Countdown Day 3

The kids are still loving the advent calendar and get so excited when it is time to see what we are going to do today. On day 3 we went to Barnes and Noble to see their beloved kindergarten teacher read to them and then we bought a new Christmas book to add to our collection:



Her books are some of my favorites and they are our laid back boys too!!!

As we were leaving it was snowing and onthe way to the car we were catching snowflakes in our mouth and counting them as we went. Ilove this time of year and the child like wonderment that comes with it!

Countdown Day 2

Today we went to Pizza Sam's for dinner and to visit Santa Claus. Our downtown is lovely at Christmas time and it was the perfect night to walk around. In front of the courthouse there is a Nativity and we stopped and talked about The Wiseman and why at Christmas we give gifts. The kids were so excited to see Santa's reindeer and then into Santa's House...who couldn't love this place. David IV kept looking around to see how everything worked which was a new approach to being in Santa's House I had never seen before. Julianna loved the dollhouse and Jensen couldn't get enough of the trains! Now I have some shy children and 2 of them were not going to sit on Santa's lap not for one minute. So our brave D4 was a great example and talked to Santa. What I realized is Santa is used to getting lists of things the children want well he wanted only one thing which perplexed the Jolly One. I thought he responded well for the situation by asking if he liked surprises and what child doesn't like surprises. To my surprise when David jumped off of Santa's lap Jensen ran and hopped right up there and exclaimed he would really like some Trios for Christmas and again surprising myself and Santa that was all he wanted and the question do you like surprise what put forth. Now it was our Princess turn to talk to Santa and she politely when asked if she wanted to sit on his lap she said, "No thank you." and they began to chat about what she would like for Christmas and again she asked for only one item and yes she likes surprises too! It was a joyous night adn I am glad we took the time for it!

Countdown Day 1

We started our countdown by remembering the reason for Christmas to begin with GIFTS! Gotcha! No but seriously we were sent one of the most precious of gifts and the reason we celebrate Christmas Our Saviour Jesus Christ. Though we can never repay our Redeemer for the sacrifice He made for us we can give Him a gift and we each chose some gifts we could give our Savior over the next year. Above are our gifts!

The kids then wrote their letters to Santa and decorated their envelopes to be sent to the North Pole. I wonder if they will hear back?

And the Countdown Begins

We started a new family tradition this year. We have always counted down to Christmas in some way but this year we thought we would do it a bit different. We bought the above advent calendar(Thank You Great Grandma Kepler!). On November 30th we presented the concept to the kids...they were so excited!!! We told them everyday until Christmas we would do something as a family. David and I beforehand made a list of 25 ideas and then depending on the day and how much time we would have that evening and the happenings in the community we would add that idea(we did not pre fill the advent calendar because things do change like the weather). To add to the excitment the time of the day varies of when they get to open the next number. I will posting here our daily adventures. Wish us luck on our new adventure!

Bulletin Board Project

I saw an idea for a bulletin board HERE.

I made a few adjustments to mine. The black dividers are not permanent, I cut them to the sizes I wanted and added magnets to the back. This way if I want to change it and make it work better for me like if I were to have more children or if one goes away to school I can change it to fit my family over time.

Art Boards

I made this at a recent craft night at church. I love how they turned out(in the picture it looks orangish it is actually RED). It also has 5 art clips and the author of the quote but I cut it out of this picture(the quote is from pablo picasso)

For a how to you can go to my ever talented friend, SWEETPEA.

A Bunch of Turkeys...and no they are not my children!!!

25 down 31 to go!!!!

Who said learning can't be fun!!!

I had found these cute little guys last year on clearance for a mere .50. I had no idea what I was going to do with them but I knew I was going to make them into something fun for my children and I knew it was going to be educational.




Luckily for me our door is magnetic. I programmed some fun Halloween words and added magnetic strips and tada. Now they have words they can practice reading and writing abd becasue they are on these cute little ghosts they want to do it too! Who can beat that!

Pumpkin Patch

We adventured out to a new pumpkin patch this year for the first time for me in 15 years and well lets just say we won't be adventuring that way again! The kids had fun but it just wasn't the same!

Our Day with Snuggles

David's first grade class is in The Bear Club. As part of the club they all get to take a turn having Snuggles spend a couple of days with them and do something special with him. We happend to have Snuggles during our towns Pumpkin Festival and so Snuggles went with David Trick or Treating and to the festivities. To our surprise when we arrived the festival was cancelled but David and Snuggles still had fun cruising around downtown.

What I did with my bats and googly eyes!!!!!

I hung these in front of my front door and the funniest thing is the day after we put them up it was quite windy and I was at the kitchen sink and near had a heart attack when out of the corner of my eye I saw a flying bat. It took me a second to remember Oh yeah I hung them there!!!!




I love snowmen and when the stem broke off these 2 pumpkins I knew what to do!!! Just a brief reminder of things to come!




This was my original thought for my googly eyes and I love it!!!!! I just glued thumbtacks on the back of my googly eyes and then pushed them into the pumpkin!!! I told the kids next year no pumpkins for them I am going to get all the pumpkins and have enough to say SPOOKY!!! JK kids!

That's it we are learning Chinese!!!!

Kids Say~

Mom: "Jensen you are too cute!"

Jensen: "No I am not too cute, I'm just a little too cute!"

And this was TOO CUTE not to share!!!

A Day on the Farm

A Few of the Necessties Around Here Lately

Wednesday we tracked down a pharmacy with flu shots since one of our local schools had 180 children out of school due to the flu. The only hitch was they only give flu shots to children 9 years and older so half of our family was ineligible for the shots which I was not to upset about since they had an appointment for today to get the shots. Apparently that was about 19 hours too late!!!!