ornaments. The boys really got into helping hang the ornamnets and only broke one glass ball in the process. Here is a glimpse into our fun.
Finishing up dinner. I'm going to link some recipes below that might be worth trying out. We tried out some new things and really liked them.
Holden checking out his sock monkey ornamnet that his buddy Lyndon gave him. When I pulled it out of the box and handed it over to him, he pressed it up against his cheek. This boy is crazy about his sock monkey.
They took their jobs of hanging ornaments very seriously. :)
I was there too. :)
As was Jeremy.
The completed project. I love putting it all up and I'm never ready to take it all down once the holiday is over.
And here are the new recipes I tried out on my family last night. I've always liked chicken salad, but after trying this new recipe, I love it. It tasted like a chicken salad you would order at a cafe. It was soooo good. We also had these little guys. I'll definitely be making those again. And the last new recipe I tried was Cinnamon Roll Cake. I'm just going to be honest and tell you it looked and sounded better than it tasted. At least to me. It tasted good. Just not fantastic. And if I'm making a dessert that calls for 3 STICKS OF BUTTER, then it needs to taste fantastic. Holy smokes! I didn't realize it required so much butter until I was already in the process and there was no turning back. We did throw some fresh veggies and hummus in the mix, but for the most part, it wasn't healthy eating last night.

Preparing our hearts for Christmas

Well, here we are. Four weeks from yesterday we will be celebrating Christmas. But I know for most of us, the fun and preparation for the holiday has already begun. Adding children to our family really changed how we wanted to do Christmas. So, how we thought it would be 5+ years ago, is not how it looks for us now. We've changed our minds on some things in the last 3 years. It was just last year that we decided not to do Santa Clause with our kids. And I'm still not completely clear on why. . . I mean I have my own ideas that steered me that direction. But even in our own vagueness of how we came to that decision, Jeremy and I are in solid agreement about it. So even though we don't think he's bad and we really enjoyed that part of Christmas in our own childhood memories, we've nixed him. That's one thing that I never imagined we would do.

But as December 1st creeps closer and closer, lots of ideas and plans are cooking in my head. As the boys get older, it becomes just a little more fun. For example: We set our tree up last night when the boys were asleep and tonight they will help us decorate it. Holden caught sight of the tree as he came down the stairs this morning and he let out a gasp. Then he quickly requested I turn on the lights. It's the little things that get them excited at this age. I love all of the fun traditions of Christmas including: Santa, Christmas trees, gifts, driving around to see outdoor lights, Christmas cards, making candy, cookies and other sweets, etc. And we will be doing most of these things in the next month. But the excitement of all these little things can really cloud out the reason we're celebrating. Unfortunately, I can easily get distracted by all the fun. We will still be doing our fun little Advent calendar that we first did last year. A month full of activities - some fun and whimsical and some focusing on Jesus. Again, I will attempt to document every single one. :) But this year we are adding the Jesse Tree to our days of Advent. I first heard about it 3 years ago and I'm excited to do this as a family each evening after dinner. I've already skimmed the devotionals and I think it's going to be an amazing adventure traveling through the Old Testament stories and the lineage of Christ. And just last week, I was gifted this book:

Beginning December 1st, it provides a daily scripture reading in preparation for Christmas. And my prayer is that on December 25th my heart will be in full celebration of my King that came as a baby. And maybe that sounds like alot in an already busy month. But I'm afraid that I NEED this stuff to keep my focus where it should be. So even when the lights, music and fun traditions pull for my attention and normally get it, my heart can celebrate the true meaning of our holiday. And hopefully that can aid in steering my kids to find and celebrate Jesus.

So tell me, how do you prepare your heart to celebrate Jesus on Christmas? And the one I'm still trying to figure out: how do you prepare those little hearts to be thankful and not greedy. To want Him and not all the stuff! I would love to hear your traditions and ideas. :)

Thanksgiving 2011

The Thanksgiving holiday quickly came and went and now we are in the spirit of Christmas at this house. But I can't completely skip over Thanksgiving on this little blog, even though I didn't do too well with my camera on the actual holiday.

My sister, Amanda, and her family live in Colorado. So we don't get to see them near as often as we see the rest of the family. But we did get a few days with them for Thanksgiving, which was really nice. The little cousins spent a couple of nights at our house last week, which was lots of fun for my boys. Holden loved pestering the girls. And Pax loved being Bella's baby. Yes, that's right. At some point early on, she convinced him that he was her little baby boy. She carried him all around the house for 2 days. He wrapped his little legs around her, like he normally does to me. He rarely spoke, since babies don't speak. He became nearly helpless, like any good pretend baby. It was hilarious. When he had to take a nap or go to bed at night, he cried buckets of tears and would sadly cry out "I want my Bella." He wanted to sit by her when we sat at the kitchen table. He followed her around like a little shadow, when he wasn't in her arms. It was sweet, cute and completely ridiculous. But it made us laugh alot last week. And when it was time for final goodbyes on Friday night, there were lots of tears. Not from Bella. Just Pax. He loves his cousin Bella. And I have to admit, she is pretty lovable. I can't blame him one bit. Here is the duo. She is reading him a book. This is about as far as he got from her. He was normally in her lap. :)

We did a little turkey craft on Thursday.
And the littlest of the 5 quickly finished and showed off their art. Notice the printed H's all over Holden's. He has mastered the H and it makes me proud. :) Forget coloring these days. All he wants to do is practice writing his H.
Some more playtime in Holden's bed. (Holden, Ava, Pax and Bella)
On Thursday morning, we headed to east Texas and spent the day with my mom's extended family. No pictures. I failed.

We stayed the night in a hotel on Thursday night so we could spend Friday with my dad's family. All 4 of us in 1 hotel room was quite interesting. Let's just say it was a little challenging getting 1 little boy to settle down and actually sleep. Even after no naps that day. The 3 year old was so over the top excited about us all being in the same room, he had a hard time chilling out. But here are my little loves cuddling up and watching a movie together.
We plan on them sharing a room in the very near future. After Thursday night, I'm not sure how that is going to work. In fact, I ended up sleeping with Pax and Jeremy with Holden. It just wasn't working the other way. There was lots of playing and giggling going on. But no attempts at closing the eyes and sleeping.
On Friday morning, we headed to meme's house. My dad took TONS of pictures on this day. I only took 1. Failed again.
My meme has saved alot of my papaws things. He passed away almost 5 years ago. Well, she decided to pull out his old caps and share them with her little great-grandsons. Pax received a hat also, but was napping when I snapped this picture. Just thought these ugly hats were pretty funny.

Like every year, I have much to be thankful for. It was a wonderful celebration with family this year. Hoping yours was a thankful, happy day!

Christmas fesitivities . . . already??

Last night, a nearby town was having their annual Christmas tree lighting. It always catches me off guard that this takes place before Thanksgiving. In fact, last year it caught me off guard so much that we completely missed it. But here is a little peek from 2009 and how much Holden and Pax have changed in 2 years. As weird as it seemed, dressing the boys in their Christmas tees in mid-November, we went with it and enjoyed the free Christmas festivities last night. Of course Santa and the elves made an appearance. They were being pulled in the carriage.
The boys loved seeing the huge Christmas tree. They will be thrilled when we get ours set up at home. It should be a fun season with a 2 and 3 year old.
They were able to have their picture taken with Frosty and Rudolph. Which Pax did NOT love. He was "sca-wud" as he told me. He had a tight grip on my shirt and legs wrapped tightly around me. There was no peaceful way he would've had his picture taken with those creatures, unless I was there holding him. So I did. But he better man-up before it's time to get his picture taken with Santa. ;)And just a few more pictures from our evening.

Mr. Cool

Pax is still obsessed with wearing hats and wears them as often as he can. But when he puts them on, they always end up looking like this . . .
Even if I fix it so that he can see more easily, he pulls it back down to where you can't even see the top half of his cute, little face.
He looks like quite the cool dude, huh? :)